Beetlejuice

"Go ahead, make my millennium."

Adam (Baldwin) and Barbara (Davis) Maitland die in a car accident.  Despite their deaths, they are still decorating their home and trying to make the best of their situation.  Their idyllic afterlife is jeopardized when their home is sold.  The new owners, Charles (Jones) and Delia (O'Hara) Deetz are very different from the Maitland's.  Charles wanted a home away from the city to relax, and Delia is sculptor looking to change everything about the house.

As Delia and her designer Otho (Shadix) start changing the house, Adam and Barbara get desperate.  They have a "Handbook for the Recently Deceased" and a case worker, Juno (Sidney), but ultimately they are forced to deal with the Deetz's alone.  Charles and Delia can't see them, and are not scared by their efforts.  However, Charles' daughter Lydia (Ryder) notices their actions and is fascinated by them.  Adam and Barbara find an advertisement for a bio-exorcist, Betelgeuse (Keaton), who guarantees results.  Can they find a way to get rid of the Deetz's before they are exorcised from their home?


This was the first Tim Burton film to feature the dark and weird tropes that would populate the majority of his future films.  This was his second time in the director's chair.  After the success of his directorial debut, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, he was considered a bankable director and was able to select his next film.  He was intrigued by Michael McDowell's script for Beetlejuice, a dark and serious story.  The studio hired Larry Wilson to help rewrite the script and give it a little more comedy.  For the screenplay, they were replaced by Warren Skaaren.  Ultimately the film is dark comedy with lots of stylized details.

Despite being the title character, Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice is only in about 18 minutes of the film.  He is disgusting (physically, as well as his actions) and over the top, and yet, he is a fascinating character.  Keaton is clearly having a ball, and has stated that this is his favorite film/performance.  Keaton also starred in Burton's next film, Batman (and it's sequel Batman Returns).  Adam Baldwin and Geena Davis are the yuppie couple turned ghosts... they are the most normal characters, while also getting some of the more interesting visual effects (such as when they mold their faces to scare the Deetz's).  Winona Ryder is dark and moody as Lydia, but is also the most rational character.  Ryder starred in two more Burton films: Edward Scissorhands and Frankenweenie.  Jeffrey Jones is the stressed out Charles, while Catherine O'Hara is his artistic wife Delia.  They play off each other well and are a good juxtaposition to the ghost (as well as their marriages).  Jones reunited with Burton in Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow, while O'Hara has appeared in Frankenweenie (she also was involved in Nightmare Before Christmas, which Burton wrote but did not direct).

The ghost world is setup like a doctor's office, where everyone is waiting for their number to be called.  All of the ghosts, with the exception of the Maitland's, show how they died... for example, a magician's assistant is in 2 separate pieces and a man is flat with visible tire marks from where he was run-over by a car.  Everything is stylized and some places features stop-motion animation.  At the time this was very unique, but looking at it now, it is clearly a Burton film (has the same visual style as other Burton films).

The film is a nice mix of creepy and funny (like most future Burton films) and interesting enough to keep you entertained.

The film was a success, and lead to a cartoon TV show focused on Beetlejuice and Lydia that ran from 1989 to 1991.  And since the 1990s, Burton has talked about making a sequel.

Beetlejuice (1988) 92 minutes
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Alec Baldwin as Adam Maitland
Geena Davis as Barbara Maitland
Jeffrey Jones as Charles Deetz
Catherine O'Hara as Delia Deetz
Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz
Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse
Annie McEnroe as Jane Butterfield
Glenn Shadix as Otho
Sylvia Sidney as Juno

Passengers

"If you live an ordinary life, all you'll have are ordinary stories."

The starship Avalon is transporting a 5,000 colonists and 200 crew members to the planet Homestead II to start new lives.  The journey takes 120 years and everyone is in hibernation pods, while the ship is on autopilot.  When the ship encounters a meteor storm, the ship is damaged and passenger Jim Preston (Pratt) is woken from his pod.  The ship comes to life around him, but the rest of the passengers and crew are still in hibernation.  As he wanders around the ship seeking answers, he learns that they are still 90 years away from Homestead II.  He can't access the pods of the crew members or the bridge of the ship, and his message back to earth will take decades to reach it's target.

Jim is a mechanic, and he spends the next year learning everything he can about the systems on the ship.  He also overrides the system to upgrade his room.  He is depressed and spends his evenings in talking to the robot bartender, Arthur (Sheen).  Everything changes when he stumbles across the pod of writer Aurora Lane (Lawrence).  He falls in love after watching her video profile and reading everything she wrote.  He decides to wake her up so that he isn't alone.  Aurora is devastated to learn that they are still 89 years from the planet, but begins to bond with Jim.  As the ship starts malfunctioning around them, can Jim and Aurora find a way to fix the ship and save their sleeping cohorts?


In 2007 Jon Spaihts wrote this film.  His screenplay was featured on the Blacklist of best unmade scripts.  It took years to come to the screen, and in 2015 director Morten Tyldum was attached to the project.

This film is visually stunning.  The ship, both internally and externally, is fascinating.  The external design is interesting and unique.  The interior resembles the ships in many other space TV shows and movies, while still adding some unique elements.  The bar and restaurants feel like something you could find on earth, with the exception of the robot staff.  The gym and dance games are fun, and the pool is really cool.  All of the rooms in the ship give the characters things to do, while still reminding the audience that they are on a ship and have limited options.

The characters are interesting.  Despite focusing on 2 characters, with some interactions with the bartender, you want to see what will happen next.  The ship is essentially a character, and is introduced first... including a brief overview of the rooms and the number of inhabitants.  After the storm, Chris Pratt's Jim is introduced.  They show him interacting with the ship's systems, including his desperate call to earth... but he doesn't talk much, other than to Michael Sheen's Arthur, until Jennifer Lawrence appears.  Lawrence's Aurora reacts to the situation the way most people would... but also makes the most of the time she has.  Pratt and Lawrence are compelling on their own, and are very good together.  Sheen continually makes you forget that his character is an android, and makes you feel at ease throughout.  There are a few other characters that pop up, but none are on screen long enough to leave the same impression on the audience as Pratt and Lawrence.

The story has a little bit of everything.  It is a "lost-in-space" kind of film... but Pratt stuck in space alone.  It has high tech inventions and computers.  There is action and peril (that is earned), and a romance that isn't rushed.  I definitely recommend this film.

Passengers (2016) 116 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for sexuality, nudity and action/peril
Director: Morten Tyldum
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence as Aurora Lane
Chris Pratt as Jim Preston
Michael Sheen as Arthur
Laurence Fishburne as Chief Gus Mancuso

Doctor Strange

"While heroes like the Avengers protect the world from physical dangers, we sorcerers safeguard it against more mystical threats."

Dr. Stephen Strange (Cumberbatch) is a top neurosurgeon.  He is highly acclaimed and has a long list of potential clients, but he is only interested in the most interesting and difficult cases.  On the way to an event, he is in a car accident.  He survives, but his hands are badly injured.  Despite the efforts of his colleagues, including his ex-girlfriend Dr. Christine Palmer (McAdams), his hands are stiff and shaky.  Desperate to get his hands and career back, he seeks Jonathan Pangborn (Bratt), a paraplegic who made a miraculous recovery.  Pangborn sends him to Kamar-Taj to seek the Ancient One (Swinton).

In Kamar-Taj, he meets the Ancient One and learns about a new reality and magic.  He stays in Kamar-Taj to learn sorcery, in hopes that it can help cure his hands.  He is guided by Baron Karl Mordo (Ejiofor), a sorcerer who was trained by the Ancient One.  He also reads as much as possible from the library, under the strict tutelage of Wong (Wong).  But his studies are interrupted by the threat of Kaecilius (Mikkelsen), a sorcerer who is disillusioned with the Ancient One and her practices.  Kaecilius and his followers are serving Dormammu, who rules the Dark Dimension, and want to bring him to our world.  Can Strange and the other sorcerers stop Kaecilius and save the world?


This is the 14th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  It is the second film in Phase 3 of the MCU, following Captain America: Civil War.  This film introduces magic to the MCU and does not include characters from the previous film (until the scene in the closing credits).

Marvel hired horror director Scott Derrickson to direct.  Derrickson lobbied for the role and was hired, based on his 12-page scene of Dr. Strange fighting on the astral plane while a doctor works to save his physical body.  The film was written by Derrickson, Jon Spaihts, and Robert Cargill (who frequently worked with Derrickson) and focuses on the origin of the character.

Dr. Strange was created in 1963 by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee.  He was modeled on actor Vincent Price.  The character received his own comic in the late 1960s and later partnered with the Avengers and Defenders.  This is the second live-action Dr. Strange film, following Dr. Strange in 1978 with Peter Wooten and Jessica Walter.  The character also starred in a direct-to-video animated film Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme in 2007.

Visually, the film is stunning.  It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.  It's visual effects were honored with nominations (and some wins) from numerous award shows.  They effects team had to create the look of the magic, along with other realms.  You can't look away and want to see what will pop up next.

The story is interesting as are the characters.  All of the characters come from the comic, but a few were changed.  They changed the sex and the race of the Ancient One, here portrayed by Tilda Swinton.  They also changed the role of Wong, here portrayed by Benedict Wong.  Wong is Strange's valet in the comics, but for the film, he is a teacher/librarian.  Kaecilius appears in the comics, but the version in the film, played by Mads Mikkelsen, is a combination of other Strange villains.  Benedict Cumberbatch puts on an American accent and is game for anything that comes his way as Dr. Strange.  He is set to appear in the more MCU films, including the next Avengers film.  Chiwetel Ejiofor is impressive in the fight sequences and compelling beyond that.

It is an interesting and enjoyable film, and I'm intrigued to see how they will use the character (and magic) in subsequent MCU films.

Doctor Strange (2016) 115 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action throughout, and an intense crash sequence
Director: Scott Derrickson
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Karl Mordo
Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer
Benedict Wong as Wong
Mads Mikkelsen as Kaecilius
Tilda Swinton as Ancient One
Michael Stuhlbarg as Nicodemus West
Benjamin Bratt as Jonathan Pangborn