This talented actress has a large (mostly indie) filmography which includes:
​Room
Trainwreck
21 Jump Street
Short Term 12 
The Spectacular Now
Don Jon
The Gambler
Hoot

With all of these accomplishments, Larson finally received an Oscar for her role in Room.  If you have not seen Room, you should definitely see it as soon as possible.  In her previous films, Larson has portrayed herself as a caring and deeply relatable actress in the public image.  All of her roles seem so real and heartfelt, and she is one of the most genuine celebrities on the screen today.  However, most of her past roles have been in the independent film scene.  Finally, it appears that Larson will be appearing in some bigger roles.  So the question is:  Will she lose her relatability with the audience?

Two recent announcements worry me a bit about her celebrity status.  First, she appeared in a trailer for Kong: Skull Island at SDCC.  This will be the first film where she is surrounded by such high caliber actors ranging from John Goodman to Samuel L. Jackson.  All I wish is for this film to be good and still able to portray Larson and the other actors as genuine characters.  Clearly, the King Kong movie is a blockbuster that could turn out fine, but there is always the chance of a blockbuster busting.

The second announcement that also worries me is Brie Larson's casting in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Announced as Captain Marvel, Larson has a lot of work ahead of her with the MCU.  The problem here is that it could take her away from more independent roles where she shines so brightly.  I am proud that the actress who I wanted to earn an Oscar so badly is finally hitting big roles with big studios.  Of course there could be downsides to these castings, but I believe she will still bring along a portrayal of authenticity and relatability.  All we can do now is hope for the best!

Image credit: ​By dorothy - Brie Larson @ the SXSW premiere of Don Jon, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46550464

For now, we all remember Lance Armstrong and his fight against cancer through Armstrong bracelets.  We also remember his fall from fame when it was discovered that he was doping after years of telling the public he never used steroids.  This film reminds us of his legacy and his shocking confession to the press.  Just as Lance cycled his way to seven Tour de France wins, the film moves at a ridiculously quick pace jumping through more than a decade of material in an hour and a half.  The jumpy cutting detracts from the film as the viewer is constantly distracted with odd side stories.  For example, a small portion of the story reflects on Floyd Landis's past and his religious family's values.  The Program never expands on the subject and it acts as a half-assed background story for a character that barely matters.  Other quick side-tracking stories plague the film with content that could have been replaced with practical content.

The acting throughout the film seems well-researched on everyone's part except for Ben Foster (Lone Survivor).  Personally I have not seen a lot of Armstrong's press conferences or public appearances, but Foster felt awkwardly placed in the role.  The other actors are more authentic and naturally take on their characters.  Jesse Plemons (Bridge of Spies) and Chris O'Dowd (Calvary, St. Vincent​) really stand out in their roles.  Plemons and O'Dowd both create the bridge for the audience to connect with the story and characters.  Unfortunately, Foster is not relatable in any sense of the word.

I recall watching a documentary on the Tour de France on an Imax screen quite a few years ago.  The Program has very similar camera shots to that documentary.  One of the early scenes in the film really struck me as the camera follows a bicyclist on a straight path, moving at the same speed as the bicyclist.  The shot is smooth and flowing, as if we are on the bike ride right next to the racer.  One other neat convention used is a vertical tilt during a mountain scene.  The audience is put on the edge of the mountain with the riders, feeling unstable and insecure.  This shot and so many more create a spectacle of adrenaline that kept me in fear of crashing as many of the bikers do at the large race.

The Bottom Line:  This film jumps around a lot in a short period of time, feeling unfocused and often unstable.  Yet, the cinematography is still a smooth and flowing spectacle.   

Score:  7.8/10   

Image credit: ​http://cdn1-www.comingsoon.net/assets/uploads/gallery/untitled-lance-armstrong-cycling-project-1386388200/11037811_1588410554744529_2099016994877134401_n-1.jpg

eThis film struck me because of its unique style, one that I cannot say I have seen before in a film.  From the very beginning of the film, we are thrown straight into a story that started a long time ago.  When Glen Hansard's (The Commitments) character is heartbroken by his girlfriend, he flees to Dublin where he busks and works at his father's vacuum repair shop for a living.  During this time, Marketa Irglova's character stumbles upon him while she is walking along the streets.  From there, the story unravels in a quick manner through a small amount of dialogue and a large amount of music.

The score of the film is heartfelt and emotional, tugging at the empathy of the viewers.  Overall, the film is a long form music video that is glorified beyond MTV.  Over the course of one hour and twenty-five minutes, there are over five original compositions to enjoy.  Most of the pieces are slow but continue to progress the storyline until the very last minute.  By the last minute, I was ready to grab a bowl of ice cream and listen to the soundtrack all over again.  After all, Hansard's composition, "Falling Slowly," rightfully won an Oscar for the film.  Irglova's voice must also be commended in the song with her playful harmonization of Hansard's voice.  I am disappointed that the score was not nominated for Best Original Score, but I guess the film flew a bit under the Academy's radar because of its independent method.  After seeing Begin Again, Sing Street and Once, John Carney has proven to be a talented music-based film director who will likely shine on with future additions to his filmography.

Begin Again and Sing Street act as really well made music indie films, but Once stands out from the other two because of the way it is shot.  Rather than using typical film conventions, Carney refers to a reality television filming style.  The film angles are often placed in a candid situation and everything we see looks real.  At first I thought that I had turned on the wrong film because of the raw material on the screen.  At one point, there was a shot through a window that included the glare of the window.  Carney seems to have intentionally scrapped a lot of the post-film editing so that we could join the characters in their daily living situation.  There are multiple long takes as we follow them through a shaky handheld camera.  So many other diverse filming conventions are used throughout the film.  These conventions may sound like a negative for a film, but this love story cuts deep into our souls because of this realism.  It has been a long time since I have watched something so unique and soulful as Once is.

The Bottom Line:  Raw footage and diverse filming conventions harmonize together to create a realistic, serene film which put Carney on the map as a brilliant indie music film director.

Score: 9.7/10     

Image credit: http://images1.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Once-movie-stills-once-832293_600_280.jpg

Winning by one vote, Star Trek (2009) takes the win for this year's Star Trek Week.

I enjoyed creating this poll and hope to do it again with more voters.  This year, the poll only got three votes (two for Star Trek (2009) and one for Star Trek Into Darkness​) but in the future we can probably get more participation.  Stay tuned for more interactive features on the blog post and let me know in the comments or any other social media method if you have some cool ideas to make the blog more interactive.

Here are some buddy film recommendations for you to watch with your buddies this week, which ends with the International Day of Friendship:

1.  Superbad:  This outrageous comedy puts a group of friends together for a whole night of craziness and mishaps.

2.  Rush Hour:  This film pairs Jackie Chan with Chris Tucker as they rolick around trying to solve a crime that they stumble upon.

​3.  The Nice Guys:  This 70s-stylized film pairs Russell Crowe with Ryan Gosling, both of which have had some hard days as detectives in Los Angeles. 

4.  Men in Black:  Kick some alien a** with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in this somewhat dated action comedy.

5.  Wedding Crashers:  Take some time to crash a few weddings with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, but make sure you don't get too close to the bride and groom.

6.  Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure:  If you want to sit through a history lecture, you might as well do it with Bill and Ted.

7.  50/50:  You may laugh and you may cry, but it'll be a good time with Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

And finally, the featured pick of the week:

8.  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid:  This is my favorite Western film and it could be yours as well, so give it a viewing.  This is also a great film to watch with a group of posses, so call up your friends for a special screening!

Image credit: http://uploads.neatorama.com/images/posts/91/87/87091/1450931663-0.jpg

Here's a special edition review for this Saturday:

Well, I finally made it out to see Star Trek Beyond.  I was very excited in my Spock uniform, but I came out of the film with quite a bit of disappointment.  This film is not a terrible Star Trek film, but it is definitely my least favorite of the reboot series.  With a new director, Justin Lin's take on the franchise falls short of exciting and leaves a dry storyline hanging on the edge of the Star Trek universe.  This is a film that in my mind will be forgotten because of its lame script and lack of ethos.  

Unlike a lot of the other Star Trek films, the crew is split into groups for most of Beyond.  Each of the characters are stuck in a different circumstance.  Spock and Bones have the best written parts courtesy of Simon Pegg and the other writers.  The other characters just muddle along trying to solve their isolation problems.  Credit should be given to Sofia Boutella for her portrayal of the badass alien, Jaylah.  It is also interesting to see that Jaylah surprisingly is not forced into any sort of love story with any of the crew.  One other addition to the cast is of course the great actor, Idris Elba.  Elba plays the big bad guy in this one with his performance as Krall.  Unfortunately, the character is a lame villain who struggles to captivate an audience.  Elba feels wasted in the role and stuck with a character that is powerful but dumbed down with desolate backstory.

One thing that I have to include in this review is the fact that this film is still comparable to the original series.  The story feels episodic, but lengthened into a feature film.  There is a massive score, graphic excellency, and detailed effects.  Really, it is a beautiful film with some obscure shot angles.  The story just is forgettable and emotionally destitute.  By the end of the film, I no longer care about the characters that I have grown to love.  It is going to take a lot of backtracking for me to enjoy the next installment as much as I enjoyed the first two films!

The Bottom Line:  Most of the technical aspects are what we expect from the reboot series, but the story is lame and muddled down with a boring script.

Score: 7.5/10

I realize that I have not done a monthly update in quite some time so let's have a chat about a few things.  I encourage everyone to read all the way through this post.  I know that is a hard task to ask with most of our short attention spans.

1. Star Trek Week
That's right, this week I'm trying out a focused set of posts based around Star Trek.  The franchise has become so big that I thought it would be fun to watch a lot of the films before the new one comes out.  In the future I may do similar things with other franchises, but we shall see if there is any sort of response to this week's subject matter.  Currently, I am planning on viewing Star Trek Beyond tomorrow night at a "midnight" (actually 8:30PM) screening.  Don't forget to vote for your favorite Star Trek ​movie by clicking right here.  The winner will be crowned on Monday (7/25).

2. Theater Reviews  
This is a new segment that I thought would be fun to do after my road trip from San Jose to Tacoma.  I had a blast hiking around with friends on the trip, while also getting to sit in two theaters that I had never been to before.  With so many theaters around, it can be fun to explore the nooks and crannies of the cinema world.  I have encountered many different venue styles, some good and some bad.  To read about my cinema explorations, you can refer to my ranked listing if you click on the "Theaters Reviewed List" tab.

3. Guest Reviews and Comments
As always, I encourage any aspiring writers to help me out by sending me any movie blogging subject matter they want.  I will read through it and promptly post it onto the site assuming I am comfortable with it.  I can credit you with name recognition or cite you as anonymous.  At this point, I want some more perspectives on the blog.  I currently have no compensation to offer you (this site has made $10 in 11 months), but blogging is fun and rewarding.  To submit any sort of content you can send you post to [email protected] and I will review it for posting.  I check the email everyday so it is likely you will see your post on the site within 24 hours.

4. Money Money Money
As previously stated, the site has made $10 in 11 months.  If you are confounded so am I...  Blogging is not an easy way to make money, but it is still rewarding.  In order to fund my activities to keep the content fresh, I encourage donations but of course do not require anyone to donate.  As you can see, I still do not have a domain and must continue to use Weebly's free hosting because of a lack of funding.  I am trying out new ways to gain any sort of funding and it just seems close to impossible.  There are ads on the site which are never clicked on considering there is ad-blocking software that everyone has.  Personally, I hate to even have the ads up because they clutter the blog with useless and obnoxious imagery.  Unless people make donations through the donation form, it is unlikely that the ads will be deleted.  If a steady stream of donations were to come in, then the ads would be taken down at my discretion.  That being said, check out the donation page.  I have added perks such as a shout-out for $3 or mystery swag for $15.  Mystery swag would be pretty cool to get and I have a lot to give!  Of course, you can donate whatever you are comfortable with donating though and I hope you do.  Donations show me that there is value to this site and incentivizes me to write more.  Click here for a direct link to the donations page.

For now,
​Read what you like and watch what you want,
Zach 

Star Trek has been a celebrated franchise since its inception.  Multiple storylines and spin-offs were created from the original series, as the show gained more and more of a following.  Now, there is a new reboot series and a new television show set to come out soon based on the original series.  I figured that the best way to truly go back and embrace the Star Trek universe was to watch the first film ever created for the franchise.  I watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture for the first time last night and came out of the experience with a bit of disappointment.

At first, I was extremely impressed by the science fiction scenery involved in the space series.  The USS Enterprise looked elaborate and all of the space scenes were visually detailed.  The film came out in 1979 and a lot of the scenes looked as though they could still fit into a new movie.  At times, the psychedelic colors remind me of a Pink Floyd laser show I saw a few years ago.  Technically, this film is brilliant with an accompanying score reminiscent of a classical symphony.  Robert Wise (The Sound of Music​) creates imagery that reminds me of 2001: A Space Odyssey.  In fact, Star Trek: The Motion Picture loses my attention for the same reason that I lost my attention with Kubrick's film.  The cinematography is definitely not to blame for my disappointment, rather the pacing and entertainment value is.

The film is slow, draggy, and void of action.  If you have seen 2001: A Space Odyssey​, then you have basically seen this Star Trek film.  However, this film has such an amazing cast that it should have managed to keep an entertaining tone.  William Shatner (Star Trek), Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek), George Takei (Star Trek), and all of the others are bland and held back through a lack of script.  At one point, there is a scene that lasts about 30 minutes and all we see is the Enterprise moving through space.  Maybe Wise was making a statement about how it feels to travel through space, but the series never felt so slow and boring as this movie did.  Furthermore, the film has an awful storyline that has been used before in other films.  Recycling storylines often turns out okay for me (see Star Trek Into Darkness) but this storyline is bland and drawn out for what should have been a 30-minute episode of Star Trek.  In my opinion, this film is the worst I have seen so far in the Star Trek series.  Let me know if you think otherwise!

The Bottom Line:  This film is a visual spectacular that falters from a lame story and extremely draggy scenes.

Score: 5.5/10

Image credit: ​http://i.imgur.com/rc4rvni.jpg