'American Honey' is a Sweet Antidote for the Failing American Dream

British director Andrea Arnold left her home country for the United States for her first feature film set and shot outside of the United Kingdom, using her working class background to expose the life of a young American Honey and her desires for something greater. The Instagram-documentary-like film establishes a modern take on the pursuit of happiness with visuals and audio that invite you on the journey.

American Honey follows the life of Star (Sascha Lane), an 18 year-old girl stuck in a hopeless life assuming more responsibilities than she should, opening with her dumpster diving for food and attempting to hitchhike with two kids that aren't her own. Upon seeing a white van filled with a rambunctious crowd, she allows her curiosity to take over and follows them into a Walmart-esque store. There she meets Jake (Shia LaBeouf) with whom she is immediately hypnotized. Jake breaks out in to dance with his squad as “We Found Love” by Rihanna plays over the speakers before inviting her to join his comrades selling magazines door-to-door across the Midwest. After the minute of spontaneous excitement from meeting Jake, Star rushes home and returns the kids to their biological mother and drops her suffocating life, beginning to pursue her own adventure by joining the ragtag team of semi-delinquents to start an exhilarating life on the open road. Star finds her escape traveling cross-country working during the day and staying in motels and partying by night.

In several interviews the cast explains that Arnold and her casting directors traveled across America in search of their perfect characters. Sasha Lane, who plays the main character Star, was scouted on her spring break in Panama City Beach. With relatively little experience, she gives an exceptionally captivating performance as a tortured girl full of idealism and hopefulness for her modest future. Most of the cast was scouted in the same way. This type of casting allows the actors to be extremely genuine within their characters, which shows in the film from beginning to end. Two actors, however, already had extensive experience under their belt. Shia LaBeouf’s performance as the rat-tail wearing, slightly erratic Jake is one of his best performances in the last decade and one of the best at the Cannes Film Festival. The character Jake is so in tune with LaBeouf’s celebrity persona one can hardly tell the difference. Another stand out performance includes Riley Keough’s portrayal of the ruthless ringleader Krystal who embodies the phrase “if looks could kill.” The performances combined with the cinematography allow the audience to experience the world through Star’s eyes, getting to know best the characters she knows best.

The cast and crew travelled over 10,000 miles shooting on location collecting hours of road trip footage. Stand out Irish cinematographer Robbie Ryan closely captures intimate moments on the road and highlights the off-beat characters without inducing claustrophobia. With a 1:37:1 aspect ratio, the nearly square screen gives a home-movie feel pushing the story forward through snapshots of experiences rather than a traditional plot arc. Images of twisting hair, beautiful landscapes, and candid moments flood the screen for an over all feel good sensation, but the film tackles serious issues such as domestic abuse, morality, and income inequality to represent a world as dynamic and fascinating as the real one.

The “American Honey” soundtrack acts more as a mix tape rather than background noise; I found myself singing and dancing along in my movie theater seat wishing I was jamming out with the windows down. Arnold avoids an instrumental score and goes for a fantastic combination of recognizable tracks each song better than the next. Arnold incorporates a variety of genres including rap, hip-hop, country, and electronic, and by the end of the film we hear a repeat of Rihanna’s “We Found Love,” the group’s favorite, which could not have been a more perfect fit for the film. Hats off to the music supervisor. 

With a practically unrecognizable cast, a non-story plot, and a run time of 162 minutes, the success of Andrea Arnold’s fourth feature film American Honey seemed unlikely, but the Cannes Jury Prize winner immerses you deeply within the lives of the nomadic runaways leaving you wanting to feel the wind in your hair as you explore new lands.

Interview AMERICAN HONEY : Andrea Arnold, Shia Labeouf, Sasha Lane Riley Keough Subscribe to the Festival de Cannes channel: http://bit.ly/FestivaldeCannes-YouTube Our official website: http://www.festival-cannes.com Twitter : https://twitter.com/Festival_Cannes Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Festival-de-Cannes-Page-Officielle/197710070249937 Instagram: https://instagram.com/festivaldecannes Tumblr: http://festivaldecannesofficiel.tumblr.com/ ******************************************************** Abonnez-nous à la chaîne du Festival de Cannes pour ne rien rater de la Compétition: http://bit.ly/FestivaldeCannes-YouTube Le site officiel du festival de Cannes: http://www.festival-cannes.fr/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/Festival_Cannes Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Festival-de-Cannes-Page-Officielle/197710070249937 Instagram: https://instagram.com/festivaldecannes Tumblr: http://festivaldecannesofficiel.tumblr.com/

'Captain America: Civil War' is Pure Comic Book Bliss

After a fairly stagnant summer of mixed to positive reception to Marvel’s two artistic gambles that were Age of Ultron and Ant-Man, the Russo brothers return to the Marvel universe to once again shake it to its foundation after the triumph that was Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and what results is undoubtedly the greatest achievement that a shared universe like this can offer.

Eight years ago, when Tony Stark strapped on that hot-rod red ‘n' gold metal suit for the first time in Iron Man, something like Captain America: Civil War could’ve only been imagined as a glint in Nick Fury’s good eye. The phrase “the Avengers initiative” sounded like goofy nerd nonsense to most audiences in 2008, but it has become almost as ubiquitous as something like “Agent 007” or “May the Force be with you.”

And now after eight solid years of films and universe-building pieces locking into place, finally Marvel feel they don’t have to spend too much time introducing new ideas or characters because by now we’re so familiar with this universe and its inhabitants that it’s no longer necessary. The introduction of characters like Wakandan prince T’Challa (better known as the Black Panther) and Tom Holland as our third Spider-Man in 15 years feels so assured and effortless, it’s strange to recognize this is the first time we’ve met them in Marvel’s cinematic universe. Civil War operates like a true comic book event—a massive, multiple-issue arc that brings in characters both new and familiar to tell an expansive story that somehow maintains both coherence and intimacy in the midst of so much bombastic action.

After the disaster in Sokovia averted by the Avengers during Age of Ultron’s climax, Captain America and the rest are still galavanting around the globe, stopping the bad guys with little to no government oversight. That is, until an honest mistake by newbie Scarlet Witch forces the Avengers to finally face the scrutiny that’s been building among the people of the world since Loki and the Chitauri touched down in New York. Cap feels that the new “Sokovia Accords” will only hinder the team’s ability to do good since they’ve always proven to have the people’s best interests at heart, while his counterpart Tony Stark, plagued by the horrors his creation Ultron caused in Sokovia, thinks the Avengers need some accountability after the mayhem they’ve caused since he took up the mantle of Iron Man.

Like any compelling debate, both sides have great points, and one of Civil War’s greatest strengths is giving both Cap and Iron Man equal reason to righteously feel the way they do. With Marvel’s diligent planning out of the arcs each film should take, the seeds of this diametric opposition have been sown since Iron Man 3 showed us Tony’s post-traumatic reaction to New York and Winter Soldier turned Cap’s trust of the government completely on its head.

Civil War may boast the cast of an Avengers follow-up, but the film’s emotional crux is undoubtedly Cap and his relationship with comrade-turned-communist Bucky Barnes, a through-line begun in Winter Soldier that becomes the heart of Civil War’s conflict. Bucky is all Cap has left of his past life and he’ll do anything to protect him, even at the cost of abandoning his ties with Tony and his counterparts. Luckily for him he isn’t alone, and the various superheroes start forming along party lines, ultimately leading up to a direct confrontation where Cap and Iron Man’s teams have to decide if they really want to punch each other after all they’ve been through together.

The resulting decision to come to blows is where things start to ascend into jaw-dropping spectacle. The showdown of Team Cap and Team Iron Man on the abandoned tarmac is something comic book geeks could’ve only imagined in their wildest fantasies a few years ago, but here it is as the zenith of pure popcorn entertainment. Spider-Man zips around, popping off quip after quip, while Black Panther locks claws with the Winter Soldier; it’s sheer bliss even if we don’t want to see anybody seriously hurt.

Ultimately this desire is what makes the face-off that follows it infinitely more compelling. The long-teased slugfest between Cap and Iron Man is exciting on paper but absolutely devastating to witness, as two friends come to blows in an absolutely heartbreaking moment that shifts this cinematic universe for good.

Captain America: Civil War is an achievement only hinted at in previous Marvel movies, and to see it come to glorious fruition is absolutely mind-blowing. Robert Downey, Jr. turns in his best performance since the first Iron Man, as he’s asked to run an emotional gamut from his standard cocksure, quippy playboy, to a resigned, guilt-ridden participator in the Accords, and ultimately into a wounded child who can only lash out in frustration at the betrayal he’s been faced with. It’s not perfectly paced and has some seriously bad shaky cam/action choreographing in its opening moments, but it’s ultimately the film’s compelling characters that steer Civil War into “best ever” superhero film territory.

'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' Is a Disasterpiece of Epic Proportions

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a film done half by committee and half by a hack filmmaker, resulting in one of the most baffling tentpole blockbusters in recent memory. 

For all of Man of Steel's issues, there was at least a semblance of hope that dealing with the fallout of Superman's destructive battle in Metropolis would provide an interesting crux for a showdown between comics' two most iconic heroes. Instead Warner Bros. and Zack Snyder don't really shoot themselves in the foot so much as they take a shotgun blast to both kneecaps before this franchise has even truly begun.

To every comic fan out there, these characters probably couldn't be less recognizable, which ends up feeling like a huge miscalculation. And while making such darker and grittier choices when it comes to our titular heroes isn't necessarily a death sentence for a franchise, failing to make an interesting or coherent story certainly should be. For all of the promise that a clash between these two titans should entail, the conflict disappointingly takes a back seat to a mishmash of setups for future movies while failing to have a compelling story or characters of its own.

Even at two and a half plus hours, DC's obsessive desire to catch up with the world-building of Marvel's Avengers means BvS ends up more bloated than a dead whale, covered in pustules meant to tease (or threaten) even more of this tripe. Not to mention it manages to both cram in and bungle some of DC's most iconic comic book runs before we've even had a chance to know or come to like these characters at all.

Everything leading up to the promised battle is..."experimental" editing, we'll call it... where any vestige of film logic simply evaporates almost as soon as it appears. Scenes with virtually no relation appear in sequence with no rhyme or reason (or establishing shots) and it makes following the plot or grasping the buildup towards the climax a Superman-sized feat. And when the two finally do come to blows and the movie starts flailing towards something interesting, the tension is deflated like a sad sigh escaping a wet balloon, which then devolves even further into CGI mayhem and one of the most dramatically underwhelming attempts at emotion in a comic book film to date.

But it would truly take a Herculean effort to reconcile the giant misstep that has been Henry Cavill's Superman. Instead of giving Cavill a single chance to make himself likable after a muted showing in Man of Steel, screenwriters Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer instead double down on the hemming and hawing that is Superman's Christ complex, refusing to give him a single moment of likability or humanity. His laughably unearned relationship with Amy Adams' Lois Lane is still utterly uncompelling and Lois once again never rises above a plot device when their relationship ought to be the warm heart of the film. 

And if Cavill's Superman hits a bum note, his supposed foil is an absolute flatline. Even if Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor was just a more neurotic and eccentric mad scientist than his shrewd businessman counterpart in the comics, it still wouldn't excuse this film's muddled attempt at a motivation for his evil machinations. Luthor's reasoning for pitting the heroes against each other flabbergastingly changes or simply isn't explained and every one of Eisenberg's fidgety attempts to get something meaningful out of the material does not click whatsoever. 

If any character makes it relatively unscathed after this movie's thrashing it's Ben Affleck's Batman, even if he’s transformed from a principled vigilante with a code into a murderous, grim old bastard who doesn’t mind branding his victims so they’ll be viciously killed in prison (seriously). While certainly landing amongst the better film portrayals of the Caped Crusader, it's an unfortunate fact that most of the Batman material here is a less interesting retread of what has come so many times before. For all of Snyder and crew's ass-kissing of Frank Miller's classic The Dark Knight Returns, it would've been nice to use that grizzled incarnation of Batman to explore events in his past never portrayed before onscreen. There's only so many times you can feel something as Thomas and Martha Wayne are gunned down in the street and BvS hardly does anything different in the Bat's backstory (are we 100% sure the scene where young Bruce falls in a well isn't the exact same footage from Batman Begins?). Even Batman's most interesting action sequence where he chases down an armored truck is cheapened when the realization sets in that Christopher Nolan did this so much better barely even eight years ago. 

As for Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman... she's there. She fights. She does some fairly inconsequential Justice League exposition... wait, why was she here again? To just remind us she has a moving coming out next year? Is this whole movie just a DC infomercial?

There's a fascinatingly great superhero tale buried within Batman fighting Superman that should truly stimulate our superhero consciousness, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has the unfortunate task of having to balance that interesting story with building an entire cinematic universe over the course of a few hours. For those fleeting moments where our heroes do trade blows there's a spark of movie magic that no hack or studio exec could ever screw up, but it's buried under a two hour mess that tries to cram "DC's Greatest Hits" into a dour, colorless romp of unlikable characters. Not all superhero movies have to be colorful or funny, but at least give us a dramatically satisfying story if we're to hop onboard another extended universe.

Batman vs Superman Dawn of Justice Official Trailer #3 US | Subscribe: http://bit.ly/1O5lo1q | Offizieller German / Deutsch Kinostart: 24 März 2016 Zack Snyder's BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE is in theaters March 25, 2016.