Bryan Caron's Blog, page 16

Movie Mayhem – Megan Leavey

What is a hero? Merriam-Webster defines it as: a) a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability; b) an illustrious warrior; c) a person admired for achievements and noble qualities; and d) one who shows great courage. While everyone is focused on a fictional female superhero that can certainly be defined by both a and b definitions, we seem to sometimes forget about those noble heroes that highlight the c and d definitions. One such hero, Megan Leavey, isn’t all flash and brute force like one Diana Prince, but as a veteran of the armed forces who served in Iraq as a K9 handler, what she lacks in god-like powers, Megan makes up for in courage and fortitude.

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Megan Leavey — 2017; Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite; Starring Kate Mara, Tome Felton, Common, Edie Falco, Bradley Whitford, Will Patton and Ramon Rodrigiez

Megan (Kate Mara) is an incredibly lonely person battling an undiagnosed bout of depression after her best friend dies in an accidental overdose. Even though we don’t ever get to meet this friend, Mara does a terrific job in conveying her love, grief and a sense of guilt over what happened in a very subtle but affecting way. Without him, Megan is a shell. She tries to move on, but everything in her life is stale and without meaning. Even though she lives with her mother (Edie Falco) and step-father (Will Patton), their relationship is also incredibly strained and don’t know how to help. Megan just needs to escape everything, but can’t find a way to do that.

Until she walks past an army recruitment center, that is. Believing this could give her life a new purpose — a distraction from the pain and guilt — Megan doesn’t hesitate to become more than she has ever been. She isn’t the strongest, the tallest or the most fit, but she fights hard to get through her training. It’s clear something is still missing, though, and after running into some trouble during a night of drunk debauchery, Megan finds out what that something is. Megan doesn’t connect with a lot of people, but her need for companionship overwhelms her to the point of isolation. So when she is tasked to clean the kennels of the canine training facility, Megan quickly finds a companion she can connect with — Rex, a German shepherd bred to become a bomb-sniffing military dog.

On the surface, Rex is a dog with an attitude. A little mean, a bit controlling and somewhat distant. But deep down, there’s a loneliness Megan instantly connects to, and based on the bond between dog and handler on display by other soldiers, Megan feels compelled to do everything in her power to become part of the K9 unit. When she’s first transferred, her commanding officer (Common) doesn’t have a dog for her, so she’s given a metal box to train with. But when Rex bites his current handler in the hand during a routine medical training class, the two are paired together.

Watching the two form their the bond that ultimately makes up the bulk of the story is terrific, but I don’t feel there was enough to justify the lengths Megan goes to adopt Rex in the latter half of the film. I understand the friendship that forms, and the strength of their bond, especially when both are injured by an IED. But in order to truly feel what the two felt for one another, we need to see that bond form from the beginning, and that is what was lacking. There’s a terrific scene when Megan first goes to introduce herself to Rex with a bowl of food. She tells him to go into his little house before she opens the cage door, but Rex refuses. The two stare each other down for what could be hours until Rex finally gives in and retreats to his home, at which point, Megan finally gives him his food. It’s a scene that invokes Megan’s command, but from there, her and Rex never seem to have any other issues over who is truly the alpha, so the evolution from that hierarchy  into a genuine partnership is nearly non-existent.

Because of this, I never felt the strength of the bond as much as I thought I should. By the time Megan is honorably discharged and Rex is put back into the field with a new handler, I wanted to feel the pain and sense of loss that Megan must have been going through after once again having someone she loves pulled away from her. And though Mara again does a great job of showing us this turmoil, I didn’t quite connect with it, causing the lengths she goes to adopt Rex feel a little flat.

Part of the reason is the amount of time director Gabriela Cowperthwaite spends on a secondary relationship between Megan and Matt Morales (Ramon Rodriguez), her commanding officer in Iraq. This particular love story plays well into the message of the film, which is to say that both Rex and Megan were able to change one another for the better. And although the chemistry between Mara and Rodriguez is strong, I felt this distracted a little too much from Cowperthwaite’s true intention for the film.

Beyond the relationships that drive the story, I thought the war sequences were done well, with just enough action and intrigue to show off how important K9s are to the safety of both the military and Americans. As highlighted here, the K9 unit goes well beyond the simple ability to sniff out IEDs and large weapon caches. These four-legged heroes have a deeper sense of their surroundings, allowing them to sense danger humans can’t. In the most harrowing scene of the film, Megan and Rex are tasked with clearing an abandoned structure they believe was the epicenter of firing off an IED. When they find some equipment on one of the roof’s, Rex starts barking hysterically at one of Megan’s fellow soldiers. It’s initially taken as a side effect to having been blown up only a few minutes before, but we soon find out it’s in reaction to terrorists waiting in the distance to launch a missile at the unsuspecting soldiers. Rex is able to pull the soldier from harm’s way prior to the attack, and then later run to protect Megan during the evacuation.

It was weird to see a couple of well-known actors (if not by name, then by face) pushed to the sidelines in pretty unsubstantial roles. Patton, who’s appeared in a lot of big-budget blockbusters, is given hardly anything to say or do but act like a clueless schmuck, and Bradley Whitford as Megan’s biological father is relegated to counselor, spouting fatherly advice when Megan needs it most. Both roles could have easily been played by unknowns without a second thought, so why these throw-away parts were given to such high-profile actors, I’m not sure. They were great, as always, it was just odd that their characters really didn’t have much meaning to the overall story. Then again, nothing could be weirder than trying to wrap my head around Tom Felton’s muddled English accent.

It’s not perfect, and I can’t say it’s as exciting or as well-put together as the other formidable heroine lighting up movie screens right now, but Megan Leavey is a quiet film that showcases the courage and bond that real soldiers share with their canine counterparts and how important they are to the success of the war against terror.

My Grade: B+

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Next week, new movies include Cars 3, Rough Night, All Eyez On Me and 47 Meters Down. If you would like to see a review for tone of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Movie Mayhem – Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

There aren’t a lot of movies out there that leave me without a lot to say. Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is one of those. It sits in a weird pocket of enjoyment and confusion, where it’s difficult to put my thoughts into words. On one level, it’s a cute movie that kids will no doubt love for its joviality and simple message. But in some ways, that’s exactly why it fails to capture your attention for more than two minutes at a time, turning what could have been a clever, subversive movie that kids of all ages could enjoy into nothing but a story your six-year-old might come up with on a hot summer day at the beach. Then again, I believe that’s the point since the entire movie is told through the juvenile minds of a couple of 1st grade boys.

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Captain Underpants — Directed by David Soren; Starring the voices of Kevin Hart, Ed Helms, Nick Kroll, Thomas Middleditch and Jordan Peele

George and Harold (voiced by Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch, respectively), just want to laugh, tell stupid stories and have fun at the expense of others. Their sense of humor is, as characters in the movie put it, the lowest form of humor — that is to say, when their kindergarten teacher talks about Uranus, the two become fast friends for reasons I’m sure you can infer. The two also connect on a different level — their artistic tendencies. George loves to tell stories and Harold loves to draw, so combined together, they create their own comic book company in their tree house. Their most popular character: Captain Underpants, an enthusiastically dimwitted superhero who comes from a planet where underwear is the only fashion. After being blasted into space when his planet was destroyed — a la Superman — and armed with nothing but his tighty-whities and trusty cape, Captain Underpants saves Earth from evil.

When they’re not hanging out at their base of operations, they’re causing havoc at school with a variety of pranks, most of which are shown in a montage to which George says is awesome when seen thrown together like that. This meta-humor is the best thing the film has going for it, unfortunately, whenever director David Soren strays from this type of humor, the film suddenly goes mostly flat with dry characters and ideas that feel overused. It’s ironic, in a way, that a film dealing so heavily with laughter fails to deliver any real heavy belly laughs that will leave you rolling in the aisles.

So what about Captain Underpants? He comes into play when the overly-stressed, lonely school principal (Ed Helms) has finally reached his prank limit. On the surface, he despises the boys for their constant undermining of authority. But on a deeper level, there’s almost a sense of jealousy guiding his actions. He sees how strong the bond is between these boys and that level of friendship is something he’s missing. It’s not a focal point of the film, but the kernel of the idea is strong and is resolved in a pleasant, caring way that completes the character arcs of all the main characters.

Now, back to the task at hand. Threatening to split the boys up by placing them in separate classes (the horror, though I did buy that younger kids might feel that not being in the same class might end their friendship), George hypnotizes their principal with a hypno-ring he once found in a cereal box. Figuring he can turn him into anything the boys desire (and I’m surprised Harold never tries to turn him into a dolphin), George turns him into Captain Underpants. Within seconds, the principal has stripped down and has jumped out the window to find scum and villainy. And in precise superhero fashion, this incident coincides exactly with the arrival of what will turn out to be Captain Underpants’s main nemesis.

In this instance, it’s Professor P. (Nick Kroll), an intelligent inventor who takes the position of science teacher to try to find out how to eliminate laughter from the world. This is where the infantile sense of humor comes into play in a big way. The “P” in Professor P. stands for Poopypants, and the reason he wants to destroy laughter is so that people will stop making fun of his name and earn respect for his world-changing inventions. I like that the main conflict may never have happened had it not been for George and Harold, who decide to reveal the professor’s name in a new edition of Captain Underpants, where P.P. (get it, though they surprisingly never mention this at all in the movie) is the main villain and inadvertently reveals the key to ending laughter for good.

What else is there to say about the film? I’m not exactly sure. The action sequences are fun, especially when they poke fun at superhero tropes that infest most superhero movies. There’s one clever sequence when the danger gets so bad that the boys stop the action to give us a play-by-play of what went down in flip-book fashion. The idea that the principal switches from principal to Captain Underpants with the snap of a finger and back again when hit with water, is also one that plays well, though the main gag (where the kids continually splash water on him and them immediately snap their fingers over and over) does wear a little thin, especially when they do it more than once.

Basically, it’s harmless fun that sparks some interesting ideas but doesn’t allow them to blossom into greatness due to the six-year-old sensibilities that the creators tend to favor over the subversive meta-humor that any child (including those above the age of ten) can truly appreciate with a good hearty laugh.

My Grade: B+

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Next week, new movies include The Mummy, It Comes At Night and Megan Leavey. If you would like to see a review for tone of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Movie Mayhem – Baywatch

Matt Brody, the cocky, selfish new blood protecting the beaches of Baywatch, may be well-known around the world as the “Vomit Comet” for his unfortunate mishap during an Olympic swimming event, but his portrayer, Zac Efron, is that much closer to being dubbed the “Dick Whisperer”. It’s hard to find a recent comedy Efron has been in that doesn’t involve some drawn out joke involving the male appendage. And though there are plenty of other comedians (Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill among them) that rely heavily on this body part to squeeze out comedy, it seems Efron makes sure it’s written into his contract. I’ve seen it done right in movies like “There’s Something About Mary,” where the joke itself has more importance than simple embarrassment, but when a film focuses so much time and attention on two unoriginal dick jokes that overstay their welcome well before they ever appear, something has gone horribly wrong.

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Baywatch — 2017; Directed by Seth Gordon; Starring Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Alexandra Daddario, Priyanka Chopra, Kelly Rohrbach, Ilfenish Hadera, and Jon Bass

Dwayne Johnson takes over the reigns of Mitch Buchannon, the lead lifeguard saving lives on the warm quiet beaches of a Hawaiian bay. Each year Mitch and his team (which includes the spicy CJ Parker (Kelly Rohrbach) and veteran Stephanie Holden (Ilfenish Hadera)) hosts a competition to find a new candidate ready to become an elite bay watcher. Enter Brody, a two-time Olympian who’s brought in by Captain Thorpe (Rob Huebel) to amp up PR. For what reason is unclear, as there doesn’t seem to be any PR problem with Mitch or his team, seeing as how Mitch is so beloved across the island. (A reason does reveal itself later in the film, but by then, it almost feels inconsequential and a little shoehorned in.) Brody and Mitch both have a cockiness to them, which causes the two to clash right off the bat, and Johnson and Efron make the best of it, bringing a father figure/unruly teen dynamic to the proceedings. It’s a shame the aspects that make their relationship work at first quickly wear thin, as writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift don’t seem to know where to take it beyond the initial setup.

After three new lifeguards are chosen to become trainees, which include Brody, girl next door Summer Quinn (Alexandra Daddario), and computer nerd with a heart of gold Ronnie Greenbaum (Jon Bass), Mitch begins to find evidence (including drugs and dead bodies) that something nefarious is happening on his beach. Everything seems to track back to the new owner of the beach club, Victoria Leeds (Priyanka Chopra), and though we’re constantly reminded that Mitch and his team are not cops, Mitch takes it upon himself to investigate the alleged murders and take Victoria down once and for all, consequences be damned.

I was never a fan of Baywatch the series, so I’m unclear as to the tone of the show and whether this film captures any of what made the show itself popular (aside from David Hasselhoff’s charming grin and Pamela Anderson’s… um… flotation devices). What I do know is that the movie needed more Brady Bunch-style self-referential fun and less juvenile boorishness. For instance, throughout the film, Mitch continually calls Brody things like “One Direction” or “Beiber” to make fun of his wise-ass, pretty-boy stature. It’s when he calls Brody “High School Musical” that brings out the wink-wink cleverness that’s missing from the majority of the two hour film.

Instead, we’re inundated with comedy that feels old, rehashed and worn, like a suitcase that’s been consumed by the underbelly of a plane one too many times. Not only that, but a lot of what happens, including Brody dressing like a woman (complete with makeup), doesn’t seem to have a purpose other than because the writers thought it would be funny. There’s absolutely no payoff other than to see Efron in a wig and dress. By the time Hasselhoff shows up to reprise his role of Mitch in a pseudo, weird way, we’re already itching to leave the theater.

There’s also a worn-out romantic subplot between Brody and Summer that not even Matthew McConaughey would’ve touched in his rom-com heyday. Daddario, who doesn’t look like she wants to be there half the time, probably has better chemistry with a corpse than she’ll ever have with Efron, and the whole romance gets overshadowed by a much better secondary subplot between Ronnie and CJ, which though played for laughs has way more power than anything the leads are igniting on screen. I can’t say there was enough to justify the ultimate conclusion to the Ronnie/CJ relationship, but at least there were evident sparks between Rohrback and Bass.

Where the film does work is as a cheesy action film. Director Seth Gordon competently navigates the adrenaline with both comedic flair and eighties fun, igniting chases, fisticuffs and explosions with child-like glee. And though Chopra is given nothing to do but chew the scenery, Efron holds his own against action-stalwart Johnson as they fight the various villains, who are themselves basic, run-of-the mill henchmen. (Side not: I’m not sure it was intentional, but I thought it quite amusing that the villains are all pretty much a mish-mash of anything but Caucasian, whereas the heroes, with the exception of Johnson, are all white — just an example of things you notice when the film can’t hold your attention).

I’m not sure anyone knows what Baywatch was meant to be — a parody of the show, in which they take the essence of what made the series so train-wreck watchable and heighten it to the nth degree, or an action comedy in the vein of eighties buddy-cop flicks. From what I can ascertain, it wanted to be something in the vein of Hot Fuzz, but unlike that film, which did a fantastic job of nurturing the flavor of their source material, Baywatch doesn’t know how to focus its comedic energy in the right places, spending way too much time on dick jokes and not enough time breathing new life into old tricks.

My Grade: B-

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Next week, new movies include Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie and Wonder Woman. If you would like to see a review for tone of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Movie Mayhem – Alien: Covenant & Everything, Everything

Leaving something on the cutting room floor. The phrase has been around since the beginning of cinema, when editors would literally cut strips of film from the reel to leave lying on the floor until it was time to sweep up for the night. There are many things that would warrant a piece of dialogue or a scene be cut from a film, including shortening the length or removing unnecessary or repetitive sequences. For anyone who’s watched deleted scenes of their favorite movies, for the most part the choices the director, producer or studio make are for the better. But there are some things that are cut out that actually would have improved the film, and answered questions left, well, on the cutting room floor.

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Alien: Covenant — 2017; Directed by Ridley Scott; Starring Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterstone, Billy Crudup and Danny McBride; Everything, Everything — 2017; Directed by Stella Meghie; Starring Amandla Stenberg, Nick Robinson, Anika Noni Rose and Ana de la Reguera

Alien: Covenant, the sixth entry in the Alien franchise, makes a major error in judgement when playing with scissors. Picking up a few years after 2012’s Prometheus, which explored the idea of our existence and how/why we were created, Covenant begins with what seems like a deleted scene from its predecessor. The illustrious Peter Weyland (an uncredited Guy Pearce), has just finished building David (Michael Fassbender), his first in a series of synthetic humans who he has taught to believe in the power of creation, whether that be art, music or flesh. The scene is fine for what it is, but it’s nothing we hadn’t already learned from watching Prometheus.

Cut to the Covenant, a colonization ship heading to a new planet some seven years away from its current location in order to begin civilization once again. When a freak solar event destroys the energy sails, the crew is forced awake to make the required repairs. Once the ship is back up and running, they discover a message where there shouldn’t be any human life. The captain (Billy Crudup), against the better judgement of his second in command, Daniels (Katherine Waterstone), decides to head to this new planet to check on the call, since it’s much closer and could very well be a place to settle. Of course, once they begin exploring, they get more than they bargained for, and in true Alien fashion, begin getting picked off one by one.

But wait. There’s something missing. For anyone who’s seen the trailers, you’re probably aware of the fact that the crew were chosen because they were all couples. It was what the marketing revolved around, so you’d think this aspect of the film was important. Not important enough, it seems, to actually include in the finished product, as the scene is MIA from the film. I recently found out that this (as well as another “prequel” that focuses on Dr. Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and David landing on the planet) were released as shorts that I’m sure not a lot of people even know about, less been able to see them.

I understand director Ridley Scott’s decision to use this as a tease for the film, but because this particular “short” introduces us to the couples, and to whom is paired up with whom, by extracting this introduction from the actual film, those who don’t go online all the time — or weren’t aware of the shorts — are never emotionally connected to the relationships, thus when someone mourns their loved one, it becomes dulled and insignificant because we have no emotional attachment to that mourning. For example, Daniels’s husband, Branson (James Franco), dies in his cryosleep pod before we ever know who he is, so why should we care about his death or why Daniels would be so emotionally distraught over his passing?

On a similar spectrum, the deliberate or accidental act of omission can also improve or hurt a film. Take Jaws, for example. Because Bruce, the mechanical shark playing the title role, was constantly malfunctioning, Steven Spielberg was forced to hide the shark in many scenes where he meant to have it front and center, an act of omission that actually made the film the classic it is today. But this type of decision isn’t always a good choice. Everything, Everything, an adaptation of Nicola Yoon’s young adult novel, falls into the side of harming a movie due to some key overlooked moments.

Maddy (Amandla Stenberg) has just turned eighteen but has never been outside. She’s been diagnosed with a rare form of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID), which means that if she were ever to leave the safe confines of her perfectly clean home, she may die because her immune system can’t fight even the smallest of bacteria. Enter Olly (Nick Robinson), the hot guy who moves in next door. There’s an instant attraction between them, and through every awkward discussion, phone call and email, the two connect in a way that neither can explain. When Olly’s sweet charms get the better of Maddy, she decides it’s best to live life and see the world than to live in a bubble.

There’s much to like about the film, especially when director Stella Meghie “transports” the two into one of Maddy’s architectural models to present their text and email conversations as if they were sitting across from each other in a diner or massive library. It plays into the sense of Maddy’s imagination while at the same time bringing the two together when they can’t truly be together. However the film sort of falls apart when Maddy decides she wants to take a chance and break free of her restraints.

Maddy has spent the last seventeen years of her life experiencing the world through videos and books, so there’s a lot of firsts she’ll encounter when she talks Olly into going with her to swim in the oceans of Hawaii. Because of this, you’d expect the awe and wonderment to be paramount to Maddy’s character arc. But more often than not, these moments are overlooked and treated as if the character is experiencing these things for the millionth time.

The biggest example of this egregious omission of wonder comes when Maddy takes her first step into the ocean. Meghie spends a lot of the first half of the film building up to this moment, but when it finally happens, all we get is an aerial shot of Olly escorting her into the ocean. We have no opportunity to experience that first step, to witness the excitement of the sand between her toes as the water washes up against them, or the awe as the waves crash against her body. By not including these elements, we lose our emotional connection to the character, and never quite get it back, even as other experiences are given more admiration for their love and beauty.

One of the more devastating story lines in the film also doesn’t get a chance to breathe because of the lack of time spent between Maddy and her mother (Anika Noni Rose). Meghie focuses so much time on the relationship between Olly and Maddie, she ignores the relationship that leads to a twist that never earns its reveal, but which I was pleasantly surprised by nonetheless, even though I probably should have seen it coming.

Both films are clear examples of movies where the director’s had the right intentions, developing very well made films that could have been that much better had they made the decision to give us more character development instead of distancing us all from the emotion we were all prepared to experience.

My Grades: Alien: Covenant: A-; Everything, Everything: B+

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Next week, new movies include Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Baywatch. If you would like to see a review for tone of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Movie Mayhem – Snatched

When Goldie Hawn first broke onto the scene in Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, she was a highly energetic performer who didn’t mind taking comedic risks. Yet compared to the majority of comedy we see today, her sensibilities were pretty conservative in their opulence. However you perceive her style, what made Hawn so funny was her maturity in how she delivered and reacted to whatever situation she might find herself in. Even if the ideas and characters around her were heightened, she was smart enough to know when to pull back on the comedy to keep it from becoming absurd.

Fast forward thirty years, where that line has moved so dramatically, comedy has become more about who can be the loudest, crudest or most abusive, pushing the limits for the sake of pushing the limits while stepping on eggshells to keep from offending any one person’s sensibilities. Amy Schumer fits comfortably in this new excessive style, specializing in laid-back crudeness that tries to be shocking but comes off as desperate. I’ll admit, Schumer is as smart a comedian as Hawn — she understands herself and her audience, expressing a subtle, knowing debasement of the world and her inconsequential place within it. This style worked well in Trainwreck, but was much more grounded in a genuine reality than Snatched, where these differing styles keep the film from finding a reliable foundation to build anything substantial.

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Snatched — 2017; Directed by Jonathan Levine; Starring Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn, Wanda Sykes, Joan Cusack and Ike Barinholtz

Emily (Schumer) is a self-deprecating sales clerk who, because she’s more interested in being a no collar free spirit than a functioning member of society, loses her job and her boyfriend (Randall Park) in typical comedy-movie fashion. Emily’s mother, Linda (Hawn), is a lonely shut-in who would rather spend time with her cats than go outside and have an adventure. When all of Emily’s friends decline an invitation to go on a non-refundable trip for two to Ecuador (which she was supposed to go on with her boyfriend), Emily somehow convinces Linda to go with her, even though she spends the majority of the first act despising her for agreeing. After Emily meets a mysterious man (Tom Bateman) at a local bar and agrees to go on a day trip with him into the jungles of Ecuador, she and Linda are kidnapped by a thinly characterized band of guerrillas. A mixed bag of hi-jinks ensue.

There are a couple of genuinely funny, unexpected moments after Emily and Linda escape their captors and head for the U.S. consulate in Bogata, mostly involving accidental murders. However, these moments are few and far between, as the rest of the film hits a brick wall due to the aforementioned clash of comedy styles. Schumer spends most of her screen time shoving her desperation down our throats while Hawn refrains from being pulled to the heights of Schumer’s absurdity by doing her best to ground her reactions into a safe zone of her own choosing. And though the two of them are able to somehow make the chemistry work well enough, the tension this conflict produces never releases itself because neither woman wants to give up control of what they believe works best for them.

To make matters even more convoluted, there’s a third layer of absurdist comedy that never quite fits in with the common ground Schumer and Hawn are able to find. In one instance, you have Linda’s son, Jeffrey (Ike Barinholtz) — who I believe still lives with Linda — who comes across as somewhat mentally challenged, but it’s never clearly defined, so whenever he’s on screen, it’s hard to tell what I’m supposed to find funny. Is it that he’s a dullard who can’t cut the chord, or does he have an illness that causes him to be the way he is? I’m fine with either; both would of work in their own way. But without knowing which one it is, I can’t wrap my head around why it’s funny.

Then there’s Wanda Sykes and Joan Cusack, who come on board as a couple of serial tourists who insert themselves into Emily and Linda’s lives for no other reason than so writer Katie Dippold could shoehorn them into importance later in the film. Cusack is a genius; she’s funny in everything she’s ever done, and this is no exception. Without saying a word, she pairs well with the fast-talking Sykes and brings a silent gravitas to a sadistic, scary character, and keeps the amusement controlled, even as the absurdity soars beyond the stratosphere. However, there’s nothing organic in the way either character is introduced, and though both Sykes and Cusack add plenty of depth to their underwritten characters, they end up floating through the script without ever really contributing anything.

All comedy is subjective; what I find funny, others may not and vice-versa. But with comedy, it’s always best to find one style and hold true to that no matter what, otherwise the production can (and almost always will) become far too schizophrenic for any one taste to be appreciated. It’s great to see Hawn (who hasn’t done much work since the mid/late nineties) back on the big screen, but her attempt at breaking from her comfort zone may have worked well enough for her character, but doesn’t work for the film, mostly because Hawn is unwilling to follow Schumer to the heights she’s established for herself. Add to that a flawed script that sits in a formulaic pocket and what you’re left with are a series of familiar comedy tropes that stick out more than one of Schumer’s breasts, unable to find its path through the jungles of episodic encounters that overlook sensibility and cohesiveness.

My Grade: B-

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Next week, new movies include Alien: Covenant, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul and Everything, Everything. If you would like to see a review for tone of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Movie Mayhem – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

For a science fiction space adventure with both a talking raccoon and a talking tree (or in this case, a talking root), it may be hard to believe it when I say I felt Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 at times felt a bit too cartoony. Let me explain. Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel) aside, the original Guardians of the Galaxy was still grounded in the same Marvel realism that had been set up by all the previous films in the franchise, although with a subtle wink and vibe that differentiated it from the pack. Even if the stakes were a little over-exaggerated, it still felt as if they were part of the universe occupied by the likes of Captain America, Iron Man and Thor.

Guardians Vol. 2, however, chips away slightly at that aesthetic. Peter Quill, aka Starlord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and the rest of the ragtag team of misfits still bring the same acerbic wit and charm that we all fell in love with three years ago, and I can’t wait to see Rocket and Tony Stark bromancing it up with some sarcastic banter over a new technological marvel that will save the galaxy. But director James Gunn tends to take some of the silliness a little too far at times during this second outing, pushing the tone a bit too far into far-fetched goofiness and pulling you out of the movie, if only for a few brief moments.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 — 2017; Directed by James Gunn; Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Kurt Russell, Karen Gillan and Michael Rooker

As the movie opens, the now well-regarded guardians are hired to protect a set of very powerful batteries from an alien beast-slug who wants to devour them for breakfast. The scene isn’t what you might expect, but fits right into the framework of the established brand. I won’t spoil it here, but it takes its cue from the title sequence of the original film while also taking it to the next level in a fun, authentic way. Your expectations are high for a rollicking good time after the final title hits the screen and the movie officially begins.

And Dunn does a terrific job of meeting those expectations (just missing an awesome Tango & Cash reunion by this much). After our heroes defeat the alien, it’s time for the Sovereign to pay up by turning over Gamora’s sister, Nebula (Karen Gillan), which will turn a profit once the team delivers her to Xandor. But the Sovereign are easily offended, and when Rocket steals a few of the batteries for his own payday, they attack, leading us to the first of those moments that rips you from the movie as Drax (Dave Bautista) is dragged through a forest of trees when the ship crashes on a nearby planet.

This is where the team meets Ego (Kurt Russell), who pronounces himself as Peter’s father. Having helped the team fend off the Sovereign, Peter, Gamora and Drax accepts Ego’s invitation to visit his planet, where Peter begins to bond with the man he’s been searching for his whole life. At the same time, Drax bonds in a weirdly fun, romantic way with Ego’s “pet” Mantis (Pom Klementieff), an empath who can feel your feelings and put you to sleep whenever she feels like it. Their relationship is funny and heartfelt, and even though it’s most likely a disaster waiting to happen, gives the percolating romance between Peter and Gamora a run for its money.

Meanwhile, the Sovereign, unable to let their grudge go, hire Yondu (Michael Rooker) to hunt the guardians down so they may kill them once and for all. But the moment Yondu’s gang of idiot thugs track down the ship (where Rocket and Groot are keeping guard over Nebula), a mutiny takes place, forcing Yondu to team up with his frenemies to guarantee his own survival. There’s a lot to like as the relationships between Yondu, Rocket and Greet evolve, scenes that include one of the cutest sequences in the film, as well as one of the most emotionally impactful endings I’ve seen in recent years. However, this partnership also brings with it one of the silliest segments of the film, one that’s enjoyable but way too ridiculous.

The best relationship that arises in this new film, though, is between the now baby Groot and the rest of the team. Where Guardians saw the building of individuals all looking to achieve their own personal goals into a solid team with one ultimate purpose, Guardians Vol. 2 is about how that team becomes a family. And no more is this evident than in how everyone interacts with Groot: Rocket is the protective father; Gamora, the doting mother; Drax, the older brother who picks on his younger sibling; and Peter, the fun but watchful uncle. Sometimes, they fail to listen and other times, they squabble over the smallest of things. But what family doesn’t? This dynamic correlates well with the overall theme of the film, which is all about building, reconnecting and being betrayed by family, both in blood and the ones built through friendship, devotion and love. What’s most important is that just because you may fight or do something wrong, it doesn’t mean you’ll be banished from those that have become your family.

Last year, both Marvel films (Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange) made it into my top ten films. I’m not sure Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will achieve that marker, but that doesn’t mean the the film isn’t a welcome addition to both the Guardians franchise and the Marvel universe as a whole. There’s no doubt it remains a rollicking good time, and as long as Dunn and the team behind the next Avengers film refrain from the goofier elements of Guardians Vol. 2, the pairing of this team dynamic with the rest of the Marvel universe is definitely one I’m eager to see play out. Bring on teenage Groot!

My Grade: A

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Next week, new movies include King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Lowriders and Snatched. If you would like to see a review for tone of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Busy Busy Busy…

I’m not sure if anyone’s noticed, but I’ve been all but MIA from social media for, oh, a couple of months now. There have been a couple of posts littered here and there throughout Instagram or Twitter, but I’ve been mostly silent on both Facebook and this very blog. (If you follow my movie reviews, you probably noticed a major dry spell between Rings and the recently posted The Circle!)

This absence hasn’t been because I chose to step away from social media. I still check my stats and see what everyone else is up to on a daily basis, and if I feel compelled, comment on posts and what have you. In fact, I schedule posts for all of my social media channels each week. No, the real reason I haven’t been social lately is because of work.

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Taste the joy!

Over the last couple of months, I’ve had several projects that have pulled my attention away from social media. There was a website for Terri’s Tasty Cupcakes; finishing up the edit on CaZo Dance Company‘s 2016 fall show, Asylum: The Undertaking, and filming of their Spring 2017 show, Fate; animations and motion graphics on a couple of video projects for Group 1 Productions; and finally a scattering of blog posts, brochure designs, powerpoint presentations, and other marketing materials. And lest we forget the scariest moment — that moment when I thought my world almost crashed down on me and that I’d lost everything —

The day my hard drive crashed!

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Don’t let it happen to you!

Luckily, the geniuses at the Apple store recovered what was on my hard drive so I didn’t lose anything! It learned me a lesson, though, and forced me to upgrade to a better, faster machine that allows for a much faster, smoother workflow. It also convinced me to finally enter to 21st Century with a brand new iPhone. It’s certainly come in handy a few times already. So I guess it’s a good thing.

I’m not complaining! Believe me, as a freelance creative genius and business owner, having as much work as possible is a blessing! I love what I do and I can’t pay the bills without a consistent flow of projects, so nurturing relationships with clients is of utmost importance. All this means is that while I’m troubleshooting a website, building an animation in the time it takes coffee to percolate, the blog post, the movie review, the Instagram meme, or the Facebook rant must take a backseat.

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When does it all end?

But I’m fine with that! I’m not a social media nut like a lot of people. I don’t need to be on Twitter or Instagram 24/7. I’m too private for that. I do feel sometimes that I’m abandoning all of my followers when it happens, and in so doing, lose some traction on my other writing endeavors, but like I said — the bills must be paid, and I’m not looking to jump behind a cubicle again any time soon.

The worst part of having an influx of work is when it takes a hit on my writing time. I try very hard to carve out time every day to write for at least an hour, but when deadlines take precedence, sometimes that just isn’t possible, not if I want to keep from burning myself out.

Now, you may be thinking that because I’m writing this that things have slowed down a bit. That is true in some sense, and I do hope to get back on a regular schedule with all of my social media, but no one really knows what the future holds, so we’ll see how it goes. One thing I don’t want to see happen is for work to dry up, a situation that is always on the back of my mind. But I have to believe that as long as I continue doing what I’m doing, I’m confident the Lord will continue to provide me with whatever I’m capable of handling at any given time. And the more I grow, the more I evolve, the more I learn, the more doors will open to the world I aspire to.

Movie Mayhem – The Circle

What is your privacy worth to you? Would you be willing to give up your every moment of privacy if it meant nurturing world peace? Every minute of your day (except for a few minutes when using the facilities) would be recorded and stored and accessible to anyone. Not one moment, not one sentence, not one email or text or comment would be out of reach of a world ready to cannibalize and scrutinize every happy thought, every consumption of food, every last dark secret.

If you’re thinking we’re already there, you wouldn’t be completely wrong. With our current vitriolic political spectrum and the reliance of so many on social media to feel needed and important, lies and secrets are exploited to the nth degree, using every word, no matter how innocent, into a systematic war of opposing viewpoints. But The Circle, the new film based on Dave Eggers’s novel of the same the name, would have you believe that war and hostility could come to an end simply when everyone in the world becomes entirely transparent.

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The Circle — 2017; Directed by James Ponsoldt; Starring Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, John Boyega, Bill Paxton, Glenne Headly, Ellar Coltrane, Karen Gillan and Patton Oswalt.

Emma Watson plays Mae, an intelligent young woman stuck in a dead-end customer service job at a nondescript water company. Her father (Bill Paxton, delivering such a bittersweet performance) has multiple sclerosis and her mother (Glenne Headly) may be the strongest character in the film without even realizing it, taking care of a husband she loves while wishing the best for a daughter who just can’t seem to find her footing. One day, Mae’s best friend Annie (Karen Gillan) scores her a highly coveted interview with the tech conglomerate, the Circle. Mae begins work in customer service, but soon finds herself a rising star — one who’ll face huge consequences for the decisions she makes.

The trailers would have you believe that Mae discovers some shady secrets behind the scenes of the Circle that she attempts to expose, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, after Mae’s life is saved by technology the Circle has employed around the globe, Mae becomes so ingrained in the culture the Circle advocates, she volunteers to become the first Circle employee to be “transparent,” that is to say, she wears a camera 24/7. Nothing is off-limits, and though it’s all candy and roses at first, things take a dark turn when one of her grand ideas goes a little too far.

And that’s where the story centers most of its focus — how far is too far. The Circle’s founder, Bailey (Tom Hanks, fantastic as always) and his partner, Stenton (Patton Oswalt), have a way of making the idea of a transparent world (where secrets have been all but vanquished) gloriously loving, as if not doing it makes you inherently evil. It’s Kool-Aid at its finest (as Mae jokingly mentions to the mysterious Ty (John Boyega) at one of the Circle’s many after hours parties). But because Bailey is such a nice guy (one that Hanks pulls off without a sweat), and the atmosphere of the Circle is so honest and open, it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that everything the Circle is trying to accomplish is a good thing. Until it isn’t. And the truth is, though good in theory, the idea in practice leads to a lot more danger than some are willing to allow.

Part of what Eggers is trying to dive into is the idea that it’s easy to enforce something on someone else, so long as you don’t have to participate. In other words, once an idea or a proposal or a system you set in place begins to affect you in a personal way, would you still be willing to support that idea? One of the eeriest scenes in the film are when a couple of “social watchers” (for lack of a better term) approach Mae after her first week on the job and start to query her about her lack of openness with the rest of the Circle. She hasn’t accessed any of the Circle’s social threads, or sought advice from anyone at the company, and she left for the whole weekend without participating in any of the Circle’s fantastic weekend events. It’s all optional, of course, but not so much, as everything is being monitored, even before she decides to go transparent.

If you’re worried about what’s happening in the world today with so much technology out there that you don’t feel like you have any privacy because it feels as if someone is watching your every move, The Circle will only enhance those fears. After all, it’s rather scary to think what would happen if a company or a government or a world leader got their hands on this type of technology and was able to parlay that into a world-wide phenomenon as it’s done in the film. And I like where Eggers is going with this whole idea, but I don’t think the movie truly goes deep enough.

The moments that focus on this concept, and the actions taken in regards to the uncovering of whatever conspiracy is happening at the Circle, are talked about but never truly acted upon. This is one reason why the third act feels wholly rushed. By the time Mae understands what she’s truly gotten herself into, there’s hardly any time left to do anything about it in a real, meaningful way. Thus we get a climax that, though incredibly fun to watch, doesn’t have any true closure — for the characters or the audience.

But really, that’s my only gripe with the film. The trailer wants very hard for you to believe the film is a taut thriller, but in reality, The Circle is an interesting drama that tries hard to be a thriller, but doesn’t seem to understand what that means. The rest of the film, though, does a good job of pacing its run time quite effectively to leave you feeling a little uneasy about how close we are to fiction becoming reality. Is this really what you want? If it is, by all means, work for the Circle. But please, leave me and mine alone to live out our days with our privacy, a rare commodity that is becoming extinct a lot faster than we realize.

My Grade: A-

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Next week, new movies include Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. If you would like to see a review for this, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Why Are Villains So Fun To Write?

The hero of any story is the hero for one simple reason — they triumph over evil. A hero (for all intents and purposes) fights the good fight and does everything they can within the limits of their own conscience to vanquish the men and women attempting to harm good, innocent people. They are strong and they are mighty and everyone cheers for them to win. So why is it, then, that the villain of the story is much more fun to write? It’s simple.

Villains are, for the most part, more complex than any other character and the majority of them represent the id lurking in the shadows of us all, waiting to be released.

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Villains so bad, they’re good!

As an artist, it’s easy to get caught up in the whims of a villain because they allow us all to let loose a little and represent the darker side, to do things we know we could never do in real life. But beyond that, writing a villain takes more than the simple act of malevolence. Portraying a character as 100% evil is boring. Even if the reader doesn’t ever see the nuances, or understand why a villain does what he does, the writer must know those reasons and utilize them in the character’s portrayal. After all, just as there are rules for a hero, there must also be rules for a villain to keep them from becoming generic fodder.

Villains usually seek power and strength

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Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) (Return of the Jedi)

One of the most common villains to write is the one that seeks nothing but power. They are on a mission to take over the world in some way, and will do whatever it takes to acquire it. This type of villain is usually more political in nature, as they must kill, manipulate or blackmail certain people to get what they want. And they have a lot of fun doing it. It doesn’t matter who they destroy so long as it gets them to the next level of power.

Villains are often maniacs and psychopaths

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The Joker (Heath Ledger) (The Dark Knight)

In all honesty, this type of villain may just be the funnest type to write because there are no rules. At least their aren’t any on the surface. Underneath all of the chaos is a deeper type of pain or anguish that the even the villain can’t understand (or doesn’t want to). They can’t be insane just to be insane; there has to be an underlying reason. But once you understand that pain, that history, that illness, you can unleash them like a wild dog ready to give the entire world rabies. This type of character will murder and rape without remorse, steal and kidnap for the fun of it, and wreck havoc onto the unsuspecting public. They will also be more comical in nature, quippy and self-deprecating. You know it’s wrong; but it’s a fun ride nonetheless.

Villains can have a code of ethics

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Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) (The Godfather)

Villains aren’t all maniacs and psychopaths. Sometimes they’re simply someone who has a misplaced set of morals. They believe in something in a different way than the majority of people. What makes a good villain is the idea that he (or she; or it) wants what’s best for everyone, even if that may not be what everyone else wants. But more importantly, they cling to a code of honor. There is order within the chaos, even if chaos is all we see. These types of villains live on loyalty, and no matter what they do, if you are loyal to them, they will always have your back.

Villains may have good intentions

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RIP Bill Paxton; 1955 – 2017

“What are we gonna do, man? What are we gonna do?!?”

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Bill Paxton (1955 – 2017)

Yesterday we lost a cinematic titan. Bill Paxton, best known for his roles in Independence Day, Spaceballs and… what? That’s Bill Pullman? Oh, right. Sorry. Let me start over.

Yesterday we lost a cinematic titan. Bill Paxton, best known for his eclectic oeuvre, which included over 90 credits in both film and television, passed away on February 25, 2017 from reported complications during an unknown surgery.

In all seriousness, Paxton was an amazing actor who was capable of being hysterically funny and incredibly dramatic. From one of his first appearances as a blue-mohawked thug in The Terminator to his most recent run as a corrupt detective on the television remake of Training Day, Paxton never sat in a pocket of familiarity, showing his comedic chops in films like Weird Science, as well as his dramatic abilities in films like Apollo 13. Never one to turn down cheesy fun (Twister), Paxton always made time for good friends, appearing in five James Cameron films (The Terminator, Aliens, True Lies, Titanic, as well as Cameron’s Titanic documentary, Ghosts of the Abyss). And he didn’t stop at acting, either directing a handful of films, including Matthew McConaughey in the twisty psychological thriller, Frailty.

Paxton will certainly be missed, and I’d like to take this moment to send my condolences to all of his family and friends. He truly will be missed among all of his fans!