"Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die" Review: A Message From A Plausible Future?
There’s nothing like being in the hands of a director that has a vision for the story they want to tell. Director Gore Verbinski’s Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is one of those films. This one had me from the beginning with a closeup of a bottle of Cholula, because it told me further smart choices would be made from this director! (Cholula should be everyone’s hot sauce of choice.) In all seriousness, the opening imagery is a visual spectacle that should be studied in regard to taking a scene we’ve seen a million times and making it interesting. Admittedly, it goes off the tracks in Act III, but it’s refreshing to see a film that swings for the fences!
In a world where people are addicted to their phones, will anyone speak out against it? Hmmm, it sounds like our present day and writer Matthew Robinson obviously has something to get off his chest with his messaging of how we currently live with tech in the story that ensues. In the film, The Man From The Future (Sam Rockwell) bursts into a crowded LA diner to preach a message about the dangers of our technological addiction. The Man’s goal is to find the right combination of people in the diner who will come with him to stop humanity’s impending apocalyptic future. It’s a future in which AI has it out for humanity. Yes, it sounds like The Matrix meets The Terminator but this takes a more eccentric, fantastical approach to its storytelling.
As the rag tag group of patrons, made up of Susan (Juno Temple), Ingrid (Hayley Lu Richardson), Mark (Michael Peña), Janet (Zazie Beetz) and Scott (Asim Chaudhry), are assembled for the over one hundredth time, it becomes clear that The Man seems to know a lot about each patron; this sparks their curiosity to follow him on the journey. Once the film gets going, we get the backstory of each patron. The stories interweave into a clear picture of the motivations for why this just might be the group that saves the world. Will they?
The strength in this film lies in the script. We’ve all probably had a moment where we come out of a doom scroll, had an instance when we look around a restaurant at other tables with people looking down at their phone instead of at each other, or found it strange that what we just said out loud is now an ad presented in our feed. Robinson takes these moments and throws a mirror up to say “this is where we are headed”. It’s a picture of the disconnected, cold-hearted society that we could easily become. It’s a world where a school shooting is an everyday run of the mill thing, classrooms are full of students where phones are stuck to their hands and it gets darker from there. It’s a film that, as a film critic, it forces you to stop taking notes and go for the ride.
Let me be clear, this film gets bonkers. Sam Rockwell does a lot of the heavy lifting in landing on a protagonist that we can follow through his delivery and nuanced performance. The ensemble cast does their part as well, but this feels like vignettes of “Black Mirror” turned into a dark comedy movie over the course of its running time. Robinson’s message is loud, reminiscent of Boots Riley’s Sorry To Bother You, but doesn’t land as sharply. Verbinski and cinematographer James Whitaker paint a picture of a pretty world that doesn’t realize how ugly it is with the camera and light. That’s what resonates and translates. Society never gets to a bad place overnight. It’s the slow burn into apathy that gets us there. If you’re a fan of quirky, adventure, sci-fi films with a message, this might be worth seeing in theaters this weekend.
Rating: B-
"Sweetness" Review: A Coming of Age Stan Fil
If Misery had a kid for this teen generation it would likely be Sweetness. While we’ve seen films like this before (The Fan, The Fanatic, One Hour Photo), this iteration of obsessive fan takes a different approach. It’s the slow unraveling and journey into darkness of its main character that makes Sweetness a haunting iteration.
Rylee (Kate Hallet) is an outcast at her high school. She tries to keep to herself, but most kids make fun of her regardless. Her only friend is Sidney (Aya Furukawa) and the music of the band Floor Plan. The band’s lead singer, Payton (Herman Tømmeraas) is plastered all over her wall. Her Homelife isn’t much of a reprieve with her dad (Justin Chatwin) on the beat as a police officer and her step mom (Amanda Brugel) trying a bit too hard. So when the opportunity to see her favorite band comes along, she goes!
The band plays in front of a large crowd, but it’s not so big that Payton can’t accidentally hit his number one fan with a car in the parking lot after the concert. Payton offers Rylee a ride home. For Payton, it’s a way to not bring attention to his blunder; for Rylee, it’s a divine moment that was meant to be. As events occur, Rylee realizes that she is supposed to save Payton from a drug relapse and she takes matters in to her own hands to ensure that he stays sober.
So much of what makes this film an interesting watch comes down to the mise en scène, based off the cinematography and direction. The opening montage of teens and tweens at a concert is shot with precision. The red concert lights make it look like they’re trapped in hell as they reach out and scream. Shot any other way it would look like girls freaking out at a concert and screaming for their favorite artist, but writer/director Emma Higgins manages to find the horror in the euphoria. Throughout the film, cinematographer Mat Barkley, uses light and the lack thereof to show the journey of Riley as she goes further down a hole of delusion. A frame can tell a thousand stories and the control of the camera is remarkable.
In a film about an obsessed fan, disassociation is prevalent here. Rylee doesn’t realize that her decisions and actions are dangerous because she’s blinded by a mixture of love, teen emotions, and trauma that she hasn’t properly unpacked. Kate Hallett encompasses the closed off loner teen who only comes to life with her friends or music. It’s a subtle, physical performance in which her body, in combination with Emma Lees’ set costumes, allows her to glide between insecure teen to oblivious, lovelorn, and unbalanced Stan. Similarly, Higgins camera focuses on a subject and glides into a wide or vice versa for moments of detachment.
Ultimately, Sweetness plays like a well outlined script, but the moments between each major plot point has a lack of urgency and sometimes believability that makes you feel like putting your earbuds in for parts of the ride. There are some beautifully shot revelations near the end of the film that just don’t hold the intended gravity of the scene as they should have. Transitioning from music videos and shorts, the influences and eye for visual storytelling is quite apparent in Emma Higgins work. Her song choices in the film are spot on as she matches them to key moments in the film. She’s a filmmaker to watch for sure! Sweetness might not become a classic like Misery, but this coming of age tale of a teen who steps into her darkness could have legs for something more down the road.
Rating: C+
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Review
Paws Of Fury: The Legend Of Hank is a self-aware, intelligent movie but also has a lack of self-awareness and maturity. How does that work? It’s the type of film about cats that understands Save The Cat (a screenwriter’s Bible of sorts) and mentions what part of the film the characters are in throughout the course of it. It’s also a movie that has more jokes in two minutes than a sitcom; some jokes are universal and others are over your head if you don’t know pop culture. So your left in a place where you should either turn your brain on and keep your ears open for this animated film, or turn your brain off and just enjoy the time in the theater with your kids.
Ricky Gervais as "Ika Chu" and George Takei as "Ohga" in Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank from Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, Align, and Aniventure.
Kakamucho is a small dessert town by the mountainside in the land of cats. In these land, all cities are guarded by a samurai. Having been saved by a samurai at a young age, a dog named Hank (Michael Cera) is looking to be trained. Dogs are not allowed anywhere in the land, but Hank is determined. It’s actually a great thing for Ika Chu (Ricky Gervais), a cat who is building a new palace for the Shogun (Mel Brooks) but has secret desires of his own. Kakamucho is an unsightly town that obstructs his idea of a beautiful view. In order to get rid of the townspeople, he decides to allow Hank to be the samurai of the town in hopes of utter failure.
With no knowledge of how to be a samurai and a town that doesn’t want him there, Hank stumbles upon Jimbo (Samuel L. Jackson), a catnip drinkin’, rusty samurai. As Ika Chu sends waves of marauders to intimidate the townspeople, the odd couple (Hank and Jimbo) learn from one another. It’s the typical narrative of an unlikely hero and his mentor.
Michael Cera as “Hank” and Samuel L. Jackson as “Jimbo” in Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank from Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, Align, and Aniventure.
The film does some things well and others not so much. If you enjoy pop culture, there are tons of jokes and callbacks throughout the film. Jackson is the true star here as he brings his signature voice and demeanor to the role of Jimbo. His inflections and delivery are perfect as an old curmudgeon who slowly comes back to life. The film tries to send a message about racism and stereotyping through the dog/cat relationship, but simultaneously slips into stereotyping of Asian people and culture. It’s this odd, dare I say, yin and yang, that gives the film an uneven tone.
This isn’t the type of animated film that becomes an instant classic. It’s riddled with fart jokes and sophomoric humor, while also having witty lines that you need to pay attention to catch. It’s this strange in between that makes this movie memorable and forgettable at the same time. In actuality, it’s an animated remake of Blazing Saddles. If you look at the screenplay credits, outside of Ed Stone and Nate Hopper, it also gives credit to the original Blazing Saddles screenwriters: Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, and Alan Uger. But that film was made in a different time where it pulled no punches for better or worse. In 2022, some things don’t fly and leaves this film a bit declawed. Kids will enjoy it and if you don’t think too hard about it, you will too.
Rating: C
"TENET" Review: The Rubik's Cube Of Movies
Have you ever wondered if a Rubik’s cube could be described as a movie? If you said yes, then I give you the equally perplexing and entertaining movie, TENET! Directed by Christopher Nolan, in his one of a kind, high quality, action-packed and gritty style! If you’ve experienced one of his prior films, (Dunkirk, Inception, The Dark Knight Trilogy, any one from his catalogue really) you can understand how watching a Nolan movie pulls you in immediately and keeps you feeling an ebb and flow of emotions. Honestly, the previews do this movie no justice.
The film starts with The Protagonist (John D. Washington) being selected for a mission that’s described as a job to prevent a Third World War. During this assignment he learns about inversion (a temporal anomaly which an event happens in reverse). For example, when he drops his gun in an inverse its actually him catching the gun. If that example left you perplexed, don’t worry, you’re in the right place. Throughout this assignment he meets Kat (Elizabeth Debicki), the wife of Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh) whom he must protect as she’s a key for saving the past from the future.
John D. Washington and Robert Pattinson’s characters have great chemistry, and their performances are ideal. Washington is a natural lead with Washington performing all his stunts. One of the flaws of the movie is that it was hard to hear some of the dialogue because of the fast-paced scenes and the music being overbearing at times.
This movie continuously keeps you on a rollercoaster ride to figure out what’s going on. As soon as you think you know where the film is headed, it dips in another direction. The cinematography of Nolan’s constant collaborator, Hoyte Van Hoytema, and production in this movie were top tier as expected. I predict a few Oscar nods. This is a well-crafted story that may take a couple of views to fully understand what you’ve seen. The IMAX experience is necessary for this film so I’d recommend seeing in theaters if you can or are willing to go in person (practice social distancing). When you walk out of the theater, you’ll feel as accomplished as if you finished a Rubik’s cube…or at least one side.
Rating: B+
"Joker" Review: The Beautiful, Dark, & Twisted Origin Story
With Warner Bros officially creating a new movie genre, DC Black (DC- based standalone films), who better a character to start with than with their most iconic villain himself, the Joker? With all the great actors who’ve played the villain (Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Mark Hamil and Jared Leto) my initial thought was that it was going to be hard to fill those sinister clown shoes. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Director Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix take the comic book villain and give him a beautifully dark, twisted, gritty anti-hero reintroduction.
Taking a few pages out of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver with character development and some references, Phillips peels back the layers of the complex character to humanize him and show how he began his path of brutal destruction. This is a period place that takes place in the early 80’s and shows the grislier and faint side of Gotham City like we’ve never seen it. It follows Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a mentally ill misfit, who works as a clown by day and failed comedian by night. His journey to menacing criminal is perhaps all the more horrific because it’s grounded in reality.
One of the opening images is of Fleck, working as a clown, looking in the mirror while contorting his face into that creepy, iconic smile while laughing uncontrollably from his pathological laughing disorder while crying. It’s immediately followed by a portrait of the city of Gotham, and it’s not compassionate to say the least. In the first few minutes Fleck endures mental and physical abuse by everyone from his job, his therapist, civilians, his job again, and then his mother (Francis Conroy). It’s a hard watch. Throughout the movie this seems to be a trend as life itself continues to punch Fleck in the face, increasing its power at every turn. In his lighter moments, when life isn’t knocking him down, he pursues a career in comedy. His jokes are dark and twisted, writing what he believes society deems as funny, wishing to one day be on the Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) late night show.
Something that sets this movie apart is the progression of Fleck’s character. He evolves from and awkward, gentle loner to the malicious, confident Joker. Robert De Niro and Zazzie Beetz interactions with Phoenix give more depth to the character’s development with their limited but memorable interactions as Fleck’s idol and love interest respectively. Conroy also helps identify some of the loose ends of his childhood that viewers may find interesting. Rather than being eaten by the dog eat dog world, Fleck eventually embraces it with a cynical twist that feels so natural.
This is ultimately a standalone film that we’ve never seen in the comic universe that has a sinister and refreshing twist to it. It’s well crafted, with a vintage, grunge look that captures the mood and tone being portrayed in the film. From beginning to end, Phoenix owns the character. It has remnants and a few nods to them but Phoenix pushed my perception of the character or new uncharted anti-hero territory. The only knock I have toward the movie is the slow, build but once it started you were invested. Overall the casting, the story, the development and the conclusion of this film is phenomenal and gives you the ultimate satisfaction of an origin story. I wouldn’t be surprised if this movie gets an Oscar nod.
Rating: A-
"Hustlers": Let's Talk Live Review
Check out my review on Let’s Talk Live:
https://wjla.com/news/lets-talk/weekend-box-office-preview-with-kevin-sampson
"Captain Marvel" Review: A Speed Bump On The Way To "End Game"
We’ve had an amazing journey in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) thus far! What the studio has been able to do in growing from 2008’s Iron Man to Captain Marvel is incredible. With half the universe gone and the other in peril, Captain Marvel, while full of great chemistry amongst its cast and female empowerment, feels like a speed bump on the road to Avengers: End Game.
The call went out from Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) via an old two way pager in Avengers: Infinity War during the end credits of the film. We saw the iconic symbol for Captain Marvel, and this weekend in theaters we get our answer as to who she is and what her powers are, kinda. Set in the 90’s, Vers aka Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) doesn’t remember much about her past but sees it in glimpses within her dreams. She’s being prepared for battle by her mentor Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) of the Kree race. Their enemy are shape-shifters called Skrulls. After an interaction with the Skrulls ends with her landing on planet C-53 aka Earth, Vers must hunt for the Skrulls who landed with her while trying to make sense of her past. Her crash into the local Blockbuster brings a young Nick Fury to the site, and thus begins a buddy comedy as only Marvel can do.
The issue with Captain Marvel is that the first two acts of the film are a small, intimate tale that viewers would have ate up in 2011. The magnitude of what’s going on in the 2019 MCU is so big, that Carol Danvers backstory seems so insignificant in the scheme of it all. I realize it’s not, but the convention of storytelling used by writer/directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck is all over the place for the first two thirds of the film. It starts out as a mystery, Hangover-esque tale and then becomes a buddy comedy and is heavy handed in making sure its main character knows that she needs to stay in line. It’s also missing an internal clock (a device in film in which the characters are moving to a deadline) to help us move toward the end of the film. So the search for Skrulls doesn’t have any real weight to it other than what the characters tell us.
Once you get to the final act of the film, things take off! Suddenly, we have an engaging film that you feel more invested in. Don’t get me wrong, this film is packed with brilliant performances by Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, and Ben Mendelsohn as Talos/Keller (in that order). The chemistry of the cast and the way they bounce dialogue off of each other is what excuses the first part of the film. Even smaller roles like Carol’s best friend, Maria (Lashana Lynch) and her role model, Mar-Vell (Annette Bening), are nice character performance additions. The final act also gives us something to run toward in regard to impending danger.
As the marketing for this film suggests, there is a strong message of female empowerment that’s great to see, especially for little girls who get to see a powerful female superhero on the big screen! The 90’s references and soundtrack for the film (while the songs are a bit on the nose coupled with each scene) is a nostalgia fest for those of us who lived through them! The one other problem I had is that the film gives us an understanding of how Captain Marvel obtained her powers, but does not tell the extent nor give an actual clear description of them for us to understand what they are and why the internets are saying she’s so powerful. So be sure to sit next to a fanboy/girl who can explain it to you if you don’t know the history like me.
Overall, the film is another decent entry to the MCU, but it just doesn’t have the same bite and excitement in storytelling that the films released in Phase 3 has had. It will be great to see her in the MCU going forward and she is a welcomed addition. Look, speed bumps are necessary, keep us safe and you have to go over them in order to get to your destination. This is a safe entry installment into the broader franchise and I wish it was more! As always, be sure to stick round through the final credit sequences!
Rating: C+
"Replicas" Review: Best Sleep I've Had In The Theater in A While!
When a film opens cold (not screened to critics ahead of time) that’s never a good sign. It signifies that there was a point during the production of Replicas in which someone said, “this isn’t going to do well.” By that point, it was too late to go back or abandon ship, and the production pushed forward and was distributed to theaters.
Will Foster (Keanu Reeves) is a scientist on the cusp of transferring human consciousness by mapping the brain of the recently dead and inserting it into a synthetic brain. If the science of what I just said doesn’t make sense, don’t worry, there’s more! After a recently failed attempted transfer, Will and his family decide to take off for the weekend. On the rainy streets of Puerto Rico they get in an accident in which Will is the sole survivor.
Will quickly calls Ed (Thomas Middleditch), his assistant of sorts, to come to the scene so that they can get his family’s consciousness in hopes of cloning them. From there we get a series of moral debates, more scientific jargon that doesn’t make sense, and a scene in which Will grieves more over picking a name out of a bowl than when his family initially died.
This film is not even half baked, it hasn’t even been in the oven. Our connection to the characters in this film is as weak as Will’s to his family. We barely see them interact before the accident, and therefore his push to replicate feels as lifeless as Reeves acting in this film. Middleditch is the bright spot of the film as he offers up the moral questions to the premise that just didn’t transfer well to the big screen. However, his character continues to be complicit in the “nefarious” behavior as even he notes.
The best part of this movie was the minute of sleep that I got during the third act. I woke up refreshed, ready to take on the rest of the snoozer, and push through. I wouldn’t even watch this when it comes out on Netflix if I were you.
Rating: F
"The Old Man & The Gun" Review: A Nice Curtain Call For Redford
We’re at the curtain call for one of the greatest actors of his generation. After entertaining us for close to sixty years, Robert Redford announced that The Old Man & the Gun would be his final film role. The new film from director David Lowery, who previously directed Redford in 2016’s Pete’s Dragon and last year’s A Ghost Story (which was one of my favorite films of last year), Old Man is a breezy film, in a good way. Never taking itself seriously, it’s nice to see a film set out and do what it’s trying to do: to simply entertain us and have fun with the material on hand. Even though Redford claims this is his final role, this shows that he still has plenty of gas left in the tank should he decide to “un-retire.”
Based on a mostly true story, as the opening title card tells us, Forrest Tucker (Redford) is a seasoned bank robber who’s been in and out of trouble since the age of thirteen and successfully escaped prison sixteen times. Forrest, even though he’s a criminal, is a proper gentleman and always polite. His latest string of bank robberies along with his accomplices Teddy (Danny Glover) and Waller (Tom Waits), whom the media dubs the Over the Hill Gang, catches the attention of local cop John Hunt (Casey Affleck) who’s hot on their trail. Along the way, Forrest develops a relationship with a widower, Jewel (Sissy Spacek), as he and his team plan for one last big heist.
For what he’s calling his final film performance, Redford absolutely delivers as Forrest, a man who just can’t help himself and loves what he does. Watching him charm up the screen and playing it cool shows why he’s considered one of the best of his time. For the story at hand, written by Lowery and based on a 2003 New Yorker article from David Grann, I enjoyed the depths Redford brought to Forrest. He presents himself as a polite, charming gentleman, but beneath the façade, there’s a sort of loneliness to him. I believe no one else could have pulled it off as great as Redford does. The chemistry that Redford exhibits with everyone, from his accomplices to Jewel to even John, was great. In fact, the storyline between Forrest and Jewel was one of the strongest parts of the film, and for these actors to finally be in a film together, you would have been fooled to think they’ve done this song and dance plenty of times. Lowery also presents Forrest and John as the yin and yang to each other. While Forrest is happy to be doing crimes in the prime of his life, John seems like he’s burnt out from being a policeman. All of the other actors were solid in their roles as well.
With each of the films that he has directed, Lowery has shown a certain growth with the ability to navigate through different genres while still giving each film a style and personality of its own. The jazzy soundtrack from Lowery’s musical collaborator, Daniel Hart, helps move the film along and feels appropriate for the film. The look of the film that Lowery and his DP Joe Anderson went for, with shooting on 16mm and then blowing it up, helps to make the film look like something that took place in the late 70s/early 80s. The montage sequences, particularly showing Forrest robbing banks or how he escaped prison so many times, are spot on and have a certain energy to them. The length of the film, at 93 minutes, was perfect to get in and out, so it never overstays its welcome.
Even though it’s breezy fun, it doesn’t go too in-depth. Since Lowery, at times, feels like he’s focusing more on Forrest, the supporting characters aren’t developed very well. Some of them come and go without any real significance to the story. It would have been fun if there were just a few more scenes with either Glover or Waits’ characters, and to see more interactions with John’s wife Maureen (Tika Sumpter).
Overall, for his final performance, you couldn’t ask for anything more from Redford. This is his film through and through. In this time and age, it’s refreshing to go to a film and just have fun for a couple of hours. The Old Man & the Gun delivers on that front. If this indeed is the end of the road for him, he picked a good film to go out on. And I’m looking forward to whatever Lowery has coming up next. I would recommend checking this film out whenever it comes to your theater.
Rating: B+
"Teen Titans Go! To the Movies" Review
I’ll be up front with you, I’ve never watched an episode of Teen Titans Go!. I’m aware of the Cartoon Network animated series that began airing in 2013, and that people have different opinions about the show itself. I’ve only seen clips here and there, so watching the film adaptation of the series was my first time experiencing this property. Other than the clips I’ve seen and the trailers, this film piqued my interest when it was announced that they got Nicolas Cage to voice Superman, since he was slated to be Superman in Tim Burton’s planned Superman Lives movie twenty years ago before it collapsed. Not knowing what to expect, it certainly won me over with this: Teen Titans Go! To the Movies is a much more enjoyable experience than last fall’s Justice League, and some parts in this film had me howling in laughter.
Every superhero left and right has his or her movie. In this world, you’re not considered a real superhero until you get a movie made about you. Robin (Scott Menville) dreams of having his own film, but none of the superheroes take him or the Teen Titans, which consist of Beast Boy (Greg Cipes), Cyborg (Khary Payton), Raven (Tara Strong), and Starfire (Hynden Walch) seriously. Popular film director Jade Wilson (Kristen Bell) tells the team that in order to get a film made about their exploits, they need to find an arch nemesis. The Titans might find one in Slade (Will Arnett, who also produced the film), who has nefarious plans of his own.
One of the things that I enjoyed about this film is how they sendup all the comic book films that have populated the multiplexes lately. In a sense, whereas the Deadpool films are aimed at an adult crowd, this caters to the kids. Like with last year’s The LEGO Batman Movie, directors Peter Rida Michail and co-creator Aaron Horvath (who also wrote this with co-creator Michael Jelenic) incorporated references of past DC films, TV shows, and comics. No characters are safe, from Batman (there’s a killer joke that WB will basically make any film that’s remotely related to him), Superman, and Wonder Woman, to the most obscured, like the Challengers of the Unknown. While the jokes are mostly catered to the younger demographic, the filmmakers get away with some extremely funny dark humor that adults can appreciate.
Unlike the tone that’s on display with some of the past DC films, this film knows exactly what type of film it’s trying to be. It’s self aware, and it embraces its roots as a film geared towards children, which is to entertain us for 88 minutes. There is an interesting dynamic in which the directors and animators switch up the animation style whenever it drifts away from the reality of the film universe which helps enhance the story. It feels a bit like a cross between Looney Tunes with a dash of anime. Voice wise, the dynamic between the Titans is good, and you can hear the years of teamwork and how they care for one another in their vocal acting. Arnett once again nails the over masculine type character as Slade, and how over the top he portrays it. The cameos did there part, and Cage as Superman was perfection in my eyes. It makes you wish that he would get another opportunity to voice Superman down the road. Also, the songs are catchy enough that you might have a hard time getting them out of your head.
As for any drawbacks, there’s not enough meat to the bones, and it basically feels like a feature length episode of the series. Even though it runs at 88 minutes, at times, it was as if the filmmakers were trying to figure out ways to pad out the runtime by stretching a comedy bit out or throwing things against the wall until something sticks. As the old saying goes, they had style over substance. There isn’t enough plot, and the film doesn’t go any deeper than you may anticipate going into it. Maybe it was because of the PG rating, but I was a little surprised that the name Deathstroke never gets mentioned once (since that’s Slade’s name in the comics). Finally, the DC animated short that precedes the film, involving the DC Super Hero Girls, felt a little off and choppy.
Overall, if you’re a fan of the show, chances are you will have a lot of fun with this film. Even if you haven’t watched the show at all, give it a shot. I know I’m not the target audience for this film, but I’ll admit that it has its charm to it, and I was laughing more than I should have. The real question is whether watching this film will lead to me and others to watching the series? There’s a strong likelihood that newbies like myself, may check out at least a few episodes. Be sure to stay around until the mid-credits, because some of the audience members around me lost their minds when it occurred. In terms of DC Animated Movies, I think The LEGO Batman Movie is better, but hey, it seems like Warner Animation may have a better grasp on the DC characters than the live action division. If you were looking something fun to watch this weekend with your family, or just a fan in general, I would recommend checking this out.
Rating: B
"Eighth Grade" Review
Eighth Grade is an honest and realistic look at that crossroad of life we come across before we begin high school. The directorial debut of Bo Burnham, a comedian who began his career on YouTube, this film is one of the more refreshing takes on this genre that I have seen in quite awhile. Led by what could be a breakout performance from its leading star, this premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival to positive word of mouth. In short, once again, A24 delivered on the goods with this film.
The story revolves around the last week of eighth grade for Kayla (Elsie Fisher). To put it mildly, it wasn’t the best year for her. She’s awkward, doesn’t have many friends, and spends most of her days on her phone or on her social media pages. After being voted by her fellow peers as being one of the most quiet students in school, Kayla does her best to break out of her shell and be more noticeable, all the while trying to navigate her final week at school.
As I said earlier in my opening paragraph, I suspect this will be Fisher’s breakout role (she previously voiced Agnes in the first two Despicable Me films). Fisher gets the awkwardness down to a capital T and makes her character feel like a living and breathing being. Whether she’s trying to stand out or gets an anxiety attack when forced to attend a fellow student’s birthday party Fisher is impressive with what she brought to the table. Watching this film, I could relate to this film since I was like Kayla in eighth grade. I remember being quiet and painfully awkward at times and didn’t know what to do. Josh Hamilton, playing Mark, Kayla’s father, also puts in good work as a single dad who’s doing his best in trying to connect with Kayla. The chemistry that both Fisher and Hamilton exhibited between one another is authentic and sincere as daughter and father.
For his first directing effort, Burnham does a good job in showcasing how kids these days are more glued to their phones and their social media accounts than interacting with one another in real life. Case in point, it’s evident that Kayla is more confident in doing her videos for her YouTube channel or spending an entire morning trying to get that perfect selfie for Instagram. Burnham never tries to make a statement, but shows us how the younger generation is more adapt to social media. Burnham shows skills in his direction by juxtaposing scenes to match whatever YouTube video Kayla is making, like talking about how to be more confident, being yourself, and so forth. The film also has a nice blend of awkwardness and drama. Since eighth grade is a strange time in our lives when we’re at that age where we slowly start to transition to adulthood. It’s quite effective, especially during a scene in the third act where Burnham plays with the tone all at once. The cinematography from Andrew Wehde felt realistic in that the film is set up so we are alongside Kayla throughout the film. Even though she’s basically a blank spot to the world, it’s as if Kayla’s in the center of the viewer’s world, and the look of the film made the world bigger than what it actually is. What seems trivial now looking back at it is the end all be all for Kayla. The dialogue is natural enough that it feels like real teenagers talking. The music Anna Meredith composed for the film is wonderful as well.
Even though the length of the film was just the right amount at 94 minutes, there were some storylines Burnham that could have been explored more that he introduces in the film. One minute, it’s about how Kayla is trying to get her crush, then the next, a different topic, and so forth. There are a lot of small moments he brings to the film that on it’s own, could possible fill out as a film in itself, but it would have been great to get some resolutions to these storylines.
Overall, Eighth Grade doesn’t try to be hip and cool, but gives a much more grounded look at life from an eighth grader’s point of view. As a first-time filmmaker, Burnham put in solid work in this, and I’m interested to see how his filmmaking career progresses from this film. This is Fisher’s film through and through, and a big part of this film’s success rests on her shoulders. Even though it’s a different generation, the growing pains that Kayla goes through is universal all around. It’s a charming film that shows us that no matter what, we’ll get through this awkward phase of life. I would definitely recommend checking this out in a theater when it opens up near you.
Rating: B+
"Incredibles 2" Review
Incredibles 2 is a fun summer movie sequel. The new film from Brad Bird, whose previous film 2015’s Tomorrowland underperformed greatly at the box office, returns to the world that he created back in 2004 (which feels oddly similar to how after 2012’s John Carter bombed badly at the box office, director Andrew Stanton retreated back to Pixar to direct 2016’s Finding Dory). Even though it feels safe at times, this is an enjoyable film from start to finish! Given Pixar’s spotty track record with their sequels, I would say that this is their best sequel they have made since 2010’s Toy Story 3.
Immediately picking up after the events of the first film, the Parr family comes across Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk), a telecommunications tycoon who wants to bring superheroes back into the spotlight. With the assistance of his sister Evelyn (Catherine Keener), they propose a plan to have Helen/Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) be the face of the new program. Helen goes off on her missions leaving Bob/Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) in charge of looking out for their kids: Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (newcomer Huck Milner, replacing Spencer Fox), and Jack-Jack. Along the way, the Incredibles comes face to face with The Screenslaver; a mysterious figure that has nefarious plans of his own.
I enjoyed how Bird switched up the dynamic in this one by having Helen take the lead while Bob watches the kids. It’s hilarious to see how Bob adapts to being a stay at home dad, and you can tell that Bob wants no part of it as everything slowly overwhelms him. More often than not, some of the strongest parts of the film revolve around the domestic aspect of the story with fun moments Bird plays with. The voice acting is still on point, especially between Hunter and Nelson and the chemistry they have with one another. Bird gives strong characterizations to the family themselves allowing each family member have their own standout scene. The MVP of the film is easily Jack-Jack, who they all come to realize is way harder to handle than they previously thought. Although at times it feels as if his scenes are lifted from a Looney Tunes short. Side note, if Disney/Pixar can make a spin-off film or a short involving Jack-Jack and Edna (also Bird), that would be awesome!
The animation in this was a beauty to look at, which is expected from Pixar, and there are some gorgeous shots that Bird and his team put together. The 60s aesthetics that Bird employed with the first film is carried over into here, and at times, the film feels like an animated James Bond movie come to life. The action scenes are inventive and nicely edited, with each having their own rhythm and pace to them that doesn’t feel stale. Finally, Michael Giacchino’s score is an absolute standout! Make no mistake about it, it’s one of the best film scores I’ve heard in a theater so far this year!
While I had a good time in the theater watching this, the story in this is predictable at times. This was one of those films where you can figure out the basic plot points of the film from watching the trailers. I didn’t buy into the villain’s motivation at all in the context of the story. In fact, a couple of the storylines that we are introduced to don’t get resolved at all, as if Disney/Pixar were setting certain things up for an inevitable Incredibles 3. Finally, even though the family had great character development, there isn’t much character development with the other characters in the film.
Overall, I think families will love this film. If you enjoyed the first one, chances are you will get a kick out of watching this one. As I said in my opening, I had an enjoyable time watching Incredibles 2. The question I had going into this film was whether or not the story that was presented was absolutely necessary for Disney/Pixar to tell. Even though I had some slight issues with the film, Bird accomplished what he needed to do, which is to make a fun superhero film for families to watch. After watching this, would I watch an Incredibles 3? Sure I would. When you do see this, you will be treated to Pixar’s latest short Bao, which is a sweet and touching story about a lone dumpling. So, on that note, I would say check this out in the theater.
Rating: B
"Superfly" Review
Whoa boy, Superfly is something, but not in a good way. It’s a reimagining of the 1972 Blaxploitation film that had the famous Curtis Mayfield soundtrack to it. The newest version comes to us from veteran music video director, Director X, who makes his feature length debut with this film. I was a little nervous about the film when after it began shooting this past January, Sony announced it was going to be released five months later. It’s worse then I feared. Devoid of any personality of its own, this is a misfire on all accounts, from the questionable acting to poorly staged scenes and everything in between. It also makes one of the worst cardinal sins of any film: it’s boring.
If you’ve seen the original film, the newest version hits on the same basic story, for the most part. Priest (Trevor Jackson) is a successful drug dealer in Atlanta who has enough to get by and flying low from capturing the attention of the authorities. After getting into an altercation with Juju (Kalann Rashard Walker) of the rival Snow Patrol gang, which leaves a bystander getting shot, Priest wants out of the game and wants to make one last big score with his pal Eddie (Jason Mitchell). Since Priest’s mentor Scatter (Michael Kenneth Williams) won’t give him more coke, Priest goes directly to Scatter’s source and makes a deal with the Gonzalez family, a Mexican cartel. Supplied with more coke than they ever gave Scatter, Priest makes his way into trying to make fast cash and then exit the game for good, hoping he doesn’t get killed or captured along the way.
If there’s anything that I liked about the film, which isn’t much, it’s that Williams, Mitchell, and Big Boi (playing Mayor Atkins), are decent enough in the film. These three knew the type of film they were acting in. Whenever Mitchell is on screen as Eddie, it makes you wish that the filmmakers decided to have him play the lead role of Priest, because that version would have made things more interesting to watch. The soundtrack curated by Future, who also produced this update, got the job done, and it was nice to hear some of the classic Mayfield songs from the original film in this. Whenever those songs played, the film suddenly became slightly better. Finally, there were some lines in this that made me laugh, whether that was intentional or not.
Too bad the screenplay sucks the life out of the film. The screenplay, credited to Alex Tse (whose last credit was the under-appreciated and underrated 2009’s Watchmen adaptation), hits the same plot points and beats that you would typically see from a cliché gangster/drug dealer film about someone who’s trying to get one last score equipped with the same basic narration from the main character we hear from every film of this type. Even though this has more story than the original film, it’s all over the place to the point that you won’t care at all as the film tackles police corruption, drug cartels, and potential gang war during the course of the runtime. Superfly is the type of film whose bread crumb trail is comprised of biscuits! You know exactly what’s going to happen, so there’s no tension at all. At least the original film had style to it; this one lacks style or any type of personality. It’s just bland.
From the opening frame of the film, you can feel something’s off. Even though Director X is a music video veteran, you can tell this is a work from a first time feature length filmmaker. The few action scenes that are in this are poorly edited with no flow and a lot of quick cuts to the point of overkill. Even for a dialogue scene, Director X and his editor overcut to the point of distraction. The pacing that Superfly has is extremely slow. For a 103-minute film, this feels even longer than that. Acting wise, the actors ranges from completely amateur hour, like Walker’s Juju or Big Bank Black as Q, Snow Patrol’s leader, to over the top, like Jennifer Morrison’s Detective Mason. I also hate to say this, but the film was completely miscast. No disrespect to Jackson, since he’s good as Aaron in Grown-ish, but I couldn’t believe him as Priest since he looks way too young. There’s no character development for anyone and I didn’t care for any of the characters for me to sympathize with.
Overall, Superfly is easily one of the worst films I’ve seen in the theaters this year. Could a remake have worked in today’s age? I think it could have, but for this iteration, it showed that the filmmakers clearly didn’t care, or had no idea about how to properly adapt it for today. Coming out five months after you started shooting doesn’t help matters at all. With careful development and maybe a different filmmaking team on board, this had the potential to be an entertaining update. Alas, this is a generic, cliché film that follows formula with a capital F and is ultimately super-forgettable. You don’t need to pay money to see this. Truth be told, don’t even bother watching this update. Stick with the original version and whatever you imagined for a remake, it would be infinitely better than what you would have paid to see this. Skip this one.
Rating: D
"Annihilation" Review: Subverting The Norm For The Win!
It’s been a while since I’ve watched a sci-fi thriller that used silence in such a way that I could hear the leather of my neighbor’s seat when they moved. Annihilation is one of those film’s that reminds us of what a big budget Hollywood machine can do if given the opportunity. It takes us to perhaps one of the scariest places, our own imagination, and asks us to probe the unknown along with its protagonists.
Lena (Natalie Portman) is a biologist and Army veteran whose husband just returned home after twelve months of radio silence. Army sergeant Kane (Oscar Isaac) was thought to be dead, but his presence brings up more questions than a joyful reunion. Lena finds out that he went on a mission inside what’s called the shimmer. It’s a growing bubble that looks and glistens just like the stuff we used to play with as kids but is far from something to be toyed with. All we know is that things go in, but don’t make it out.
With Kane deathly sick, Lena decides to join the next ragtag group of people going into the mysterious shimmer that only her husband has come back out of. She joins psychologist leading the team, Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Anya (Gina Rodriguez), a paramedic from Chicago, Sheppard (Tuva Novotny), an anthropologist, and Josie (Tessa Thompson), a physicist. The film unfolds over various points in time. It’s told in present day with Lena being investigated by a man in a hazmat suit, so we know one part of how the story ends, but through flashback, we’re able to fill in the gaps.
Director Alex Garland (Ex Machina) is in full control of his film as he cleverly parses out information at just the right pace. He allows us the film to push forward by constantly dangling a question before us. Whether it is what’s the shimmer? How has time passed within it? How has a shark and crocodile crossbred? Or something as simple as what’s that noise? We constantly question what’s happening on screen right along with the group of women who are trying to get the same answers.
As the group slowly begins to unravel and questions themselves and each other, we too are pushed to stretch our minds as to what’s possible within the shimmer. The casting in this film is exquisite as each woman is playing a character that goes against type for what we’ve come to see them in. Sheppard says at one point in the film “we all are damaged”. The way that Portman, Leigh, Rodriguez, Novotny, and Thompson display that on the screen through nuanced performances is a joy to watch. Tessa Thompson certainly stands out as the shy physicist with her physicality and ability to make her character seem so small in compared to the larger than life personas we’ve seen her take on in past works.
Garland’s imagery of this world is beautiful. Yet, he drops clues to what the world is through mise-en-scene (things specifically placed before the camera) by shooting through a glass of water, or plants in the shape of humans. What Garland keeps off screen is equally important as what is on at times and shows his understanding of the power of suspense and mystery in a film like this. In a film like this, the third act is the difference between a downer or a memorable film. Annihilation certainly delivers on a trippy but suspenseful third act that will leave you questioning the future of its world.
While Annihilation may not be on par with Ex Machina, it is a solid addition to the sci-fi/fantasy genre. It’s reminiscent of The Thing in how it constantly makes us and its cast question what we know. The fact that its all women in the lead makes it that much more exciting as they handle the material in a beautiful way that’s subversive of the norms we expect!
Rating: B+
Movie Review: The Curious Case of "Proud Mary"
Proud Mary is a sequel to a movie we never saw. It expects us to have a certain level of knowledge about its’ characters that could only be known by having met them before. Writers John Stuart Newman, Christian Swegal, and Steve Antin expect us to care and buy into their script in a way that they don’t earn nor attempt to construct. Yet since we’ve never seen the prequel to this film, we’re left with the work of three clearly inexperienced writers (check their imdb creds) whose rushed script was passed through the Screen Gems studio hierarchy and green-lit without a thorough analyzation of the work. A vehicle for female protagonists like this doesn’t come along very often, especially for African American women. We deserved better than a hooptie.
Taraji P. Henson is Mary, a hit woman working for an organized crime family in Boston led by Benny (Danny Glover) and his eagerly “waiting in the wings for the throne” son Tom (Billy Brown). After sparing a kid named Danny (Jahi Di’Allo Winston) from a hit she clearly should have done more research on, we find her keeping tabs on the boy one year later out of the immense guilt of leaving him orphaned. Poor Danny is now a runner for Uncle (Xander Berkeley). He’s physically and verbally abused by Uncle and struggling to find food. So Mary takes Danny in but is sure to omit the small detail of killing his father.
Out of her love for Danny, Mary decides to defend him by confronting Uncle. When this results in Uncle’s death, the white crime family (last names aren’t given) wants blood and the black crime family has to serve someone to them in order not to start a war. If I stopped here and said that Mary serves up someone in her stead to covers her tracks and has to keep the lie going, this would be the premise for a good violence begets violence and covering a lie with a lie never ends well type of film. Instead, we get the one last kill to get out of the game completely storyline, which mushrooms into a kill everyone to get out story. In fact, the entire film feels like a convergence of different crime tale stereotypes we’ve seen before to get to the closing credits. It even boasts of dialogue like “Wake up! He was never gonna let you out!” or “if it weren’t for this family you’d still be a guttersnipe”.
The chemistry in the relationships within the film is lacking or forced. The driving relationship between Mary and Danny has sparks of realness mixed with moments of on-screen mothering that would make Madea proud. There’s a strong theme of the one time romance between Mary and Tom, but even those scenes that bring up their past love are cringeworthy. Everywhere you turn, there’s no escaping the underwritten and underdeveloped characters that have to hit certain beats to make this film a 90-minute feature.
Director Babak Najafi understands how to structure an action sequence. Don’t let this film fool you. He’s done it on the larger $60,000,000 London Has Fallen. Yet, in this film, he can’t quite figure out how to set up his shots in such a way that we can have a frame of reference for our space and location within the action scenes. Cliched shots of Mary with a gun in both hands firing every direction in a stairwell, sliding on her knees and shooting down human targets, or firing out of the window of a bullet-ridden car are all there! We’re just missing the proper orientation of how it all visually works together.
Outside of the terrible screenplay, direction, and editing, the film was executive produced by Henson herself. I’ve seen her elevate a screenplay with her talent alone in a film like From The Rough, but here it’s not enough. Which leads me to point at the elephant in the room. Are black female action leads so uncommon in Hollywood that a film like Proud Mary can get green-lit with hacks for writers, a director who is asleep at the wheel and an attached Academy Award Nominated African-American star in the producer chair who closes her eyes to the flaws in order to get the film made? What am I missing? Female action stars are rare, and black female action stars are unicorns. So why wasn’t more care taken in making this film? Why not create an iconic character that we’ll want to see again? I can only come up with desperation to fill a gap and see a character like this on the big screen.
If numbers don’t lie, then the fact that Proud Mary has virtually made it’s budget of $14,000,000 back in under two weeks since its release and the fact that it was narrowly beaten out by The Commuter (which had double its budget and Liam “particular set of box office skills” Neeson starring in it) in its’ opening weekend says a lot. To me, it says that there is a market out there for this type of film with people ready to support it. The film didn’t get a huge marketing push like last year’s Atomic Blonde or the upcoming Tomb Raider. So the duckets were earned on this one. Yet, it goes back to the age-old debate and double-edged sword of backing a film like Proud Mary with your dollars. Do you do it to tell the industry we want to see action films like this with a black female lead or withhold your hard earned cash to say we demand better?
I backed the film with my money even though I was hearing bad things on social media channels because I want to see minority women as action stars on the big screen. I sat through the film on the edge of my seat, not because of the white-knuckle action, but because I couldn’t wait to get out of there. But I showed up and gave the film a fair shot. What you do is up to you, but our daughters, wives, and mothers deserve to see more representation of themselves on the big screen as action stars that are better than this! Perhaps it will take a Patty Jenkins-esque scenario in which the powers that be empower a female director who actually cares about the story to take the reins. Maybe Taraji should handle the screenplay, producing and direction next time. Maybe. Whatever it is, Proud Mary is the poster child of what not to do in the future and it saddens me to say that!
Rating: F
"12 Strong" Review
12 Strong is the same song and dance that we’ve seen before with a war film. Directed by first-time director Nicolai Fuglsig, this is also the first war film that producer Jerry Bruckheimer has been involved with since 2001’s Black Hawk Down. Riding the wave as such films like 2013’s Lone Survivor and 2016’s 13 Hours (Iraqi war films that came out in January or expanded wide), 12 Strong is cliché to the capital C and plays it relatively safe. In short, it’s a formulaic film that hits on the same points previous war films go through.
Based on the true story, the film is about Task Force Dagger, a group of twelve American soldiers led by Captain Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth) who are sent into Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks. Once they get into the area, they form an uneasy alliance with General Rashid Dostum (Navid Negahban) of the Northern Alliance, and together, they take on the Taliban forces and do their best to defeat them, and as one of the soldiers states, they would be the first twelve Americans to fight back.
On the plus side, the actors do all they can with the material on hand, with the standouts being Michael Shannon and Michael Pena. They are all likeable enough, and there’s more humor in this than what I expected when I saw the trailers. It’s nice to see Hemsworth and his wife Elsa Patsky act together, even though they’re playing a married couple. Some of the scenes work as well, particularly those that involved Hemsworth and Negahban. The pacing of the film, for the most part, was fine. Finally, there were a handful of cool images that Fuglsig and his DP Rasmus Videbæk come up with, whether it’s a horse running alone through a battlefield, or the landscapes of New Mexico doubling for Afghanistan.
As for why this falters, the screenplay that’s credited to Ted Tally (The Silence of the Lambs) and Peter Craig (The Town) does it no favors. For a war film, they hit on the same beats that we see time and time again with these films. With war films, you’re supposed to feel sympathy or relate too the characters that we see on screen. In this film, I didn’t feel for any of the characters as the runtime progressed, and the film is bland enough that I didn’t even know what the characters name were, thus resorting to the actors that were up on the screen. Also, there’s no character development at all in this film, and some characters are underdeveloped. We hear it, but we don’t see it. And Tally and Craig write some cliché dialogue through the course of the film. The cinematography was nothing special, opting to go for the same grittiness that we’ve seen before with war films. As for the action scenes themselves, while they were decently edited for the most part, too many times there were quick cuts to know what’s transpiring on screen, thus making it hard to make sense of the geography of the land. The villain of the film was one-dimensional and they could have trimmed some scenes out and the film would still played the same way.
Overall, while 12 Strong is technically competent, but it’s ultimately a forgettable film. With the subject matter of the story, this could have been an interesting film. Sadly, it just plays it safe. When I came out of the screening, all I had was a shrug. It’s not a bad film per se, but it’s an unmemorable one. You don’t need to rush out and see this opening weekend. This is a film that you could have playing on the background when it makes its eventual debut on TNT. By year’s end, you will probably forget that this film came out this year, if not sooner.
Rating: C
"Valerian and The City of a Thousand Planets" Review
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets has been a lifelong passion project for filmmaker Luc Besson (The Professional, The Fifth Element, Lucy). Based on a French comic book series entitled Valerian and Laureline, Besson has been trying to get a film version off the ground during his entire filmmaking career. After scoring his biggest hit yet in 2014 with Lucy, Besson finally decided to pull the trigger and make the film. While there were parts of the film that I enjoyed, there were other parts that stopped the film dead in its tracks.
During the opening credits of Valerian, we are treated to a montage about how the space station Alpha became the city of a thousand planets. Hundreds of years later, special operatives Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are assigned by the government to investigate a dark force that’s taking place within the center of Alpha. Not only could it affect Alpha, but it could have ramifications across the entire universe.
One of the things that I liked about Valerian is the visual look that Besson and his longtime DP, Thierry Arbogast, gave the film. At times, the film looked like it was leaping off the pages of the comic book. It’s probably one of the most colorful films you will come across this summer. Both the production and creature designs in this were great as well. They did a really good job in making sure one stood out from the other. The production design, especially with Alpha, was astounding. I will say that for both DeHaan and Delevingne, this was better then their last films they were both in (A Cure for Wellness (the 2nd worst film I’ve seen this year) and Suicide Squad). The action scenes were cool, well designed, and imaginative, especially during a sequence at the Big Market that takes place on different dimensions. Including the mostly single take shot from the trailers of Valerian running through different sections of Alpha. When the film was good, it was fun.
One of the biggest problems that I had with this film is the runtime. The story that Besson presented to us in no way warranted the 137-minute runtime that this had. Even though this was his passion project, Besson needed to trim the fat. There are characters and scenes in this film that could be easily eliminated and the film still would have played the same way. With this runtime, the film takes awhile for the plot to kick in (the same issue Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 had earlier this summer). As soon as the film started to get good, it would stop dead in its tracks and nothing would happen. So it keeps you waiting and waiting for developments.
The plot itself was a little confusing to follow, and it’s not particularly exciting. Also, while I said that this was better then their last films respectively, DeHaan and Delevingne had zero chemistry with one another. Maybe there were better actors for these roles. The music from Alexander Desplat was a little disappointing as well in that it’s not particularly memorable. When I first saw the ads, I thought it would be a great film to see in 3D. Sadly, the 3D doesn’t add much to the film, and only a couple of spots here and there. Lastly, the subtitles for a film like this weren’t particularly imaginative, and oddly, they were framed on the extreme edges of the screen.
Overall, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets wasn’t a bad film per say, but it wasn’t a great film. I wished it fully embraced the weirdness that the ads were showing us. For some of the runtime, it delivered what I was hoping for. If they would have cut down the runtime, I think I would have a much more positive outlook on the film. It’s a film that sometimes goes around in circles not knowing what it wants to be. I don’t see this doing well here in the United States, but it’ll be interesting to see how it does overseas. If you want a great sci-fi film from Besson, stick with The Fifth Element. You don’t need to pay the price for a 3D ticket. If you must, go see this during a matinee screening. If not, catch it on TV sometime.
Rating: B-
"Spider-Man: Homecoming" Review
It’s an awesome feeling to watch another great Spider-Man film. Spider-Man: Homecoming is one of the best MCU films to date, as well as the best Spidey film since 2004’s Spider-Man 2. With an unprecedented deal between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios to allow the webhead into the Marvel Cinematic Universe after the disappointment that was The Amazing Spider-Man franchise, as a lifelong fan of his, I’m happy to report that Spidey is in good hands once again. This is a film that will have you grinning the entire runtime.
Two months after his scene-stealing turn in Captain America: Civil War, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) adjusts to life in Queens after the Battle of Berlin, which they recap greatly via a cellphone movie that he created about the trip. As he waits for his next big assignment from Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), Peter comes across the crosshairs of Adrian Toomes/The Vulture (Michael Keaton), who has a personal vendetta against Tony after basically putting him out of business after the events of 2012’s The Avengers.
First things first, it seems like Tom Holland was born to play Peter/Spidey. Throughout the 133-minute runtime, it appears that Holland is having the time of his life. He builds on his appearance from Civil War into what I would imagine Peter being if I was reading the comics. Holland takes the best qualities of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield and rolls them all into one! He plays Peter perfectly. Michael Keaton as Adrian/The Vulture is quite honestly the best villain in the MCU since Loki. I had doubts about The Vulture since he’s typically goofy in the comics, but the way director Jon Watts and his screenwriters (which included him, John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna, and Erik Sommers) approached him in the film was well done. There’s a scene between him and Holland that’s quite honestly one of the best scenes in a Spidey film yet. Like Holland, Keaton seems to be having fun playing a bad guy. Jacob Batalon as Peter’s best friend Ned steals the film from time to time with some of the funniest lines in the film!
I also enjoyed the grounded tone that the film has compared to the other MCU films. If I had to make a comparison, this is probably the most grounded film since 2015’s Ant-Man. Rather than use end of the world stakes in this film, it was a story that suited Spidey’s needs as a high school student with great power. The cinematography that Watts and his DP, Salvatore Totino, went with complements the storytelling. Some of the shots in the film look like something you would see straight out from the panels, and they even recreate some here and there. The action scenes are fun and easy to follow as well.
This is probably the funniest MCU film to date, from the in-jokes of the MCU, to how hot Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May is to some running jokes (you’ll know it when you see it). I was surprised by how much I was laughing throughout the film. Finally, unlike The Amazing Spider-Man 2 which tried to cram in every character they could possibly think of, Spider-Man: Homecoming opens doors that they could further explore in future installments in a natural way.
If there’s anything wrong with the film, there was not much character development with some of the characters in the film, especially with The Vulture’s crew: The Tinkerer (Michael Chernus) and the Shockers (Bokeem Woodbine and Logan Marshall-Green). The CGI in some places seemed like they were unfinished and if you want to know as little as possible about this film before going into the theater do your best to avoid the trailers.
Overall, if you can’t tell, I loved Spider-Man: Homecoming. After the hiccups of the past couple of films, they got him right again and I’m excited to see where Sony/Marvel take Spidey next. Watts seems like the perfect director to steer this franchise forward. There’s so much I can talk about this film, but I don’t want to spoil the fun for you, and I can’t recommend this film enough. It’s one of the most fun films you’ll watch this summer. As always, be sure to stay until the end for a little surprise. Go see this!
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+
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" Review
It pains me to say that if you liked this year’s Power Rangers (I did not), than you’ll really enjoy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. If you enjoy the Fast and Furious franchise (I know I do), then you’ll enjoy this film. If the combination of those two films makes you want to wait for this film to come on Netflix, do it. While it has the self-awareness and humor of its’ predecessor, this sequel is just another step in the ever widening pyramid that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
We find the Guardians protecting batteries for an elite group of beings in the opening scene. The scene encapsulates the fun that we’ve come to like with baby Groot dancing in the midst of danger. Director James Gunn keeps us focused on Groot without letting us know what’s really happening in the fight. Gunn nails his vision and direction in this film, but traded his effort in the writing. Just as quickly as the Guardians become heroes, they have the same group of elite beings chasing them through the galaxy. Thus, the film takes off.
Family is the tie that binds the movie together much like the Fast and Furious. Whether the Guardians are dealing with blood relatives, or their own makeshift family, they each have to learn what family is all about. The cast has great chemistry and it comes through in the film but more so when they're fighting and taking jabs at each other. Seeing them learn the true meaning of family in the midst of saving the galaxy from insurmountable odds is the part that’s tough to swallow. You can easily visualize the index cards mapped on the writer’s room board with each character, what they should learn in this installment, and lines connecting them to the points in the film where it should happen.
The problem with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is that it feels like re-hashed soap opera storylines set to a decent soundtrack and beautiful visuals. It has the son who finally finds his long lost father, the sibling rivalry so strong that they’re enemies...except they love each other deep down, a character who tries to protect his own heart by keeping people at a distance by being a jerk, and so on. The movie is full of moments that should make you tear up or feel good inside, but they feel forced and designed, much like Power Rangers.
Basically, this film wants to ride the successful formula of Vol. 1 but doesn’t want to put in the real work to make it great. So while the film was entertaining and a break from the real world for me, it couldn’t stop me from checking my watch. Sure, it did its job in expanding the MCU, but this was a bland installment. I dare someone to tell me this doesn’t look like The Expendables 6 with its cameos and characters at points in the movie! Stay to the end of the movie for the multiple credit scenes, but you could also just stay home this weekend.
Rating: D+