Bryan Caron's Blog, page 10

Chaos Breeds Chaos 2018 Television Awards – Part 1

Every year I release my awards for the best of the television season. With the Emmy Awards on Monday, I will be delivering my awards in three parts over the next three days.

These aren’t your typical awards. I do have some traditional awards, but unlike the Emmys, I seek out moments that resonate in some way, whether it be ones that made me cry, made me think or just shocked me to the core. As always, these are based solely on the shows I personally watch, so if you saw a moment you think should have been included, feel free to pitch your greatest moments in the comments.

We start, of course, with some of the more traditional awards, including Best New Series, Best New Character and Best Ensemble.

Best New Series: Kevin (Probably) Saves the World

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Kevin (Probably) Saves the World — ABC

The best show that came out this year also happened to be the best show no one was watching. Kevin (Probably) Saves the World wasn’t revolutionary television by any means, but it was the most feel-good hour of television that encompassed the best of everything you could hope for on every possible level. The cast was lovably quirky, especially Jason Ritter as the bumbling ne’er-do-well thrust into a situation of having to track down God’s chosen so as to save humanity. Funny, charming, charismatic and yet grounded in a way that felt genuine, Ritter like his dad John before him, handled every crazy situation and pratt fall like a pro. Kevin was one of those shows you could enjoy for the sake of entertainment alone, but still find heart in its emotional core; it was the very best of comfort food. It’s a shame no one caught on to the magic of this fun, intelligent show. RIP Kevin (Probably) Saves the World.

 

Worst New Series: The Outpost

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The Outpost — CW

When the 2017-2018 season started, I quickly had 9JKL tapped as the worst show of the year. The “comedy” was subpar and predictable and all of the actors were so much better than the material they were given. But then this summer came The Outpost, and 9JKL no longer seemed all that bad. I barely drudged my way through the first half hour of this trainwreck (it’s amazing I actually got through the whole hour before turning on something else to cleanse the palette). From the very first line of dialogue, I knew the show was going to be terrible. The acting was wooden, the writing was amateurish, the fight choreography left a lot to be desired and the effects were lazy even for CW standards. Whether this show ever got better I’ll never know because you only get one chance for a first impression, and The Outpost‘s first episode failed on every level.

 

First Show To Die Award: Wisdom of the Crowd

 

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Wisdom of the Crowd — CBS

Though Me, Myself and I was pulled from the schedule (eventually completing its episode run over the summer), and Ten Days in the Valley was shuffled off to Saturdays to finish its run, Wisdom of the Crowd was the first new show of the season to officially be canceled. It wasn’t because ratings were poor or because the show wasn’t good (it was actually one of the more interesting and most watched new shows), it was because Jeremy Piven got swept up in the #MeToo movement’s no tolerance policy when allegations of sexual misconduct are levied. Now I don’t know whether the allegations were true or not, but pulling the plug on the show so quickly without first investigating the allegations and making sure there was any merit to them (a trend that has gotten way out of hand this season) was premature to say the least. It’s a shame because like its pseudo-counterpart, APB, before it, I would very much have liked to see where this techno-drama was heading.

 

Series that shouldn’t have been this good: Young Sheldon

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Young Sheldon — CBS

The idea of spinning off the character of Sheldon Cooper on paper shouldn’t have worked. Based on what we know, the character’s true arc began in the first season of The Big Bang Theory, so what were we ever going to learn watching Sheldon traverse high school? There technically wouldn’t be a satisfying arc for the character, and seeing how he dealt with bullies at a young age just didn’t seem all that interesting. However, with a tremendously well-cast ensemble (including Laurie Metcalf’s daughter, Zoe Perry, as a younger Mary Cooper, the incredible Reagan Revord as Sheldon’s spicy twin sister, Annie Potts as the lovable Meemaw, and of course Iain Armitage as the title character) and some sharp writing that is both whimsical, funny, absurd and heartfelt all rolled into a pinata of cleverness, Young Sheldon was a surprising hit that has a bright future ahead of it. (At least until they reach the point when Sheldon’s dad (Lance Barber) must officially say goodbye.)

 

Series that should have been better: Ten Days in the Valley

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Ten Days in the Valley — ABC

I was very interested in Ten Days in the Valley when I saw the previews for the show. It seemed like it would be an interesting mystery and I like Kyra Sedgwick, so you can understand my disappointment when it turned out to be such a bore. I really wanted to like this show; I gave it the benefit of the doubt for as long as I could, but after about four episodes, I just couldn’t continue wasting my time hoping it would get better. The cast did what they were asked to do as well as they could, but the producers simply could not find a way to deliver the drama in any sort of compelling way. I’m not sure if it was the cliche feel of it all or the writing that screamed mystery around every corner, but the whole thing was a slog of nothing but characters doing stupid things every chance they got.

 

Best New Character: Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore), The Good Doctor

 

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Freddie Highmore as Dr. Shaun Murphy (The Good Doctor)

Coming off his haunting portrayal of Norman Bates in Bates Motel, it was hard to believe Freddie Highmore could top (or at least match) that performance so quickly; then came along Dr. Shaun Murphy in The Good Doctor. Highmore imbues the character with just enough nuance that allows the character to have a sense of the world and how to live within it while battling the inner turmoil of being different than everyone else. Everyone sincerely cares for Shaun’s success without pandering to his autism. In their eyes, he may be different but he’s not treated as anything but another doctor in the program. And that’s all Shaun wants — his freedom to be independent. Yet, he relies heavily on the assistance (and friendship) of Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff), and this obvious contradiction helps build a character that you feel for, but fear for his inability to break from his reliance, even though he’s quite capable, despite his autism.

 

Best New Character in an Established Show: Andrew Kim (John Cho), The Exorcist

[image error]Once again, the CW’s “Arrowverse” combines all four of its show to create one fantastic four-hour television event. Focused around the wedding of Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris (Candice Patton), the gang merges on Central City only to be attacked by Oliver (Steven Amell) and Kara’s (Melissa Benoist) evil Nazi doubles from Earth X. The team then spends the next four hours trying to keep them from taking over their Earth while rescuing themselves from captivity on Earth X. Eventually, we end the crossover with not one but two weddings (hurray for Oliver and Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards)!) and the introduction of a new Snart (Wentworth Miller), who is welcome back anytime should Miller so choose to return to one or more of these shows in the future.

Come back tomorrow for Part 2 of our Television Awards, which includes the Best Twist, Most Heartbreaking Moment, and Most Poetic Story Arc of the 2017-2018 season.

Movie Mayhem – Peppermint

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Peppermint — 2018; Directed by Pierre Morel; Starring Jennifer Garner, John Gallagher Jr., John Ortiz, Juan Pablo Raba, and Annie Ilonzeh

In the trailer for Peppermint, one of the characters asks what Jennifer Garner’s Riley North was doing traveling the world for five years, bouncing from place to place (paraphrasing of course). Within the context of the movie, my first thought when I heard this — she was becoming Sydney Bristow! For anyone who remembers Alias, the terrific spy series that ran on ABC from 2001-2006 and made Garner a name for herself in the industry, you’ll know that she’s more than capable of unleashing hell on her enemies and look good doing it. And though it’s great to see Garner returning to her action roots after a string of dramas, rom-coms and faith-based films, I’m not sure how I felt about her kicking tail and taking names for the sake of vengeance rather than justice.

Riley North is a loving mom with a daughter (Cailey Fleming) and a husband (Jeff Hephner). I’d add more descriptive adjectives to these characters if I could, but there’s not a whole lot to draw from, as before we even get a chance to get to know them enough to care for them as much as Riley does, they’re gunned down at a local carnival by a couple of tattooed gang members. Why? Apparently, the husband was going to go in with a friend to steal money from the cartel, led by Diego Garcia (Juan Pablo Raba), but before he can call it off, he’s killed to send a message to everyone else about what happens when you steal from Diego Garcia.

So where was Riley during the hit? Grabbing napkins from an ice-cream truck. A couple of stray rounds send her into a coma for a month, after which, she quickly identifies the men that killed her family. But with a slew of corrupt attorneys and judges, the men get off before the thugs even go to trial. This sends Riley into a tail spin of pain, frustration and anger. She disappears for five years, and when she returns, vengeance is all she has left to hold onto.

What gets me about the film is in what writer Chad St. John and director Pierre Morel choose to show us versus what they simply tell us. A good revenge thriller will allow us to see the acts of revenge the main character takes out on those who did the character harm. In this case, this would be the trio of gang members who actually shot her family, the district attorneys who didn’t fight for her, the defense attorney who tried to bribe her, and the judge who ruled against her. But within the first ten minutes of the second act, we only see her take vengeance out on two of these players. The rest are either seen after the fact or only heard about through dialogue. I especially can’t wrap my head around why they wouldn’t show her go after the defense attorney, who Morel spends several minutes on earlier in the film. This is who I wanted to see get their comeuppance, and yet, I’m still not sure if he was even a target.

Instead, the main push for the film is the attack on the entire cartel, which itself hides a lot of the intrigue in dialogue rather than utilize visuals to get your blood boiling. We’re supposed to believe that Riley has been dismantling the cartel for weeks or months prior to the events that play out in the film by surveilling them and messing with their drug shipments. I don’t know about you, but I would have liked to see a little of that! With what we’re given, this plot structure feels less like retribution than a ploy to try and make Riley look like a hero vigilante as opposed to a ruthless, vengeful killer. (To hit the point home, they have her attack a random drunk who ignores and treats his kid badly.) I don’t mind this is where they ultimately go with the film, as it was Garcia that put the hit out on her husband, I just thought this attack on him and his operations would have been secondary to everything else rather than the other way around.

This feeling probably stems from the fact that we get hardly any look into what turns Riley from grieving mother into badass mother@#%$^. What happened over those five years she was missing? Other than a quick look at her fighting in a cage match of sorts, there’s no information on how she went about training for her fight against the cartel, her mindset during this period, and her decision making process and reasoning for doing what she chooses to do. I would have accepted a short, five-minute montage to give me something of substance that would have helped me get behind her. As it is, Riley just shows up with knowledge and training that has basically turned her into a superhuman that no amount of gun shots or stab wounds can deter.

There are several other ideas that don’t quite fit into the scheme of things, or are used but not utilized properly. Firstly, Riley’s family aren’t the only characters we hardly get to know and expect to bond with. There’s an FBI agent (Annie Ilonzeh) who is propped up as being important but is ultimately wasted, and a narcotics detective (Method Man) who shows up as if all but one of his scenes were sent to the cutting room floor. More egregious are the moments that are meant to surprise and cause conflict between characters, but do nothing to heighten the drama.

One such instance is when Riley finds out that Garcia has a daughter of his own, which makes Riley second guess her decision to kill him… for about two seconds. The daughter comes out of nowhere, and once she’s gone, it’s as if she never existed. It makes the internal fight over whether Riley should take his life utterly moot, so why introduce it all? Then there’s the “twist” near the end of the film that makes absolutely no sense and I’m guessing was thrown in there because, you know, twist.

The one saving grace for the film are the action sequences. Though I’m not completely on board with some of the stylistic choices Morel makes, these sequences are well-executed and brought me back to when Garner used to do this type of thing on a weekly basis. If only the filmmakers would have explored and expanded on Riley’s reasons behind what she does and showed us more of what she does to find justice, perhaps I would have found Garner’s return to action more satisfying and enjoyable.

My Grade: B

Bonus Reviews:

There’s a strong independent feel behind God Bless the Broken Road, the newest entry in the growing faith-based genre, but with sequences that feel a little disjointed and some weak motives for doing certain things (though no less emotional than most), the film seems to try a little too hard to be important. B

The Nun, the fifth film in what’s slowly becoming known as the Conjuring universe, sticks closely to traditional horror roots and tries to provide enough icing to keep you interested, but what we ultimately get is a drudge of a story that doesn’t do much but bore. B-

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Next week, new movies include The Predator, A Simple Favor, White Boy Rick and Unbroken: A Path to Redemption. If you would like to see a review for one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Movie Mayhem – Kin

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Kin — 2018; Directed by Jonathan and Josh Baker; Starring Myles Truitt, Jack Reynor, Dennis Quaid, Zoë Kravitz and James Franco

When someone sets out to tell a story, the intent is to capture the audience’s imagination  and provide a satisfying climax that keeps people wanting more. Everything is developed in a way that allows us to fall in love with the characters so much, we want to continue to spend time with them, even though they have received closure at the end of their story.

Sometimes, though, this need for more stems from the wrong reasons. The characters may meander through circumstances that don’t necessarily add up, eventually throwing us a curveball at the end that makes you wish that story was the one they had told instead of the one you actually had to sit through. This scenario is Kin in a nutshell — a film that provides nothing of substance until the very last minute, but by then, it’s far too late.

Eli Solinski (Myles Truitt) is a kid supposedly from the wrong side of the tracks. He gets into minor trouble at school, strips old buildings of their wiring for money and doesn’t seem to fit in. However, he has a good home life with a caring father, Hal (Dennis Quaid), who teaches him the value of hard work and doing the right thing. This dichotomy never quite feels right. Is Eli a troubled teen without a strong support system, or is he just a kid searching for who he is and trying to find his place in the world? Directors Jonathan and Josh Baker try to unify this opposition through pieces of dialogue sprinkled throughout, yet it never truly comes together the way they were hoping.

The story kicks in when Hal’s biological son, Jimmy (Jack Reynor), returns home after getting out of prison. Hal wants nothing to do with him, mainly because he’s afraid he’ll be a bad influence on Eli, and spends most of his time desperately trying to keep one son from falling into the degenerate trappings of the other. This helps explain a little of what Eli is going through, as if he’s nothing but a replacement for Jimmy because Hal didn’t get it right the first time. There’s also a very strong absence of a mother we never see. She died prior to the start of the film, but we can’t grasp why her death would have such a lasting impact on these characters because we never get to see how their relationships work(ed) with and without her.

It turns out, Hal was right in keeping Jimmy at a distance, as we discover that he’s in deep with a callous gang leader, Taylor Balik, (James Franco), who Jimmy hired to keep him alive in prison. Taylor’s now looking to be paid for that service, but of course, Jimmy doesn’t have the money he owes. When Hal catches Jimmy and Taylor in the act of robbing his safe, a shootout takes the life of both Hal and Taylor’s brother. Jimmy’s only recourse is to grab Eli and take him on a road trip to a cabin in Lake Tahoe where his mother used to love going. The chase is on, as Tayloir seeks revenge for his brother’s death.

This whole story arc feels arbitrary and forced. Not only is Taylor a paint-by-numbers antagonist with absolutely no depth, there’s the introduction of Zoë Kravits as Milly, a stripper with a heart of gold (natch) who jumps in with the brothers after they stand up to the abusive club owner. Milly may have been a fun character had she had any importance whatsoever. As it turns out, Milly is a useless character because her story doesn’t have much reason for being except to pad the run time. She doesn’t do anything of importance, she doesn’t say anything that changes anyone’s mind… heck, she’s not even set-up as a love interest. She’s just there, to what? Look pretty?

But wait. As evidenced by the image above, isn’t this a science-fiction film about some weird alien weapon? Why, yes it is, and the reason I haven’t brought this fact up yet is to prove my earlier point of wanting more of something for the wrong reasons. The entire story regarding Eli finding and using this extraordinary weapon feels entirely tacked on as an afterthought, only to be revealed as the most important aspect of the film in the last five minutes. Every part of this movie that involves the weapon, from learning how to use it to the mystery behind it, are the best parts of the film; it’s a shame it only encompasses about fifteen minutes of total run time.

Without giving anything away, the last ten minutes of this film will blow your mind, not only with the awesome visuals and the action set pieces, but because of what this movie could have been had they dove more into this idea rather than wasting all of that time on superfluous family drama. In other words, if the movie had been more about what happens, and what’s discovered, in the last five minutes than it was about the arbitrary road trip to nowhere, this movie could have been an exciting sci-fi, coming-of-age adventure. What we get instead is nothing more than an attempt at providing a message about doing the right thing even when it’s hard — a message that never truly resonates because the Baker brothers never get a full grasp of what they truly wanted to convey.

My Grade: C+

Bonus Reviews:

I’m a sucker for romantic comedies, and though there are some pieces that don’t quite fit, Crazy Rich Asians provides enough laughs and enough heart to make it another wining entry in the genre that doesn’t get much love anymore. A-

Like the Unfriended series before it, Searching takes place entirely within the space of computer screens and video feeds; unlike Unfriended, Searching finds it’s horror not through the gimmick itself, but through what can happen online, making the search for a man’s missing daughter into a thrilling, frightening whodunit. A

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Next week, new movies include Peppermint, The Nun and God Bless the Broken Road. If you would like to see a review for one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Movie Mayhem – The Happytime Murders

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The Happytime Murders — 2018; Directed by Brian Henson; Starring Melissa McCarthy, Elizabeth Banks, Maya Rudolph and Joel McHalee

The Muppets have been around for a very long time, brightening the moods of both children and adults. The sense of whimsy, education and absurdity that Jim Henson brought to his creation spoke to generations of fans. The kids liked them because they were fuzzy and cute, the adults liked them because there was an underlying maturity to them. But sometime after Henson’s death in 1990, people seemed to lose touch with the Muppets. They were still around, mostly appearing in the retelling of famous stories like A Christmas Carol and Treasure Island (and of course Sesame Street, which will live on forever, as it should), but they slowly became irrelevant. In 2011, the Muppets started to make a comeback with Jason Segel’s The Muppets, and have slowly been earning their stripes back under the leadership of Henson’s son, Brian, who to his credit continues to try new things to reinvigorate the brand. Through his newest venture, Henson Alternative, Henson brings us The Happytime Murders, a seedy look at the dark secrets behind the Muppets who aren’t famous like Kermit the Frog.

Phil Philips (performed by Bill Barretta) is a private detective who was kicked off the police force after accidentally killing a felted civilian during a hostage crisis, which also led to the banning of any Muppets from becoming a cop. His newest case as a PI comes from a mysterious femme-fatale named Sandra (performed by Dorian Davies), who wants to hire Phil to track down a stalker sending her threatening letters. Opening this case leads Phil to a Muppet porn shop where he witnesses a multiple homicide.

Enter Melissa McCarthy as Connie Edwards, Phil’s loud-mouthed ex-partner. Because of what happened that fateful night, Phil and Edwards basically wish each other dead, but because of the murders, they will need to put all of their differences aside and team up to solve the case. After Phil’s famous brother is killed in one of the more interesting death sequences, Phil puts it together that someone is killing the actors of an old television show known as “The Happytime Gang.”

This whole scenario is right out of an old noir film, complete with fatigued voice-over, however, the whole thing feels far too light for its own good. I’m not sure if it’s because of the collection of Muppets or because Henson doesn’t make the film gritty enough — or a combination of both — but Henson never finds a way out of his usual aesthetic, keeping the cinematography bright and lively while attempting to please all audiences rather than going as gritty and dirty as the script, written by Todd Berger, envisions.

For example, throughout the film, we’re introduced to several characters who use different types of sugar as their drug of choice. It’s a great idea that opens the door for some terrific moments, including when one of the actors from the show becomes an addict, wasting away his life in a crack-house shoving all the sugar he can get up his nose. The scene when Edwards visits this character could have been sharp and witty, and showcased the truth behind the underbelly of sugar and its harrowing effects. Instead Henson goes for the cheap gags about homosexual tendencies and urine, which play as well as a three-year-old learning to play the drums.

The casting and overall direction doesn’t go as far as it could, either. There are plenty of good actors here, including Elizabeth Banks, Joel McHale and Maya Rudolph, however, some of them don’t fit what this film should have been. If you think of a typical Muppet movie, the performances by the live actors generally have a goofy playfulness about them, playing down to the level of the personalities of the Muppets. But when that playfulness is transferred over into a R-rated film, it doesn’t play the same way.

McCarthy is a great a example. There’s nothing wrong with her performance here… if it was in a family-friendly Muppet film. Had she played the film straight, as if the Muppets were live humans instead of piles of cotton and felt, this would have helped give the film the level of authenticity it was missing and allowed the comedy to come naturally through the performances rather than the sight gags.

I can’t put all of the blame on Henson, though, as the writing itself isn’t strong enough either. The plot isn’t as carefully crafted as the filmmakers would like you to think, the killer’s motives, while good, are flimsy in their execution, the jokes mostly land with the thud of an anvil on Daffy Duck, and several things that don’t quite hit the way they should, like the reappearance of a character that gets no explanation for their miraculous return, nor for their true, unresolved motive.

When I first saw the trailer for The Happytime Murders, I thought it could go one of two ways: either it would be absurdist fun or it would be disturbingly awful. After seeing the film, it turns out it’s neither. Not dark or gritty enough to be noir, not funny enough to be a comedy, not exciting enough to be action, not muppety enough to be the Muppets. It sits in a strange pocket somewhere where you aren’t quite sure what you’re watching while you’re watching it, at times curious, at others a little dirty, and by the end, you’re left with nothing but an empty feeling of “meh.”

My Grade: B-

Bonus Reviews:

The third film revolving around dogs in as many weeks, A-X-L embodies a typical boy meets dog story line, but because the dog in question is a military-sanctioned robot weapon that accidentally “pairs” with a kid, the story finds a clever way to utilize the usual tropes while remaining as heartfelt and genuine as any great friendship-based film. A-

As harrowing as the events behind the true story of Papillon are, the film never quite captures the depth of what Henri Charrière, a theif arrested for a murder he didn’t commit, went through during his stay, and subsequent escape attempts, at a French penal colony. B

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Next week, new movies include Kin and Searching. If you would like to see a review for one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Movie Mayhem – Mile 22

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Mile 22 — 2018; Directed by Peter Berg; Starring Mark Wahlberg, Lauren Cohan, John Malkovich, Iko Uwais, and Ronda Rousey

Ever since the beginning of cinema, actors and directors have been teaming up to produce multiple projects together. Leonardo Dicaprio was just another pretty face before Martin Scorcese made him an actor; Wes Anderson’s phone number is the only one Bill Murray will ever answer; Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater break all kinds of boundaries; Tim Burton and Johnny Depp share the same brain; and John Ford and John Wayne are probably still making movies together in heaven. What makes them work so well together is because each pair have a unique brand; you always know what you’re going to get when you walk in the theater. One of the more recent actor/director collaborations is Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg, who have made four films together over the last five years (two of which opened in 2016). The first three were powerful true stories of harrowing bravery in the face of tragedy. Their newest partnership, Mile 22, is miles from their previous jaunts together, but nevertheless stays true to their brand.

Wahlberg plays James Silva, a man recruited by a clandestine government agency because of his wild temper and unfortunate upbringing. He’s a man without morals, without shame. He talks in narcissistic tones and rattles off his beliefs to perpetrators as if he’s channeling a ’90s version of Denis Leary. And he’s ruthless when it comes to his job, getting the work done no matter the cost. He’s paired with a team of similar, like-minded anti-heroes, none more so than Alice Kerr (an aggressively foul-mouthed Lauren Cohan), who must use a sensitivity divorce app so that her mouth doesn’t get her in hot water with her ex-husband (Berg) and give him fuel for the custody fire. She’s feminine on the outside, hot-wire testosterone on the inside.

While stationed at the U.S. embassy in China during an operation to track down some weaponized gas, a man (Iko Uwais) walks up to the embassy with a hard drive that holds the key to where the gas is located around the world. The only way to get those answers is to provide him with asylum to the U.S. There’s a time limit, though, as the ability to enter the code that will unlock what they need only lasts for several hours. Silva’s team, then, must get this man twenty-two miles to an airfield while being tracked by a shady Chinese government that wants him silenced.

This is the first time Wahlberg and Berg have partnered on a fictional story and one that doesn’t portray Wahlberg as a standard hero — someone who beats the odds while saving lives under the rule of law and integrity. Silva is a degenerate through and through, having to snap a rubber band on his wrist in order to ease his temper. It’s these little quirks, though, that add to the character and give him his arresting personality. It’s hard to relate to Silva, not like the characters Wahlberg has embodied in the past, but the more you learn how abused his mind is, the more you understand him and realize he isn’t so different after all.

It’s also through this character trait that Berg creates the visually kinetic world Silva lives in. On the surface, the film feels tensely frenetic. Choreographed fight scenes and chase sequences edited like a music video on crack. Even the simple dialogue and exposition scenes move too fast to catch your breath. But this visually hungry style digs deep within what makes Silva tick; Berg is showing us how fast and intense Silva’s mind actually is, and when you can’t escape the speed and chaos of this type of reality, how else are you going to present yourself to the world. It’s just one more layer to Silva’s character and both Wahlberg and Berg pull it off beautifully.

A lot of the humor also stems from this gruff, no holds-barred, boys-club attitude. The banter between teammates causes not only friction, but a hostility that leaves you with nothing else to do but laugh so as to release some of your own tension. Along with that, writer Lea Carpenter provides us with authentic-feeling dialogue between Silva’s team and Overwatch, a group of geeks sitting behind computers run by Bishop (John Malkovich), who see all and know all as they guide Silva’s team through the bedlam distracting them from getting to their destination. Watching how this team communicates is a wonder in itself.

Where the script falls a bit short is in the development of plot and key character aspects. Carpenter is so immersed in getting to the twisty reveal at the end of the film that they set things up that never really pay off. Case in point: as Silva’s team tries to get their “package” to the airfield, a couple of hackers remain behind to break the code in case things don’t work out. We get some crazy banter about signatures and the like and one of the hackers tries to find out who was behind building the encryption. This person is eventually revealed, but so arbitrarily, it’s a wonder why so much attention was paid to this aspect of the film.

But is that ultimately the point? Throughout the film, Berg cuts to Silva being interrogated about the mission, and if you’re really paying attention, a lot of what he has to say is in the undertones of the words themselves — that no matter how much you think you’re safe, or how well orchestrated everything is, there really is no point to anything that happens. Life isn’t some calculated game; it’s a mess of circumstance that no one can fully plan for, and when things get ugly, the only thing to do is step up and do what’s necessary to complete the mission.

And therein lies the true testament to Wahlberg and Berg’s collaborations. Mile 22 may be a gritty, less sympathetic way to showcase their message, but in the end, Wahlberg’s character is simply trying to save lives and do so without the help of anyone but himself. It’s not perfect, but it fits and does what it sets out to do, and in that way, Wahlberg and Berg produce yet another win in their growing repertoire.

My Grade: A

Bonus Reviews:

Alpha, a dreary story of how the dog (or in this case, wolf) first became “best friends” with man, spends so much time winking at its own cleverness and “authenticity” that it forgets to imbue its tale with fulfilling, heartwarming substance. B-

Though every story line is utterly predictable, Dog Days still pulls at the heartstrings with a Gary Marshall-level symphony of emotions, bringing together a fun cast of characters to deliver a simple message: love in all forms is possible — so as long as you have a dog. B+

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Next week, new movies include A-X-L, Searching and The Happytime Murders. If you would like to see a review for one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Movie Mayhem – The Meg

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The Meg — 2018; Directed by Jon Turteltaub; Starring Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Cliff Curtis, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, Page Kennedy and Shuya Sophia Cai

What made Jaws so great when it first scared audiences away from beaches (and subsequently made the rest of the series so underwhelming or bad) was that it felt so authentic. It’s been widely documented that Steven Spielberg had major technical problems with the shark during production, limiting its exposure to the audience. This “problem” provided much more tension because we could sense a danger lurking in the depths of the water, but couldn’t see it. Ever since then, filmmakers have tried to replicate that sense of fear to varying degrees of success.

The problem is, as technology evolved and became more accessible, that authenticity devolved. Filmmakers jumped at the chance to use computer effects to create more menacing sharks without the hindrance of technical issues, but in doing so, made them less scary. Not only that, but by focusing so much effort on making the shark more frightening, they stopped caring about the characters, which is another ingredient Spielberg nailed to precision. And when the characters simply become a source for food (and the only goal of the filmmaker is how many people die, and how gruesome their deaths will be), we lose that connection and, thus, our ability to relate to what’s happening. The genre, therefore has either embraced the stupidity of shark attacks or have failed to live up to the promise of being the next Jaws.

With The Meg arriving in theaters this weekend, the trailers suggested a film closer to that of Jaws, but one that could have easily become the next Sharknado with a bigger budget. Which way did the film fall, and does it live up to its promise? Let’s break it down.

The Cast:

Unlike a lot of shark movies in the past couple of decades that throw in a bunch of hot, unknown teenagers to fill its roster of victims, director Jon Turteltaub pulls together a great cast of adults to lead the ensemble of deep-sea researchers, led by the always gruff and intimidating Jason Statham. Statham plays Jonas Taylor, a deep-sea diver who wallows away the days in seclusion after losing a couple of friends during a rescue mission gone wrong. He’s pulled back in (aren’t they always) when his ex-wife (Jessica McNamee) is stranded 11,000 feet below the surface. Helping him are Cliff Curtis as the head of the operation, Ruby Rose as the brilliant engineer, Page Kennedy as a drone pilot, and Li Bingbing as a submarine pilot and love interest for Statham.

The final cogs in the wheel are Rainn Wilson, who acts as the audience surrogate as the head of the company financing the research who arrives at the station just in time to witness a massive discovery. We learn everything through his eyes, but does he have the best interests of his employees at heart? The other is a stand-out precocious little girl named Meiying (Shuya Sophia Cai). She nicknames Jonas “Crazy” and does other cute things throughout the movie that in any other hands might have become cloying and annoying. But because of Turteltaub, she ends up being very funny, adding a lot of lightness to the otherwise tense proceedings. The entire cast blends well together and allows for a familial atmosphere that you’re more than eager to become a part of.

The Plot:

Like all other shark movies before it, there isn’t much of a plot to discuss. Man plays with something they shouldn’t be playing with and unleashes a monster onto the world they need to put back into its cage or destroy before it destroys the world. What Turteltaub is able to accomplish with The Meg, though, is maintaining a balance between the real and the bizarre. Because we’re dealing with something out of the ordinary, ridiculous is just a stones throw away from over-the-top. The final act does border on this fine line, stretching the suspension of disbelief to the point where it starts to veer a little too far into the absurd, however, for the majority of the film, every action and decision makes sense for the characters and the situations they put themselves in.

The Humor:

Keeping a steady balance of humor to terror is necessary for a film like this. Go too much one way or the other and you either become too serious to care, or you become too schlocky to tolerate. Everyone in the cast does well to give the film the gravitas it needs to be serious, but the intelligence enough to know they’re in a killer shark movie. The humor is generated nicely out of both dire situations and serene character moments that none of it ever feels forced or out of place. You can tell everyone has the ability to laugh at themselves and the silliness of what’s happening but make you believe that nothing is out of the realm of possibility.

The Shark:

Which brings us to the title character – the titular megaladon. After accidentally opening a rift in an ice cloud covering the depths of a previously undiscovered underwater realm, a shark once believed to be extinct escapes. This shark is mean, hungry, but above all else, massive in size, which ultimately makes him hard to kill.

What Turteltaub does with the shark is smart. Instead of trying to up the fear factor by pushing the shark onto us, he takes a page out of Spielberg’s playbook and hides the shark in the shadows throughout the film to focus on the relationships between the characters. There isn’t quite as much depth to these characters as there is in Jaws, but Turteltaub makes it clear that the film isn’t about the shark so much as it is about the hunt, which is what made Jaws the classic it is today. Keeping the enormity of the shark hidden adds to the shock when it does appear in full on screen, its massive jaws ready to tear a boat in half when it gets upset.

Had The Meg chosen to push the shark angle and give our imaginations nothing to feed off of, the film could have gone the way of Sharknado. Instead, it wisely takes pieces from other films and perfectly executes them into something that feels familiar but fresh and new at the same time. This isn’t about how many sharks there are or how many people will end up dying, it’s about delivering a piece of entertainment that won’t drown on its own absurdity.

My Grade: A-

Bonus Reviews:

A good horror movie needs to have a set of strong, relatable characters, and powerful performances aside, the characters in Slender Man simply do not have what it takes to hold your interest long enough to care what happens to them. B-

A strong message, a great performance by Ewan McGregor and some fun, witty antics by some of your favorite childhood characters can’t seem to pull Christopher Robin from the depths of morose honey director Marc Forster pulls you into within the first frame of this very sad, gloomy, yet encouraging tale. B+

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Next week, new movies include Crazy Rich Asians, Mile 22 and Alpha. If you would like to see a review for one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Movie Mayhem – The Spy Who Dumped Me

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The Spy Who Dumped Me — 2018; Directed by Susanna Fogel; Starring Mila Kunis, Kate McKinnon, Justin Theroux, Sam Heughan and Gillian Anderson

In small doses, Kate McKinnon can be very funny. On Saturday Night Live, for example, she has a knack for infusing characters with just enough manic energy and quirky characteristics that juxtapose perfectly with her straight-laced counterparts within the same sketch, and with her ability for perfectly-timed, over-the-top expressions, she can both make a sketch work from the beginning or bring life to an otherwise dying sketch. But this works best in four-minute bursts. It doesn’t work as well when she tries to extend this personality over the course of a two hour film. I have yet to see a movie featuring McKinnon where I didn’t find her overly aggressive, annoying and off-putting, mainly because it’s clear this type of extreme shtick is all she knows. This perception doesn’t change with her new film, The Spy Who Dumped Me, where she plays the hyperactive yin to Mila Kunis’s frazzled yang.

One year after first meeting Audrey (Kunis) at her birthday party, Drew (Justin Theroux), a spy for the CIA, dumps her via text message. Right out of the gate we get a sense of how the rest of the movie will play out — introducing a mix of sloppily written characters, forced humor, and decent action sequences — as we cut between Audrey and her best friend Morgan (McKinnon) celebrating her birthday and Drew fighting off and fleeing from a group of unknown assailants. When Morgan and Audrey send him a text telling him they are going to burn all of his stuff, Drew quickly returns to the states to retrieve  something in her possession that contains some very important information. Upon his return, Drew is shot and tasks Audrey with getting the information to someone in Vienna, tangling her and Morgan up in a spy game that neither are ready for.

I never bought the friendship between Audrey and Morgan because the chemistry between Kunis and McKinnon is weak at best, as both actors do what they do best despite what the other is doing at any given time. Kunis is great, fleshing Audrey out with just enough balance to keep her interesting. But she’s never alone in the movie. I understand at its core this is a buddy film, but Kunis is constantly buried in the background by McKinnon, who relentlessly forces herself to be the most prominent aspect of every scene (God forbid she give anyone else the spotlight). At least when she’s paired with Sam Heughan as an MI6 operative who may or may not be on Audrey’s side, she’s allowed to blossom.

A lot of this could be because Kunis doesn’t know how to exert herself enough, but it’s more likely due to the script, which spends more time setting up the next joke than telling a solid story. More often than not, characters tell us things about themselves or others, but we never get to see those aspects in the characters themselves. Within the first five minutes, we’re told Audrey is a terrible liar, but at no point do we ever see that side of her. Every time she’s put into a situation where she has to lie, director Susanna Fogel either cuts away from the scene or lying seems to come quite naturally to her. So, why highlight that aspect when it has no purpose in the script?

Characters are also given abilities only when it suits the current setup. At one point, the trio of heroes must infiltrate some sort of circus. When Morgan is tasked with hiding as a performer, she reveals she’s trained as a trapeze artist. It doesn’t help that the sequence that follows this sudden revelation has nothing to do with the story or the characters. The whole thing becomes nothing but a set piece dropped on us because Fogel and co-screenwriter David Iserson decided it would be fun to have a fight sequence on a trapeze.

The issues with the script don’t stop there, as it spends a lot of time on inappropriate and unnecessary bathroom jokes to mask the fact there isn’t much substance behind the film. Who needs to see a guy’s ball sack or some fat tourist have diarrhea? When filmmakers throw this type of stuff in for no other reason than “shock” value or because they feel infantile humor is necessary to get a laugh, it’s a clear indication that the filmmakers aren’t trying to be wise or clever or seek to provide anything of substance; they just want to throw something out there that will hopefully make money.

There are a few decent laughs sprinkled throughout the film, but the movie’s saving grace is the action sequences, which are all interesting and fun, the highlight being the car chase through the streets of Vienna. Not only does Fogel have an eye for capturing the thrill and excitement of the chase, this is one of the only moments that Kunis has a chance to shine above everyone and everything else, and her presence during the chase is magnetic, drawing you into the visceral atmosphere.

Following a week after the sixth Mission: Impossible film (a series that understands how to capture the true essence of a spy movie), The Spy Who Dumped Me proves why genre is nearly dead, as it fails to encompass much of anything that makes for a good spy movie, parody or not, including the intrigue behind which spies are good, which are bad and which are double agents. Instead, Fogel relies on McKinnon to save her, and though there are some comedians who can deliver a strong dramatic performance (Robin Williams and Steve Carell come to mind), McKinnon is not one of them. Whenever she tries to tone her wild-eyed energy back and show some true dramatic chops, her lack of ability shines bright, so banking on her and her brand of humor to carry the film is what ultimately sinks it.

My Grade: B-

Bonus Reviews:

Had The Darkest Minds come out during the height of Twilight and The Hunger Games, it probably would have been just another young adult movie based on a book, but as the genre itself decays into a shadow of its former self, the strong cast and a relatable story provides a light spark of hope in reigniting the genre. A-

Transitioning from middle school to high school can definitely be an awkward phase in anyone’s life, which is what makes Eighth Grade so pure, as the entire cast (especially the fantastic Elsie Fisher) make watching the film feel perfectly morose, mundane and of course, awkward. A-

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Next week, new movies include The Meg, Dog Days and Slender Man. If you would like to see a review for one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Movie Mayhem – Mission: Impossible – Fallout

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Mission: Impossible – Fallout — 2018; Directed by Christopher McQuarrie; Starring Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Angela Bassett and Alec Baldwin

In my review of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, I compared the M:I franchise to the Fast and the Furious franchise, in which the films really found there voice with their fourth installments and haven’t let up on the gas since, each one producing fun, inventive (sometimes wholly outrageous) pieces of entertainment. My viewing of each series followed the same basic trajectory, where the first in the series was just okay, the second worse, prompting me to skip the third altogether (and still have yet to see). When the fourth entry came around, I reluctantly went to see them (Fast & Furious because my friend wanted to see it and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol mainly because of Simon Pegg). To my surprise, both franchises upped the ante and turned what could be considered singular, stand-alone projects into a continuous story where each new entry could stand on its own two feet, but as a whole felt as if they were part of a much bigger world, breathing life into the plots and the action by way of new characters that stuck around beyond their first appearance. With Mission: Impossible – Fallout, the sixth installment of the M:I series, it almost feels like the end of an era, wrapping up story threads going back as far as the third film for one last hooray.

Fallout begins as you’d expect — with a terrific opening sequence that sets up the main plot with an actual message that self-destructs and all of the action, intrigue and misdirection that M:I has become known for. When a deal for three plutonium cores goes south, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) must make a decision between protecting the cores or saving his long-time partner, Luther (Ving Rhames). When he chooses the latter, the cores are stolen by the Apostles, a new group of terrorists run by a rogue operative known only as Larke. To retrieve the cores, Ethan must go undercover as Larke, and learns this isn’t just another mission.

In order to get the cores, he must first break Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), the leader of the Syndicate (aka the group he had to track down and stop in Rogue Nation) out of custody. Following him, of course, is enigmatic Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who wants to help Ethan as much as she can while still staying true to her own agenda. Much like in Rogue Nation, the chemistry between Cruise and Ferguson is flirty and fiery, leading to some well-choreographed action sequences and a secondary story line that works to build their relationship even deeper. At least her main objective is a lot more clear-cut than the last film.

During all of this, Alec Baldwin returns to the fold as Alan Hunley, head of the re-established IMF agency who reluctantly must saddle Hunt’s team with a new recruit: August Walker (Henry Cavill). Of course these two very A-type personalities clash on every move possible, including skydiving into a lightning storm. Both try to understand the other’s motives at every turn, and though they try to give it some ambiguity, it’s clear from the jump that August isn’t on the up-and-up, so how the twist halfway through the film occurs isn’t so much of a surprise, so much as when it happens, as I didn’t expect it to happen so early…

… or as early as it felt, as this film is much faster than its running time would suggest. Because of the clear connections to previous entries in the franchise, we’re already fully invested in these characters and their mission, and returning writer/director Christopher McQuarrie has a knack for making the two-and-a-half hour run time feel like half that time. Each action sequence is set up so precisely, when the film starts to get a bit weighed down by exposition or Ethan’s struggling with a bit of PTSD in regards to Soloman and his ex-wife, Julia (Michelle Monaghan), we’re juiced with another shot of adrenaline to take us through the next bit of downtime, each one leading us through the story without feeling tacked on or unimportant.

It’s also nice to see Ethan’s team returning without question (the obvious omission being Jeremy Renner’s Brandt). Just as there wouldn’t be any impossible mission without Cruise, the franchise wouldn’t feel the same without Luther, who takes on a much larger role in this film than I think he ever has in any of the previous films (except for maybe Rogue Nation). And of course there’s Simon Pegg, who, like Dwayne Johnson in the F&F franchise, was the main catalyst in bringing M:I to a new level. His presence and comic timing is still on point and his chemistry with his team is impeccable. As long as Benji sticks around, I probably will to.

As a producer of the entire M:I series, Tom Cruise holds no punches when it comes to making sure this franchise continues to grow and flourish in a way a lot of franchises show their age in subsequent installments. Instead of trading passion and excitement for uninspired tediousness, the Mission: Impossible series takes great care to make sure the audience remains emotionally invested in every one of these characters by continually evolving them as they move through their adventures with grace, dignity, and a lot of running, jumping, fighting and motorcycles.

My Grade: A

Bonus Review:

Because I wasn’t the biggest fan of Sicario, I wasn’t all that excited to see Sicario: Day of the Soldado, which may be why I found this sequel to be better than expected, although with a final act that fails to come to a solid conclusion and tries too hard to set up a franchise, Day of the Saldado starts with bang only to foolishly run out of steam. B

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Next week, new movies include Christopher Robin, The Spy Who Dumped Me and The Darkest Minds. If you would like to see a review for one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

IndieBooks Review – Shot Through the Heart: A Faerie Tale

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Shot Through the Heart: A Faerie Tale by C.A. King

Readers love myths, legends and fairy tales. Whether it has to do with vampires, werewolves, Greek gods or little red riding hood, mythical creatures and tales of magic and happy endings allow our imaginations to run wild while teaching us lessons in morality. More to the point, fairy tales have a legendary sensibility to them, which is why a lot of writers continue to re-envision these stories with a fresh eye, helping new generations believe in something otherworldly (and maybe teach them a lesson in life, love and friendship). Vampires were given sparkles in Twilight; King Arthur and Robin Hood have seen many  an iteration, and the most prominent re-imagining of fairy tale characters was in the television show Once Upon A Time. In Shot Through the Heart: A Faerie Story, C.A. King brings a new spin to a character not many have tackled, taking us behind the scenes of Cupid and adding a fun twist on the classic god of love and attraction.

In this short story, Cupid isn’t just one being; it’s an agency of faeries who travel from their unseen realm to our world with a pair of names they are tasked with helping to fall in love. I thought it was quite interesting to see this concept as a regular job, where one misstep could get you fired, or worse, demoted to troll duty. Some of the lore that King sets up is a little on the light side (meaning it doesn’t dig too deep into how all of this was established or what the rules are), but she provides just enough to understand how the world works and how it affects the characters.

The main character is Adelia, a new recruit for the Cupid agency. Her first job upon her promotion is to pair a man named Ricky Sage with a girl named May. Another new recruit, Junapree, is also tasked with pairing a couple named Dean Sage and Mary. When Janapree accidentally targets May instead of Mary, things get a bit sticky. Adelia returns to the agency to report the mistake and is soon tasked with fixing the issue by finding another match for Ricky. To do so, she needs to enter the mortal world, which leads her to learn that the faerie’s mistake goes a lot deeper than anyone first believed.

The story is quick and breezy. With only twelve chapters (each with about two to six pages each), it’s easy to get through. The tone is light and airy, matching the core of the characters that inhabit the world. The stakes may be high, but they also feel inconsequential in so far as that everything will more than likely work itself out in the end, a fairy tale trope that works well for the story King is telling. This isn’t supposed to be a dense, dramatic or tense story. You’re supposed to fall in love with Adelia as she seeks to produce love in others, and that’s what happens.

So much so that you want more than you’re allowed to have. There is so much content that could be mined from this idea, that you always have the sense something is missing. I yearn to learn about this world in more detail and travel along with these characters as they try to fix their mistakes. It was a great story, with some interesting characters, it just wasn’t enough, which seems to be a trend with King’s story (see my review of Tomoiya’s Story: Escape to Darkness) — there isn’t enough meat on the bones to satisfy you. Some stories are meant to be short and sweet. I don’t think this should have been one of them, and I would love to see what King could do if she allowed herself to develop her stories beyond the simple short narrative.

My Grade: A-

Born and raised in Halton County, Ontario, Canada, C.A. King is proud to be among the list of Canadian-born authors. King wasn’t always a writer; it wasn’t until her husband and both parents passed that King found her passion for the written word. After retiring from the workforce to do some soul searching, she found she could redirect her emotions onto the page, and in 2014, decided to follow that passion and publish some of her works. She hopes her writing can inspire a new generation of Canadian authors and add to the literary heritage and culture Canada has to offer.

Check out all of C.A.’s social media platforms:

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C.A. King

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If you are an independent author and would like your book reviewed, let me know in the comments section with a link to where I can purchase the book. If I find it intriguing, and it’s something I think I’d like, I will purchase a copy and add it to my reading list. Not all requests will be accepted.

Movie Mayhem – The Equalizer 2/Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

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The Equalizer 2 — 2018; Directed by Antoine Fuqua; Starring Denzel Washington, Melissa Leo, Ashton Sanders and Pedro Pascal; Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again — 2018l; Directed by Ole Parker; Starring Amanda Seyfried, Lily James, Pierce Brosnan and Christine Barinski

It seems sequel-itis has officially hit theaters this week with not one, not two, but three follow-ups to semi-successful films that most people weren’t hankering for. This comes on the heels of Tom Cruise’s sixth go-around as Ethan Hunt in the Mission:Impossible series and follows a week after the third installment of Hotel Transylvania 3 graced us with its unpleasant summer vacation. I understand that brand recognition can drive sequels, but if that’s the only thing studios are banking on, then they are doing not only the audience, but themselves a disservice. Producing a sequel is one thing; producing a new story with interesting character development within the same world is quite another, and it isn’t hard to see the difference. Where Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again, a follow-up ten years in the making, finds a way to feed off of its predecessor while maturing into its own delightful song, The Equalizer 2, the next chapter to the semi-successful 2014 film about a man with a past who anonymously helps those less fortunate, does nothing but set itself on repeat.

First things first — Denzel Washington is incredible as always. The inner turmoil he so effortlessly portrays is like watching a master craftsman at work. There’s no denying his appeal as Robert McCall, a man so scarred from his past that he can’t bear to watch others suffer the way he has. He has an incredible sense of right and wrong, and will do whatever he needs to be the clandestine superhero to those who need him most. It’s a terrific character identity that doesn’t get explored to the level it could, or at least, more than it did in the first film.

Every story beat of the The Equalizer 2 is exactly the same as it was in the first film. McCall has a mundane day job (this time as a Lyft driver as opposed to a clerk at a Home Depot-type store, a change that isn’t explained in any detail) and uses it to help strangers with their problems; he befriends a teenager who is about to head down a dark path and tries to guide him on the straight and narrow; and when a conspiracy takes place that’s personal to him, it ends in a harrowing climactic sequence.

Because of this, there’s really nowhere for the character to go. In the first film, there was a mystery behind the man, a dark shadow that hovered over him with a need and a desire to understand him. But, now that we’ve learned everything we need to know about him, the character has nowhere new to go. There is zero character development in this film, thus, any intrigue that you may have been expecting has been dulled, making for a much less interesting film.

It doesn’t help that the secondary characters are also watered down. First up, there’s the young kid McCall tries to mentor. I remember quite clearly the kinetic energy Washington had with Chloe Grace Moretz in the first film, and I saw none of that with Ashton Sanders, who plays a young artist who hangs with the wrong crowd. Not only is his character devoid of any charisma, but his backstory is all but dead in the water, a mundane cliché that isn’t given any depth.

Then there are the rote villains who do nothing to enhance the atmosphere of the piece. As McCall discovers the truth behind the murder of his ex-handler, Susam Plummer (Melissa Leo), we’re supposed to find all of it shocking and feel the pain of betrayal, and yet, it feels so dry that it’s hard to get excited for the finale sequence that tries too hard to be as intense and creative as the rampage through the hardware store.

There’s no doubt Director Antoine Fuqua, has made some incredibly deep and thoughtful action films, but with The Equalizer 2, he fails to ignite his passion in any substantial way, making it feel that, much like McCall, he’s just going through the motions.

On the other had, Mamma Mia 2 does the best thing it could do story-wise: it sidelines Meryl Streep’s Donna in order to focus on 1) her daughter, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) and 2) her younger self, played with kinetic energy and spirit by Lily James. In fact the casting of all of the younger versions of the characters is one of the best things about this film, as there wasn’t one that I couldn’t see growing into the older actor they portray. And not only because of how they play them, but in their appearance as well. In fact, I could swear they somehow cloned Christine Barinski by how much Jessica Keenan Wynn resembled her twenty-five years ago.

Don’t get me wrong — Meryl Streep is a tremendous actor, one of the greatest in the last fifty years, but a great actor does not a great singer make, and one of the downfalls of the original was how poor Streep’s singing voice was (and to a similar degree, Pierce Brosnan’s voice — there are just some people who should not sing). So by making the inciting incident be the passing of Donna, which fuels Sophie’s desire to rebuild her home into a hotel and fulfill her mother’s dream, did several things to help bolster the story and give new life to the characters.

First, it replaced Streep with James, who took the reigns of the character and ran with them into the sunset. James is a delight as she’s able to instantly find chemistry with everyone on screen. Seeing what actually happened during those few weeks when she met Harry (Hugh Skinner & Colin Firth), Bill (Josh Dylan & Stellan Skarsgård), and Sam (Jeremy Irvine & Piecre Brosnan) is fun, even if it isn’t necessary. Secondly, it eliminates the need for sticom-style slapstick and misunderstanding, which kept the first film treading on unbearable. Writer/Director Ole Parker replaces it with a relatable story that felt much more real and not convoluted for the sake of comedy or the music.

It’s not all good — there’s a pretty cheesy sequence involving Cher as Sophie’s grandmother toward the end of the film that felt a little tacked on, and a lot of the lip-syncing was poorly executed by several different actors, including James, something that becomes heavily noticeable the more it happens. But, with a final scene that draws you in with how sweet and tender it is, Parker is able to wrap up both films with a strong voice.

My Grade: Equalizer 2: B-; Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again: B+

Bonus Review:

The third of the sequel trifecta, Unfriended: Dark Web, leans more on the side of Mamma Mia, replacing the odd supernatural element of the first film with a more grounded premise, helping writer/director Stephen Susco execute the original’s idea in a much more realistic fashion. A

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Next week, new movies include Mission Impossible: Fallout and Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. If you would like to see a review for one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.