"Soul" Review: The Reflection We Need In 2020

Pixar has a way with giving us films that speak to children, the inner child in adults, and adults. Their latest film, “Soul”, hits all three. While it has its moments of bloat and overly-complex narrative, there’s no doubt that it will leave you thinking about your life and the journey we all walk in finding our purpose.

Jamie Foxx voices Joe Gardner, a band teacher who has been waiting for his big break as a musician. He spends his time like most people do who aren’t working their dream job. He works at school, tutors after school to make ends meet, and plays gigs in his off time. So when he finally gets the opportunity to play piano for Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett) he’s beyond ecstatic! Blinded by enthusiasm he misses the open man hole he walks into while talking on the phone.

Fresh out of his body, Joe is in a long line full of people going to The Great Beyond, but feeling that he was just about to finally make it, he fights to get out of impending doom. His actions land him in The Great Before, a place where souls are trained before diving to Earth to get a body and pursue their purpose in life. As Joe tries to find a loophole to get back to Earth himself, he’s paired up as a mentor for 22 (Tina Fey), a soul who does everything she can to not go to Earth. Amazingly, everything mentioned above is in the trailer.

If you can get past what feels like a seriously hard attempt to create a beautiful, bright new world that still addresses large issues like Pixar did previously with “Inside Out”, the bones of finding out our purpose in life are solid. Foxx’s Joe Gardner is a kind man with enough of a chip on his shoulder to make him oblivious to the truth that he matters to his community and has a good life. The film analyzes what makes a life “good” and worth living through the eyes of 22. Simultaneously, we see a refresher for Joe as he is able to see the world as 22 sees it.

“Soul” gives us Pixar’s first movie centered around a black character. Like “The Princess Frog”, Joe spends a considerable amount of time outside of his body, but fortunately at least half of the time we see an animated black lead. In fact, Pixar nails a lot of black culture in this film. From the jazz players (notably Angela Bassett as Dorothea) to Joe’s mother’s (Phylicia Rashad) seamstress shop, screenwriters Pete Docter, Mike Jones, and Kemp Jones hit the nuances that are uniquely black vernacular while still universal themes of connection and love. A beautifully captured scene where Joe gets his haircut in the barbershop is equal parts funny and true to life. The barbershop represents a space of education, humor, and camaraderie for black boys and men where conversations can go from the basketball game to how to be a better father in an instant. It’s so fluid with the rest of the film you could miss it, but I appreciated being able to ask my son if it looked familiar and he give a resounding “Yes!”. 

We’ve come to have high expectations of Pixar Animation Studios and “Soul” won’t let you down. While it may not be as moving and profound as “Inside Out”, the film still poses big questions in an animated movie. While it doesn’t answer where we come from or where we go after life in our body ends, it does make you think about what you do while you’re living. In a tumultuous year like 2020, “Soul” is right on time to help us focus on what’s most important!

Rating: B+

"Baby Driver" Review: Wright is Right

“Baby Driver” is the cinematic fresh air that you hope to catch during the summer season! It’s the movie that will be talked about on everyone’s end of year lists, and deservedly so. Director Edgar Wright has turned out another hit!

The film follows Baby (Ansel Elgort), a young getaway driver, whose skills behind the wheel are unmatched. He works for Doc (Kevin Spacey), a brilliant crime boss who masterminds heists. Doc never puts the same crew together, but his one consistent “lucky charm” is Baby. Baby lives the way most of us would love to, with a song for every occasion, which he plays on an old school ipod or three that he keeps on himself at all times to drown out the hum caused by a childhood accident.

Off the rip we see an awesome get away car chase sequence, introducing us to Buddy (Jon Hamm), his dangerous girlfriend Darling (Eiza Gonzalez), and a nice bit part for Jon Bernthal as Griff. These characters are fully realized, while over the top criminals. As we’re introduced to Baby’s world we see just how much it all contains music.

In fact, the key to this film is the infusion of music. It’s comprised of the moments when you’ve been in your car and punched the gas because of a dope beat, played that Adele song to match your emotional state, or that love song when you’ve found that special someone! Except this is a movie, and therefore the story can be told at tempo. It’s edited to cut to the rhythm of the 808, slows down to the strings, and even machine guns fire to the beat. What could have turned out to be gimmicky is used with just the right amount of detail at the right time, that it adds to the engagement of the film.

The movie’s pace is a bit awkward after the initial sequences, but once it’s in the zone it’s a joy ride until the end. Perhaps some of that has to do with the casting. Overall, this is a stellar cast, beautifully blended together. I think it’s some of the best work we’ve seen from Jamie Foxx in a while with his character Bats. He’s the scary mixture of volatile and street smart that you respect but don’t turn your back on if you’re in the same room; which helps to add to the intensity and suspense when the film gets cooking. Ansel Elgort seems a bit outmatched and I preferred the moments when he was not talking, but he works for the film. His love interest, Debora (Lily James), is an acquired taste as well, reminiscent of the character work Juliette Lewis did in her youth. However, by the end of the film you settle in to the odd couple romance.

If you’re looking for an original film to see this weekend, “Baby Driver” is it! Honestly, if you’re looking for something original in the past few years it’s still a contender. While the idea of “one last job and I’m out” is nothing new, it’s the getting there that’s fresh. The chase scenes are stand out, the soundtrack is on point, and the script is great. Go see it this weekend!

Rating: B+

"Annie" 2014 Review

I was really looking forward to the new “Annie”. The trailer boasted of a diverse cast, a hip hop twist on some classic songs, and a new vision for a classic tale; what’s not to be excited about?  While you’re kids may enjoy it, it’s a hard knock off for us! 

Quvenzhane Wallis is Annie, a bright eyed foster kid living in Harlem. Her bitter foster mother Ms. Hannigan (Cameron Diaz) provides four walls and a roof over Annie and her foster sisters’ heads, but only for the paycheck. Annie wants to find her biological parents, and works hard at the local bodega ran by Lou (David Zayas) to earn under the table cash to get documents about her parents. 

Elsewhere in Manhattan, billionaire cell phone mogul William Stacks (Jamie Foxx) is running for mayor and having a tough time seeing the poll numbers rise in his favor due to his lack of interpersonal skills. His assistant Grace (Rose Byrne) is a master political strategist with insecurity issues and a secret (or not) interest in her boss. Stacks pays Guy (Bobby Cannavale) to do his dirty work in politics. 

After an awkward day of hitting the streets to help the homeless for political gain, Stacks’ SUV is put out of commission. He decides to walk for clarity and peace, and walks right into Annie. After saving her from near death (on cell phone footage from a bystander that’s miraculously cut together from two angles) the polls start moving in Stacks’ favor. Hence, the plot device for Annie to move in with Stacks and help him win the election.

Annie is hip to the political hustle and goes along with the story in exchange for her own demands. This is one of many issues with the film. Wallis has played the little girl who had to grow up too fast before in “Beasts of the Southern Wild” (an incredible performance), but it comes across as cheeky and artificial here. She fades in and out of confidence and being lost in the role. It doesn’t help that most of the adults around her are giving comical performances reminiscent of something from a mid 90’s Nickelodeon sitcom. Yeah, think “Keenan & Kel”. Foxx seems to be the only person aware of how poor the movie is as he steals the scenes he’s in, eventually culminating in hoping that he’s in every scene. 

The main problem is that this remake has no heart and soul. It’s just a formulaic blockbuster that makes caricatures out of its characters rather than giving them room to deal with their insecurities, illiteracy, greed, alcoholism and other flaws that are touched on but  barely explored. Perhaps a couple more weeks at the writer’s table could have helped. 

There are a few nice moments, and songs in the film but that’s not saying much. The sun will come out tomorrow, but I doubt it will be shining favorably on this “Annie”.

Rating: D

"The Amazing Spider-Man 2" Review

Dear studio heads, just because you’re making a tent-pole movie (films that are guaranteed to make large amounts of money) doesn’t mean that they have to be long. In fact less is more sometimes. “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” is a bit longer than necessary and stuffed with plot points. It isn’t the best super hero film of the summer, but it’s a fun ride. 

The film opens with a backstory on Richard Parker (Campbell Scott) uncovering evil at Oscorp, and fleeing after destroying fourteen years worth of work there. You can guess what becomes of him and his wife. Present day Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is at home flying between the skyscrapers of New York City, but more importantly in his skin (or suit) as Spider-Man. He and on-again off-again girlfriend, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), have just graduated high school. Even though Peter is plagued by the Gwen’s father’s ghost (kind of) he struggles with giving into love and the promise he made to her father.

The chemistry between Stone and Garfield is genuine and you either reminisce on times that you’ve felt that way or envy their relationship as a viewer. That being said, we spend the first hour of the film setting up the back and forth forbidden love they share. In the mean time, uber stereotypical nerd Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) is saved by Spider-Man. With extreme social issues and the desire to be known, Max becomes obsessed with Spider-Man because of their brief encounter. Foxx's comic timing helps make Max somewhat humorous as a character I've never seen in life. Maybe that's the point? He's rarely noticed. Another subplot is the death of Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper), which brings his son Harry (Dane DeHaan) back into town and Peter’s life. Before his father dies, Harry learns that he has a genetic disease that will kill him soon. I really like DeHaan as an actor. He generally plays troubled youths, and he doesn't overplay the role too much here.

With the stage set for volatile people to become villains, they do. Max has an accident at Oscorp, turning him into Electro. Harry believes he needs Spider-Man’s blood to live and goes after it. 

Spoiler Alerts in the next paragraph. Skip down one if you haven’t seen the film.

This film proves that cutting an amazing trailer can increase ticket sales. I went into the movie thinking Spidey would have an epic battle with two villains, Electro and Green Goblin, at the same time. I also thought Rhino would be seen a lot more. I was disappointed in the fact that these villains faced Spider-Man one at a time, and more so that Green Goblin and Rhino got about five minutes of screen time each. I love a slow burn to the climactic big fight, but in comparison to the trailer the film was anti-climactic. Is it just me or does it not make sense that Richard Parker supposedly killed all the super spiders in the past but Harry Osborne can’t find one in the present day? Didn’t Peter get bit by one? 

Safe to read below.

The film excels in pockets mainly surrounding the relationships of Peter Parker. He and Gwen have and undeniable bond. The relationship between Peter and Aunt May (Sally Field) shows years of life condensed to beautiful moments on screen. Even the friendship between Peter and Harry is heart warming. Unfortunately, there’s a disconnect between the human moments and other plot points in the film. 

Overall, “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” is an entertaining film. It’s worth seeing in theaters  to see some of the best web slinging, high flying action of the Spidey franchise (Tobey Maguire included). The writers definitely went after the light hearted Spider-Man of the comics and it translates. Yet, in comparison to other super hero films of late it has a lot of fat to trim to compete.  

Rating: C+