Detroit

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Black day in July,

Motor City madness has gripped the countryside,

And through the smoke & cinders,

You can hear it far & wide,

The doors are quickly bolted,

And the children locked inside.

- Black Day in July by Gordon Lightfoot, 1968

My grandfather told me many times about how Detroit was once the 5th-largest city in the United States, with a peak population of almost 2 million in 1950. He said Detroit was once an extremely prosperous city, with a vast amount of automobile plants for all the major car companies: Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, Packard, Hudson, & others. Detroit was once called "the Arsenal of Democracy."

Years later, the city began its notorious downfall, with years of crime, plant closings, & corruption in the city government, most notably the corruption during Kwame Kilpatrick's tenure as mayor, & all of that culminated in Detroit's eventual declaration of bankruptcy in 2013. The city is just beginning to turn around, but it will take years to get back to prominence, if it ever does.

The downfall began on Sunday, July 23, 1967, the first day of the Detroit riots. The riots began when police raided an unlicensed bar full of African-American patrons celebrating the return of 2 soldiers returning from Vietnam, eventually arresting everyone there.

By the end of the riots on Friday, July 28, 1967, 17,000 members of the armed forces & law enforcement had been deployed, 7,231 people had been arrested, 1,189 people had been injured, & 43 people had been killed, including 3 African-American men killed in cold blood by Caucasian police officers at the Algiers Motel on Tuesday, July 25, 1967.

Detroit is an absolutely gripping & incredibly heart-stopping look at one of the darkest moments in modern American history. The film solely focuses on the Algiers Motel incident & on the people who were involved in the incident. Melvin Dismukes (played by John Boyega) is an African-American security guard protecing a grocery store. Along with this job, he also works at a factory in Detroit. Meanwhile, Larry Reed (played by Algee Smith), the lead singer of R&B group The Dramatics, & his best friend, Fred Temple (played by Jacob Latimore) decide to stay at the Algiers until the riots blow over. While there, they meet two Caucasian women, Julie Ann (played by Hannah Murray) & Karen (played by Kaitlyn Dever), who inroduce them to their friends, Carl Cooper (played by Jason Mitchell), & Aubrey Pollard (played by Nathan Davis Jr.). When Carl & Aubrey pull a prank involving a starter pistol, Julie Ann & Karen become upset & move to the room of Robert Greene (played by Anthony Mackie), a Vietnam War veteran who has recently returned to Detroit.

Soon after, Carl fires several blanks at National Guardsmen, who return fire at the hotel. Dismukes, along with three Caucasian Detroit police officers: Philip Krauss (played by Will Poulter); Demens (played by Jack Reynor); & Flynn (played by Ben O'Toole), arrive at the scene. While Dismukes is calm & tries to protect everyone who wasn't involved, the three police officers line everyone at the hotel up, & brutally interrogate them.

Krauss is especially brutal. He is unapologetically racist & sexist, & he likes to play a sick game where he fires bullets from a rifle near the witnesses's heads, & threatens to kill them if they don't tell them who fired the gun. After the incident, three men at the motel were murdered, & the sleazy Attorney Auerbach (played by John Krasinski) tries to defend the police officers in the criminal trial.

The lives of the survivors are forever changed, & what they thought they would do in life before then is totally different after the incident.

The cast is the best of the year. John Boyega, most known for portraying Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, gives his best performance yet. While Star Wars: The Force Awakens made him a star, this film has showcased his excellent range as an actor.

Will Poulter's performance is surprisingly one of the best of the year. I say surprisingly since besides giving a brief dramatic performance in The Revenant, I am most familiar with his performance as the nerdy, anxiety-filled Kenny in the hilarious comedy We're the Millers. Here, Poulter really showcases his dramatic chops, & what he does with his performance is amazing. His character is one of the most evil characters in film history, & Poulter really makes us hate him so freaking much.

Algee Smith gives the best performance of the film. Before the incident, he's all about trying to make it big in the music industry, but afterwards, his decision to do that is forever changed. And Smith makes us feel nothing but sad for his character, because we knew what potential he had, & it is sad that he didn't go far because of how scarred he was over the incident. Smith definitely deserves an Oscar for his performance.

The rest of the cast, especially Latimore, Mitchell, Krasinski, Murray, Dever & Reynor, also give great performances.

Kathryn Bigelow, who is one of the best directors of her generation, & most well-known for directing The Hurt Locker & Zero Dark Thirty, has directed her best film yet. I commend her for bringing this story to light, as even I, who has grown up in the Detroit area & known a lot about the riots, never knew about this incident.

Mark Boal's screenplay is excellent. Boal, who has previosuly worked with Bigelow on The Hurt Locker & Zero Dark Thirty, has wrote his best script yet. The dialogue is amazing, & the real-life characters he has brought to the story are amazing as well, & feel so human. And the connections to race relations today are so scarily prevalent.

Barry Ackroyd's cinematography is chaotically excellent. Ackroyd, who tends to have a shaking camera, perfectly captures the chaos of the incident.

The editing by William Goldenberg & Harry Yoon is excellent. The film is perfectly paced & assembled, & it's some of the best editing of the entire year.

Jeremy Hindle's production design is amazing. The set of the film looks exactly like 1967 Detroit, & sadly, it looks like some parts of Detroit today.

And the sound design is incredible. For the entire second act of the film, the film is intensely loud, with gunshots riddling around & throughout the motel. The sounds heard during those moments are so jarring.

This is the best & most important film of the year so far. It certainly isn't an easy watch, but it is certainly an important one. This is a film that needs to be seen.

Detroit was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI, on Saturday, August 5, 2017. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 143 minutes, & it is rated R for strong violence & pervasive language.

The Little Hours

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Never have the Middle Ages been so gutbustingly hilarious.

The Little Hours has broken through boundaries that many comedies haven't broken recently, primarily religion. And those boundaries aren't just broken. Those boundaries are shattered again & again into millions of pieces by a 40-foot wrecking ball. And every single broken boundary is more hilarious than the last.

Loosely, & I really mean loosely, based on the 14th century novella collection The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, the film takes place at an Italian convent in the 14th century. The film mainly focuses on three nuns at the convent: Sister Alessandra (played by Alison Brie); Sister Fernanda (played by Aubrey Plaza); & Sister Ginerva (played by Kate Micucci). The three of them mainly spend their time gossiping about people, yearning to be with men, & verbally & physically accosting the gardener. And the three of them couldn't be more different: Alessandra is rich, preppy, & yearns to be taken away by her father, Ilario (played by Paul Reiser); Fernanda is vile & crazy; & Ginerva is somewhat childlike. However, they are all extremely emotionally unstable

Meanwhile, Masseto (played by Dave Franco), lives at a castle where he is a servant to Lord Buono (played by Nick Offerman) & his wife, Francesca (played by Lauren Weedman). Lord Buono primarily rants on & on about how the Guelphs are ruining everything, & when he doesn't do that, he verbally abuses his wife. In secret, Masseto has been having an affair with Francesca; however, when he is caught, Masseto flees, knowing that if Lord Buono finds him, he will be tortured in many vile yet humorous ways.

Thankfully, Masseto runs into Father Tommasso (played by John C. Reilly), the chronically drunk pastor of the convent, who is also involved in an affair with Sister Marea (played by Molly Shannon). Tommasso offers to have him stay at the convent as a handyman, but on one condition: Masseto must pretend to be deaf & mute, so as to not attract the nuns.

And so, Masseto begins to work as a handyman. But the women all begin to fall for him in their own way: Alessandra is infatuated with him; Fernanda wants to have sex with him while holding a knife to his throat; & Ginerva just likes him. But when Fernanda's friend Marta (played by Jemima Kirke) arrives, things become even crazier, just in time for Bishop Bartolomeo (played by Fred Armisen) to come to the convent & see how emotionally unstable the convent has become.

The cast is one of the best ever in a comedy. Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza & Kate Micucci are hilarious as the three nuns, while Dave Franco is building up his status as an excellent comedic actor. And John C. Reilly, Nick Offerman, Molly Shannon & Fred Armisen, who are some of the funniest actors alive, do some of their best work here. This may just be the best cast of the year.

Jeff Baena's direction is excellent. In a lesser director's hands, this wouldn't have been as funny. But with Baena at the helm, he takes what could've felt like a stretched-out sketch & makes it fit perfectly as a feature-length film.

His screenplay is also brilliant. The dialogue is some of the funniest in a long time, & the characters he has created are so crazily hilarious.

Quyen Tran's cinematography is amazing. For a comedy, this film is excellently shot, & the film is filled with amazing shots of the Italian landscape.

And Dan Romer's score is sublime. The acoustic guitar-driven score exhibits a calm mood, juxtaposing the craziness exhibited by the characters.

This is one of the best films of the year so far, & it's one of the funniest films I've ever seen. It goes to hilariously offensive comedic depths that many films haven't gone to recently.

The Little Hours was seen by me at the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI on Friday, August 4, 2017. It is in 2 theaters in the Detroit area: the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI; & the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, MI. Its runtime is 90 minutes, & it is rated R for graphic nudity, sexual content & language.

Atomic Blonde

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Action films have had somewhat of a renaissance lately. From John Wick to Mad Max: Fury Road, action films have become increasingly great.

And Atomic Blonde is definitely one of those films. Following along the lines of those aforementioned action films, this film has perfectly mixed style & substance unlike most other action films, which prioritize the former rather than the latter.

Based off of the 2012 graphic novel The Coldest City by Antony Johnson & Sam Hart & set in 1989 Berlin, the film focuses on Lorraine Broughton (played by Charlize Theron), a top MI6 agent. After fellow MI6 agent James Gascoigne (played by Sam Hargrave) is murdered by KGB agent Yuri Bakhtin (played by Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannsson), MI6 superior Eric Gray (played by Toby Jones) sends Lorraine into Berlin to retrieve The List, a list of all active field agents in the Soviet Union, which Bakhtin is in possession of, & she must also assassinate "Satchel," a double agent who betrayed Gascoigne & sold secrets to the Soviet Union.

Once she arrives in Berlin, she is met by David Percival (played by James McAvoy), a fellow MI6 agent & Lorraine's main contact. Lorraine finds out that the List is now in possession of Spyglass (played by Eddie Marsan), a Stasi agent who has also memorized the entire List.

Lorraine also meets Delphine Lasalle (played by Sofia Boutella), a naive French agent, & they eventually begin an affair. Also, she meets Emmett Kurtzfeld (played by John Goodman), a CIA agent. As this happens, Lorraine begins to become suspicious of Percival, believing he may be Satchel. But that is just the tip of the iceberg.

The cast is excellent. Charlize Theron is excellent again. At first, I noticed her American accent kept lapsing into her fake British accent (which she does an excellent job of perfecting it), but I eventually forgave it. James McAvoy, John Goodman, Sofia Boutella & Toby Jones also give great performances. Eddie Marsan's performance is the best of the film. Marsan, who I consider to be one of the most underrated British actors, perfects an East German accent & shows so much emotion just with his body language, especially as his character tries to defect from East Germany.

David Leitch's direction is excellent. As I mentioned before, the film perfectly mixes style & substance. And his control of the action sequences is masterful.

Kurt Johnstad's screenplay is brilliant. It's filled with so many twists & turns that I was practically glued to my seat. And the characters he has adapted are so bad-ass. He has perfectly adapted this film from the graphic novel.

Jonathan Sela's cinematography is absolutely stunning. Like many action films lately, the film has a few long-take sequences. And one particular long-take scene, clocking in at 10 minutes long, is probably one of the best action sequences of all time. And that scene, like many others in the film, is perfectly photographed by Sela.

The editing by Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir is amazing. Unlike many action films lately, which poorly use a frenetic & quick style of editing, this film doesn't do that, instead letting the shots go on for long enough, especially the 10-minute long take. The film is perfectly paced & assembled by Ronaldsdóttir.

Tyler Bates's score is excellent. The usage of a synthesizer in the score is put to absolute perfection & it amplifies the cinematic experience.

And the soundtrack is killer. The soundtrack uses a lot of excellent new wave music from the 1980's, including Blue Monday by New Order & 99 Luftballons by Nena. This is probably one of the 3 best soundtracks of the year.

This is one of the best action films of the decade so far. The action sequences are some of the best in recent memory, & having an excellent actress like Charlize Theron at the center of the film helps astronomically.

Atomic Blonde was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 on Saturday, July 29, 2017. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 115 minutes, & it is rated R for sequences of strong violence, language throughout, & some sexuality/nudity.

A Ghost Story

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Love. Time. Death.

We will encounter all three of those things in our lives, whether we want it or not.

Love is the thing we yearn for. Time is what we wish we had more of. And Death is what some of us fear most.

And all three of things are at the center of A Ghost Story, a beautifully-made masterpiece. The film focuses on a married couple: C (played by Casey Affleck) & M (played by Rooney Mara). C is a struggling musician, while M stays at home. They live in an old & small house in the suburbs. One night, they are disturbed by a noise near their piano, but they can't find the source of it.

Not long after, C is killed in a car accident outside their home. And after that, something out-of-the-ordinary occurs: C awakens & becomes a ghost, wearing a bed sheet with two holes for eyes, much like a Halloween costume.

He watches M grieve for days, weeks, months, & so on. Eventually, M moves out. C, devastated & stuck in the house, tries to find her again. And so, he embarks on a journey through time, looking through the past & future occupants of the house, all in search of finding M again.

The cast is spectacular. Affleck & Mara, who have previously worked together in 2013's Ain't Them Bodies Saints, build on that already excellent chemistry to the point where we feel like we're seeing a real couple on screen, & not actors.

Even with a ghost costume on for most of the film, you can still see the sadness in Casey Affleck in every frame after his death. His performance gives off a cold, but emotional aura, much like his performance for the ages last year in Manchester by the Sea.

Rooney Mara has steadfastly positioned herself as one of the best actresses at the moment. She exhibits grief in a way that we don't see a lot in cinema, especially in an 8 1/2-minute long scene where she consumes an entire chocolate cream pie in order to deal with her grief.

David Lowery's direction is phenomenal. Lowery has proven himself here as one of the best directors in independent cinema at the moment, & he directs the film with an aura reminiscent of the early films of Terrence Malick.

His screenplay is also excellent. The script feels so real & you can definitely understand the characters' feelings of love & loss.

And the cinematography by Andrew Droz Palermo is brilliantly crafted. Shot in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio like old TV sets, the aspect ratio makes us feel claustrophobic.

This is one of the best films of the year so far. To people who don't like slow films or 8 1/2 minute-long scenes of Rooney Mara eating pie, this is not for you. But if you like realistic portrayals of love & grief, this is a film for you. It's a perfect portrayal of love & loss.

A Ghost Story was seen by me at the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI on Friday, July 28, 2017. It is currently showing at 4 theaters in the Detroit area, including the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI & the AMC Livonia 20 in Livonia, MI. Its runtime is 92 minutes, & it is rated R for brief language & a disturbing image.

Valerian & the City of a Thousand Planets

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Until recently, I had never seen a film by the French director Luc Besson. All I knew about Besson is that his 1994 film The Professional was excellent, his 1997 film The Fifth Element & his 2014 film Lucy are both films you'll either love or hate, & most of his other films are not that good.

I will admit, I went into Valerian & the City of a Thousand Planets with mixed expectations: Peter Sobczynski of RogerEbert.com called it "a weirdo sci-fi epic for the ages", while Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter called it "your Razzie frontrunner." However, I wholeheartedly agree with Sobczynski; it's a delightfully quirky sci-fi masterpiece.

Based on the comic book series Valérian & Laureline by Pierre Christin & Jean-Claude Mézières, & set in the 28th century, the film focuses on Major Valerian (played by Dane DeHaan) & Sergeant Laureline (played by Cara Delevingne), special agents of the human police forces on Alpha, a space station where millions of creatures from different planets live in peace. Valerian wants to marry Laureline, but Laureline is wary of Valerian's womanizing ways.

One day, Valerian has a dream of an idyllic planet home to a humanoid race being destroyed by space debris. After the dream, him & Laureline are sent to save an animal from the dream called a converter.

Once they retrieve the converter & return to Alpha, the leader of the police force, Commander Filitt (played by Clive Owen), Valerian & Laureline are told of an unknown force infecting the ship, & that they must protect him.

Eventually, Valerian is kidnapped by the humanoids, & Laureline must set off to find him. As they eventually find each other, they team up with Bubble (played by Rihanna), a shapeshifting alien controlled by Jolly the Pimp (played by Ethan Hawke). But Valerian & Laureline eventually find a very sinister conspiracy involving the destruction of the humanoid planet.

The cast is spectacular. DeHaan & Delevingne have a lot of chemistry together, & they make a great duo. Rihanna also gives a great performance. Owen is commanding & fierce. But Ethan Hawke gives the best performance of the film. Hawke, who is one of the best actors of his generation, namely because of his performances in Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight, Boyhood, & Training Day, is cast dramatically against type here. His performance as the aforementioned intergalactic cowboy pimp is so delightfully over-the-top that you can't help but be entranced by it.

Luc Besson's direction is spectacular. You can see his brilliant directorial vision in every single frame of the film, & he adds a fun atmosphere to the film.

His screenplay is excellent as well. The world he has created from his screenplay is filled with such idiosyncratic characters that don't feel like caricatures.

Thierry Arbogast's cinematography is nothing short of wondrous. His camerawork is filled with so many wide shots with so many bright colors, & it's the best aspect of the film.

Julien Rey's editing is great. The film is perfectly paced, & nothing goes on for too long or not long enough.

The costume design by Olivier Bérot is amazing. The futuristic clothing worn by the characters are so impressively done.

The production design by Hugues Tissandier is spectacular. The sets are so immersive that you could just look at them for hours.

The sound design is also wonderful, with the sounds of the spaceships & explosions & battles being absolutely immersive.

And the visual effects are an absolute treasure. The CGI world created by the effects team is so effortlessly put to screen that they become another character themselves.

This is a film that most people will either love or hate. And as you can see from the two reviews I mentioned above, that definitely is the case. I definitely liked it though. It's a different type of sci-fi film that isn't really seen that often in cinema anymore.

Valerian & the City of a Thousand Planets was seen by me at the MJR Troy Grand Digital Cinema 16 in Troy, MI on Friday, July 28, 2017. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 137 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence & action, suggestive material & brief language.

Dunkirk

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

"We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas & oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence & growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields & in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender. And if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated & starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed & guarded by the British fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power & might, steps forth to the rescue & the liberation of the old."

Those famous words spoken in an amazing speech by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on June 4, 1940 after the 8-day long mass evacuation of 338,226 British soldiers off the beaches of Dunkirk, France, when only 30,000 were expected to be evacuated, showed that while wars aren't won by evacuation, the British would always stand their ground against the Nazi regime in World War II.

The evacuation is so excellently depicted in Dunkirk, the greatest war film ever made. Set over the 8-day period from May 26, 1940 to June 4, 1940, the film follows the evacuation through a tryptich (three perspectives): the people on the land, which takes place over one week; the people on the sea; which takes place over one day; & the people in the air, which takes place over one hour.

On the land, the perspective is shown through the eyes of five people: British Army soldiers Tommy (played by Fionn Whitehead), Alex (played by Harry Styles), & Gibson (played by Aneurin Barnard); Colonel Winnant (played by James D'Arcy), & Commander Bolton (played by Kenneth Branagh). Tommy was the only member of a group of several soldiers to make it to the beach, as the others were killed by unseen German soldiers. On the beach, he finds Gibson. Tommy & Gibson try to get off of the beach by carrying a wounded soldier on a stretcher to a ship, but they are denied passage. They decide to wait on the mole for the next ship. As the next ship arrives, they save Alex from being crushed by the ship. 

While they try to leave, Commander Bolton & Colonel Winnant discuss the matter at hand. Prime Minister Churchill has rejected surrender demands from the Germans, & is adamant that at least 30,000 soldiers be evacuated from the beaches. In order to evacuate as many as possible, he has declared that the British Navy requisition small vessels to help evacuate the men.

On the sea, the perspective is shown through the eyes of four people: mariner Mr. Dawson (played by Mark Rylance); his son Peter (played by Tom Glynn-Carney); Peter's friend George (played by Barry Keoghan); & a Shivering Soldier (played by Cillian Murphy). Although Mr. Dawson does cooperate with the British Navy, he, along with Peter, decide to take the boat themselves to Dunkirk, rather than let the Navy commandeer it. George decides to join impulsively, hoping to do something noteworthy. On their way to Dunkirk, they encounter the Shivering Soldier on the wreckage of his ship, as he was the only survivor of a U-boat attack. The Shivering Soldier is obviously shell-shocked. He, along with many others during the war, will never be the same.

Once the Shivering Soldier is on the boat, he asks where they are headed. Mr. Dawson tells him they are headed to Dunkirk, to which the Shivering Soldier becomes apprehensive towards. He obviously does not want to head back, as there is a good chance they will die. Mr. Dawson tells him that there's no hiding from it & that it is their job to rescue the stranded men.

In the air, the perspective is shown from the eyes of two people: Royal Air Force pilots Farrier (played by Tom Hardy) & Collins (played by Jack Lowden). They are to provide air support to the troops at Dunkirk, with adamant instructions to ration as much fuel as possible. Farrier's fuel gauge has malfunctioned, but he continues on. When a Luftwaffe plane shoots down the squadron leader, Farrier assumes command.

The cast is excellent. Hardy, Rylance, Murphy & Branagh give excellent performances as they always do, & I wouldn't be surprised to see them considered as Oscar contenders. But the best performances come from the two acting newcomers: Harry Styles & Fionn Whitehead. 

Styles, known for being the frontman of the boy band One Direction, surprised me with his stunning performance. I was apprehensive about his casting in the film, as I was not impressed with him during his time in One Direction, which I hate with a burning passion (although he is so much better as a solo artist). But alas, singing ability does not correlate with acting ability, & his performance is one of the best acting debuts in recent memory.

Whitehead, coming from relative obscurity (his only other acting credit being the 2016 British miniseries HIM), gives an excellent debut performance. Compared to a young Tom Courtenay by director Christopher Nolan, Whitehead exhibits an amazing force of tenacity not shown much in acting debuts. His performance is definitely the best of the year so far.

Christopher Nolan's direction is excellent, & this is by far his best film yet. Having directed a masterpiece every time he's been behind the camera, Nolan ditches his usual tactic of screwing with your mind for a different kind of war film. He called the film more of a suspense film, than a war film, & also stating that it doesn't concern itself with the bloody aspects of war. And I commend Nolan for that. Even without showing the graphic details of war, Nolan still makes this film so gripping & intense, & to be perfectly honest, it made me feel more tense than I felt when I watched Saving Private Ryan. Also, I commend Nolan for his idea to not show one single German in the film. Even without them being seen, they still give off an overwhelming sense of dread.

And Nolan's screenplay is also excellent. Even though there is not one single character that is the main focus, & even though all the characters have a limited amount of screen time, Nolan still develops them into characters we care about & that have flaws, making them the most genuinely human characters in a war film. And even with a purposefully limited amount of dialogue, Nolan still gives off a lot of emotion in the script.

The only word I can use to describe Hoyte van Hoytema's cinematography is "wow." Shot on IMAX 65mm & 65mm large format film stock & projected on 70mm film, Hoytema's camera work is almost a character itself. Every shot is immaculate, & this is definitely some of the best cinematography in years. 70mm is the best way to see this film, & you should try to see it in this format instead of digital projection.

Lee Smith, Nolan's go-to guy for editing his films since Batman Begins, has edited this film masterfully. Nolan compared editing this film, especially the aerial sequences, to a chess game. Well, he definitely must have decisively won that metaphorical chess game, as this film is perfectly paced & assembled.

Jeffrey Kurland, returning to work with Nolan for the first time since Inception, has made the costumes with an almost precise vision. The uniforms of the members of the British Armed Forces in the film look exactly how they did back in 1940.

Nathan Crowley, also Nolan's main guy for production design, modeled this film amazingly. Everything looks a lot like it did back in 1940, & the sets have done their job: they immersed us into the time the film is set in.

The sound design is impeccable. Every single gunshot, explosion, & engine sound is so immersive. And every sound is loud, especially the sounds of the battle sequences, which were so loud & jarring I was very shaken by it & I felt like I was right there with the soldiers.

Hans Zimmer, one of the best film composers of all time, & one of the best composers in general, has composed his best score yet. Having worked with Nolan since The Dark Knight, & having done an excellent job at composing at not only every film with Nolan, but at every film, Zimmer uses percussion & a recording of a ticking watch for his score, building up the already high amount of tension to a breaking point.

And the visual effects are stunning. Every sequence immerses you, & that's in no small part helped by the explosions of the bombs, torpedoes & missiles fired off.

This is by far the best film of the year so far. It's so tense, bombastic & chaotic, & it doesn't let you go from its tight grip through all 106 minutes of the film.

Dunkirk was seen by me at the AMC Forum 30 in Sterling Heights, MI on Friday, July 21, 2017. It is in theaters everywhere in digital projection, & it is showing in 70mm at the AMC Forum 30 in Sterling Heights, MI & the AMC Livonia 20 in Livonia, MI. Its runtime is 106 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for intense war experience & some language.

War for the Planet of the Apes

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

I'll admit, I didn't want to see any of the Planet of the Apes films at first. They never managed to interest me.

However, everyone started to praise War for the Planet of the Apes the moment the first preview screening ended. So I decided to look at the first 2 films: Rise of the Planet of the Apes, & Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Both films were absolutely amazing sci-fi epics.

At that point, I was sold on seeing this film. And it definitely did not disappoint one bit.

The film focuses once again on Caesar (played by Andy Serkis), who is leading a clan of intelligent apes in the woods in California. The clan is attacked by a military faction named Alpha-Omega, who has some apes in its service who were against Caesar & supported Koba (played by Toby Kebbell). Some Alpha-Omega members are captured by Caesar. Caesar releases them as a peace offering to the humans, & plans to relicate across the desert to stop the fighting. However, before that can be done, Colonel McCullough (played by Woody Harrelson), attacks the clan by himself. Enraged, Caesar, along with Maurice (played by Karin Konoval), Luca (played by Michael Adamthwaite), & Rocket (played by Terry Notary), leave to exact revenge on Colonel McCullough, who is at "the border."

Along the way, after killing a man who tried to shoot them, the apes encounter a young girl (played by Amiah Miller) who happens to be the man's daughter. The girl is mute, having suffered that fate due to the Simian Flu. Maurice names her Nova. Towards the border, they meet Bad Ape (played by Steve Zahn), a former ape at the Sierra Zoo who has obvious psychological damage due to bad treatment from humans. He has knowledge of "the border", stating that it was a "human zoo", which means a quarantine facility. The facility was originally a weapons depot, & is now a base for Alpha-Omega.

The Colonel reveals his bloodthirsty ways of dealing with people who carry the mutated Simian Flu, much to the horror of the apes, & will stop at nothing to kill the apes. Caesar has to set free the apes at any cost, & must rethink his morals & look at what he's become, fearing he's turned into Koba.

The cast is spectacular. Andy Serkis gives an Oscar-worthy performance, & if the Academy has a brain, they will nominate Serkis, which would be a surprise considering the Academy has gone against nominating actors in motion-capture roles. Woody Harrelson also gives a spectacular performance, making you despise him every moment he's on the screen.

Matt Reeves's direction is excellent. Having previously directed the excellent found-footage sci-fi film Cloverfield, the amazing horror remake Let Me In, along with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Reeves has directed his best film yet, & his excellent direction is especially shown off in the amazing action sequences that are the best of the year.

The screenplay by Matt Reeves & Mark Bomback is amazing. Creating an atmosphere of dread, sacrifice, & survival, Reeves & Bomback make the story extremely engaging, & make you support the apes & go against humans who are so cruel. They also make the characters so interesting & 3-dimensional, & they also put some amazing political, theological, & social allegories in the story as well.

The cinematography by Michael Seresin is excellent, putting you right into the action at every moment.

The editing by William Hoy & Stan Salfas is excellent. It doesn't use a lot of the frenetic cuts seen a lot in action films these days. Hoy & Salfas don't let any scenes go too quickly without us taking the scene in, & there are barely any continuity errors.

The sound editing & sound mixing are both amazing. Like the cinematography, they both make you feel like you're right in the middle of the action.

The visual effects are an absolute treasure. The motion capture used by the actors make the apes look so lifelike it's so startling.

And Michael Giacchino's score is absolutely beautiful. This score is definitely the best of his career, with the quiet sounds of the piano & other instruments really tugging at the heartstrings.

This is one of the 5 best films of the year so far. It's an absolutely emotional conclusion to an amazing trilogy, & deserves to be hailed as one of the best conclusions to a trilogy of all time.

War for the Planet of the Apes was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Tuesday, July 18, 2017. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 140 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi violence & action, thematic elements & some disturbing images.