Weekend Watch - Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is the latest iteration of the science fiction saga – Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes – which opened in theaters this weekend. This newest film in the franchise remains in the continuity of the Rupert Wyatt/Matt Reeves prequel trilogy of the 2010s, but three hundred years after the end of War, bringing us an entirely new group of heroes and villains living on an Earth that has been increasingly dominated by the intelligent apes, with most humans having fully lost the ability to reason and speak. The film, directed by Wes Ball (Maze Runner) and written by Josh Friedman (Avatar: The Way of Water), stars Owen Teague as our new protagonist Noa, Lydia Peckham as his friend Soona, Freya Allan as the intelligent human Mae, Peter Macon as their travelling companion Raka, and Kevin Durand as the despotic ape Proximus Caesar. The film has received a generally positive reception thus far. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: C+; great visuals and new characters only take this film so far, as it doesn’t seem to have too much that it actually wants to say.

Should you Watch This Film? If you’re a fan of the other Apes films, this’ll scratch that itch for you, and if you’re looking for an easy to watch action/adventure film, this checks those boxes as well. If you aren’t really looking for either of those things, though, I can’t think of any great reasons to watch this film.

Why?

                Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a visually stunning but thematically hollow action/adventure road film. It does a good job of creating new characters that feel fresh and different from those in the trilogy that it follows without entirely separating itself from that trilogy, tying them together with a borderline religion established around the now-deceased hero of those original films – Caesar. Unfortunately, by tying itself to those films, it also accepts the expectation that those films created that, not only will it give us great visuals and an engaging action story, it will also have something to say about the state of the world and about humanity, and it’s just missing those aspects – the commentary on animal testing of Rise, the urging against xenophobia of Dawn, and the warning against demagoguery of War. At my most generous, I can say that the film had some ideas about religion and fate that could have turned into something worth exploring if they had done anything besides mentioning them and then abandoning them in favor of the third act’s action sequences.

                Don’t get me wrong, as a simple action/adventure film, Kingdom delivers a fun, if formulaic, take on those genres, combining tropes of road films, revenge films, and infiltration films into one cohesive piece that has characters worth exploring further. The visuals of the apes remain just as impressive as they have been, worthy of the awards that the franchise still hasn’t won in its rebooted iteration. The world, now three hundred years without human civilization, is full of creative landscapes reminiscent of the plant-covered post-apocalyptic world of The Last of Us, empty but gorgeous. Noa and Mae make for compelling protagonists, with the mystery of Mae’s mission and origins keeping you engaged with her story and Noa’s quest for revenge, restoration, and potentially leadership feeling familiar but still gripping. The film’s action sequences don’t do anything too groundbreaking, but they’re fun and harrowing enough to keep you on the edge of your seat.

                Again, though, the actual substance of Kingdom feels so lacking in the face of all of its style. The villain Proximus feels so generic when held up to the franchise’s previous villains of Koba and the Colonel. His desire for technology to help him establish rule among the ape clans doesn’t really feel that bad, and his despotism feels far less sinister than your typical evil leader type – I guess we’ve reverted to the simple statement that any desire for power is inherently evil. If it weren’t for the fact that the protagonists were basically after the same thing, that explanation could work. Instead, we’re left with a feeling of uncertainty of how to feel when the dust finally settles and everyone gets what’s coming to them. Again, if we had leaned harder into the religious fanaticism of Proximus and his soldiers, I think it would be fine, but instead, he’s just a pretender to empire whose motivations are not far enough removed from the protagonists’ to make his villainy feel earned.

                While Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes fully delivers on the spectacle that we’ve come to expect from the franchise, its thematic shortcomings and generic villain hold it well behind the excellence of the trilogy that it seeks to follow. If you’ve been missing the apes on your screen, it’s still worth watching, but don’t go in with insanely high hopes. The newness of a new era of apes can only take the film so far, but it does look good on the big screen, so do with that information what you will.

Weekend Watch - Challengers

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers, which opened in theaters across the U.S. this weekend. The love-triangle-tennis-movie hybrid stars Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor as a trio of tennis stars whose interweaving professional and personal lives culminate at a small-stakes challenger event in advance of the U.S. Open. Scripted by Justin Kuritzkes (husband of Past Lives director Celine Song and creator of the “Potion Seller” YouTube video), directed by Guadagnino, and scored by the ever-talented Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, the film has received a slew of critical acclaim and decent audience reception as well. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: A-; for the most part this film delivers what you want it to, and it’s all executed with excellence and innovation.

Should you Watch This Film? If you’re looking for an innovative sports relationship dramedy, this’ll be right up your alley; however, if you’re looking for that debauchery-fueled sex-fest promised in the trailers or a film with clear heroes and villains, you’ll be leaving at least slightly disappointed.

Why?

                Though perhaps a bit oversold in its marketing for broader audiences, Challengers delivers one of the better sports films and love triangle films in recent history. The performances from the three leads make for gripping romance, intrigue, and athletic sequences. Kuritzkes’s script provides a compelling story about the destructive forces of passion, jealousy, and insecurity. Guadagnino and cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom create a menagerie of charged sequences in both the interpersonal moments and the tennis matches, showcasing a creativity in shot choice that continuously leaves the audience dazzled. Reznor and Ross supplement it all with a score that breathes life, energy, and urgency into every scene, elevating the whole thing while increasing the plot’s sense of urgency. The film’s only real missteps come in the form of a predictable and maybe even overdone “twist” in the third act and a focus on the character relationships more than the characters themselves in the film’s story development.

                As a sports film, Challengers offers engrossing competition, compelling character drama, and a creative presentation of the sport of tennis itself, not yet seen in this way in mainstream films. It frames the game of tennis as a relationship, inextricably tying the sport portion of the film to the love triangle portion of the film, and it makes for even more intense competitions on the court and honestly one of the best climaxes and conclusions in any sports film, and certainly the best of the year so far. The ways that the camera is used in the tennis matches turns the sport into cinema, looking at each match from angles never seen before that keep the audience on edge for each serve, each volley, each point.

                As a relationship film, certain aspects feel a bit more familiar than the sport aspects, but it still manages to keep everything compelling, partially due to the direction of Guadagnino and the score of Reznor and Ross and partially due to the leads’ performances and Kuritzkes’s clear understanding of unhealthy relationship dynamics. Zendaya plays young star Tashi Duncan, a promising tennis star whose career is cut short by injury after she hits a rough spot with her tennis player boyfriend Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), friend and rival of Mike Faist’s Art Donaldson who also has a huge crush on Tashi. The origins of their friendships and romantic entanglements are explored in nonlinear sequences of their interactions at youth tournaments and college before catching up to the present where Art is now a grand slam winner, coached by his wife Tashi, and where Patrick has fallen on hard times, struggling to find success as a tennis professional, seeking to qualify for the U.S. Open by winning the same challenger where Art has come to get his groove back ahead of the only grand slam that has yet eluded him. The ins and outs of Art’s development make for the most compelling portion of the film, as he goes from insecure also-ran to confident adult ready for the next phase of life while his rival and his wife remain their same childish selves, stuck in the what-ifs of the past. This lack of development for Tashi and Patrick has left some audiences less than thrilled with the film’s character development, particularly because their arcs culminate in a frustratingly predictable moment designed to lend extra weight to the film’s climax that really just reminds you just how little development they’ve had in comparison to Art. All three play their characters well, though, and the film’s conclusion in a relationship moment that highlights all three of their roles and sends each of them off on a high note certainly goes a long way in making up for the lack of attention paid to the actual characters of Patrick and Tashi.

                Challengers is a sexy, if not overly sexual, take on tennis films, couched in a love triangle relationship dramedy that’s skillfully executed by everyone involved with a few knocks against it for some overdone relationship tropes and weak character development, that delivers a satisfying and innovative take on sports films and plenty of relational melodrama to keep everyone invested. It’s not necessarily everything that the trailers promised that it would be, but that makes it, honestly, a better film overall, avoiding that desire to be transgressive simply to push the bubble while pushing that bubble in different ways than expected. It’s worth the watch if you’re into cinematic innovation, complex relationship dynamics, fun sports action, and films without any singularly perfect hero.

Weekend Watch - The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is Guy Ritchie’s latest action film that opened this week in theaters, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. The film is based on the now declassified British World War II Operation Postmaster and stars Henry Cavill, Alan Ritchson, Alex Pettyfer, Eiza González, Babs Olusanmokun, Cary Elwes, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Henry Golding, Rory Kinnear, Til Schweiger, Freddie Fox, and Danny Sapani as the various historical characters involved in the story. It has opened, like most of Ritchie’s latest films, to mixed reviews from critics and a generally positive audience reception. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: C-; with good action and actors that you can tell are enjoying themselves, you can’t really say that this is a bad movie, just a bit underwhelming.

Should you Watch This Film? If this was a film you were already interested in seeing, I’d go a head and see it in theaters, but if you haven’t heard about it or weren’t intrigued by it, you’re totally fine skipping it.

Why?

                The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare manages to tell a fresh story about a period of history that feels so overdone in cinema and does it with solid action and some fun actors. I think Ritchie’s desire to be true to the historicity of the events, while admirable, weakens the film’s action sensibilities, but it’s not trying to be prestige war picture, so some of the decisions don’t make perfect sense. It’s definitely a film that pleases its target audience (TNT dads) well enough but that doesn’t hit any of its notes perfectly enough to have any kind of staying power, unlike Ritchie’s early films.

                The film has the cast of a bigtime, hard hitting action film with the plot of a more historical film. It contains three major action sequences, which should build on each other, getting more intense with each successive scene, instead peaking in the middle. The opening sequence of the film grips you immediately with Ritchie’s typical blend of humor, action, and tension, well-played by Cavill and Ritchson. The film then cuts to its flashback for exposition, explaining the details of the operation and giving us a decent idea of who each of the characters are before getting back to the next, and best, action sequence in the film – an intense breakout from a Nazi prison camp that really showcases the potential of the film that it unfortunately never really realizes again. The back half of the film is devoted to complicating the plan, introducing new and decently interesting side characters, like Danny Sapani’s Kambili Kalu and the villain Heinrich Luhr, played menacingly enough by Til Schweiger. Eiza González and Babs Olusanmokun certainly have the most to do in this portion of the film, playing the intelligence operatives who consistently have to pass information back to the British to keep Cavill’s March-Phillips and company apprised of the current state of affairs. All of this culminates in what should be a climactic action sequence of taking over a ship, escaping an island, and sabotaging a U-boat refueling depot that underwhelms at almost every turn compared to the rest of the film’s action sequences. It leaves the audience with a sense that they’ve just been watching an Assassin’s Creed film but with guns with the sheer number of faceless stealth kills and lack of climactic showdowns where the heroes’ success is ever in doubt.

                To its credit, the film is decently produced and well-cast. The film’s sound is the standout of the technical department with every scene drawing you in at the right moments through the sound engineers’ creative use of silence, cacophony, and focused sound effects, keeping everything, even the slower parts moving at an acceptable pace. By having all these World War II British soldiers and operatives played by some of the most fun people in the industry at the moment, they keep you invested in the characters even with the film’s minimal character development. González and Olusanmokun do their parts well as the on-the-ground operatives, looking the part and playing well off of each other in the process. Of the “active” group, Pettyfer feels the most out of place, mostly because his character has to be the group’s mastermind and straight man, so he doesn’t have much to do besides stand there looking good and come up with ideas. Hero Fiennes Tiffin is a surprisingly welcome addition to the cast, playing Irishman Henry Hayes as the fun young guy along for the ride. Henry Golding is the requisite unhinged explosives expert, which somehow works for him, as he gets to show off both his action and comedy skills. Cavill, as the team’s leader, feels like the inspiration for James Bond that Ritchie wanted him to be, just coming across as the coolest dude you’ve ever seen in an action movie (until you see what the guy actually looked like). But for me, and most of the audience in my theater, it was Ritchson as the Danish expat Anders Lassen who stole the show at every turn, giving the funniest and most physically impressive performance of the film (this film combined with his recent slew of tweets might finally get me to check out Reacher).

                The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare offers a solid theatrical experience with some decent action sequences and fun characters that just falls short due to an underwhelming climax and a profound lack of character development, leaning harder on its action and espionage than the characters themselves. It’s inoffensive and fun but not as fun as it could be. The story is interesting enough to feel fresh in the context of World War II, and the technique of its telling offers some solid examples of production design. If you wanted to see this film before reading this review, I think you’ll still have a solid time watching it. If you didn’t, you’re not going to miss something that changes your life. It’s a film that does just what it says it’s going to, leaving a lot on the table that could’ve made it better without ever really misstepping into “bad” territory.

Weekend Watch - Monkey Man

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is Dev Patel’s directorial debut Monkey Man that released in theaters this weekend. Patel took on multiple roles in this film, directing, starring, writing, and editing the revenge action thriller. He is joined in the cast by Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Sikandar Kher, Adithi Kalkunte, Sobhita Dhulipala, Ashwini Kalsekar, and Makrand Deshpande. After initially being slated to premier on Netflix, Jordan Peele screened it and jumped on-board as a producer to release the film in theaters because he thought it was so good. So far, audiences and critics seem to agree with him. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: B+, it’s a phenomenal debut film, but it still definitely has some of the rough edges of a debut film as well.

Should you Watch This Film? Yes! This is the kind of action thriller that we need more of – passion projects that involve underrepresented groups in Hollywood.

Why?

                What Patel has given us in Monkey Man is a thrilling blend of homage, passion project, and original film, and it works beautifully. His love of action films from around the globe and throughout film history comes to life in every action sequence (of which there are many); his decision to cast almost entirely South Asian actors and to tell a story set in that region that is steeped in its culture speaks to his desire to be true to himself, and what few missteps there are simply serve as a reminder that he is the one who basically singlehandedly made this film happen. It’s not a perfect film or even an entirely original film, but every inch of it is stamped with its filmmaker’s passion and his desire to make something epic and memorable.

                To start with a few nitpicks, the film does have a few places where scene continuity breaks down and where you can tell that different cameras were used probably out of necessity rather than choice. There’s one fight sequence in particular where the setup occurs in one location before the fight happens in another that he’s sent back to where the transition between locations feels just a bit clunky and doesn’t flow as smoothly as the chase that led up to it did or the fight that ensues after it does, which isn’t huge, but as someone who doesn’t always notice these things, I did this time, which I think speaks to the excellence with which most of the rest of the action sequences were cut more than it speaks to Patel’s shortcomings in making the film. It’s also been widely shared that multiple cameras broke during filming, which resulted in the use of Go-Pros and iPhones to capture some footage, and, while it’s not easily noticeable in any action sequences, there are a few of the film’s more dramatic moments that cut between two shots repeatedly where it feels like watching two separate definitions, most likely due to the cameras’ reception to light or something along those lines, but again, it’s one of those little things that could take you out of it if it wasn’t for the excellence going on around it.

                Story-wise, it’s a really well-executed revenge thriller. It never tells you more than it needs to, hinting at pasts so you know who’s important until it becomes time for them to receive their comeuppance. The supporting characters are fairly memorable, if occasionally underutilized. Pitobash plays a street-level drug dealer named Alphonso who acts as the Kid’s (Patel) gateway into the world of his enemies, and it’s arguably the film’s funniest role, but he gets sidelined for basically the entire back half of the film despite being integral to the Kid’s entrance and exit in this world of danger. Sobhita Dhulipala’s Sita makes for a beautiful and mysterious potential romantic partner for the Kid, but we never quite learn enough about her to make her a fully compelling secondary character. The villains, played skillfully by Sikandar Kher and Makrand Deshpande definitely have the most to do of the supporting cast, with Kher’s corrupt police chief Rana being the ideal heavy for Patel to face off against in the film’s final act and Deshpande’s overzealous spiritual leader Baba Shakti acting as the man behind it all who you do in fact love to hate. Together, they provide a compelling set of obstacles for Patel’s leading man to overcome and defeat on his way to making a mark on those who destroyed his home and killed his mother. The film’s most compelling subplot comes in the form of the transgender acolytes, led by Vipin Sharma’s Alpha, who save the Kid after his first run-in with Rana and his men. They comprise the focus of the film’s political and religious messaging, offering a look into modern political and religious issues in India for a Western audience with an issue that’s prevalent in this country as well. It’s a smart move by Patel, and Alpha and the other acolytes make for compelling supporting characters that keep the audience engaged in the slowdown that comes in the leadup to the film’s climax.

                Obviously, though, even with a perfect story, this film couldn’t succeed without excellent action sequences, and Patel delivers those in abundance. From the jump, we are given brutal hand-to-hand combat, starting with the underground fight ring run by Sharlto Copley’s Tiger where the Kid dons a monkey mask and faces down and loses to a slew of opponents. The action then takes off fully with a combination fight and chase sequence after the Kid’s first attempt on the police chief’s life goes sideways, giving us a glimpse at Patel’s skill in crafting action scenes that look original, feel brutal, and sound great with consistently well-timed and catchy background tracks for all of the action in this film. After a slowdown and training/healing montage that itself has some great musical cues, we are thrown into the film’s climactic series of action sequences, starting with a great underground fight with a classic massive opponent for the Kid to overcome before he sets out to disrupt the election night party where Rana and Baba Shakti will be. The sequence of fights that lead to the film’s conclusion are some of the best in the business, with a well-earned and even better choreographed kitchen fight, a brawl in a dining room, a showdown in a club, and a faceoff in a penthouse capping the film off. It’s one of the most intense and engaging climax sequences that I’ve seen in an action film in a while. I know it’s a bit reductive, but it really is right up there with the John Wick films in terms of its final act’s execution.

                With Monkey Man, Dev Patel has shown us his capabilities as a well-rounded filmmaker, offering a fresh take on the story of the revenge thriller while providing some excellent action sequences to top it all off. Some of the characters might fall short of their potential, and certain editing errors certainly exist, as should be expected from a rookie filmmaker, but overall, it’s a great time at the theater, and I really encourage you to go see it. We need to let producers know that these are the kinds of films that we want to see more of.

Weekend Watch - Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is the latest of the rebooted Ghostbusters films, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. The film is the follow-up to 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife and sees the return of many characters from that film and from the originals, including Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, McKenna Grace, Celeste O’Connor, and Logan Kim reprising their roles from Afterlife, with Dan Aykroyd’s Ray Stantz taking a more prominent role this time around, and the additions of Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, and Emily Alyn Lind to fill out the main cast. This one is directed by Afterlife writer Gil Kenan who is again joined in the writing room by Afterlife director, and son of the original Ghostbusters director, Jason Reitman. The film opened in theaters this weekend. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: C-, a weak third act and overstuffed first bring down what is otherwise a fun and well-crafted movie sequel.

Should you Watch This Film? Maybe, it’ll probably please fans of the first reboot film, and doesn’t really have anything that’ll upset die-hard classic fans too much either. If you aren’t about that Ghostbusters life, though, I doubt this film will win you over.

Why?

                After taking a break from its usual haunt of the Big Apple in Afterlife, the Ghostbusters saga returns to NYC and the old red brick firehouse in Frozen Empire. An abundance of practical and digital effects return New York to its old, haunted self, in need of rescuing by a new generation of Ghostbusters. The characters, old and new, bring plenty of heart, if not necessarily humor, to this latest iteration of the films, which continues in the vein of its predecessor with McKenna Grace’s Phoebe Spengler taking center stage in the film’s narrative, again a solid choice, though weakened a bit by her continued fourth-place billing in the credits and attempts to create stories for the abundance of other characters filling out the film. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a film that fits the visual feel and overall vibe of the franchise with fun characters and cool, nerdy technology and ghost stuff, but it trips itself up by getting too convoluted for its fairly breezy hour-and-fifty-five-minute runtime.

                One thing you can certainly say in Frozen Empire’s favor, which goes a long way toward how much I liked this film, is that it maintains that same sense of practicality in all of its props, sets, and visuals that made the originals and Afterlife such successes. Obviously, not everything is practical, nor was it in the original, but their practical and digital effects alike remain very on-brand for the franchise. Slimer still looks like a weird puppet; there’s a lot of new ghosts that use that blend of practical and digital to great effect – some terrifying and others goofy or endearing; there’s a fantastic scene in the third act with one of the proton packs sparking up in the back that’s probably a simple effect, but it achieves this cool factor that gets you excited for what’s about to happen even if the story getting you there hasn’t. You can tell that Kenan and Reitman both care a lot for the franchise and that everyone who worked on the film wants to stay true to the originals.

                Unfortunately, love for the old films and past iterations keeps Frozen Empire’s story mired in an excessively long first act that’s mostly just exposition and setup interspersed with nostalgia grabs and reveals of new gadgets and/or ghosts. It’s a textbook first act, except for the fact that it takes up almost the entire first hour of the film. This leads into a fun second act, though, that jumps between storylines fairly fluidly and keeps you engaged with payoffs from the setups in the first act. The pace picks up and you start to remember why you like these films in the first place. However, by the time we get to the film’s final act, there’s only about twenty minutes of the film left, and we get a regrettably rushed climax that misses out on much of its tension and emotional weight by rushing things that could otherwise have had extended scenes devoted to them had it not taken half the film to get everything rolling. Couple that with an astounding amount of shoehorned nostalgia for the sake of trailer spots, and you’re left with a conclusion that feels just a little too empty to justify the amount of time spent setting it up.

                For whatever reason, they were trying to do too much. Much as I enjoyed the comedy of Kumail Nanjiani’s character, his inclusion and arc felt out of place and rushed alongside the rest of the film. It detracted some from both the screentime and character development of Phoebe, which in turn detracted from the overall impact of the film, since she’s the main character. On the other hand, relegating Finn Wolfhard’s Trevor to the role of comic relief might have been the best call they could have made – his arc in Afterlife wasn’t overly engaging, and he is absolutely the funniest part of this film, which gets me excited to see him do something more in that vein as his career develops. Carrie Coon and Paul Rudd get to fully step into the parenting roles (which Coon had in the first film as well), creating some odd tensions at certain points in the first half but paying off with some of Paul Rudd’s best scenes in the back half, so I’m mixed on that choice. Aykroyd getting some additional screentime probably shouldn’t have worked as well as it did, and don’t get me wrong, it’s no Blues Brothers or even O.G. Ghostbusters, but he makes for a passable secondary protagonist as Ray seeks purpose in his later years. Again, though, all of these extra plots and conflicts make that first act drag, when really all the film needed to work was the Spenglers (Grace, Wolfhard, and Coon) working with Gary as Ghostbusters for Ernie Hudson’s Winston Zeddemore, focusing on Phoebe’s relationship with Ghostbusting and her family, and it could have been a complete film. Everything else is fluff that drags this film’s potential down.

                All told, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a decent sequel that stays true to the formula and atmosphere of the original films that unfortunately gets bogged down in nostalgia and excessive storylines, limiting its overall impact. It definitely could have been better, but thanks to the care put into the details by the filmmakers and the actors, it manages to stay out of the abysmal territory of most of the films from the first quarter of the year so far. See it in theaters if you want, or don’t. I don’t have overly strong feelings on this one either way.

Weekend Watch - Kung Fu Panda 4

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is the latest from Dreamworks animation, Kung Fu Panda 4, the latest in the Jack Black-led franchise about anthropomorphic animals doing kung fu in a stylized version of ancient China. This one sees Po, the titular panda, being thrust into a new role as the “Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace”, meaning that he has to choose a successor to be the new Dragon Warrior. His hesitation to embrace this change in titles leads him to seek one last adventure as the Dragon Warrior, bringing him into conflict with this film’s antagonist, the sorceress known as The Chameleon. This installment features the returning voice talents of Jack Black as Po, Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu, Bryan Cranston as Po’s father Li, James Hong as his adoptive father Mr. Ping, and Ian McShane as Tai Lung, joined this time by newcomers Awkwafina as Zhen the gray fox, Ke Huy Quan as Han the pangolin criminal, and Viola Davis as The Chameleon. The film opened in theaters this weekend. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: D+, this is a film that’s trying to do too much all in the same movie, sacrificing quality in the process.

Should you Watch This Film? If you’ve got a kid who’s a big Kung Fu Panda fan or is really into seeing animated movies in theaters right now, this isn’t the worst option for you, but this isn’t a film that anyone really needs to seek out in theaters otherwise. It’s definitely a streamer at best in my book.

Why?

                Kung Fu Panda 4 is definitely the weakest entry in the franchise so far, missing out on so many of the pieces that make the others successful for not just kids, but adults as well. The voice acting and animation remain the highlights of the film by far with a weak story, intentionally unoriginal villain, and action pieces that don’t quite live up to the rest of the films. The ideas of the film are pretty cool – a villain who can shapeshift into past villains, a new big city for Po to visit, having Po take on a more mature role, and building on the past films’ themes of knowing yourself by exploring the concept of change. Somewhere along the way, though, the film becomes overstuffed with concepts and understuffed with execution.

                It does still justify its existence with some beautiful animation and solid voice performances, but I don’t know that they make it worth seeing in theaters. The film’s best action sequence is probably a chase through the big city, but that happens early in the film’s second act, so the rest of the film doesn’t really deliver on those big action set pieces that we’ve become so familiar with in the franchise. The final fight with The Chameleon was fairly underwhelming and the cool silhouetted fight sequence teased in the film’s trailer has too many cuts to make it look as cool as it could have. The actual settings are richly crafted by the animators, though, and the requisite mix of animation styles in the flashbacks remains solid.

                Jack Black’s vocal performance stays consistently solid, and Bryan Cranston and James Hong get some really fun buddy comedy dad moments that highlight the range of the two actors that we don’t always get to see. Awkwafina is definitely still Awkwafina in her portrayal of the enigmatic street hustler Zhen, but it works really well when she gets to do some vocal sparring with Black’s Po that give us some decently funny moments. In the more emotional moments, both of their performances come up a bit short, but I think that has more to do with the film’s story than it does with either of the actors because Jack Black has hit some phenomenal emotional beats in the past films in the franchise, and Awkwafina isn’t incapable of giving a strong performance, as showcased in The Farewell. The highlight of the voice cast, though, is by far Viola Davis, turning in yet another chillingly villainous performance as The Chameleon. She gives weight and intimidation to the villain that perfectly sets her up to be the film’s big bad, even if the actual story and execution don’t fully deliver.

                The film’s story is really where it falls apart. Most of the story beats feel even more contrived than those of the past films, with developments forced on the characters or just written into the dialogue without much lead-up, making most of the character moments feel shoehorned. While The Chameleon’s character design is really cool and an example of the film’s strong animation, her motivations are just an amalgamation of the motivations of the series’ other villains – she feels that she deserves to know the secrets of kung fu (Tai Lung), she wants to conquer China (Shen), and she’s going to do it by collecting the powers of past kung fu practitioners (Kai). While her shapeshifting goes along with the film’s theme of grappling with internal and external change just when you are starting to get comfortable with how things are, she ultimately feels like the least original of the villains, and it’s quite disappointing.

                Underdeveloped plot and characters and less-than-impressive action sequences leave much to be desired from this good-looking and well-voiced animation sequel, making Kung Fu Panda 4 one to stream later even for die-hard fans of the franchise. It’ll keep kids happy enough if you really want to get out of the house as spring breaks start happening here in the U.S., but I definitely wouldn’t say it’s a must-watch for anyone else. I wish it could’ve been better because I really do think that its ideas are strong, but their execution is just so weak that I can’t recommend it.

Weekend Watch - Dune: Part Two

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, an recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is Dune: Part 2, the sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s award-winning adaptation of the first part of Frank Herbert’s acclaimed science fiction novel of the same name. After a delay from its original November release date due to last year’s Hollywood strikes, the film finally released widely this weekend (plus some early screenings in various theaters over the past few weeks). It sees the return of Timothée Chalamet as protagonist Paul Atreides, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Zendaya as Chani, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Dave Bautista as Rabban, Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Mohiam, and Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen. They are joined in this continuation by Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha, Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan, Christopher Walken as the Emperor, and Léa Seydoux as Lady Margot Fenring, rounding out the all-star cast of this sci-fi epic. With stellar reviews from audiences and generally favorable returns from critics, this looks to be the best film of the year so far. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: A-; while not perfect, it delivers on so many of the promises of the first film in compelling fashion.

Should you Watch This Film? Yes! In the theater, with good speakers, get the full experience. It’s a thrill.

Why?

                Dune: Part 2 is the science fiction epic that we were promised in 2021’s Dune. Its action is bigger, its characters are more fleshed-out even with a wider cast of characters, and it’s just as visually stunning as the first installment. As character motivations become more apparent, so does the film’s true message about the dangers of “chosen ones” and issues with buying into your own mythos and the ills of settler colonialism – all the messages of Herbert’s original 1965 novel, made even more evident by its sequel Dune Messiah. The actors have all elevated their game in one way or another to give audiences a collection of memorable characters. The film’s sound and visuals continue to stun in every sense of the word – sets, locations, special effects, the “props”, costumes, Hans Zimmer’s score – everything working together to immerse the audience in the world of the film. It transports and grips you as its story unfolds in thrilling, tragic, and epic fashion.

                We’ll start with story and execution, since that’s where the film’s biggest issues lie. It’s troubling when a film that’s two hours and forty-six minutes in length feels like it could’ve told its story more effectively with an extra twenty minutes or so. It improves on the story issues of the first film, where if often felt that the audience were merely casual observers of these moments that carried weight for characters to whom we had little connection. This time, a combination of improved character development, legitimately compelling themes, and intense action sequences get the audience fully invested in the story from the jump. What’s missing this time around is the mystery and atemporality of the first film. Gone are Paul’s vague and confusing visions of unknown characters and uncertain futures, replaced by ominous looks at his mother walking past starving bodies, which feels much more heavy-handed in its messaging than the hints of the visions from the first film. It also does feel again as if we are jumping from moment to moment in time with the characters, missing out on some (though not all) of the film’s potential character moments and interactions not tied directly to the plot. Again, this is a loss to the film’s runtime, which does feel as long as it is and would probably not be abbreviated by any extra moments, so we’re left with a stronger story and film that nevertheless still feels like it’s missing something.

                Where obviously the technical aspects and score for this film are excellent, the welcome addition is a cast of actors giving committed, fun, and engaging performances, helping to cover the aforementioned story issues because of how easy it is to invest in their characters. Where the first film had some strong showings from Oscar Isaac and Rebecca Ferguson, you can feel the improvement from everyone in this film, making the most of their increased character development. Zendaya, who was notably absent from most of the first film, immediately makes Chani a rich and dynamic character, more than just a love interest, with some excellent character moments and really solid expressive work. Ferguson takes an even tougher role in this one as Lady Jessica steps into a more prominent position among the Fremen, and it’s again a captivating performance, if a bit more intimidating, that might just be her best yet. Javier Bardem takes on an ironically more comedic role in this one as Stilgar’s dedication to the prophecies of the Lisan al-Gaib come to the fore, giving him the opportunity to deliver lines with such earnestness that the audience actually erupted in laughter because of their ironic timing. While Florence Pugh and Léa Seydoux are satisfyingly welcome additions to the cast, the runaway favorite of the new characters has to be Austin Butler’s Feyd-Rautha. He plays the new villain in a chillingly animated fashion, crafting a memorable performance that’ll end up alongside the likes of Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger, Tom Hardy’s Bane, and Ricardo Montalban’s Khan in the annals of film history. Finally, Timothée Chalamet has come into his own here, establishing his movie star status as he takes Paul through his journey from reluctant hero to willingly participating messiah. It’s a powerful performance, full of excellent vocal, physical, and expressive work that confirms his place as one of the best actors currently working.

                Denis Villeneuve has executed a phenomenal science fiction sequel that stays true to its source material and innovates with compelling characters, stunning production value, and memorable performances that supplement a story that could probably have benefited from a few more scenes but is nevertheless engaging. It’s the best film of the year so far by a fairly wide margin, and the theatrical experience of watching it is glorious – people laughed, they applauded, and some even called it “terrible”. It’ll probably be a while before I recommend a new release this strongly.

Weekend Watch - Madame Web

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is the latest film in the Sony Spider-Verse, Madame Web, starring Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O’Connor, Tahar Rahim, Emma Roberts, and Adam Scott. The film opened this weekend and is the first of Sony’s Spider-Verse films to focus on a hero in their roster of Spider-Man comic characters, rather than a villain-turned-antihero. Directed by S.J. Clarkson (Jessica Jones and Love, Nina) and written by Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless (Morbius), Claire Parker, and Clarkson, the film opened in theaters this weekend to the worst reviews for a film yet in Sony’s superhero universe. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: D-; it’s a movie that occasionally gets you engaged with what’s going on, so I can’t quite give it an F, but man, we were close here.

Should you Watch This Film? Because watching it in theaters right now would justify Sony continuing to churn out low quality films like this, I can’t recommend going to watch this in theaters; however, it might be just the kind of bad film that you have to see at some point, so… maybe.

Why?

                Her web might connect them all, but it might be the most tangled, incomprehensible, poorly cut, and absolutely terrified of plot holes web that has ever been put to screen. Personally, I don’t think that this film’s problems are the fault of the filmmakers so much as the production company that hasn’t put out a good live-action superhero film without Kevin Feige’s involvement since the first Amazing Spider-Man (I like Venom, but I’m not going to so far as to call it “good”). Madam Web is the natural result of a studio full of producers who don’t understand their cinematic audience trying to manufacture a box office hit without actually being willing to commit to any kind of risk. It’s the most egregiously corporatized film I’ve seen since The Emoji Movie, and it’s honestly pretty depressing. It’s clear that, at some point down the line, this film could have been something good because the actors involved at least have the charisma necessary to carry a film like this, but the lack of character development, weak dialogue, odd cuts, forced product placement, baffling use of ADR on Tahar Rahim, and lack of any serious superhero sequences completely undercut whatever potential this film had. (I do want to note here that this is not the worst comic book movie ever made because Catwoman [2004] and Fantastic Four [2015] do still exist, but this is way down there.)

                On the positive side, I do think that the casting was well done for this film if only because the actors feel like they could be a good team if the film they currently are in wasn’t constantly getting in the way. There is a cool shot of the characters in their costumes toward the end of the film that briefly got me excited for the potential of seeing Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, and Celeste O’Connor in action together as a team of Spider-Women before I remembered that this film is going to be a critical and box office failure, and Sony will assume it’s because it featured female heroes in its leading roles and not because they over-managed it into oblivion just like they have all their other live action Spider-films post-2014. They certainly look the part of superheroes; this film just doesn’t give them anything to work with in terms of character development, action, or really even costuming.

                Every moment of this film feels manufactured to create a superhero film that people will want to like, and because of that, it comes up short at every turn. The action sequences are generic, not overly memorable, and fairly uninspired. The use of Cassandra Webb’s powers feels like a bad rip-off of every other time-loop and future-seeing movie ever made. Tahar Rahim’s voice has been redubbed over basically every scene with absolutely terrible sound mixing on the ADR. The 2000s “nostalgia” references aren’t consistently present enough to actually warrant setting the film twenty years ago, especially when the costumes look like something more out of a 2020s street scene than anything in the 2000s (Dakota Johnson might be great at pulling off the high-waisted skinny jean, but that wasn’t a look in any scenario in 2003). The copious references to Pepsi and Pepsi products is so egregiously shoehorned that you can’t help but laugh by the film’s resolution at the abandoned Pepsi factory. Finally, as a superhero film, it wants to be smartly referential and full of easter eggs, but every attempt is so heavy-handed that any audience that didn’t feel insulted by what Sony executives thought we might miss should probably have their bank accounts checked for deposits from the media conglomerate.

                Madame Web contains the pieces of a much better film, but the gap between that potential and the reality of the mess that we got on-screen is so wide that it’s difficult to understand what led to the release of this particular version of the film other than corporate meddling. It’s not a film that you should ever pay to see, but if you can find it for free at some point, it makes for a good lesson in why writers, directors, and actors, along with their production teams should be the ones making most of the decisions for film rather than the production company executives who may or may not actually like movies at all – see David Zaslav and his love of The Flash for reference.

Weekend Watch - Lisa Frankenstein

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is Lisa Frankenstein, the high school romcom from screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno and Jennifer’s Body) and rookie feature director Zelda Williams. The film stars Kathryn Newton as the titular Lisa, joined by Liza Soberano as her stepsister Taffy, Henry Eikenberry as her crush Michael Trent, Joey Harris as her nemesis Tamara, Bryce Romero as her lab partner Doug, Joe Chrest as her father Dale, Carla Gugino as her stepmom Janet, and Cole Sprouse as “the Creature”. The film follows Lisa as she navigates life at a new high school in her senior year, crushing on the literary magazine editor, convincing her stepmom that she’s not going insane, and keeping a resurrected bachelor from the 1800s hidden in her closet. It opened this weekend in theaters. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: B-; this film should probably be a C were it not for some truly excellent payoffs throughout the film and especially in its last act.

Should you Watch This Film? In theaters? Maybe. At some point? Definitely. It toys with the edges of what can and can’t be done in PG-13 from time to time, but aside from that, there’s definitely something here that needs to be seen by most audiences.

Why?

                Lisa Frankenstein brings to the screen an amalgamation of Napoleon Dynamite, Sixteen Candles, Young Frankenstein, and the color palette of the iconic school supplies that its title references, having been brought to life by a cast that has committed to the absurdity of its bits and a writer/director combo that are willing to take big swings with the aesthetics, humor, and audiences’ expectations. That ends up creating a mess of a film in quite a few spots with plot lines left less than fully resolved, some fairly obvious set pieces designed to give us some exposition, and plenty of character choices that don’t make sense in the real world, but hey, this is romcom horror, and those pieces work excellently. The homage to classic monster movies, the occasionally visceral violence, the will-they-won’t-they love “triangle” that Lisa unwittingly traps herself in, and the commitment to making jokes that are unabashed in their setup and delivery go a long way in turning what is objectively a bit of a mess into something that should become a cult classic like those films it digs up.

                The performers are the key to making this film’s craziness work, and the core group hold it together with some excellent commitments to the bit. Have we already seen Joe Chrest play the clueless 1980s dad for four seasons of Stranger Things? Yes, but he’s at it again here in a slightly more endearing version of that character, giving the film exactly what it needs in that role – a dupe whose cluelessness makes the rest of the plot work. Carla Gugino gets to play the fun role of evil stepmother and evil psych nurse rolled into one, and she plays her part to its most absurd and loathsome end. Liza Soberano takes her role of cheerleader turned final girl and does the most with it, playing both aspects well – preppy but lovable in the best way. Cole Sprouse gets to show off mostly his physical repertoire in this film, communicating through expressions, movements, and grunts for basically the entire runtime, and it’s nice to see how capable he is of still making a murderous zombie man into a viable love interest with just those parts available to him. Kathryn Newton is the make-or-break point of the film’s cast, though; portraying a lead that is equal parts goth, troubled poet, it girl and occasional mad scientist, she has to walk a fine line, for which she is fully up to the task. From singing 80s power ballads off-tune in her living room to flirting with her crush(es?) to struggling with the pressure of the increased scrutiny after various disappearances that may or may not be her fault she brings the audience in and turns her Frankenstein-esque character into a believable and, indeed, lovable romantic comedy lead.

                As I already mentioned, the story side of Cody’s script might not be the film’s strongest aspect, and in fact, it’s probably its weakest. At least one unresolved plot line, plenty of convenient ineptitude from authority figures, and a less-than-fully consistent use of a semi-magical tanning bed make for a story that requires its audience to look past its flaws to fully appreciate it. At the same time, though, Cody’s comedy comes through at just the right level throughout the film. Its combination of camp, feminism, and shock-value fits in perfectly with the film’s genres, and her ability to choreograph the set-up and delivery of the film’s jokes helps make up for the lack of delivery on some of the plot set-ups. It’s laugh-out-loud funny at some points, and there’s one scene in the film’s third act that had the whole audience laughing harder than I’ve heard in a theater since Bottoms last year. It’s nice to have a romantic comedy/horror that doesn’t feel like it has to be self-aware. It’s still referential to those films that came before it, but none of it feels self-effacing like so many romantic comedies have become. It’s genuine and committed to itself, which is really about all that you can ask for a film these days.

                With a committed cast, a solidly produced genre blend, and humor that seems to hit all the right notes, Lisa Frankenstein lets audiences look past a lot of its story flaws and plot holes to be an enjoyable watch just in time for Valentine’s Day. Is it the best rom-com or horror film in recent years? Not really. It does wear its heart on its sleeve, though, and refuses to be anything but itself, which should be enough to get some people out to see it this week.

Weekend Watch - Argylle

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is Matthew Vaughn’s latest theatrical release, Argylle. The film, written by Jason Fuchs and directed by Vaughn, follows a spy novelist as she discovers that her novels have been predicting real events in the espionage world and that opposing forces are after her latest manuscript to get ahead in the game. The film stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, Richard E. Grant, John Cena, Catherine O’Hara, and Samuel L. Jackson. The $200 million film opened this weekend to the worst critical reviews for any of Vaughn’s films but still looks to win the weekend box office. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: C+; this movie should be so much worse than it actually is, and for that, I’m giving it a passing grade.

Should you Watch This Film? If you’re looking for an easy watching piece of pure entertainment at the movies, I don’t know that there’s any film currently out that will scratch that itch more than this one, so probably yes.

Why?

                The bad action movie is back with a vengeance! Argylle builds on the long tradition of Lethal Weapon, Charlie’s Angels, and even Vaughn’s own Kingsman films with a completely contrived, convoluted, action-packed mess of an action film that will still leave you smiling when you leave the theater. The cast’s commitment to the many bits of this film is what should make it a lasting success in the proverbial Spike TV movie specials (I guess it’s probably FXX now or something along those lines). The crossover of Elly Conway’s (Bryce Dallas Howard) fictional universe and the real-world spy action makes for some really fun rug pulls, and there’s plenty of twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat. Is it the most cohesive or clean or grittily real spy thriller ever made? Absolutely not, and it’s not going to floor you with anything groundbreaking, but it is fully committed to its own bit, and that’s incredibly refreshing in a big budget studio film.

                All of the main cast feel like the right fit for their respective roles. Bryan Cranston looks and acts the part of shady spy corporation head, channeling just a bit of that old Heisenberg into a few of his scenes, while also getting to show off some of his comedic timing as well. Catherine O’Hara is the perfect skeptical mom, giving plenty of iconic reactions to her daughter’s increasingly ridiculous involvement with her work. Henry Cavill (even with one of the worst haircuts I’ve ever seen) plays the part of Bond knock-off excellently, nailing the physicality and suave that his role demands. It’s always fun to see John Cena and Dua Lipa in cameo roles that fit them, and that’s no different here as they bring just the right amount of star power to the film’s wild opening, mirroring the L.L. Cool J cameo in the start of Charlie’s Angels (2000). Bryce Dallas Howard brings a commitment to the role of unwilling protagonist, nailing the cat lady forced into espionage that the role demands, giving us a fun take on the reluctant hero in the process. The person most at home in his role has to be action-comedy veteran Sam Rockwell (Charlie’s Angels and Mr. Right). He again brings that unassuming charm and hidden action hero style to his role as the real-life spy who tasks himself with keeping Elly safe from the more sinister elements that are after her.

                Of course, the action sequences have the requisite Matthew Vaughn flair for the unrealistic with colorful and ridiculously high-paced action that may or may not be everyone’s cup of tea. There’s one particular sequence involving ice skating that feels so ridiculous that you can’t help but marvel at the director’s willingness to try new things (even when they’re so ridiculous in their execution). Unfortunately, the flipside of Vaughn’s films is their story struggles, and with Jason Fuchs (Wonder Woman and Pan) taking on the writing duties this time, the story feels even weaker than usual. An abundance of twists and turns keeps the story engaging, but most of its reveals and surprises feel more unearned and heavy-handed than actually well-choreographed and satisfying. In recent years, it’s become popular to say that certain big budget films are good as long as you can turn your brain off while you watch it, and I’ve never seen that sentiment so blatantly on display as it is in Argylle.

                There’s enough creativity in the action sequences and commitment from its star-studded ensemble to help Argylle overcome its vast screenplay shortcomings to be an entertaining, if not overly substantial, time at the theaters. It’s definitely not a waste of money at the theaters because of how ridiculous and over-the-top it is, which works well on the big screen, but I don’t know that I’d call it a must-see film. It’s more of a solid excuse to go to the theaters if that’s something that you’re looking for.

Weekend Watch - All of Us Strangers

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is the BAFTA-nominated film from Andrew Haigh that finally got a theatrical release at a theater within feasible driving distance of my house this weekend – All of Us Strangers. The film, adapted from Taichi Yamada’s novel Strangers, stars Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell, and Claire Foy in a story about a lonely screenwriter (Scott) whose work on a script based on his own adolescent tragedy leads him back to his childhood home where his deceased parents (Bell and Foy) are seemingly still alive, while he also starts to open himself up to a relationship with a fellow tenant (Mescal) at his supremely vacant apartment complex. The intimate and mind-bending film has already received six BAFTA nominations, a Golden Globe nomination, and a Critics Choice Award nomination. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: A; this film meets and exceeds expectations at almost every level.

Should you Watch This Film? Yes, assuming that it’s playing in your area and you’re allowed/able to go see R-rated films.

Why?

                All of Us Strangers does, in fact, live up to the expectations that I have had about it. It delivers a beautifully acted, emotional, engaging, well-shot, mentally stimulating, and intimate look at grief, love, memory, family, and the universal human need for connection and intimacy. On the one hand, it offers a devastating portrayal of loneliness and its consequences when left unchecked, but on the other, it presents the audience with the beautiful nature of the alternative – opening yourself up to being vulnerable with others who might be able to love you (platonically, paternally, romantically, or any other way) and whom you might love in return. Andrew Haigh’s adaptation of Yamada’s novel takes the premise of what I understand to be a fantasy/romance/mystery/horror-lite story (based on the plot synopses I’ve read) whose focus is on letting go of past hurts and loss so that you can connect with your present and twists it into something that lacks a bit of that horror element but that leans hard into the other aspects to tell a story of opening up despite past hurts because of the need that everyone has for connection. Add to that adaptation the four excellent performances from Scott, Mescal, Bell, and Foy, and you’ve got yourself a modern masterpiece of film.

                I think that there exists a problematic and simplistic reading of this film as a purely LGBTQ+ story about how, in fact, being non-cis non-het is inherently isolating to the point of total despair. Adam (Scott) consistently describes himself as lonely, even from childhood before the deaths of his parents, and attributes that loneliness to his sense of feeling different and his fear of being judged and/or ostracized by his peers and his parents for being gay. Likewise, Harry (Mescal) talks about his lack of contact with his family once he told them about his sexuality being an operating factor in his own loneliness and isolation. I think, though, that reading such an interpretation – “the gays are lonely and sad” – into this film is reductive and dismissive of what Haigh (and the cast) are actually trying to accomplish. Their isolation doesn’t stem from their sexuality; it stems from the sense of rejection that they chose to latch onto, that society continues to push everyone toward. This fear of potentially being hurt by others because someone did once hurt you or someone like you seems to permeate modern society and relationships, from children to work environments to families to romantic partnerships to everything in between, and it’s that type of isolation that Haigh seeks to highlight – isolation driven by fear, fearing that you’ll never be loved or be enough but also fearing the possibility of finding out whether or not you are right. It’s so much deeper than a story of gay men being isolated, and it being told from an LGBTQ+ perspective simply lends more truth and power to its universal nature – that I, a straight man, can resonate with and recognize the tension of needing connection but fearing the hurt that comes when you connect with imperfect people as an imperfect person. It’s powerful.

                To top it all off, though, each of the four actors in this film (because it really is just a four-person film with two other credited actors who share one line between the two of them) delivers some of their best work, and when Oscar nominations leave all four of them out on Tuesday, it’s going to be a travesty. Claire Foy as Adam’s mother gets the opportunity to play this maternal figure to a forty-something man while being five to ten years younger than him due to the circumstances of her life and death. It’s a fascinating performance to watch because of how natural it feels, how, no matter the age of your child, you never stop being a mother – with all the highs and lows of motherhood included. Across from her, Jamie Bell plays Adam’s father in what is arguably the most emotionally taxing role of the film as he comes to terms with his treatment of his son while alive, forgive himself, and ask for a chance to be better in one of the most touching scenes from a film in the past year. Paul Mescal provides the perfect sounding board for Adam’s newfound desire for intimacy, offering a caring and interested romantic partner who hides his own pain just as deep down as Adam. It’s a strong supporting performance that comes to a climax in the film’s final sequences when his own pain and isolation finally make themselves known, and the audience gets to see the fullness of his own character development that’s been happening across the film. Finally, without Andrew Scott, this film simply doesn't work. His combination of longing, loneliness, and eventual acceptance come through in every facial expression, movement, and line delivery as he takes the audience along with him on this emotional ride of learning to connect with others and shed his fear of rejection. His is actually one of the best male performances of the year.

                All of Us Strangers gives audiences a glimpse at the power of films to tell universal truths in compelling and emotionally engaging packages thanks to the excellent adaptation and direction of Andrew Haigh and the spot-on performances from all four of the film’s primary players. On the surface this film could be one of the bleakest and most depressing looks at the current state of humanity, but deep down it offers a beautiful alternative if we can only get over ourselves and let others into our hurts and fears and see their own as we want to be seen. If you’ve got this film showing at a theater near you, I can’t stress enough how much you should go check it out. If not, definitely find it when it hits streaming.

Weekend Watch - Wonka

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week will be our last Watch of 2023, as I’ll be taking the holiday weekends off. The topic this week, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is Paul King’s prequel to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory that released this week, entitled Wonka. The film stars Timothée Chalamet as the titular chocolate magician, and he is joined by Calah Lane as the orphan Noodle, Olivia Colman as landlady and launderess Mrs. Scrubitt, Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, and Mathew Baynton as the chocolate “cartel”, Keegan-Michael Key as the Chief of Police, Jim Carter, Rakhee Thakrar, Natasha Rockwell, and Rich Fulcher as Wonka’s fellow lodgers and workers in town, Sally Hawkins as Wonka’s mother, and Hugh Grant as the Oompa-Loompa. The star-studded musical has thus far landed with a solid splash. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: B+, but in a good way; this film feels like a solid, wholesome end to 2023, not necessarily perfect but definitely a much-needed bolt of positivity in December.

Should you Watch This Film? Yes! This film is another example of Paul King making good family fun without feeling saccharine or forced, and it’s always refreshing.

Why?

                Wonka delivers everything you might want from an obvious cash-grab of a prequel – an engaging story, fun songs, well-managed fan service, and a fun blend of old and new characters, all of which gives some new perspective to the franchise(?) and the character of Willy Wonka. Chalamet, while initially a questionable pick to take over the mantle of the iconic chocolatier, perfectly slots into his role in the film, bringing the right blend of charisma, madcappery, and heart to the younger, less jaded version of Willy Wonka. King’s direction and writing take this musical to a place of family iconography that should hold a lasting place in the libraries of many movie fans. It’s not a film free from flaws, as some of its more fan-servicey moments and CGI feel a bit on-the-nose, but for a prequel that no one really asked for, those elements remain fairly few and far between.

                The film’s story delivers a slightly different plot than the trailers seemed to promise, focusing on an already fairly skilled Willy as he comes to the city to make his fortune selling the whimsical chocolates that he’s learned to make in his adolescent travels. The conflict stems from a lack of funding rather than from a lack of talent, and it becomes a film of class solidarity and the potential to overcome the wealthy and corrupt when working together toward a common goal. After being swindled into owing an inordinate amount of money to his landlords, Willy is forced to work off his debt rather than making his chocolate, which puts him into close contact with other victims of the price gouging of Scrubitt (Olivia Colman) and Bleacher (Tom Davis) – the orphan Noodle (Calah Lane), accountant Abacus Crunch (Jim Carter), telephone operator Lottie Bell (Rakhee Thakrar), plumber Piper Benz (Natasha Rothwell), and aspiring comedian Larry Chucklesworth (Rich Fulcher) – who then become his comrades in arms in his plot to make it big in the Gallery Gourmet, where all the best chocolate in the world is made. The chocolatiers of the gourmet pose the other primary obstacle to Wonka’s rise, with Slugworth (Paterson Joseph), Prodnose (Matt Lucas), and Fickelgruber (Mathew Baynton) holding a veritable oligopoly on the trade of sweets in the Gallery, using their excess of chocolate to bribe city officials, police, and the clergy into helping them maintain their hold on the trade. The escapades of Willy’s little group, which is eventually joined by Hugh Grant’s Oompa-Loompa, comprise the majority of the film’s runtime and make for some solid entertainment along the way. It’s not without a few plot holes and a few convenient deus ex machina’s in the closing act, but overall, it’s a fun story with a positive message of solidarity and companionship that is always welcome in the holiday season (even if this isn’t an explicitly holiday film).

                Chalamet’s performance is the driving force of the film, and now that I’ve seen it, I understand his Golden Globe nomination. He sings more than passably in the film’s plethora of upbeat and fun musical numbers, and his personification of the iconic character feels like a healthy homage to Wilder’s and Depp’s other iterations while bringing that youthful flair that the prequel’s story asks for. He’s well-cast, and I’m sorry for any disparaging remarks I may have made after watching the film’s underwhelming trailers. The rest of the film’s ensemble does their jobs decently without any major standouts. Colman seems to be doing her best homage to Mrs. Lovett of Sweeney Todd, but it works as a solid secondary villain. Though they are the film’s antagonists, Slughorn, Prodnose, Fickelgruber, and the Chief of Police also serve as its primary source of comic relief, and the timing and delivery from all four actors manage to elicit some laughs just about every time they’re onscreen.

                Chalamet’s impressive leading performance works with Paul King’s creative prequel narrative and some strong costume and production design to elevate Wonka above the typical prequel fare even if it does stray at times into that territory with some overt fan service and inconsistent CGI. It’s a great time at the theaters in this season of celebration, and once again, Paul King has given us a film that the whole family can enjoy without feeling too pandered to. You can check this one out in theaters for the next few weeks, and if you’re looking for something more upbeat, I have to recommend it.

Weekend Watch - The Boy and the Heron

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers is The Boy and the Heron, the newest film from acclaimed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. The film has been reported as the filmmaker’s final film, but more recent reports seem to imply that he might have one more in him. Either way, after opening in Japan in July, this film opened in U.S. theaters this weekend. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: A; animation, themes, characters, and story all hit those notes that we’ve come to expect from Miyazaki, yet again in a new and exciting tale.

Should you Watch This Film? Yes, but I do think that not everyone will love this film equally.

Why?

                Whether The Boy and the Heron truly is Miyazaki’s final film or not, much of the film feels like a swan song from the master of animation. The story, drawing its name from the novel by Genzaburo Yoshino, is loosely based on the filmmaker’s own adolescence during World War II, while also drawing on themes from his other works and combining all of that with his own sense of self and nearing the end of his life and career. It’s a film by Miyazaki for fans of Miyazaki first and foremost, but it doesn’t stop there, offering an engaging coming-of-age story for all audiences with one of the most complex protagonists that the animator has ever delivered. With what might be the filmmaker’s best display of animation, just the right amount of levity, and an engaging exploration of grief, growing up, aging, and generational responsibility, this film delivers a strong endcap to a year full of animated instant classics.

                The film’s story follows Mahito, a teen living in Japan during World War II, who loses his mother in a fire and then moves to the countryside when his father marries his mother’s younger sister, Natsuko. At their new house, Mahito struggles to accept Natsuko as his new mother and is harassed by a grey heron who lives on the grounds. Eventually, though, when Natsuko disappears into the forest surrounding the house – apparently taken by the mischievous grey heron – Mahito takes it on himself to bring her back, following her with one of the elderly women of the house (Kiriko) to the abandoned tower on the grounds that was built by his eccentric granduncle many years past. In the tower, the heron informs Mahito that his mother is still alive somewhere within the tower and that Mahito has to save both her and Natsuko before he leaves. Mahito’s adventure into the magical world of the tower brings him into conflict with the human-sized, man-eating parakeets that have taken up residence there and seek to rule it for themselves. To face them down, he is aided by a young fisherwoman named Kiriko, a magical girl with fire powers named Himi, and the heron who might have designs of his own. Ultimately, Mahito must choose between staying in the tower as its new master or returning with Natsuko to his world and his father. It’s one of Miyazaki’s more complex stories if you’re going beat by beat (which this recap certainly wasn’t), but it’s still fairly easy to follow in terms of the key points and very engaging thanks to the characters and animation.

                As always, Miyazaki’s animation is gorgeous, capturing a combination of realism, fantasy, and whimsy in the characters and landscapes that he brings to the screen. It might actually be the best that he’s ever done. The opening sequence of the film on its own is one of the two best animated scenes I’ve seen this year – the Spider-Gwen montage from the beginning of Across the Spider-Verse being the other – and the rest of the film keeps that excellence going, even if it’s never quite at that level again. I was struck by the realism of the way that Mahito was animated, with movements that look and feel like the movements of a real human, more than any character that I have ever seen in one of the director’s films. At the same time, the fantastical animations of the heron, the parakeets, the warawara (the requisite cutesy spirits that, in this case, look strikingly like plastic bags with faces), and the magical world of the tower feel inspired and totally new and distinct from Miyazaki’s other works, even while drawing inspiration from them. In particular, the parakeets give the film a feeling of levity that keeps the audience from falling too deeply into the potential for melancholy that the film’s story offers.

                Miyazaki has offered us a story full of the deeply human themes of loss and growing up and responsibility that still manages to stay light in the midst of its heavy realism thanks to his incredibly fun characters and animation that will leave audiences coming back to this film over and over again, discovering something new every time. While the film’s story might be overwhelming on the first watch, its wealth of detail and depth of themes make it an easy film to revisit, and the emotion and characters make it one that you’ll want to revisit. Currently, this film is showing (both subbed and dubbed) in theaters, and if my experience was any indication, I strongly recommend seeing it while you can on the big screen.

Weekend Watch - Saltburn

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is Emerald Fennell’s highly anticipated sophomore feature Saltburn. The film follows a scholarship Oxford student as he spends his summer holidays at the estate of one of his wealthy schoolmates and slowly inserts himself into that world of wealth. It stars Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Archie Madekwe, Paul Rhys, Richard E. Grant, Rosamund Pike, Carey Mulligan, and Alison Oliver and opened last week to a strong response from audiences even if its critic reviews are only a bit mixed. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: A-; so much of the film’s themes have been gone over time and again, but it executes them in such innovative fashion that you can’t help but be enraptured.

Should you Watch This Film? Maybe: filmgoers interested in a film that blends The Talented Mr. Ripley with Babylon are sure to be thrilled. People who find either or both of those films off-putting are probably in for a bad time, though.

Why?

                Saltburn delivers on its promises of exploring the excesses of the British aristocracy and the lengths that people will go to attain wealth through a twisted series of events. Fennell has delivered a depraved but highly entertaining story about class, education, and desire that is at its best when its actors get to show off the fullness of their characters’ idiosyncrasies and sociopathy. The film takes the premise of “eat the rich” to a whole new level that ultimately reads as much as a critique of middle-class social climbers as it does of the aristocracy that it puts on display. Keoghan, Elordi, Madekwe, and Pike, in particular, stand out in their performances, bringing the sexiness that the film requires to hold its audience’s attention as it dives deeper and deeper into the lifestyles of the denizens of Saltburn and into Keoghan’s Oliver’s need to be part of it all.

                In terms of its actual story, Saltburn is fairly reminiscent of Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, following a gifted middle-class college student who inserts himself in increasingly aggressive fashion into the life of his rich schoolmate and his friends and family. Keoghan’s Oliver Quick is perhaps more chilling than Damon’s Tom Ripley simply on his ability to lurk while hot, giving a more disconcerting lead performance than Damon’s obsessive one. The twist that kicks off the film’s third act comes only as a mild surprise, and Oliver’s final reveal (no, not that one) might leave too little to the audience’s imagination. Overall, though, the story works because of how fun it is to watch Oliver and his machinations play out, even when you’re pretty sure you know where it’s all headed.

                In addition to the film’s fun – at times, disturbing – story beats, the cast of characters keep things compelling as well. Archie Madekwe, who continues to have himself a year with his supporting performance here, perfectly plays the spoiled, but broke, American cousin of the Cattons, Farleigh Start. He plays smug and confident with so much smarminess that you can’t help but love to hate him. Even toward the film’s end, when his arc becomes more tragic, he brings just enough ridiculousness that you feel he deserves whatever comes, and he manages to never get shown up by any of the film’s “bigger” names. Jacob Elordi also happens to be putting up career numbers this year, and in Saltburn, his Felix Catton is aloof enough to draw the audience in and jealous enough to make them stay. His charisma and sex-appeal ooze from every scene he’s in, and you almost empathize with Oliver’s blend of obsession and frustration with the rich young socialite. Rosamund Pike, though secondary in the film’s cast of characters, gives a scene-stealing performance as the matriarch, Elspeth Catton. Her deadpan delivery of some truly wild lines brings an element of unexpected humor to many of the film’s tensest situations, and she plays so well off of every character she sits across from – Richard E. Grant’s Sir James, Keoghan’s Oliver, Elordi’s Felix, and even Carey Mulligan’s Pamela – elevating every scene that she’s in because you never know exactly what she’s going to do next, raising the whole cast up to her incredibly talented level. Obviously, though, Barry Keoghan carries the bulk of the film on his back, playing that unnerving little dude just as well as he ever has here as Oliver Quick. In every moment, his decisions, however uncouth and out-there they might be, feel true to the desperation of his character, and the actor feels like the perfect casting for such a uniquely depraved performance. I never doubted his willingness to fully send, and he full sends many MANY times in this film.

                A brilliant cast of characters, some truly gorgeous visuals, and plenty of wild story beats keep Emerald Fennell’s sophomore outing fresh and entertaining even as the themes it explores feel a bit overdone in modern popular media. The big swings taken by the filmmakers certainly won’t land with all audiences, but those looking to see a well-acted film that innovates and takes risks in the modern landscape of film are sure to be rewarded for their watch. Saltburn is currently showing in theaters around the country if you’d like to check it out while it’s still there.

Weekend Watch - Thanksgiving

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is Eli Roth’s new holiday slasher, Thanksgiving, which opened in theaters this weekend. The film, which follows the citizens of Plymouth, MA, who are being terrorized at Thanksgiving by a masked killer one year after a disastrous Black Friday sale left multiple people dead, stars Nell Verlaque, Patrick Dempsey (sexiest man alive 2023), Rick Hoffman, Milo Manheim, Addison Rae, Karen Cliche, Ty Olsson, Jenna Warren, Tomaso Sanelli, Gabriel Davenport, and Joe Delfin as its ensemble of potential killers and victims. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: B+; it’s got plenty of that tongue-in-cheek slasher humor and gory action to please any audience even if its story underwhelms in the final act.

Should you Watch This Film? Yes! This is a great time at the theater that never gets too serious or self-important, giving audiences just about everything they might want in a new classic slasher.

Why?

                Thanksgiving delivers up a fun, anti-Black Friday slasher ride that feels like Eli Roth at his most crowd-pleasing, never getting excessive with its gore while still maintaining the director’s twisted reputation with a collection of creative holiday-themed kills and injuries. It’s not a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination with a third act and mystery that end up fairly underwhelming in their execution due to an aggressively choreographed plot twist that even the most basic viewer can probably see coming from a mile away. There’s plenty of dangling plot details to potentially give us sequels if it does well enough, and I really hope that it does because the film’s themes of corrupt business owners, cross-town rivalries, and Thanksgiving-related shenanigans deserve to be further explored alongside its archetypal cast of characters.

                The best parts of the film are its moments of creative kills and attacks that often come out of nowhere. They had the audience in my theater absolutely losing our minds with creative use of industrial-grade ovens, corn cob holders, pilgrim axes, and the heavy doors of a restaurant’s dumpster. They are brutal in the most hilarious ways possible, living very much in the same space as Tarantino’s stylized gore. Each one leans into the film’s holiday motifs and feels like something you haven’t quite seen before in a slasher, at least not in this context. It’s fun to see this type of innovation in a genre that so often relies solely on tropes and familiarity, especially in recent years, to win audiences over.

                Story-wise, Thanksgiving jumps in with a promising premise – someone is out for revenge on the people responsible for a violent and deadly Black Friday mob one year later at Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the home of the original Thanksgiving (purportedly). After showcasing the horror of a mob at a Black Friday sale, which also introduces us to the film’s collection of characters, it gets into its present-day setting, a town amping up for a Thanksgiving celebration with cross-town sports rivalries, a parade getting prepped up, and lots of hurt feelings as the town approaches the anniversary of the previous year’s disaster. Every bit of dialogue is loaded with potentially incriminating statements to keep the audience guessing as to who the real killer is and whether there might even be multiple killers operating in tandem. For anyone paying the slightest bit of attention, it’s pretty obvious who the perpetrator(s) is (are?), but there’s enough smoke and mirrors and plenty of fun violence to make up for that lack of mystery.

                Each of the characters are fun and decently fleshed-out, with a well-selected cast of lesser-known actors portraying them (2023’s sexiest man alive Patrick Dempsey notwithstanding). Dempsey delivers a performance that works well in building up the setting as Plymouth’s thick-accented sheriff, worried about the impact of the killings on the town’s annual celebration of Thanksgiving. Nell Verlaque does the most as Thanksgiving’s new final girl, occasionally making some questionable decisions but never losing the audience’s support in a passable performance as a burgeoning scream queen. Her band of friends, comprised of Milo Manheim, Addison Rae, Jenna Warren, Tomaso Sanelli, and Gabriel Davenport, fills out the cast well, giving the audience enough individuality to make us curious about who makes it out and who might be the killer.

                Thanksgiving might not have the most surprising reveals and suffers some in its third act, but its fun characters, innovative violence, and tongue-in-cheek humor more than make it a satisfying time in the theaters and a welcome addition to the slasher genre. It might not be perfect, but there’s plenty of potential to follow it up with Thanksgiving 2 (or Easter or St. Patrick’s Day or July 4th) if Eli Roth wants to give us more, and I certainly hope that he does. It’s currently showing in theaters, and I definitely recommend checking it out this week as a way to celebrate the holiday.

Weekend Watch - The Marvels

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and (now that the studios have agreed to pay their writers and actors what they deserve) recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers is Marvel Studios’ The Marvels – the latest release from the MCU, featuring the team-up of Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Miss Marvel (Iman Vellani), and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) who currently has no official superhero alias in the cinematic universe. In addition to its leading ladies, the film also sees the return of Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury to the Marvel films, the big-screen debut of Kamala Khan’s family portrayed by Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, and Saagar Shaikh, reprising their roles from the Miss Marvel Disney+ show, and sees the introduction of the villain Dar-Benn, played by Zawe Ashton, and Prince Yan of Aladna, portrayed by Park Seo-joon. The film opened this weekend to what looks to be the lowest box office debut of any MCU film to date. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: B-; it’s a great time at the movies, and the leads help make the film really fun, but many of the important story beats break down under any kind of close examination.

Should you Watch This Film? If you are a fan of any of these three leading characters from the MCU, this film does them justice, and you’ll find your fandom rewarded. I don’t know how much this film impacts the overall continuity of the “Multiverse Saga”, so it’s a “maybe” for any other Marvel fans. People who haven’t enjoyed the latest offerings of the MCU probably won’t have their minds changed by this one, either.

Why?

                The Marvels, like most of the MCU films post-Endgame, is a mixed bag of good ideas, fun characters, decent effects, and a thin story. In the case of this particular outing, the good ideas come in the form of creative action sequences and a very fun team-up. The effects feel a little bit more consistent than in some of the recent outings; though, at times, the CGI of Captain Marvel flying around doesn’t look overly lifelike. The characters don’t have overly complex arcs in this quick film, but their interpersonal relationships take center stage and make for some solid fleshing out of the three leads. In a broad sense, the story works – forcing Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers to actually address the fallout from her past actions and do her best to patch things up, both with the Kree and with Monica. Unfortunately, the finer details of the story are where it starts to fall apart with more plot-holes than even I am comfortable with in a superhero film.

                Starting with the positives, it’s very fun to see all three of these leading characters on the big screen, and having them work together as a team is the icing on that particular cake. Aside from a tertiary role in Wandavision, we haven’t gotten to see much of Teyonah Parris’s Monica Rambeau, and in this film, she proves to be quite a welcome addition to the team. Beyond actually figuring out what her powers can do, she provides a human connection for Carol/Captain Marvel to wrestle with, which wasn’t as fully present in the first Captain Marvel film, and she brings more of a grounded perspective to the trio, acting as the voice of reason between Carol’s brashness and Kamala’s fangirling. She’s a fun character that has potential to be even more important as the second of the MCU’s sagas unfolds. Kamala Khan/Miss Marvel at least had her own show leading into this film, but Vellani’s character finds her stride here as she becomes part of a team, realizing that she has more to contribute than just being a sidekick to more famous heroes. While Monica is the brains of the operation and Carol is the main character and strength of the trio, Kamala serves as the team’s heart, reminding them time and again of their individual and collective greatness, becoming the best part of the film in the process. Her interactions with each member of the team, with Jackson’s Nick Fury, and with her own family serve as the comedic heart of the film but also the emotional core of the film, as her arc from fan/b-lister to mainline superhero comes to full fruition. Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers, in contrast with Kamala’s heart-on-her-sleeve passion, has to be brought out of her shell some in this film, benefitting greatly in this regard from Kamala’s outgoing nature and her emotional connection to Monica and her deceased mother. She’s obviously still one of the most powerful beings in the MCU, but her character gets to play in that space a bit more, as she’s forced to reckon with her inextricable connections to those weaker than her and to come to appreciate those connections rather than shy away from them and the vulnerability that they bring. Those connections offer a much-needed depth to her character that makes her a more integral part of the universe moving forward.

                On the flipside, the story surrounding these three great characters lacks a solid narrative framework and feels like a shell that was built around the awesome team-up. It’s a film that makes for a great time while you watch it, but when you look back and think about it, you’re puzzled by the logic and many conveniences that happen in the midst of it. Zawe Ashton does a commendable job as the villain Dar-Benn, coming across as the desperate world leader that she’s asked to portray, but many of the character’s decisions feel more like they were meant to bring the characters to certain locations and set pieces rather than the coordinated actions of the leader of an entire planet (empire?). Don’t get me wrong, those set-pieces are mostly pretty solid – the musical planet with Prince Yan, the cat rescue, and the initial entanglement sequence all make for highly entertaining film – but it’s again not the most logical in terms of story development. Likewise, I found myself wondering multiple times about how Monica just knew certain bits of information about the universe and physics that pertained to their specific situations and how the trio moved on so easily from witnessing multiple potentially world-ending events in pretty rapid succession. The processing scenes are either missing entirely or much too short to be fully satisfying. But that also speaks to my initial point that this film is here to showcase the trio rather than explore the universe that they inhabit, which may or may not work all the time.

                The Marvels is at its best when its leading team is on-screen, working together, and interacting in fun and fresh ways; unfortunately, much of that fun comes at the expense of a cohesive story, with the writing feeling more constructed around the characters as opposed to the characters developing around the story. It probably won’t work perfectly for most audiences, and a bit more time spent on story development could easily have made this one of the best MCU films. As it stands, it’s still a very fun superhero film with memorable characters, some original action sequences, and lots of heart that just misses the mark on some of its story logic. I think it’s worth your time if you’re looking for a lighthearted action flick that’s currently showing in theaters. Otherwise, you can probably wait for this one to hit streaming if you’re a Marvel fan or skip it if you aren’t because I’ve seen too many people dumping on this film for not being “cinema” for me to tell those people to watch it. They’ve already made up their minds because Scorsese told them to, and they’re not changing for a Brie Larson superhero film. If that’s you, just don’t see it rather than wasting time trashing people for doing their jobs.

Weekend Watch - Five Nights at Freddy’s

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating and review. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers is Five Nights at Freddy’s, the videogame adaptation from Blumhouse about a security guard at a shutdown children’s pizza restaurant who must contend with the violent tendencies of its haunted animatronics while he keeps watch at night. The film stars Josh Hutcherson as the film’s lead Mike, joined by Piper Rubio as his sister and charge Abby, Elizabeth Lail as local police officer Vanessa, and Matthew Lillard as the career counselor who places Mike at Freddy’s, Steve Raglan. It opened last weekend to some of the worst reviews of the year while also winning the weekend at the box office. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: C-, it’s not as terrible as people say, but a few tweaks would take it from just okay to something truly great.

Review:

                Five Nights at Freddy’s offers a slightly toned down but still atmospheric and jump-scare heavy horror film that just misses the mark on a few too many notes to feel totally true to its source material. Through its soundtrack, puppeteering, and creative twists on the game’s lore, it offers audiences a fairly fresh take on the horror genre, with lots of potential for any future installments. Unfortunately, predictable plot twists, inconsistent performances, and a miniscule level of the blood and gore that you might expect from such a film leave it as a middling offering to wrap up spooky season (or not if you’re trying to watch Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks).

                As far as capturing the feel of the video game from which it is inspired, I think this film does a decent job. It has plenty of jump-scares, Easter eggs, and lore-specific statements to please fans of the game. The soundtrack that goes along with it all really adds to the 1980s atmospheric theming with lots of synth and 16-bit sounds that really immerse the audience in the world – particularly in the film’s opening sequence, which features maybe the film’s best overall vibes. The disappointment comes when the camera cuts away from the instances of violence in order to maintain a PG-13 rating that will give it a larger audience base and box office haul. While the games maintain a palatable T for Teen age rating, they do this by minimizing the on-screen violence and relying heavily on jump-scares, which makes for a satisfying gaming experience. However, horror films that cut away from the violence and utilize primarily jump-scares are inevitably going to suffer in the ratings department, and I think here, the film could actually be a more critical success if it leaned a bit harder into the franchise’s Saw adjacencies and less on its marketability with 8-to-12-year-olds.

                Game creator and co-writer of the film Scott Cawthon has taken the lore of his hit franchise and twisted bits and pieces of it to craft what should be an original enough story for fans who came in knowing the depths of Freddy’s lore. It plays around with characters and storylines in a way that still gives us a satisfying story even if its beats are fairly predictable and familiar for the average moviegoer. The real breakdown is not so much in the changes from the source material but in the execution of the new story, which is rife with plot holes and less-than-surprising twists. Combine that with inconsistent performances from both Hutcherson and Lail, and you’re left with a somewhat disappointing story that still entertains but doesn’t really wow.

                Hutcherson is at his best in the film when he gets to just talk and be present, expressing more subtle trauma and emotionality quite well. It’s the moments when he has to explode and emote more intensely that his performance breaks down a bit and reverts too much to his younger self to be believable. Likewise, Lail’s performance as Vanessa feels too insincere in the film’s moments of emotional connection and simple explanations, but when the going gets tough, she exhibits fear and terror excellently in her expressions, giving the audience a glimpse at some potential horror greatness if she can nail those other beats. Lillard’s cameo moments work well enough, but it’s fairly obvious what part he has to play, and certain moments feel a bit more phoned in than I’d typically like – he’s not late-90’s/early-2000s Matthew Lillard anymore (at least not here). Piper Rubio might give the film’s best performance, but it’s not an overly complex one, as she gives the audience a glimpse into the childlike innocence that has been so often victimized by the film’s antagonistic forces. She is kind and good and a little bit airy, but it works well enough.

                Five Nights at Freddy’s struggles to find solid footing with an atmosphere and adaptation that almost work perfectly but break down like the animatronics in the presence of tasers when you take into account the film’s conventional plot and inconsistent performances that leave something to be desired. It’s by no means the worst film of the year, but it could definitely have been a much better film with just a few tweaks and really gone down as a great video game adaptation. As it stands, it’s a passable horror film on the level of most others, not really elevated or innovative but still thrilling in its creation of a suspenseful atmosphere and use of jump-scares.

Weekend Watch - Killers of the Flower Moon

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating and review. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is Martin Scorsese’s latest crime epic, Killers of the Flower Moon. The film opened across the U.S. this weekend amid huge buzz for the prolific filmmaker’s return to the director’s chair. Based on David Grann’s nonfiction book of the same name, the film documents the Osage Indian murders of the 1920s, focusing on the perpetrators Ernest Burkhart and William Hale and one of the survivors, Mollie Burkhart. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Ernest, Robert De Niro as Hale, and Lily Gladstone as Mollie, and also features Jesse Plemons, John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser, Cara Jade Myers, Jenae Collins, Jason Isbell, William Belleau, Louis Cancelmi, and Scott Shepherd in prominent roles. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: B+; if a three hour and twenty-six-minute runtime sounds daunting, this film will not be your cup of tea. The positives outweigh the negatives here overall, but it’s not a film without flaws.

Review:

                Martin Scorsese is back with another weighty true crime story with some of his favorite collaborators and new faces as well. This one takes us to the plains of Oklahoma, the land of the Osage in the 1920s, where vast oil reserves made the Native Americans one of the wealthiest people groups in the world before the wealth drew American settlers looking to use intermarriage and “accidental” deaths to steal that wealth away. It’s a story that begs to be told, and Scorsese feels like one of the better choices to tell it, honoring the heritage and culture of the Osage even as he focuses the spotlight on the white perpetrators. The three central performances carry the film’s hefty runtime, not really lightening the load but making it a more acceptable slog. Is the film 20 to 40 minutes longer than it could be? Probably, but I think most of the length comes from an intentionally plodding pace rather than an excess of unnecessary story moments. It would feel a disservice to cut much of the story, but a more typical Scorsese pace could have shortened things a bit and made it more easily marketable to a wider audience.

                Your take on the latest Scorsese film will most likely come down to how willing you are to bask in the corruption and deceit of William Hale and his cronies because Scorsese really wants you to take it all in – to witness just how far American greed is willing to go and just how many people it’ll walk over to make a profit. If you come in knowing much about the story, the slow pace could frustrate rather than engulf and leave you wondering why you agreed to sit for this long watching a single film whose outcome you already knew. If you don’t know much, there’s enough from moment to moment that keeps even the slow moments engaging as the web becomes more and more complex. I’m not sure how effective putting DiCaprio’s Ernest Burkhart as the film’s focus is for the goal of the film, since he’s almost too much of a yes-man to feel like the scathing picture of an American capitalist that Scorsese loves to portray as his leading hero/villains. De Niro’s Hale as the lead could have been a truly chilling look at American greed, and Gladstone’s Mollie could have provided more of that victimized minority perspective were she serving as the lead instead. As it stands, the story has impact because of how tragic and seemingly thoughtless most of the deaths were, but it doesn’t go a long way in offering any modern condemnation of continuing American exploitations in the name of “progress” and capitalism.

                As I mentioned above, the three leads drive the film, even if their characters don’t necessarily receive the proper amount of screentime, respectively. DiCaprio is on his A-game as the leading man, blending the affability of Rick Dalton with the sliminess of Calvin Candy and the greed of Jordan Belfort to produce the bumbling henchman that is this film’s leading man. I don’t know that I’d go so far as to put it as the actor’s best performance, but in combining his three best performances, the actor unlocks something unforgettably gray and discomforting in this film. Gladstone turns in a career-making performance as Mollie, offering the audience a quiet but pervasive look into the viewpoint of the victims of these crimes. It’s a slow-developing performance that percolates as the plot of the film does, hitting its peak in the third act when she finally knows as much as the audience does and delivers the deathblow to Ernest’s illusions of coming back from everything that he has participated in with no lasting repercussions. It is De Niro’s performance, though, that truly dominates the film. His portrayal of William Hale will go down with Ledger’s Joker, Bardem’s Anton Chigurh, DiCaprio’s Calvin Candy, and Waltz’s Hans Landa as one of the best villains of the 21st century. He’s a character that’s so chilling because he really believes that his actions are justified and that his “good” deeds excuse any evils and victimization that result from his machinations.

                With captivating performances from its three leads and a story that absolutely has to be told, Killers of the Flower Moon outshines an excessive runtime and a focus on the wrong character to insert itself into the upper echelons of films released this year. It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, especially being as long as it is, but Scorsese’s filmmaking certainly hasn’t fallen off with this latest outing.

Weekend Watch - PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating and review. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers (and a surprisingly large number of my wife’s friends), is the latest animated film about every child’s favorite group of crime fighting pups: PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie. The film is the sequel to 2021’s commercially successful PAW Patrol: The Movie, the first theatrical spin-off of the widely popular Nick Jr. show about a team of dogs who work with a boy to keep their town safe from a wide array of disasters, utilizing large vehicles in pursuit of this goal. Notable additions to the usual voice cast of the film include McKenna Grace taking over to voice the pup Skye, Taraji P. Henson voicing the new villain Victoria Vance, and Lil Rel Howery voicing Adventure City’s news anchor Sam Stringer. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: D without young children, B+ with young children; there’s really only one brief scene that makes this film feel like it’s paying any attention to the adults in the crowd, but the small children that permeated the audience were having a fantastic time.

Review:

                Anyone vaguely familiar with the PAW Patrol franchise probably gets the gist of what this film is about – there’s dogs, they have big vehicles, their boss(?) is an unexplainably independently wealthy child, they want to protect people from bad things happening – and if you’ve seen any marketing for this specific film, you probably know the rest – the dogs get super powers from a meteor and have to stop a mad scientist from stealing their powers and using them to destroy Adventure City. Nothing in this film feels overly original (or makes a ton of sense), but it delivers what the young fans of the franchise come to the theater to see – dogs in cool cars and outfits getting superpowers and doing even more than they usually can thanks to those new powers. The sense of delight and fun was palpable in the theater even if the actual film didn’t give me much in terms of content – the kid next to us in a Chase costume was having a spectacular time, and it was just endearing enough to keep me having a good time.

                The Mighty Movie is not entirely devoid of moments with a bit more depth than the television show typically showcases. This story focuses on the character of Skye – the smallest of the pups who flies a helicopter and, now, a plane as well – and her desire to prove herself as just as good as the rest of the crew despite her smaller stature. Her backstory as the runt of the litter who willed herself to being adopted by Ryder features in a flashback reminiscent of the flashback montages in Pixar films like Cars or Toy Story 2, complete with an emotional song and different color palette. It’s that moment that keeps this film feeling like it almost considered a broader audience than just the kids, but it quickly returns to the fast-paced, less-than-logical action sequences that the crowds came to see.

                While adults in the audience – especially those without young children – won’t find a lot in this film for them, it still delivers some emotional moments and plenty of the kid-friendly action that audiences come to this type of film to see, pleasing the kids in the audience as it should. Don’t expect groundbreaking animation like the Spider-Verse films or innovative stories like TMNT or Nimona, but just come in looking for a good kid-friendly romp, and you shouldn’t be overly disappointed.

Weekend Watch - Expend4bles

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating and review. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is the latest in Sylvester Stallone’s action franchise, Expend4bles. The fourth film in the series sees the return of Stallone as Barney, the leader of the titular team of military contractors, as well as Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture in reprisals of their respective roles. They are joined this time by Megan Fox (Transformers), 50 Cent (Escape Plan), Tony Jaa (Ong Bak), Jacob Scipio (Bad Boys for Life), and Levy Tran (The First Purge) as additions to the team, Andy Garcia as the team’s CIA handler, and Iko Uwais of The Raid films as the new villain – Rahmat. The film opened in theaters this weekend. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: D+, this film is probably a C+ in its best form, but a truly convoluted story and more misogyny than you’d even expect weigh it down.

Review:

                Expend4bles offers more of the same fare that we’ve all come to expect of the franchise – classic action heroes getting to show off that they’ve still got it alongside some decently well-known up and comers while they try to stop the bad guy from doing something that threatens world peace (or whatever). In this particular iteration, Statham is given more of a leading role, while Stallone takes a backseat, which works for the pacing of most of the film’s action sequences, but leaves it lacking a bit of the goofy heart that has made the films as successful as they have been (at least financially), since Statham is stuck delivering his one-liners to dead (or soon-to-be-dead) henchmen more often than his aging associates.

                The mission is another odd point for the film, considering the absence of Stallone’s Barney for much of its runtime. The Expendables are called on by the CIA to infiltrate a hijacked cargo ship that is carrying a nuclear device and stop it from entering Russian waters while also uncovering the identity of a shadowy figure from Barney’s days before the Expendables and bringing him to justice. That second point is what makes Barney’s absence from most of the back portion of the film so odd. The character motivations of everyone on the team not played by Stallone end up becoming fairly shallow when he dips out. It ends up becoming a film about watching people do their jobs, sometimes with some entertaining action sequences and decent one-liners.

                The biggest saving grace that keeps Expend4bles watchable, like the other films in its franchise, are the action sequences. An opening villain takeover of a desert compound gets things going, showcasing Iko Uwais’s capabilities as a fighter for any unfamiliar with his other work as he dominates the grunts that try to come between him and his prize. The chase with military-grade ATVs, a cargo plane, trucks, and a Humvee makes for a solid wrap-up to the first act – nothing overly creative, but it still works to establish characters, conflict, and keep the audience engaged. Statham then gets his own infiltration sequence that works really well in the second act before being elevated by the addition of Tony Jaa and plenty of hand-to-hand combat for both of them. The big team-up moment is fine with enough gunplay and knife play to keep those hungry for action happy, even if the stakes feel fairly basic and understated. The final showdown is probably the weakest in terms of actual action, focusing more on reveals, elevating the stakes, and offering the audience payoffs, which leaves it somewhat underwhelming after a series of solid fights up to that point.

                Odd but predictable story choices, fun but mostly basic action sequences, and a marked lack of character development for anyone leaves Expend4bles as a disappointing and barely entertaining offering in theaters this weekend. This probably shouldn't come as a huge surprise to anyone who’s seen the first three films, but it would’ve been nice to see it improve just a bit in the direction of its second installment, which remains a decent B-level action flick, rather than the predictability and underperformance of the first and third installments. Nonetheless, here we are coming into the last week of September, so hopefully, we’ll be kicking back into gear in the next few weeks with awards season rolling ever closer.