Us (2019)

Jordan Peele is creating a new Twilight Zone this year. Pieces of Us feel like they're the perfect pilot for a society-driven anthology series from him. In Us, a family is greeted by their doppelgängers and must survive their mysterious appearance and invasion of their summer beach house. 

There are two things about Us that stand out above everything else. First, is the cast and their characters, and second is every little thought and implication this movie teases. The interpretations, reinterpretations, and misinterpretations will stand the test of time, well after this movie (hopefully) rewards Peele with another Oscar win.

Us is the best ensemble horror film in recent memory. Everyone plays well with each other because it's a family-horror movie that feels authentic. Protection, not survival, is what's emphasized in Us, and the impact of that echoes through the movie. Protection means sticking together, and later exchanging fun stories about the insanity with the people being protected. It's like if The Incredibles was a horror movie, and Violet said "I have the highest kill count in the family." In this case, the daughter, Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph), said that. Her, and her brother Jason (Evan Alex), are some of the best kids in horror, during a season that's been pretty good to kids in horror, with movies like A Quiet Place. They're not helpless, they're just scared.

It might help that their parents are played by actors with superhero experience. Adelaide and Gabe are portrayed by Black Panther's Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke. They work exceptionally well with each other, but also apart from each other, when it's themself vs doppelgänger, which opens up that anthology feel parts of Us has. Duke handles dad jokes like a pro, and it allows the movie to breathe and set a good pace. Nyong’o, meanwhile, handles more of the emotional impact the invasion brings with it. She is the ultimate mother bear, and she's pulling one of the toughest dual-jobs, as the movie's head doppelgänger.

The Doppelgängers feel like repression of dreams plus a loss of free will. Hints are dropped that people with doppelgängers have had pursuits abandoned for one reason or another, and no one was able to help them through that. Even worse, some just started feeling free will wasn't available, and no roadmap for later in life. When asked who they are, Red (Nyong’o's dual role) says "we're Americans." We're Americans, and the dream is a lie, but you seem to have it pretty well, don't you? Why don't we give it a shot? And a compelling case is made in support of that throughout the movie. Peele may just be trying to get all the ideas in his head out, but when it doesn't break the story, the more ideas out there, the better the movie is. Give people as much to work with as possible, especially in a genre can just coast on gore and jump scares. He does that and more.

Instead of gore, we get some really fun action. Weapons go flying across the screen, as characters fight each other. It's incredibly well-executed thanks to how grounded it all looks and how long shots are held. And when it's not that grounded, or cuts a lot, it's creative instead and pushes fight choreography to have new meaning.

Us also offers Kubrick and Hitchcock moments for the film buffs, some cultish, choir music from Michael Abels, for the film score buffs, and a lightly active camera, thanks to Mike Gioulakis, to breeze the audience through this new twist on what only starts out as a classic home invasion story.

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Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

Update: Please do not buy this movie, or other H.P merchandise, new and financially support J.K Rowling because of her anti-trans beliefs. As for Johnny Depp, reports are conflicting, from what I hear. Do your own research and what you feel is right. 

Note: Fiftieth post, and thank you to the friend who drove me 80 minutes (round-trip) to the theatre for this one!

The Crimes of Grindelwald is a magical mess that could only come from the creative cluster-bombed brain of post-Potter-published J.K Rowling. Apologies for the alliteration, it comes with the series.

The Crimes of Grindelwald, first and foremost is a reverse of the first Fantastic Beasts movie. People are the main plot points, and the animals are just along for the ride, and it's a non-traditional wild ride. The Crimes of Gindelwald, short and sweet, is about finding Credence (Ezra Miller), a wizard with almost no control over his powers, before Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) recruits him. But, along the way, a ton of stuff happens because Rowling writes her films in the same lengthy manner she writes her books.

First, we should get Depp out of the way. Personally, he's become incredibly problematic, allegedly abusive (if allegations were proven please correct me), and a shell of who he was. Professionally, he seems to have gotten his act together, and that can't be ignored either. Rowling and Depp together have pulled off something incredible, by creating a timeless take on current, and past, American politics. Depp hasn't had this kind of charisma in years onscreen, but it's easy to hang off his every word, before being reminded that "The beast of burden will always be necessary," when referring to muggles (or anyone considered "other") is the word of a monster. George Lucas was able to do something similar in the Star Wars prequels that demonstrated how political power can be consolidated and abused under one person. That was more through chaos than fear. Rowling leans on fear, racism, and misplaced hope (not Star Wars hope) to make this story hers. Unfortunately, it's just a small piece of the story.

The Crimes of Grindelwald spends most of its time introducing, or re-introducing, characters at an alarming rate. In the Wizarding World, that means they each have fully fleshed out backstories just waiting to be explored. Instead of reserving these backstories for the website Pottermore, Rowling and director David Yates explore them onscreen. Not only that, but a lot of time is spent just jumping from setup encounter to setup encounter, such as members of several Ministries of Magic who are hunting Credence. They don't really catch up to him until the end, and that's when they could've been revealed. They're quick to introduce to new audiences.

As for the characters we know and love...they're still lovely but Tina (Katherine Waterston) and Newt (Eddie Redmayne), and Queenie (Alison Sudol, who'd make a great Harley Quinn) and Jacob (Dan Fogler), are stuck with ridiculous strained relationship subplots. For what it's worth, the actors roll with them, and Rowling's strengths actually shine through. While the major story is a mess, her character work repairs a lot of that damage. The boys fixing out their relationship issues bring out the best moments of the movie, like when Jacob tells Newt that he shouldn't compare Tina's eyes to salamanders (this may work in some situations...give it a shot). The same can be said when the Fantastic Beasts are going in and out of the trunk.

The creature design looks better than ever, although the CGI is a little overused on them since the new batch of films. Animatronics and more practical methods should be considered, when possible. Some faces on the beasts just look a little cartoony. Regardless, Newt swimming with a Kelpie in a glassless tank/lake, and luring a "lion" with a fuzzy bauble at the end of his wand makes up for the look being not quite right.

The Crimes of Grindelwald is Rowling unchecked. One episode of the podcast Potterless, by Mike Schubert, is a great primer for the movie because he mentions how Rowling will go on for pages beautifully describing scenery, recapping past books, and digging in Harry's mind. It's fun to read but difficult to watch, since film is meant to condense those pages and make them pop in a different way. Moving forward, hopefully she and Yates, or she and some fresh blood, keep that in mind.

Note: Thanks again to the friend who drove me to the theatre, and if anyone wants more Harry Pottter in their life, please checkout Potterless by Mike Schubert, the story of a 25-year-old man reading the series for the first time. Each episode he discusses a few chapters with a special guest. It's fun, insightful, and I couldn't have written this without his help either. 

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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

"Peter, these are the years when a man changes into the man he's gonna become the rest of his life. Just be careful who you change into." The Spider-Man film franchise began in 2002 and has hit the age of identity crisis. It's gone in three separate directions this year, with Avengers: Infinity War, Venom, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but that's how this empire should run. It's leagues better than when one Spider-Man movie tries to do it all, like when Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2, each attempted that.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is directed by Bob Persichetti, Rise of the Guardian's Peter Ramsey (he's finally back), and Rodney Rothman, and written by Rotham and Phil Lord, and they set out to tell the tale "one last time," seven more times...sorta. When The Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) opens a wormhole that teleports other Spideys into Mile Morales' (Shameik Moore) dimension, he has to use his new powers to help send them home before the wormhole becomes unstable.

Telling Miles' story could backfire simply for being yet another Spider-Man origin onscreen, for being another superhero origin, so the filmmakers are smart to speed through the familiar cliff notes of getting his powers and giving him some villains to fight within the first ten minutes. A lasting moment from this intro is Miles exchanging "good mornings" and secret handshakes with a crowd of old classmates, on his way to a new prep school. Rotham and Lord knock Miles down a peg with the new school (and the inescapable woes of adolescence), but he's built up well as the more outgoing and adventurous Anti-Puny-Parker.

This is his story through and through, and the other Spider-People partnering up with Miles luckily reinforces that, mostly to the film's benefit. Into the Spider-Verse features a classic, but worn down, schlubbier, and (at last) adult version of Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Jake Johnson), Gwen Stacy, the Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld), Spider Noir (Nicolas Cage), from the pulpy 1930s, Peni Parker and her spider-co-piloted robot (Kimiko Glenn), and, finally, Spider-Ham/Peter Porker (John Mulaney), who remarkably doesn't just predate The Simpsons Movie, but the show too. Except for Spider-Woman and Jake Johnson's version of Peter, most of visiting Spiders aren't explored too deeply. They're given more than one-liners, but it's really just a promise of what'll come in the sequels. The one-liners are fantastic though. Cage especially steals his scenes with a put-on New York accent, reference to egg-creams, and a passing mention of the "moral ambiguity of your violent actions." Billy Wilder would be proud.

Finally, the animation in Into the Spider-Verse is a long time in coming for the studio, for the genre, for film. There hasn't been a literal, visual adaptation of a comic in a while (except for Captain Underpants), but now the bar's been raised for other movies that want to try it. While it's not relying on a heavy outline style, probably because that would fill the screen too much, the modern visual storytelling in comics is on full display. 2D animation is utilized throughout the movie, and ranges from re-creating comic panels, to Peni's anime style, to the ludicrous antics of Spider-Ham. Text boxes, onomatopoeias, and speech bubbles also highlight how upside-down Miles's world is about to become, but he'll get used to being upside when getting the drop on villains, so it's all good.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a return to where the franchise began writing-wise, with the (typically forgotten) heart of the second generation of Spidey films. As (pile of garbage) Nostalgia Critic, Doug Walker, has mentioned, the Raimi Trilogy featured the same plot structure used in Into the Spider-Verse. The movie doesn't spread itself too thin with unnecessary characters, plot points, or an inflated runtime and budget. But that just means the movie is functional. They also salvaged the message of the Webb films and made it more important than ever. "Anyone can wear the mask. You can wear the mask." Try it on.

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Sorry to Bother You (2018)

When does "It's all bullshit" turn into complacency and complicity? Boots Riley's debut doesn't offer an easy answer, but through the absurd, he reminds people what normal is and that what people do in their lives matters.

Cassius "Cash" Green (Lakeith Stanfield) finds the only job he can get, telemarketing for RegalView, but, naturally he starts with getting hung up on. That is until this black man develops his "white voice" (dubbed by David Cross), starts hitting that quota hard, and the ball starts rolling.

Riley starts off with a fast script that pushes Cash from the cubicle to the private office quickly, but it's a fun ride as calls literally drop Cash and his desk into the homes, and dinner times, of his customers. Riley makes the smart choice of keeping the two parties on the line disconnected. They're not looking at each other, but at their phones, and in Cash's case his call script, just trying to get what they need from each other. A little commerce never hurt anybody.

Except that it could. As Cash moves up and starts getting supervised by a Mr. [Bleep] (Omari Hardwick and white voice dubbed by Patton Oswalt), the means of production are peeled back and reality sets in. It puts Cash and the audience in an understandable position. How long and how hard are people willing to work in an exploitive industry, in an exploitive, unjust world?

Sorry to Bother You will age gracefully, if it ages at all, but it is very much a Post-Trump film that examines what's been accepted over the last two years. For all the fighting on the front-lines people are doing, others are crossing picket lines because being poor is worse than being harassed by rioters. Cash is able to maintain his connection with the audience because of Stanfield's performance and those around him, especially his girlfriend Detroit (Tessa Thompson). She's a fully fleshed out character, with lines she will cross and lines she won't, and she knows what it takes to stand up for something. She lights up the screen with a great look that reflects needed rebellion in times of modern, compromised-based, millennial hardship.

From the tv spots made after the movie initially came out. | Copyright 2018 Annapurna and Disney/Fox

The costumes in Sorry to Bother You are very distinct, with standout suits, performance art pieces worn by Detroit, an eyepatch, the works. With cinematographer Doug Emmett, Riley speaks volumes through what's just in-frame. He's shouting, but not screaming, the audience picks up what they're comfortable with. For instance, some will notice that sets may have a Get Out vibe. Hallways often feel claustrophobic and there's rarely room for characters to breathe in these places. And when there is room, it's because Cash is in the center of that room, with all eyes gazing, curious about his next move. Others will have something else in mind. Sit back, enjoy it, but please come away with something.

On Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, after the 2016 election, Oliver said "Keep reminding yourself this is not normal," knowing that not everyone would be directly affected by the coming policy changes. Riley is saying the same thing, but bringing it to the neighborhoods because it was only a matter of time until everyone was affected. After the madness passes, will things become and stay normal or will the cycle just restart?

For people feeling frustrated with the world around them, watch Sorry to Bother You. If it stirs up anything more than the laughs it promises, run with that. At least talk about it with someone

This is a near masterpiece.

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Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Note: This review was a special request by Marianne Brody. 

Peyton Reed's Ant-Man and the Wasp is the continuation of both Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War. With a lot of catching up to do, and very little that could just be swept under the rug, Ant-Man and the Wasp writes itself into corners. As quickly as the title characters grow and shrink, the movie impressively writes itself out of those corners, and apart from the original.

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) has been under house arrest since helping Captain America and Falcon in Germany, and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lily) have cut ties with Scott and have been laying low because the FBI sees them and their tech as national security threats. All three have to come out in the open when they discover a way into the Quantum Realm to save the original Wasp, Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer). Once they're exposed, everyone comes after them. FBI agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park), Ava Starr/ Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Hank's old partner Bill Foster/Ghost (Laurence Fishburne), and a black market tech dealer named Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins), form a busy, but dynamic, rogues gallery.

Behind the Scenes: Peyton Reed, Paul Rudd, and Evangeline Lily | Copyright 2019 Marvel/Disney

Ant-Man and The Wasp acknowledges what's come before in the MCU, giving the universe real weight and consequences. However, it also starts the movie out on the wrong foot. There's a mean-spiritedness to the trio's early scenes together, and it's made worse when considering that Scott at least was fighting against Tony and Sokovia Accords, something they'd support on principle. Hank and Hope take every possible jab they can at Scott, joking about his (lack of a) relationship with "Cap," his lack of knowledge about the Quantum Realm, even a bit about his house arrest, until they can't anymore When it starts feeling old, the original Ant-Man humor and chemistry opens back up like a window. 

There's one joke in Cassie's, Scott's daughter, (Abby Ryder Fortson) school to bring the band back together. It's because of something that could've happened to any of them (even Hank who gets his hands dirty this time), is temporary, and just works as a great gag in general. The movie really gets moving after this, and is even able to pull it off one more time during one of the last action scenes. 

This is not an action-heavy movie, but the fights are pretty fun and, once five noticeable seconds of car manufacturer product placement is out of the way, the chases are even better. A lot of time is spent with the heroes instead. Yellowjacket, from last time, may have been the bald boardroom member to break the camel's back for corporate MCU villains, even though he may have been one of the underrated ones. This time, every bad guy except Sonny Burch is empathetic and just trying to do their best with given circumstances. Goggins' character actually feels pretty unnecessary compared to the others, but he gives a good performance.

Both movies have had a greedy jerk escape and/or survive at the end. If the MCU wants to take a stab at the Sinister Six, just with Ant-Man and his rogues, they're setting it up well. Here and now though, there's no disgustingly evil villain, there's (mostly) just people trying to get by or, in Ava's case, survive. It's reflected in the trio as well, and in Scott's other cronies, who have now gone legit. Yes, Michael Peña is back as Luis, cranked up to eleven, and he's cranking everyone else up with him. 

The best parts of the fights are when characters are caught off guard. The best and the worst parts of Ant-Man and the Wasp are when the audience is caught off guard. Hang in there for those best parts. 

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Marvel's Runaways: "Reunion" (Pilot)

Does Marvel's Cinematic Universe really need another show that will the expand the world, but actually only mention the Avengers in passing, if at all? Probably not, but after binging the Netflix shows, the variety from this one on Hulu is incredibly refreshing. Mix the MCU, The Breakfast Club, and some identity politics (because that sounds better than saying "woke"), and what pops out is surprisingly a well-crafted episode of what's most likely a well-crafted show.

Runaways is about "six diverse teenagers who can barely stand each other, but who must unite against a common foe - their parents." That summary is a little misleading, these are former friends who drifted apart for years after the death of one of their other friends, and this is their last chance to stay in each others' lives before college and the real drifting starts. It's not typically how these stories go, timeline wise, and it's the first part of Runaways to stick out. Next was the characters themselves.

It's a pretty busy episode, but luckily an exposition-light one. Runaways is primarily character-driven, or at the very least "Reunion" is. They've all become loners in their own way, but also there are glimpses of that reaching out shown. Going out to parties, trying out for sports, offering/requesting tutoring. Indirect ways of saying, "talk to me." "Reunion's" director made sure to emphasize how social media and tech can make this so much more difficult, when used improperly. The selfie, it's ripe for mocking, but a personal attack is still a personal attack.

What hit hard was one of the characters, Gert (Ariela Barer), a social activist, passing out flyers for the club she's starting. It's probably the toughest way, especially in high school, to get back out there, but also the most rewarding.

So one character's a social activist, there's also a reclusive gamer named Alex (Rhenzy Feliz), the sister of the deceased friend whose name is Nico (Lyrica Okano), a church-going girl seeking rebellion called Karolina (Virginia Gardner), a jock going by Chase (Gregg Sulkin), and last but not least, the coming of age Molly (Allegra Acosta).

It sounds stocky because these things always start out that way. It's helped by a cast that has great chemistry with each other, and with the actors playing their parents, and by a warmer feel than these kind of scenarios usually create. Typically these shows or movies start out with a real uphill battle for friendship, and every second is devoted to making that work. Instead "Reunion" was able to spend time on individuals and then bring them together properly. You can bet that it'll go a long way when they start kicking butt together.

Runaways starts slow on the superhero aspects of the show, as it is an origin story. From what's been shown so far, the show has a pretty good visual effects budget and knows how to use it. Feats of super-strength are easy to film, but because of how it's shot,  it's still fun to see someone, in this case Molly, stop a moving van and feel that excitement run through her veins. Even if it didn't, Runaways looks to be putting intrigue before spectacle. In the closing minutes a mystery begins, and when it's a mystery involving parents wearing red robes and standing in a circle, it's a mystery worth checking out.

I'm not one to do season/series long reviews, but wanted to get this one out there because I highly recommend people try it, or at least something like it. If you love it, or if you're looking for something a tiny bit different, I recommend CW's Black Lightning too. It's also set in high school, but if the principal had powers, and it's a mix of The Incredibles, DC, and Luke Cage.

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Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) | Spoiler Review

I wanted to love Solo, I really did, but it has serious problems that cannot be overlooked, and it makes me question some of what Lucasfilm is doing. How will they move forward after Episode IX? By looking forward.

Solo: A Star Wars Story has a semi-similar issue The Last Jedi had. In The Last Jedi, the humor was forced and similar to Marvel movies. In Solo, callbacks are forced, harder than they were in Rogue One or any other recent Star Wars movie, and they often set back the movie. The references go out of their way to ask and answer questions that could've been left alone, like how Han got his name and how he and Chewie met.

Depending on the viewer, the answers to these questions may fall under character assassination. Chewbacca is a bit of a brute when he's introduced, as he was held prisoner of the Empire, and killed and ate deserters of the army who were dropped in his pit.

Some of these references unnecessarily setup the original trilogy, or foreshadow it in a way that's more like fortune-telling. Rogue One had to setup the original trilogy because it's a tight timeline. On that note, Solo does fix one issue in The Last Jedi, the use of fuel in ships, and that's appreciated. Solo's timeline isn't clear, so talking about a job on Tatooine near the end of the movie is over-icing the cake.

There's still a good cake underneath though. The production issues people were nervous about do not show. This movie should've looked like a mess story and editing-wise, but if any of Phil Lord & Chris Miller's work was used (about 30% of it was), it's mixed seamlessly with Ron Howard's. In fact, there's only one scene for sure I can say with certainty that's done by Howard. The cast is great, not perfect, but great.

Alden Ehrenreich is doing his damn best to capture Han, and Harrison Ford, and make it his own all at the same time. Overall, he nails it. My only complaint with him, and it may be odd, is I wish his voice was deeper. That's all I would've needed to buy it 100%.

Donald Glover faces the same challenge but hits the mark as Lando. He gets everything just right, and adds a great deal to Lando, like his eccentricities, beautiful wardrobe, and his relationship with Han, Chewie, and the Falcon. When either of them is sitting in the captain's seat, I flashback to the original trilogy, and it does feel right, even if most moments like that feel off.

It's just a misfire, a movie that shouldn't have been made, but I don't feel like my time was wasted by seeing it, either.

If you want the full nostalgia treatment, and the Kessel Run (which is a great sequence), see Solo while it's in theaters. If you're nervous about the movie, wait til it can be seen at home, but don't pass on it entirely.

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The Star (2017)

The Star, directed by Timothy Reckart, is what the Bible, and by extension Christianity and other religions, was made for. It's an adaptation of a story. It can be adapted a hundred different ways, and viewed another hundred different ways. Being, partly, a major studio film (Columbia Pictures and their subsidiary Sony Pictures Animation), The Star's target audience is everyone, so it handles religion differently than the faith-based films that have been coming out. Actually, this isn't a faith-based film as much as it is just The Nativity Story for kid. The only problem here is kids over a certain age may not find it funny.

This Nativity Story centers around Bo the donkey (Steven Yuen) wanting to do something important with his life and joining the Royal Cavalry. Instead, after breaking out of the mill he worked at, he winds up in the care of Mary (Gina Rodriguez) and Joseph (Zachary Levi), just as Joseph realizes that she's pregnant. The scene is handled great, as they carefully sidestep the term "immaculate conception," while still stating and accepting that that's what happened. Instead, Joseph instantly jumps into scared and unprepared, but excited, father-mode. If Joseph had asked for an explanation, the movie would've either become inappropriate, boring, or both, so it's best to avoid the conversation. They soon leave for Bethlehem, and the movie is only about a third of the way through and some padding is needed. 

The Star isn't a movie that should have a conventional villain, but it does, unfortunately. When King Herod (Christopher Plummer) is informed that a new king is coming, he requests a soldier and two dogs (Ving Rhames and Gabriel Iglesias) track down and kill the king. It sounds terrible because it is terrible, but it also sparks substantive conversations about religion. There are a few moments like that, such as when God appears to a flock of (literal) sheep and asks them a request. That could play incredibly negatively to a religious-minded audience, but it's done lightly in a sincere adaptation of this story, so it's not a piece of commentary by Ricky Gervais or David Cross.  If nothing else, these moments lead to some mild action, chases, and excitement for the heroes. 

Speaking of which, one of the biggest surprises of this film is the animation. Sony Pictures uses their animation/visual effects studio ImageWorks to do some eye-popping work that ranges from the most photo-realistic (The Amazing Spider-Man movies) to the most rule-breaking and cartoony (Storks and the Hotel Transylvania movies), and The Star appeared to be no exception. But it is. The reason the animation looks more restrained than the off the wall nature of Hotel Translvania and Storks is because Cinesite is the animation studio responsible, and they did great. The animation is very clean and very smooth, and the texturing on every little clay or wooden object really shows. Most importantly, many characters at least look distinctive, even if their traits don't stand out. The best of Cinesite's work in The Star is their depiction of God. He's a beautiful blend of light and particle effects, and he's given just the right amount of personality and time on screen for this movie. 

The Star is a pretty standard, harmless family movie, but that means it's one of the few harmless contemporary Christian films. It may be the start to repairing the divides between religion, Hollywood, and the people. One of the last lines the movie is "[...]he's just a boy." And if these words are just insane ramblings then that means The Star is just a movie. One that may be worth trying.

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