Welcome to Marwen (2018)

I don't remember if it was the actual trailer or just some screencaps, but I remember as if it was yesterday seeing Steve Carell playing with those creepy dolls and thinking, "how does someone like Robert Zemeckis end up making something like that?". That was the exact moment I decided to pass Welcome to Marwen. Then it was featured on one of Cinematic Corner's Rambling Friday and it sounded so bad I had to check it out. 

The film tells the true story of Mark Hogancamp (Steve Carell) who was brutally assaulted by a group of white supremacists for admitting he wore women's heels. Having lost his ability to draw, Hogancamp created in his backyard a miniature World War II village called Marwen, which is filled with dolls corresponding to people he knows in real life, mostly strong women who have helped him in his recovery, as a coping mechanism and to create a more satisfying past for himself. 

Back to the Future Part III (1990)

Genre

Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi

Director

Robert Zemeckis

Country

USA

Cast

Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson, Lea Thompson, James Tolkan, Elisabeth Shue, Jeffrey Weissman, Flea

Storyline

Stranded in 1955, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) must travel to 1885 to rescue Doc (Christopher Lloyd) from death at the hands of yet another member of the Tennen clan. However, there are a number of complications preventing a quick return to the future: a lack of gasoline for the time-traveling DeLorean, a band of gunslinging outlaws and a schoolmarm (Mary Steenburgen) with affections for the smitten Doc.

Opinion

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I should have probably waited till Tuesday to review this film - October 27th. Unfortunately, I've just realized that, and since it's not 1985, it's not that big deal, is it?

Final chapter of a wonderful trilogy, Back to the Future Part III is an exciting and funny two-hour trip to the wild west that lives up to the original.

Following the events of Back to the Future Part II straight away, this film brings us back in time, providing a wonderful journey in the old west, without missing to quote some of the most famous western films.

One of the best things about it is the face off between past and present - or future, I don't know. It's funny to see Marty's reaction to the water that has been served to him - water that does look like mud -, or people in the Saloon thinking that Marty's Nike are Native Americans moccasins, or everybody laughing at Doc when he says that in the future people will walk just for fun because cars will be invented.

This time, the characters change a bit. While Tennen is still an asshole, and Marty is pretty much the same - perhaps a little less sentimental -, Doc faces some changes. While he still is a crazy, creative scientist, he has to deal with the most irrational event that could ever have occurred to him: falling in love at first sight.

I know that many consider this one the best entry in the trilogy, but I disagree, and the main reason lies in the lack of logic. In all the previous films, Doc never failed to point out the dangerousness of time traveling as it can change the present/future drastically. So, with Doc staying in 1885, isn't he going against all he said? And raising a family in the old west wouldn't rewrite the past and complicate the future? In Back to the Future, 1985 changed quite a bit for just a punch.

Once again in Marty McFly's shoes - and Seamus as well -, Michael J. Fox does a good job. Christopher Lloyd is magnificent, and more human than ever as Doc. Mary Steenburgen gives a wonderful performance as Clara. Good job also from Thomas F. Wilson.

Quotes

Marty McFly: Hey, Doc! Where you goin' now? Back to the future?

Doc: Nope. Already been there.

Back to the Future Part II (1989)

Genre

Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi

Director

Robert Zemeckis

Country

USA

Cast

Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas F. Wilson, Lea Thompson, Elisabeth Shue James Tolkan, Jeffrey Weissman, Crispin Glover, Flea

Storyline

Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) has only just gotten back from the past, when he is picked up by Doc (Christopher Lloyd) and sent through time to the future to resolve a few problems with the future McFly family. But when the two return home, they soon discover that the present is not as it was supposed to be.

Opinion

Where are we? When are we? asks Marty, to which Doc replies we're descending toward Hill Valley, California, at 4:29 pm, on Wednesday, October 21st, 2015. And here we are, October 21st, 2015, waiting for Marty McFly's arrive, so what a better moment to talk about this film? This kind of opportunity comes once in a lifetime. Once in the human existence actually.

Still having that magic feeling of the first installment, Back to the Future Part II is one great ride through time, as well as a really interesting and very well made sequel.

A few things I can say for sure. First, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale do really have a lot of imagination. Second, they took a hell of a risk making a film that requires the view of Back to the Future, otherwise the non-understanding of a multitude of things.

From the present to the future, back to the present, and then back to the past is what happens in a nutshell. So many things could have gone wrong here, but Zemeckis and Gale did a wonderful job, reproposing scenes from the old film seen from different angles, and thus offering a whole range of new scenarios to accommodate the variations of the new past.

Every paradox of time travel is explained very well in the film, and the dangerousness of meeting their other selves is embraced with clever-ish camouflages, chases and lot of suspense.

Michael J. Fox is a bit older and you can tell, but he is still our Marty, the charismatic, sympathetic guy we met back in 1985 - or was it 1955? How about Christopher Lloyd? I don't know, he is just spectacular as Doc, and Fox and him keep their characters as entertaining as they were before. Worth of a mention is Thomas F. Wilson, who is brilliant is the double role of Biff Tannen and Griff.

Quotes

Doc: Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.

Back to the Future (1985)

Genre

Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi

Director

Robert Zemeckis

Country

USA

Cast

Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Thomas F. Wilson, Claudia Wells, James Tolkan, Marc McClure, Wendie Jo Sperber

Storyline

The year is 1985 and Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), a typical American teenager, is accidentally sent back to 1955 in a plutonium-powered DeLorean invented by his good friend Doc Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd). Now Marty has to come to grips with being in the 50's and get his parents to fall in love to set straight the damage his presence has done to the events of the past.

Opinion

This film has recently turned 30 -- in Italy was actually released today thirty years ago, what a coincidence -- but the unbelievable thing is how well it aged, and its ability to deliver, every single time, the same feelings of the first time.

First chapter of un unforgettable trilogy, Back to the Future is a spectacular, entertaining, and exciting mixture of adventure, comedy, science fiction, and engaging events capable of making the viewer dream.

Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale's wonderful script mixes humour and unpredictability in a plot than is far from simple and obvious. Never boring, the story is exciting and upbeat and will keep the viewer glued to the screen from start to finish.

I think the point of the film lies in getting the viewer to understand how a simple action, or a simple word can change the outcome of one or more lives, which bring us to an inevitable question: how would the world be if time travelling was possible?

The ball scene when Marty plays Johnny B Goode leaving all the 1955 kids stunned is just epic. Also the soundtrack is spectacular.

The cast goes along with the film. Sympathetic, charismatic, and effervescent, Michael J. Fox is the perfect main character and really does a great job with Marty McFly. However, Christopher Lloyd is superb as the over-the-top mad scientist (the friend that every teenager, and non, would like to have). Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover both do a good job as Marty's parents.

Quotes

Dr. Emmett Brown: If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious shit.

Marty McFly: Whoa. Wait a minute, Doc. Are you trying to tell me that my mother has got the hots for me?
Dr. Emmett Brown: Precisely.
Marty McFly: Whoa. This is heavy.
Dr. Emmett Brown: There's that word again. "Heavy." Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull?

Forrest Gump (1994)

Genre

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Director 

Robert Zemeckis

Country

United States

Cast

Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Sally Field, Mykelti Williamson, Haley Joel Osment, Michael Conner Humphreys, Hanna R. Hall, Mary Ellen Trainor, Geoffrey Blake, Sonny Shroyer, Sam Anderson, Afemo Omilami, Marlena Smalls, Siobhan Fallon, Tiffany Salerno, Marla Sucharetza, Michael Jace, Michael Burgess, Dick Cavett

Plot

Born and raised in the fictional town of Greenbow in Alabama, Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks), a guy with a sub-normal IQ, discusses his life with a stranger waiting for the bus. Despite his IQ, Forrest leads a charmed life, with a ringside seat for many of the most memorable events of the second half of the 20th Century: he teaches Elvis Presley to dance, becomes a football star, meets John F. Kennedy, serves with honor in Vietnam, meets Lyndon Johnson, speaks at the anti-war rally at the Washington Monument, hangs out with the Yippies, defeats the Chinese national team in table tennis, meets Richard Nixon, discovers the break-in at the Watergate, opens a shrimping company, a decides to run back and forth across the country for several years.

Opinion

Forrest Gump is a masterpiece. It involves the main events in recent American history, analyzing themes such as family violence, racial or disability discriminations, pointlessness of war, danger of Aids and drugs, but also love and friendship. 

The performances of Tom Hanks (Academy Award winner for Best Actor), Gary Sinise (Academy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actor), Mykelti Williamson and Robin Wright are worthy.

Quotes

Forrest Gump: My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

Forrest Gump: Stupid is as stupid does.

Rating

10/10