Bryan Caron's Blog, page 11
July 17, 2018
IndieBooks Review – Necrotic City
Necrotic City by Leland Lydecker
Science fiction as a genre is very vague in its identity. The reason being, there are a plethora of sub-divisions within the sci-fi umbrella, which include space travel, time travel, alien planets, futuristic technology, altered states, multi-verses, wormholes, gritty noir, action, drama, comedy and of course realistic science. With Necrotic City, author Leland Lydecker adds political intrigue to that list, tackling a sub-genre that if done incorrectly, could damage a book’s popularity among particular groups of people. Lydecker, though, balances the heavy political material with enough tension and foresight as to allow each reader to utilize the lens of their own predilections to guide them in how the story unfolds and how they ultimately feel about the characters, what they do when confronted with certain decisions, what to take away from the story, and how it relates to the society we currently live and society as a whole.
The story revolves around Adrian, a genetically- and robotically-enhanced human, known as a Hero, bred to protect the citizens of Necrotic City. Controlled by the Company, the city has been divided into several “tiers”, the top tiers of which are designated for the wealthy and most affluent members of the community, while the lower you go, the more downtrodden the public becomes to the point in which a wall was built to exclude a number of tiers because they were no longer worth their time, money or influence.
During a routine patrol of one of the lower tiers, Adrian is caught in the destruction of a housing complex. At the same time, due mostly to the amount of citizens he’s saved, he’s also one of five heroes nominated to become the Prime Hero. Griffith, his main competitor, though, wishes to change the structure of the city, merging the Hero division in with the Enforcers — those that are able to arrest, judge and terminate citizens when necessary. After losing the election to Griffith, and seeing the widespread dissent and destruction, Adrian is reassigned to private citizen protection, and must decide whether he wants to continue living under the new rule of law, or discover something new hidden in the depths of the city.
Lydecker does a good job in setting up our hero, giving us someone we all can relate to while showing us how he operates on different levels, both physically and emotionally. With a heightened level of integrity, Adrian would die to protect any citizen, no matter their station, he has a high level of physical and mental strength, as well as a heart that shows he’s not so by-the-books strict that he must follow the rules by the letter, but will allow some leeway in situations he deems insignificant. Lydecker also sets up a lot of well-crafted secondary characters that are fun and interesting and fit well into the story.
What Lydecker doesn’t seem to do as well is set up the structure of the city itself. There are a lot of terms that are used to differentiate the classes of people, but how the city is actually set up was never quite clear to me, so trying to visualize how things are built in order to follow the action correctly did get a little frustrating. The good thing is, because the characters are set up so well, after awhile, it doesn’t seem to matter as much because you’re so invested in what’s happening and what will happen to these characters that the layout of the city becomes inconsequential to what’s actually happening.
The pace of the book is also a bit of a mixed bag. There is so much mundane action that set up the characters but don’t do much else in the first few chapters, that the story gets a bit sluggish and I kept wondering if anything important was ever going to happen. But then Adrian is nominated for the Prime Hero role and the political intrigue begins to really take over, adding a new level of intensity that was missing from the first third of the book. Then, halfway through, Lydecker begins burning through a lot of meaty ideas to try and reach the end quicker, making everything feel far too rushed.
Characters get in and out of situations quicker than they should and the setups take more time than the payoff, as if everything is gearing up for something big and then it’s just over and moving on to the next big event that will end just as abruptly. This happens with a few character developments as well, where double-crosses are turned on a dime without much exploration for why they were set up that way in the first place, with one character in particular dying without much fanfare. They’re here, they cause havoc and with the snap of a finger, they’re gone.
Necrotic City isn’t the most well-written sci-fi novel (how many times is Adrian going to wake to begin a chapter?), nor is it a perfectly captured political thriller, but because of Lydecker’s knack for creating a set of interesting and compelling characters (some, like Vey, who Adrian meets late in the novel, I wish I could have seen more of), Necrotic City seamlessly blends the two genres, and I believe that if Lydecker finds a way to balance his pacing a bit better in the future, this is an independent author I would try again to see what’s next in the exploration of genetics, robotics, and political corruption within our society.
My Grade: B+
As a writer and former airline employee, Leland Lydecker’s interests range from the natural world, to space exploration, to technology and medicine, emphasizing genetic engineering, cybernetics and artificial intelligence, all of which help support his preferred writing topics, including crime, extra-judicial justice, corporate corruption and the future of our societies.
Check out all of Leland’s social media platforms:
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Leland Lydecker
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.
July 15, 2018
Movie Mayhem – Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation — 2018; Directed y Genndy Tartakovsky; Starring the voices of Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, Katherine Hahn, David Spade, Keegan Michael-Key, Jim Gaffigan and Mel Brooks
Harmless (adjective): not able or likely to cause harm; inoffensive. Synonyms include safe, benign, mild, unobjectionable and unexceptional.
All of these words apply to Sony’s Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, a harmless, safe form of entertainment that goes out of its way to be as inoffensive and unobjectionable as it can be, ultimately making the film feel benign and unexceptional. If I may, I would also like to add: unnecessary.
We were first introduced to Adam Sandler’s version of Dracula in 2012’s Hotel Transylvania, also a pretty harmless movie that brought monsters and humans to a mutual understanding of compatibility when Johnny (voice of Ryan Samberg), a stereotypical surfer-type human who always seems to be high without the use of any drugs, stumbles into Drac’s Hotel Transylvania — a hotel specifically for monsters — while backpacking on vacation and subsequently falls in love with Drac’s daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez). Along the way, we’re treated to a bunch of silly puns and sight gags that are fun and sometimes whimsical but essentially don’t add up to a whole lot.
Fast forward past 2015’s Hotel Transylvania 2, which itself zips right past Johnny and Mavis’s wedding and birth to their son Dennis (Asher Blinkoff) to focus on whether or not the little runt is a vampire, and we come to the third installment, which muddles through a similar storyline to the first film disguised as a fun new adventure.
This time, it’s Drac who will find love with a human counterpart, and Mavis who doesn’t car much for the possible union. When Mavis plans a vacation cruise to the lost city of Atlantis to cheer her father up and spend time with him as a family, Drac instantly falls for (or zings — a tired, lazy iteration of when werewolves imprint on someone in the Twilight Saga) the captain of the ship, Ericka (Katherine Hahn). But if you thought this was going to be about Drac wooing Ericka (or the other way around) you’d be wrong.
Summer Vacation is set-up from the opening moments as a tale of revenge, wherein legendary monster-hunter Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan) seeks to finally wipe out all monsters for good, the execution of which is weak at best. The way writers Michael McCullers and Genndy Tartakovsky acheive this goal doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, although, I will admit, the final sequence does lend itself to the only chuckle-worthy bits in the whole film.
Now, back to the supposed love affair between Drac and Ericka. It takes almost half of the run-time to even set up the circumstances that would lead these two to even get together, so by the time Tartakovsky (also the director) starts to build this relationship, there’s very little time to build any chemistry between them that would warrant any natural progression, making what happens in the second half feel unnatural and false. If more time was spent on Drac attempting to seduce Ericka, evolving their characters, or giving them a reason to change their views on certain things, it might have been a fresh take on what worked so well when Johnny fell in love with Mavis.
The problem is, McCullers and Tartakovsky stack the deck with so many characters that have literally nothing to do or have very little consequence to the main plot, that they suck the time away from establishing any real connection between the main characters and Mavis’s apprehension. Take for example Wayne the wolf (Steve Buscemi), his wife Wanda (Molly Shannon) and their brood of pups. These characters are hardly seen or utilized in any substantial way in the first act, and then are subsequently discharged from the film halfway through as not be seen again until the very end. If they weren’t going to have any reason to be there, why include them at all (at least once the vacation started)?
I understand their presence, as well as the rest of the clan, including Frankenstein (Kevin James), Murray the Mummy (Keegan Michael-Key), Invisible Man (David Spade), Vlad (Mel Brooks) and Blobby, fits into the plot, but had Tartakovsky made one small change to the reasoning behind Van Helsing’s plan, these characters could have been utilized effectively in small doses so as to keep them from interfering with precious time needed to develop the main characters within the plot, especially Mavis, whose story arc feels entirely rushed and lacks the poignancy that Tartakovsky was hoping for. How it’s written, it feels as if these characters are jammed in there for no other reason than to draw in the kids that liked them in the first two iterations.
Had Tartakovsky chosen to do the brave thing and leave these monsters at home, allowing his film to focus solely on Dracula’s family, it would have given the film time to not only develop these story arcs, but more than likely help to develop more clever jokes as the team are forced to do something different. the Hotel Transylvania series has always been about Drac, Mavis and Johnny, so by sidelining two-thirds of these characters for innocuous repetition because we can’t leave behind a bunch of secondary characters, even though we have no use for them other to tell more lame jokes, you lose the essence of what made the first film (and in some ways, the second) fun.
Instead, everyone involved resorts back to the same old shtick, leaving the audience with a stale, cold piece of bread that no one was hankering for. One sequence that pops into mind that could have had so much more flavor to it is when everyone is flying to where they will board the ship on an airline run by Gremlins. There is a lot of potential in this idea, and yet Tartokovsky can’t wrangle the humor enough to intelligently create any laughs beyond simple, obvious humor. Oh well. I guess we’ll see everyone back here for Hotel Transylvania 4: Baby on Board, where we get to see all of these characters learn how to take care of a baby in a safe, unobjectionable, harmless manner.
My Grade: C-
Bonus Review:
Taking its cue from eighties action films, Skyscraper sets up a simple plot that forces stars Dwayne Johnson and Neve Campbell into a series of death-defying action sequences, which are as non-nonsensical and ridiculous as they are tremendously fun to watch. A-
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Next week, new movies include The Equalizer 2, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again and Unfriended: Dark Web. 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.
July 8, 2018
Movie Mayhem – Ant-Man and the Wasp
Ant-Man and the Wasp — 2018; Directed by Peyton Reed; Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michael Peña, Hannah John-Kame, Laurence Fishburne, Walton Goggins and Michelle Pfeiffer
Walton Goggins has been a favorite actor of mine since he first broke onto the scene as Timothy Olyphant’s charismatic and calculated foil Boyd Crowder on FX’s Justified. Goggins brought rich depth and nuance to a character that wasn’t meant to last past the first episode, and he didn’t let any second of screen time go to waste, especially when he shared it with Olyphant, each able to bring out a brother-like camaraderie that intensified the other’s performance. Ever since then, whether it be in TV or movies, Goggins has yet to recapture that presence in the same way. Goggins is a thinking man’s actor, and so far this year, he’s taken roles (or been given them) in films that don’t need any brain cells to enjoy, such as Maze Runner: The Death Cure and Tomb Raider, and that trend doesn’t stop with Marvel’s newest film, Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Goggins plays one of two villains that come out to play in this sequel to the 2015 surprise hit. When Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) realizes his wife, Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), may still be alive in the quantum realm, he spends several years developing a gateway to safely track her down. In order to build this tech, he needs several hard-to-find pieces of technology that can only be acquired through a black-market trader named Sonny Burch, played by Goggins. When Sonny finds out who he’s actually been selling to, he demands to become a partner in their venture or else they’ll never see their project come to fruition. Goggins plays the character with as much zeal as he can muster and a panache that resonates greed and self-importance, but the character is nothing but a typical thief that can’t find a way to utilize his tremendous talent.
This throw-away character is juxtaposed with Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava, a.k.a. Ghost, a woman who as a child was caught on the wrong end of one of Hank’s quantum experiments, causing her to become caught somewhere between reality and the quantum realm. Her ability to phase in and out of physical matter is painful on the body, but it does allow her to walk through solid matter whenever she likes. Her goal is to use Hank’s machine to suck the life force from Janet in order to return her body to normal. John-Kamen is given more nuance than Goggins, adding in a legitimate reason for doing what she’s doing that doesn’t succumb to simple tropes.
Even though one is given more sustenance than the other, both villains are necessary in order to keep the plot of the film moving in the right direction. Director Peyton Reed may have been able to get away with one or the other, but having both act as foils for our heroes allows him to add more fun into the mix when dealing with what amounts to an old Micro Machines playset. Because Hank’s suit was used during the final battle in Captain America: Civil War, the FBI is out to arrest him, so he has to stay hidden in plain site. In order to do so, Hank has equipped his building with enough tech to shrink it down to a suitcase when he needs to move locations. (Not to mention he also has a case of several cars, shrunk down to carry with him whenever he needs them.)
The utilization of this tech leads to a fantastic chase sequence near the end of the film in which all three parties (Ghost, Sonny and our heroes) jockey for possession of the building, making the typical chase scene through the streets of San Francisco a wild, unique ride.
Now about those title characters: due to being caught at the end of Civil War, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is completing a two-year house-arrest stint. Part of the terms of his probation is that he’s not to make contact with Hank or his daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), but when he has an odd dream about Janet, he can’t help but get in touch with them. Though neither Hank nor Hope are happy with him about stealing their tech to go off and play with the Avengers, Scott teams up with Hope to stop Sonny and Ava from completing their goals, replaced at home with a giant ant programmed to match his daily routine so the FBI won’t notice he’s gone.
Rudd, Lilly and Douglas don’t skip a beat in their chemistry and joyful glee from the first film, and Reed is able to once again capture the fun spirit behind such a lesser-known character in the Marvel universe. Keeping Michael Peña around as Rudd’s friend and now business partner is also a good idea, as his banter with all of the characters (not to mention the return of his outlandish stories) is always welcome. The group of actors clearly have fun with one another, and that passion makes it much more fun to watch.
Like the original Ant-Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp powers itself with a rich flavor of humor and desire that differentiates itself from the rest of the Marvel Universe, a welcome change from the massive stakes we’ve been seeing in a lot of other films. This isn’t a large-scale superhero movie on the level of Civil War or Avengers: Infinity War; No one is trying to save the city… or the world… or the universe. It’s a small, personal film where the heroes want nothing but to recover a loved one and the villains just want something for personal or financial gain. And even though these intimate stakes aren’t that high, in comparison, it feels like they are because we care for these characters so much. We want them to succeed because they feel like they’re our best friends, which in turn makes the film feel much bigger than it really is. Now if Goggins could just find a role that matches his charisma as much as Ant-Man and the Wasp settles into its enjoyable pocket, we’ll all have something to celebrate.
My Grade: A
Bonus Review:
After its release last week, I heard a lot of good things about Uncle Drew, and though the film felt very stitched together and the gimmick more often than not overwhelmed the characterization, the film does pull together a winning set of players to give this basketball comedy some good laughs and respectful heart. B+
Perception is often times just as important as plot or characterization in a movie, so because both of these elements are all but missing and the lines between good and evil are literally black and white, the perception behind The First Purge devolves from an entertaining film with something important to say into nothing more than a piece of sickening, biased propaganda. D
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Next week, new movies include Skyscraper and Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. 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.
June 24, 2018
Movie Mayhem – Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom — 2018; Directed by J.A. Bayona; Starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Daniella Pineda, Rafe Spall, James Cromwell, Justice Smith and Isabella Sermon
There’s been some controversy recently about producers and studios claiming that some movies aren’t made for critics; they’re made for the fans. For me, this claim is just an excuse to produce films without any effort. If critics weren’t fans of film, why would they subject themselves to hours upon hours of their lives watching them? And if studios don’t want to receive bad reviews, they should stop rushing films into production and do what Pixar does and take the time to develop a good, solid story. On the other hand, everyone will bring their own personal experiences with them into a film. Where one person sees a masterpiece, another sees boring tripe. You’re never going to please everyone; all you can really do is make the best possible movie you can and let the chips fall where they may. Somoene’s opinion should never be mocked or ridiculed just because it doesn’t line up with yours. I know not everyone is going to like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the newest entry into the dino-centric franchise. Some will think it’s a retread of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, some won’t be interested in the cast, and some will say it’s nothing more than a cash-grab. And that’s fine. As for me, I enjoy an array of different types of films, and as both a critic and a fan, I thought Fallen Kingdom was a welcome addition to the franchise.
With the inactive volcano at the center of Isla Nublar, the island for which houses the Jurassic World theme park, now heavily active, what would have happened had Jurassic World never been closed? It would have be easy to keep tourists from attending the park, and the administrators would have had more time to transfer the dinosaurs to a safe place. Instead, because of the events of the Jurassic World, the dinosaurs have been left to roam free, and the question now is, should we even consider heading back to rescue the dinosaurs from extinction? Like everything else in the world today, the public is split on this decision, but with the educated testimony of Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), politicians on the hill have decided to let nature take care of the mess the humans made.
This decision isn’t going to stop Dr. Hammond’s old partner, Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), from doing what he believes to be the right thing. With help from his business partner, Eli Mills (Rafe Spall), Lockwood has sent an expedition to the island to recover several different species and transfer them to a new island where they can live free with no interference. (It does seem odd to me that no one in either Jurassic World film has mentioned Isla Sorna… you know, the other island that houses the dinosaurs as they mature before being transported to Isla Nublar to become part of the park. Does that island still exist, and are there still dinosaurs on it?)
There’s just one small issue that Eli and Lockwood can’t figure out — how to track and capture Blue, the last remaining velociraptor. Enter Jurassic World’s chief operations manager, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), who’s apparently the only one who has access to the old tracking system on the island and the only one who might convince animal behaviorist (and Indiana Jones stand-in) Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to return to the island to help his “baby” survive. Though I’m not sure I buy the reasoning behind Owen agreeing to go, it’s nice to see Pratt back for another go-around, especially because the chemistry between he and Howard has become more relaxed since the last film. Joining them on the trip is an excited veterinarian (Daniella Pineda) and a geeky tech-wizard (Justice Smith) who despises doing anything adventurous.
Though the team works well together, and almost all of them have at least one important moment that is key for their character, there isn’t a whole lot of change for any of the characters. This includes Dr. Wu (BD Wong), who was last seen stealing samples from Jurassic World to start his own genetic testing facility. When Eli uses Wu’s idea to sell and weaponize the dinosaurs, including the indoraptor, Wu’s newest creation — a mix of the raptor and the indiminous rex — that’s meant to become the perfect weapon, Wong has nothing to do but spout scientific jargon about why it’s dangerous to test these genetic alterations.
Of course what would a Jurassic Park movie be without a precocious kid? Newcomer Isabella Sermon plays Lockwood’s granddaughter, Maisie, who, unlike the kids in the Park movies (and very much like the brothers in Jurassic World), doesn’t seem to have a reason for being except to be the catalyst for a lot of what happens in the second and third acts as well as introducing some additional ethical issues into the mix. She screams, she runs, she hides. At the same time, she’s also the most fun kid since Tim and Lex from the original, so she has that going for her. And the ethical quandries that come up also lead to some interesting possibilities for the inevitable third chapter in this new trilogy.
With all that said, you probably wouldn’t think I liked the film, but even with these flaws, the film still finds a way to be entertaining in the same way all of the other sequels did — by being pure escapist fun. Although there are only three returning characters, that actually ends up being a good thing. Director J.A. Boyana is able to embrace the essence of the first film while cutting the uninspired fat from its predecessor, adding some fun quirky new characters that blend well with the old and helps build on the ways the characters interact with one another, and gives us what we all want — some terrific dino-terrorizing action and suspense.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a popcorn flick that’s meant to be enjoyed. That doesn’t mean it’s not for critics; it just means critics who lean more toward art-house films may not be able to get past the repetitive nature of the story. And that’s perfectly fine. But those who don’t mind money-hungry characters bordering on mustache-twirling villainy because they enjoy getting to see those hiss-worthy villains get their comeuppance due to the actions of a bunch of pretty faces, than you will certainly enjoy this new edition to the dinosaur franchise. I did. (Bonus points for keeping Howard in boots while running from this set of dinosaurs!)
My Grade: A
Bonus Review:
I don’t see very many documentaries, and those I do tend to revolve around some sort of entertainment icon, like Mr. Rogers, the focus of Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, a very personal and inspirational look into a man who wasn’t just a superhero for children, but someone who was very influential in building a brand that matched his personal convictions both on television and in the community. A-
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Next week, new movies include Sicario: Day of the Saldado, and Uncle Drew. 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.
June 18, 2018
Movie Mayhem – Incredibles 2
Incredibles 2 — 2018; Directed by Brad Bird; Starring the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Huck Milner, Catherine Keener, Bob Odenkirk, Sophia Bush and Samuel L. Jackson
When The Incredibles first made their way to the big screen in 2004, I really enjoyed it, as I do all Pixar movies, but I didn’t seem to appreciate it the same way I did films like Toy Story and Finding Nemo. I’m not sure what it was, but there was something about it that didn’t quite click. Over the years, though, after several repeat viewings, the film has grown on me more, and I can appreciate what writer/director Brad Bird was able to accomplish. Fourteen years later, Bird returns with Incredibles 2, the long-awaited sequel to his superhero love song. Can it live up to what many fans of the original have been clamoring for? Or has the magic worn off due to the length of time it took to finally get this film off the ground? In many ways, it may be a little of both.
As the trailer suggests, Incredibles 2 picks up right where the last film left off, with the Parr family suiting up to battle a new foe, the Underminer (voice of Pixar mainstay John Ratzenberger). It feels a little like what happened at the end of the original Back to the Future, where Doc returns to take Marty to the future and save his kids. It wasn’t supposed to be a setup for a sequel, it was just a fun tag to leave you wanting more. But, much like the Back to the Future series, Bird does a great job of using that tag to setup the next chapter as if it had always been planned that way.
Bird does the right thing by refraining from jumping ahead in time after the battle ends. Instead, he uses that battle as a catalyst to introduce us to Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk), a billionaire tech mogul who, along with his sister Evelyn (Catherine Keener), is looking to make all supers legal again. His plan is to change the perception people have of the supers from being a bane on society to being the protectors they wish to be. Bird includes a light touch of our current political climate, but he’s wise to keep it subtle so it doesn’t overwhelm the story or turn away viewers who just want to be entertained.
Winston’s choice to help change people’s perceptions is Helen Parr/Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), who compared with her husband Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) and Lucious Best/Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson), has the least amount of destruction on her resume. Bob isn’t too keen on the idea, as he feels he should be the one going out fighting crime, but at the same time he wants to support his wife. If Winston thinks she’ll be the fire to make supers leagal again, in the long run, that’s just what needs to happen, even if that means becoming a stay-at-home dad.
With this new job comes a new home, rescuing the Parr’s from having to stay in a small hotel room after their house was destroyed by Syndrome. And while Helen heads out to battle a new foe calling himself the Screenslaver (Bill Wise), Bob must help Dash (Huck Milner) with his homework, make amends with Violet (Sarah Vowell) after accidentally having the mind of her potential boyfriend wiped to the point he doesn’t even remember who she is, and entertain Jack-Jack, who he discovers has his own set of abilities he’s starting to really tap into.
The role reversal of having Helen fight crime while Bob stays home to care for the kids is a good one, as it teaches Bob a valuable lesson that you don’t have to be a superhero to be a hero in someone’s eyes. But it also once again breaks the family apart while keeping the kids from the battle for the majority of the movie. On the surface, splitting up a successful team, especially after we’ve seen how well they work together, can be a detriment to our viewing pleasure. After all, we’re there to see the Incredibles kick butt as a family. But when splitting up a team helps serve the greater narrative of the story, as Bird does very successfully here, it not only strengthens the forward momentum of the plot, but it helps each of the characters grow even more than they could have had they been kept together for the entirety of the film. We all want to keep our loved ones safe, but when push comes to shove, we have to let them be who they are and let them fly.
Bird also introduces us to several new supers in the film, who each have a minor role to play in some way, even though the majority of them fall a little flat. However, there is one super, Voyd (Sophia Bush), who rises to the occasion and earns her spot as being a super I wouldn’t mind joining the team in Incredibles 3. The super that stands out the most, though, is Jack-Jack, who plays a much more substantial role than he did in the first film. Some of the best moments come by way of Jack-Jack, including a very fun fight with a raccoon that’s trying to steal the Parr’s trash. It’s the trigger that opens Bob’s eyes to his abilities and gets him to reach out to Edna Mode (Bird) for help in figuring out how to control them.
Though the ultimate reveal of the villain is a bit cliche and predictable, and the story beats follow a similar path as the first film, Bird keeps us invested in these characters with a great eye for perfectly placed humor in a fun, light and breezy pace, and allowing for these characters to continue to grow and change and become not only better people, but better superheroes in the process.
My Grade: A
Bonus Reviews:
It takes a little time to warm up to the antics this team of wacky ne’er-do-wells is throwing down, but once Jeremy Rennar enters the picture, Tag heats up, becoming a pretty fun, if not hilarious movie about friendship, camaraderie and boys-will-be-boys hi-jinks. A-
Not everyone will love the slow-burn pace of Hereditary, but those who are able to ingest the nature of the beast, digesting the story and every small nuance will become as enjoyable a feast as each odd twist that makes up the film’s overall bizarre nature. A-
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Next week, new movies include Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Boundaries. 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.
June 10, 2018
Movie Mayhem – Hotel Artemis
Hotel Artemis — 2018; Directed by Drew Pearce; Starring Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Charlie Day, Sofia Boutella, Dave Bautista and Jeff Goldblum
Don’t be fooled by high-caliber casts. When the advertising for a film focuses heavily on the well-known, and in some cases, incredibly talented actors, it doesn’t necessarily equate to a particularly good film. Case in point — Movie 43. This 2013 film boasted about its extremely big names that all came together to have a good laugh. The end result, though, was a disgusting mess of a film that had almost zero laughs, took their premises way too far, and didn’t know what to do with their all-star talent. I can’t say that Hotel Artemis is near as bad as Movie 43, but it spends so much time lamenting over the caliber of its cast, that it completely forgets to give any of the characters or the plot any meaningful substance.
Let’s begin by going over that cast and where they belong in the context of the film. (Please note, because all of the characters are criminals seeking refuge and medical treatment during what the movie touts as the largest riot in Los Angeles history, all names are either a cryptonym or the name of the suite they occupy at the hotel.)
First up is Jodie Foster as The Nurse, a disgraced nurse who now runs the hotel and patches all of her clients up when needed. Her biggest character traits include being a stickler for the rules, making sure no one who isn’t already a registered client gets in, and a “creative” walk that I guess is supposed to mean something, but comes off as an actor doing something quirky for no other reason than to add some unique trait to their character.
The Nurse’s right-hand and muscle is Everest, played by Dave Bautista, whose only purpose is to make sure The Nurse stays on task and fix any problem that may arise. Based on his performance, I’m still not sure if Bautista has the chops to rise to the same level as Dwayne Johnson (then again, I used to think the same about Johnson), but he does hold his own among the rest of the cast, even though he comes off as the weakest of the bunch.
Sterling K. Brown plays Waikiki, a bank robber who heads to the hotel when his brother (Brian Tyree Henry) is shot during a heist gone wrong. He plays the character as his usual stoic self, and seems to be given super-human abilities that are never really explained. Does he have clothes with Kevlar lining that prevent him from being shot, or does his skin have material grafted within it to make him partially indestructible? The latter sounds much more interesting, but writer/director Drew Pearce doesn’t seem to care in exploring these types of questions.
Already at the hotel are Acapulco (Charlie Day), a weasely little prick (natch) that spends most of his time pushing the buttons of everyone around him while attempting to leave the hotel, and Nice (Sofia Boutella), a contract killer who “only kills important people.”
Finally, we have Jeff Goldblum as the owner of Hotel Artemis, also known as The Wolf King (or Niagara). Although Goldblum’s magnetic presence shines in every word dribbled from his mouth, The Wolf King is supposed to be a high-caliber drug lord and ruler of the city, but none of that comes through in his performance. The reason for this is because his story arc falls prey to the same problem all of the other story arcs have — absolutely no depth.
The backstories for each of the above characters is weak at best and non-existent at worst. Small, and sometimes, enticing tidbits are given about each character, getting you excited for the potential of where the story may lead and how this may affect other characters, only to fizzle out like a firework that spits a few sparks instead of exploding in delightful glory. As each of these characters start to come together, we’re waiting for a big explosion that never manifests.
Take The Nurse, for example. The reason she runs the hotel is because she was stripped of her license after her son was found dead on the beach because of an overdose. Pearce tries to give weight to this idea by having someone from her past show up to remind her of this, but he doesn’t ever follow through on anything, including the potential for revenge when the truth about his overdose comes to light. It’s an event that happened, but doesn’t give any explanation for why it eventually led to who she is now.
This lack of interest in forming compelling backstories also leads to several feeble setups. Throughout the several hours this movie takes place, a couple of rules are broken, but neither lead to any satisfactory conclusions. In true John Wick fashion, the first is not harming any other guest, a rule that’s never given any time to breathe or command any consequences; the other is refraining from allowing any non-members, especially cops, into the hotel.
When a wounded police officer (Jenny Slate) who may just be someone from The Nurse’s past shows up requesting asylum at the exact same time The Wolf King’s son (Zachary Quinto) shows up to lock everything down so that no new “guests” will steal his father’s room, things begin to get sticky. But again, this whole idea is muted so much in the fact that nothing of consequence ever happens, causing any tension that may arise from this to be laid to waste.
Not even the idea of the riots is given any time to mature into anything of significance. At one point early in the film, Everest is tasked with taking one of Waikiki’s crewmembers out to a back alley because he’s not a member of the hotel. The criminal offender (Kenneth Choi) is told to keep his mouth shut about the hotel, and he screams that he’ll die out there alone. But the character is never heard from again, so why did Pearce feel the need to spend so much time on this aspect of the film if there wasn’t going to be any significant return?
And I guess that’s what this comes down to — Hotel Artemis is a slew of unfulfilled promises with no significant return on your investment; a series of connected vignettes that have no purpose. If there are any saving graces for the film, everyone involved genuinely seem to care about making a good movie, and the action sequences are done well. But when you have nothing to back those things up because you have no idea how to bring anything full circle or give strength to meaning, much like the hotel itself, everything crumbles with no substantial effects.
Mu Grade: C-
Bonus Reviews:
Unlike what Paul Feig tried to do with his all-female reboot of Ghostbusters, the producers of Ocean’s Eight set their world within the same one as their predecessors, reinvigorating the smooth, stylistic swagger with a new crop of thieves that could potentially one day hold their own with their male counterparts. A-
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Next week, new movies include Incredibles 2, Tag and Superfly. 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.
June 3, 2018
Movie Mayhem – Beast
Beast — 2018; Directed by Michael Pearce; Starring Jessie Buckley, Johnny Flynn, Geraldine James, Shannon Tarbet, and Trystan Gravelle
Occasionally, it’s good to cleanse the blockbuster palette with a smaller movie that you’ve never heard of before, never saw a trailer for, and don’t know any of the actors involved. Sometimes, these types of movies can be brilliant pieces of thought-provoking art; other times, they’re mind-numbing snooze-fests. Beast, a British import filmed in and around the UK and distributed across the pond in 2017 (and originally titled Jersey Affair), falls somewhere between these two extremes. It has some very quiet, eloquent moments that keep you invested in the mystery that surrounds the plight of the characters, and yet, because its pace can be a bit on the slow side, and its message so subtle as to become confusing, it’s far more frustrating than exhilarating.
Moll (Jessie Buckley) is a lonely girl trapped in a small community in the Channel Islands, fighting a past she can’t seem to escape. Not physically, mind you, but mentally. She’s an obedient daughter who helps her controlling mother (Geraldine James) take care of her ailing father, but burns with the desire to flee her mundane shackles and fly free. That opportunity arises when she meets Pascal (Johnny Flynn), another seemingly lonely person who compliments Moll with a sense of intrigue and adventure. But as the two fall deeply in love, the couple gets tangled up in a murder investigation, turning the community, including Moll’s family, against them both, forcing Moll to decide what she wants more — the love of adventure or the love of a family who has all but abandoned her.
The intrigue in the movie doesn’t stem from the mystery of who killed a series of girls (which takes a backseat for the majority of the film), but from who Moll is and how her world has and will continue to shape her. She is a troubled young woman, evidenced by her need to cut herself in order to feel anything (or at the very least, relieve the pain and stress of her inattentive family). When she first meets Pascal, he says, “You’re wounded. I can help you with that.” On the surface, this simple line is nothing but someone helping patch a cut on someone else. On a deeper level, it’s as if Pascal can see deep within Moll’s soul. She’s a wounded bird, and if she allows him in, he will help her fly again.
The love affair between the two begins innocent enough, but as the investigation points toward Pascal as the sole person of interest, Moll learns things about him that she was previously unaware of; but by then, she’s already too deep within him to let him go. His presence has opened her up in a way that pushes her to defy her family’s wishes and support him with nothing more than faith. It’s a love steeped in freedom — he allows her to be who she really is, as opposed to who society wants her to become.
This inner turmoil stems from an incident when she was younger that is only shown through psychological breaks in Moll’s dreams. She tries so desperately to escape this past, yet being around Pascal has unconsciously brought that part of her back to the surface. What this reveals is that the beast of the title isn’t necessarily Pascal for being accused of murder. It could also be Moll, or even the community that surrounds her, forcing her to live as they do and believe a story that fits their personal narrative. Or, it could very well be all three, attacking one another in both physical and mental ways.
It’s the murder mystery that brings the film crumbling down around itself. As little plot as there may be, for a psychological thriller like this to work properly, we need to be as invested in that plot as much as we are in the characters. With Beast, we’re given so little of the investigation that it becomes more of a nuisance; a little gnat reminding you of something more that never truly rises to the occasion. And because this aspect is so hidden in the shadows of the overall narrative, it’s hard to connect to the plight of the characters as they traverse through the muddy waters of these terrible acts. To know and understand these two characters fully, we need to know why the investigation is pointing its finger at Pascal, so we can understand and empathize with both he and Moll. Because I never felt that, by the time the third act rolls around, choices and character motivations aren’t as heightened as they should be.
Some of the acting choices are another hindrance on the film. Though Buckley does a good job fighting her demons in a subtle, depressive way, I never bought her feelings for Pascal. Not because of her, but because of Flynn. He was okay, but nothing about his performance gave me reason to believe that these two had any real chemistry. And perhaps that’s the point. Perhaps the two were never meant to have chemistry; that their love was false from the get-go and they were pushing something that was never there in the first place. It happens, but for the end of this film to have any real emotional impact, I needed to feel something between the two that never seemed to materialize.
Maybe this disconnect has to do with some of the directing choices as well. I felt distanced from the film, wholly based on how director Michael Pearce configured a moment. There are a lot of times we see characters (most often, Moll) just staring at something that we never get to see. It’s a stylistic choice that does work on one level (showing us that these people are in someways mad), but on another level is utterly frustrating. And that in itself describes Beast as a whole — there’s a quality of madness to the film that keeps you intrigued in what’s happening, but ultimately devolves into a heap of disappointment as it could have been so much more than it delivers.
My Grade: B
Bonus Reviews:
By adding a slew of creative, fascinating technology to his new film, Upgrade, Leigh Whannell turns what could have been a rote thriller into an interesting revenge thriller that’s short on character, but high on adrenaline. A-
Adrift was poised to be a captivating survival story, but because of the way Baltasar Kormákur edits the film, we’re never given a chance to fully invest in either the love story between the two leads or the strength of enduring 41 days at sea. It’s good, then, that Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin are attractive enough to keep your attention. A-
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Next week, new movies include Ocean’s 8, Hereditary and Hotel Artemis. 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.
May 27, 2018
Movie Mayhem – Solo: A Star Wars Story
Solo: A Star Wars Story — 2018; Directed by Ron Howard; Starring Alden Ehrenreich, Jonnas Suotamo, Paul Bettany, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke and Donald Glover
From the initial announcement that Han Solo was going to be given the standalone treatment, the film has been plagued with problems, both small (common, routine re-shoots) and large (replacing original directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord with iconic filmmaker Ron Howard). This news spurred the fires that the production was troubled and that the final product would be a complete mess. I never believed that; Ron Howard is too smart a filmmaker to let things fall apart under his watch. It’s said that Lord and Miller believed they were making a comedy, and though I respect their vision, I don’t think Han Solo is the right character for that. Yes, Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) is a sarcastic smart-ass who doesn’t take a whole lot seriously, but to put him at the center of a comedy, I believe, would have turned Han into a joke and diluted the essence of the universe as a whole.
So, I’m happy Kathleen Kennedy stood her ground and kept Solo: A Star Wars Story grounded in the world we already know and love. I’m not sure how much Howard had to redo in order to get the film back on track, but he was the certainly the right choice to produce a fun film that still fits in the pocket of what’s come before while making sure to deliver a light touch that, looking back, has been missing from the films as of late.
Han’s story is similar in ways to Luke’s journey, however, where Luke turned his opportunity for a more exciting life into becoming the hero of the Republic, Han finds a home among a pack of scoundrels, cheats and degenerates, unknowingly becoming a hero in a different way. He may be taught to trust no one and only care about himself, but he still has a certain moral code that won’t allow him to harm good people. What Howard is able to do is retain the lighthearted breeziness of A New Hope by preserving a little of what Lord and Miller had started with, but making sure everything felt like it was part of the universe, breathing new life into characters we know and adore.
Ehrenreich wouldn’t have been my first choice to play the title character. As Han, he doesn’t immediately look the part, and based on some of his past films, I never saw him as that great an actor. It takes a little time to settle in with him, but I think this works in the movie’s favor. People change over the course of many years, so rather than starting out the movie with the same attitude and demeanor as Harrison Ford, Ehrenreich uses the events in the story to shape Han into what we remember. Not resembling Ford all that much and utilizing a different acting style helps him develop the character in his own way while hanging onto the heart of what made the character so iconic. We’re essentially watching the birth of Han Solo, and though he still isn’t quite what we remember at the end of the film, you can see that first hint of Ford’s version, wherein whatever happens to him between the end of Solo and the start of A New Hope will shape him even further.
As most recent films in the series, Solo is high on nostalgia, as it introduces us to characters we haven’t got much backstory on and events that were only discussed in previous films, some well known — including the infamous Kessel run — and others that only a fanboy may understand. A lot of those fans may not like how certain things transpired, however. Whether it’s because they were depicted differently in any variety of books or comics, or they don’t match up with the ideas we all have in our heads, this interpretation won’t be exactly like many want it to be. Events such as how Han first meets Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) or how the rivalry with fellow scoundrel Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) first began aren’t how I originally depicted they would be, but this isn’t my story to tell. I’m an outside observer along for the ride.
The best thing for me is getting to see these stories play out on the big screen.
I can’t say I’m a big fan of everything that happens, nor am I a fan of every new character that’s introduced. The main villain, Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany), is a bit lackluster in relation to other villains in the story, but he serves his purpose well. And then there’s Lando’s droid, L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who’s quite overwhelming in many things, including being a droid rights activist. The whole idea is a little strange within the context of the universe, but not as strange as the odd relationship she has with Lando. Everything about them seem out of place, but both contribute enough to the ultimate story, and do add a bit of context to small instances in other films. Does it play a little against type, probably. But it’s one small part of a master plan that continues to delight.
As far as Easter eggs go, I continue to enjoy whatever the writers and producers want to throw at me. Aside from the famous first meetings, we’re consistently teased with references of films that take place before and after this one. We get to see how the Millennium Falcon becomes the fastest hunk-of-junk in the galaxy; there’s an offer to join a gangster’s crew on Tatooine; Han makes a familiar refusal; and it’s great to finally see Warwick Davis get some actual face time in a Star Wars film. There is one that I’m still fighting with on whether it’s a good thing, a bad thing or something thrown in so they could include a lightsaber in a Star Wars film that doesn’t feature any Jedis. It’s a moment that will shock some, irritate others, and confuse even more. It’s not much of a shock if you’re a fan of The Clone Wars television series, but it’s still a moment that I never thought would be connected to big-screen blockbuster.
Despite the stories of turmoil behind the scenes and some of the odder choices Howard, writers Lawrence and Jonathan Kasdan, and Kathkleen Kennedy make, this devout fanboy still found Solo: A Star Wars Story to be a fine addition to the Star Wars canon. It brought me back to that feeling I had when The Phantom Menace first came out, where seeing my favorite characters on screen in a new story made me feel like a kid again (and make me want to jump behind the keyboard and write). With the glut of Star Wars films now in production, the movies aren’t considered events like they were twenty years ago, but they still hold a place in my heart and I still can’t wait to see where the stories take us from here.
My Grade: A+
Next week, new movies include Adrift, Action Point and Upgrade. 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.
May 13, 2018
Movie Mayhem – Life of the Party
Life of the Party — 2018; Directed by Ben Falcone; Starring Melissa McCarthy, Molly Gordon, Gillian Jacons, Debby Ryan, Adria Arjona, Maya Rudolph, Julie Bowen and Stephen Root
I’ll say it – I’m not the biggest fan of Melissa McCarthy. Though I like her physicality and fearlessness, for me, she can come off as stubbornly obnoxious and loud, which can become grating, especially when she forces her brand to extreme heights. What helps keep everything balanced is a good supporting cast. When everyone around her is just like her, things can go off the rails real quick; when they are the complete opposite, or more subtle and subdued, it allows the audience a chance to breathe every once in a while. It’s sometimes easy to see which category the cast will fall based on the trailer, but other times, it’s not so clear, so I always keep my hopes on the lower end of the spectrum whenever going into one of her films. Luckily, McCarthy chose to tone everything around her down in Life of the Party, her newest team-up with director/husband Ben Falcone, making what could have been an insufferable noise fest into a sweet, funny slice-of-life comedy.
McCarthy plays her typical self here as Deanna, a doting mom without much of a filter or the wherewithal to ever turn her mouth off. Her thoughts just spew from her lips like projectile word vomit, nary allowing anyone to get a word in edgewise. After dropping her daughter, Maddie (Molly Gordon), off at college for the final time, a bomb is dropped that does finally leave her (mostly) speechless — her tired, worn husband (Matt Walsh) wants a divorce. This news sends Deanna into a bit of a spiral that’s showcased through the usual amount of tears, burning her old life away and parents (Stephen Root and Jackie Weaver) who are ready to shoot the cheater (or make her a sandwich). What’s she to do now? It’s obvious — go back to college and earn her degree.
The setup is a typical story trope, but what McCarthy and Falcone are able to do with it allows for an odd sense of honesty to rise up among the saccharine nonsense. There’s a scene in the middle of the film in which Deanna goes to a party with Maddie and her friends. She’s given a shot of liquor, which at first goes down hard and burns, but the more shots she does, the easier it is to swallow. That description sums up the film quite well — it starts out a little irritating, but as the movie progresses, we fall into a charming pocket or warmth. McCarthy never comes across as forced; she feels natural playing off these young kids.
Speaking of which — in the past couple of decades, a lot of comedies have gone down the route of filling their supporting casts with characters that inhabit “funny” idiosyncrasies. This is fine, however, for the most part, these quirks are so cartoonish or over-the-top, they come off as unfunny caricatures rather than real people who have a different vision of life than you. That doesn’t happen here. All of Maddie’s friends (including Gillian Jacobs, Adria Arjona and Jessie Ennis) that instantly bond with Deanna do have unique traits, but McCarthy and Falcone make sure to keep these quirks subtle, never pushing them to their limits, which allow the audience to understand them and relate to them in different ways.
This pulling back on the over-abundance, ironically, is what helps establish the laughs. Everything that happens feels like a natural progression rather than comedy for the sake of comedy. What’s even more surprising is how the duo are able to create a fun, interesting film without having hardly any stakes whatsoever. Other than the cheating husband, his real-estate mistress (Julie Bowen), and the typical mean girl (Debby Ryan) who’s mean for no other reason than because it’s a school comedy, so there needs to be a bully, there are no “bad” people or villains in the film. And I hesitate to call these characters bad, as they’re simply trying to figure out their own lives. There aren’t any major comeuppances except for a scene of massive destruction that actually makes Deanna look worse than the person she’s trying to get back at.
There are no real repercussions either, but in a film like this, there doesn’t necessarily have to be. In its own absurd way, Life of the Party is a mid-life crisis fantasy, and everything that happens doesn’t have to feel based in reality, so long as the characters sell it as reality. And though McCarthy and Falcone fail to provide any of the supporting cast any personal arcs of their own, they are still able to compliment McCarthy’s antics and keep even the most outlandish plot points, including Deanna dating a twenty-two year-old student (Luke Benward) or the surprise cameo appearance by a superstar singer, from becoming overtly cringe-worthy. There’s also a familiar revelation that plays beautifully because it fits within the confines of what McCarthy and Falcone are going for — a harmless piece of entertainment that’s meant to delight its audience.
This is the second comedy in two weeks that I went into without much hope for anything, but came out surprised. The first was the remake of the Kurt Russell/Goldie Hawn classic Overboard, which I thought was going to be a disaster, but ended up being a decent film with some good performances. Life of the Party turned out even better than that, as though some of the performances still did grate on me a little (I’m still not sure of the appeal behind Maya Rudolph, but to each their own), there were still some very strong laughs and an overall sense of community, wherein hanging with this group of gals is certainly something I wouldn’t mind doing all over again.
My Grade: A-
Bonus Reviews:
There isn’t much substance to Breaking In, a home invasion thriller that tries to be tense, dark and mysterious but doesn’t accomplish any of those things because we never truly know who any of the characters are, where they came from, or why we should care if anything happens to them. B-
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Next week, new movies include Deadpool 2, Show Dogs and Book Club. 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.
April 8, 2018
Movie Mayhem – The Miracle Season
One player does not a team make.
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The Miracle Season — 2018; Directed by Sean McNamara; Starring Erin Moriarty, Helen Hunt, William Hurt, Burkley Duffield and Danika Yarosh
But one player can have a major effect on the moral of a team, and for the 2011 Iowa City West High School volleyball team, that person was Caroline “Line” Found. When I first saw the previews for the The Miracle Season, I couldn’t help but think back to We Are Marshall, another inspirational sports film that saw a team and a community rise up among a major tragedy. The difference is that with Marshall, almost the entire starting lineup of the school’s football team perished in a place crash, so it would seem it would take a lot more to find the strength to rebuild a successful team than it would had only one player died. However, according to director Sean McNamara, Line was a spark plug — someone who lived life with no regrets and no filter; a young girl that had an amazing life ahead of her only to be cut short because of one simple mistake. It doesn’t matter that she was a single person, her presence alone elevated everyone around her, so when an accident took her away from those who looked to her for light, for them that was all it took to slip into darkness.
I have no doubt that Caroline Found (Danika Yarosh) was a sweet, generous, crazy young soul who was a joy to be around, but the way she’s portrayed in the film was a bit much. With a limited amount of screen time to capture our hearts, I kept feeling as if Yarosh was trying a little too hard to portray the real-life athlete that it almost became a little insincere, offering nothing but over-the-top games and a somewhat fake personality to the point that I was afraid I wasn’t going to feel her death in an authentic way. Which is a testament to the actors around her for making me feel her loss even though I never felt all that close to her.
The two most important characters to deliver are Line’s best friend from childhood, Kelly (Erin Moriarty) and her father, Ernie (William Hurt). After Line heads off on her secret moped without a helmet to visit her ailing mother (Jillian Fargey) at the hospital, the cops arrive at Ernie’s door and Hurt’s reaction to the news is devastating. What’s more is how Moriarty portrays Kelly’s grief for her friend, hiding in the bathroom to cry, skipping practice and all but closing herself off to the world. In both cases, you can feel how much they loved this girl, not just because of their pasts together, but because of the spirit and the unconditional love Line embodied.
If it was left up to her own devices, Kelly probably would have stopped playing volleyball (after all, she wasn’t one of the top players) and continue to spiral downward into depression. Thankfully, West High School’s volleyball coach, Kathy Breshahan (Helen Hunt), wouldn’t allow her to do that. Being a very pragmatic woman, Kathy knew the only way to bring Line’s teammates back to full strength was to get them back on the court and on with their lives. And the only way to do that was to push Kelly to show them that it was okay to move forward and find a way to honor their friend by showing up. Because if there was one thing Line did well, it was show up — for her teammates, for her parents and for her friends. The only way to heal was to channel that energy and that spirit and put themselves out there.
This of course is harder than it looks, but the girls do a good job of portraying a natural progression through the grief over their friend that at first keep them from even stepping foot on the court to leading their team to the Iowa state championships for the second year in a row. They did that by using Line’s memory to overcome the odds; after losing the first half of the season, they stepped up to win fifteen straight games when they needed fifteen wins to qualify for state. And you have to believe Line was with them the while time; perhaps not physically, but mentally helping her girls became the people they were meant to be (and to always Live Like Line).
There is a lot to like about The Miracle Season, but it’s far from a perfect film. The film tends to borrow from a lot of other sports films without giving anything the same purpose. A lot of the incidents that lead the girls to begin winning again aren’t given a enough spice; some of the girls on the team are given important moments, but without enough time for those moments to shine the way they should; and Burkely Duffield as Kelly’s boyfriend isn’t given anything to do but stand around and look pretty. In fact, this relationship, which may not have happened had it not been for Line’s brazen personality, is treated as an afterthought, seemingly shoehorned in because you need some sort of love story in a movie like this, right?
Regardless, this is ultimately Kelly’s story. As Line’s best friend and fellow teammate, she was the key to not only getting her team back on the court and finding their strength, but helping Line’s father heal from the devastating one-two punch of losing his baby girl and his wife in the matter of a few weeks. McNamara does a good job of telling her story and showing her growth from second banana to force to be reckoned with as she evolves from a young girl without much confidence to the captain of her team. She turned what could have been a massive tragedy into a way to channel her weaknesses into strengths and help a community heal. It wasn’t the loss of Line that pushed the team to find victory among tragedy, it was the indelible mark she left on all of their hearts that first tore them down, only to build them back up even stronger than before. And that’s the true miracle.
My Grade: B+
Bonus Reviews:
A Quiet Place can only be described as a quiet movie. John Krasinski proves that he can play with the big boys when it comes to intelligent direction, but I can’t help but wonder how much more eerie the movie could have been had the entire thing played without a score… or with no sound at all. A-
Though it takes some time to kick into gear, Chappaquiddick is a hard, yet tender examination of the 1969 incident in which then Senator Ted Kennedy (Jason Clarke) killed a young woman (Kate Mara) in a car accident, then did what he could to tell the truth while at the same time playing politics (aka, lying) to fight for his political future. A-
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Next week, new movies include Blumhouse’s Truth Or Dare, Rampage and Borg vs. McEnroe. 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.
