Category: Sci Fi

STAR WARS IX (2019) movie review

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*spoilers; also don’t be shocked by a positive review… and don’t hate SW8 lovers…

REVIEW:

The finale’ to three trilogies has a lot to live up to, especially after the controversial penultimate Ponzi scheme that was the Rian Johnson debacle. Once again playing to OG fans in the safest of safe ways, JJ Abrams blinks past the memory of two years ago and allows respect to renter the universe. Sure, mock the risk-averse take on a timeless classic, but don’t tell me you don’t love Rey’s new kick flip force moves, or throwback speeder races, or a visit to Endor.

This time, Luke’s saber must be earned, falling rocks mean something, pogs get only a flash, and you can continue to ship Poe and Fin. Abrams fans will also see revivals from favorite faces of Charlie from Lost and two favorite characters from JJ’s hit 90s TV series Felicity: Greg Grunberg and Keri Russell . This film has everything from Sarlackian sinking sand pits to movable monster chess, Wookies in handcuffs, and Lando Calrissian.

It’s a date with the old franchise that raised you – plus a few of the new tricks like lightspeed skipping and interdimensional force fighting. Leia’s role is a perfect compliment to her character and career. And my favorite aspect of this film was the new perspective on the balance of the force that created resolve and unexpected connectivity between all nine films: Rey uses the force to heal. All others use the force to see or to fight, but Rey follows her heart and lays a hand of healing on her enemies, building relationship, forging heroes.

Kylo Ren’s journey becomes the echo of the Anakin story we all cared enough to follow over four decades. The which, I am grateful to have lived through. Star Wars and I have had a long journey together, and in this great wide universe, there will be conflict but we are never alone and there is always hope.

 

RATING:  7.5;  C+ …not the hateful 8th, but perhaps a recap of 7. I gave the “Honest Trailer” for this one all aces.

ANT-MAN and The WASP (2018) movie review

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Expect Marvel – that primary color palate and pert pacing. Expect Rudd’s quick wit of puns and one liners. Expect hard kicking Ghost girl to startle, but never during warm family moments.Expect to see Evangeline Lily showing the many seasons of emotion as seen in Kate from Lost all rolled into this one film.More size-shifting spectacles make this yet another fun classic Marvel hero flick. See it and you’ll get exactly what you expect: an Ant Man & aWasp.

JURASSIC WORLD: Fallen Kingdom (2018) movie review

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Jeff Goldblum tried to warn them. He tried to warn us all. He said, , “Life finds a way.”So, as fast as you can add an ellipses to the same movie title,  the dangerous become the endangered. In this serialized sequel, the raptor and our old pal the T-Rex reign as as the natural antagonists turned underdogs who must escape island destruction via live volcano lava as well as the grasp of greedy business men and their maniacal soldiers before they face another extinction or worse, weaponization.Predator to prey, this film seeks to prove that all it takes is a muscular raptor trainer, an executive party planner turned activist, and a small agile girl to save both the dinos and the world from an inevitable fate, a fate that was perhaps set the second Dr. Hammond played God in ‘93. 

SOLO (2018) movie review

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Han’s the Robin Hood renegade rescuer in a dark side double-cross in this delightfully high speed, Star Wars-style action story staring the lovely Alden Ehrenreich. There’s only one problem, he’s not Solo.No lack of star power, this film, rescued by all-star director Ron Howard plays like a sci-fi western Mission Impossible Bourne Identity Star Wars mash-up staring favorite faces from film and TV hits like Avengers, Hunger Games, Westworld, Atlanta (& Community), even Game of Thrones. Paul Bettany, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, Donald Glover, and Emilia Clarke make Solo characters instantly recognizable and likable. The only distraction, which was also a major issue in Rogue One, is the Robot with too many lines bent on comic relief. Making her an advocate for Robot rights and a love interest for Lando still did not pay off or play as a necessary point in this Solo plot. Disney bankrolled this SW origin story hoping to draw millions of fans with these famous names.What’s in a name? Well, Harrison Ford IS Han Solo. His brusque, carefree swagger fresh off a construction set and into the believable bad boy cockpit of the Millenium Falcon has been winning the hearts of OG Star Wars fans since ‘77. He’s the heart-of-gold smuggler who always claims to be in it for just that: the gold. He’s the Cool Hand on the run who shoots first, sass talks the evil Jabbas of the space underworld, and gets frozen in carbonite.But now, the “I have a bad feeling about this” guy is all smiles and jeers, hope and helpfulness.
Sadly, this backstory romp escaping a tramp planet and into WWI conditions does not bring clarity to the Solo story despite run-ins with Glover’s suave Lando.New Han is all good guy, sweet smiles, protecting the girl, saving the people. Here the cowboy wanders war-torn planets of mud and ice and sand as lovesick slave turns good guy smuggler. Classic and entertaining, just not Solo.

 

AVENGERS: Infinity War (2018) movie review

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All of the souped up super heroes from ten years of Marvel magic unite to share 2.5 hours of slightly tedious exposition and some hard kicking to defeat Thanos.That formidable enemy with a righteous thirst for universal domination has only to injure the one closest to each stone keeper for them to give it up.Kudos to Marvel writers for balancing so many plot lines and sticking to the story Bibles from a decade of character re-creating. Inventing action with matching one-liners for comic relief is no small task. Every character gets one-line comic glory. Here are a few of my favorites:
“That was gross.”
“An hour.”
“That’s what killing is.” Despite the gaggle of famous faces, they somehow leave room for a few surprise guests: Voldemort as dementor, Tyrion as oxymoronic giant dwarf, purple Hellboy, Loki’s CG twin sister, an Iron Hulk, and the Demogorgon.Don’t worry. Thor is still the thunder god, Cap the hot moralist, Scarlett’s Black Widow kicks the crew into action, and Tony Stark boasts ever newer and better tech. Wakandans, Bruce Banner, and all of the Guardians of the Galaxy run madly toward battle fronts covered in Orc-like goblin goons and the godlike children of Thanos.It’s a little like those charity performances that combine all of the chart-topping vocalists to help heal the world. Rod Stewart and Sting get their stand-out moments next to Aretha. All maintain personal style, but you hope that together they won’t make a cacophony. Infinity War meets the challenge in vignettes with unique groupings  combining efforts and quirks. 

Back in NYC, over African countrysides, and across the universe, backstory runs a long legato strain under moments of humor and triumph. All Avenge, though not all are present. Ant Man, Hawkeye, and others wait in the wings for the next star-studded film experience.Thematically sparing one life at a time, they sacrifice all in the process to show Marvel’s minion fans that they too can suffer long. After an Empire Strikes Back-esque cliffhanger, part 2 with Brie Larson as Captain Marvel won’t appear for yet another year. Just remember that this is a comic series and that the Gauntlet, covered in stones, now controls space, mind, time, reality, power, and soul. All is not lost.

Marvel Studios’ AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR..L to R: Doctor Strange/Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Wong (Benedict Wong)..Photo: Chuck Zlotnick..©Marvel Studios 2018

 

READY PLAYER ONE (2018) movie review

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Strap in for a throwback bonanza via VR gateway.

It’s an 80’s lovers paradise from Atari and Iron Giant to Rubix cube (called fondly a Zemeckis cube) and the Delorean.

RPO is fast-paced but classic Spielberg. Fight glowing dinos, air dance through The Shining hotel, take a van ride ala inception, but don’t forget your crew.The message isn’t to log off, but to appreciate reality, at least in moderation.

BLACK PANTHER (2018) movie review

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Forget your fear that Marvel will take over movies as we know them. Never mind those haunting urges that attending might mean you’re supporting the “man” of the movie industry. That cash cow should not keep you from enjoying a night at the movies.Give Marvel’s new James Bond that sweet Panther suit, a sassy brainy sister with access to more tech-power than Iron Man can boast, an army of spear-wielding women, and a backstory littered with the weight of royalty, alien metal, and starlit Lion King nods, and you’ve got the action-packed two plus hours of Black Panther.The perfect cast pounces into action while Andy Serkis gives chase. You may have to overlook the piece-meal religious appropriations and some overly charged CGI, but this movie is everything you’ve come to expect: lively and exhilarating action in a stand-alone story that introduces a slew of new likable characters who jump battle-ready from scene to scene.The tribal traditions offer depth of culture to the every-hero-an-Island usual Marvel landscape. Here heroes are born, made, and continue to fight for place earning the respect of a nation with a secret that could change the world if shared.

THE SHAPE OF WATER (2017) movie review

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I’m honestly more torn about this film than any I’ve seen in years. It’s Amelie-gorgeous with deep sea-green color saturation and beautiful acting.The score perfectly pursues the main character through immaculate set pieces – in ancient red velvet theaters and gorgeous 1950’s attic apartments, on city buses trekking rain-soaked city streets, and inside symmetrical science labs.It’s also gruesome, torturous, cruelty thrust upon weak and helpless “others” by power-wielding men. These characters take aim at the broken, the lonely, the unloved, the underdogs.This kind of cruelty, the stuff of pure evil, usually plays out more subtly in movies. The bad guys usually retain glimmers of hope – a redemption factor that causes us to pause, consider the potential for evil we all carry but that we must choose not to act on. In this, Del Toro’s most beautiful monster film yet, he offers the bad guys no redemption, no character arcs, no potential for good. They are all bad, hated from moment one.This is a film about loneliness, a universally understood theme.All characters long for connection. They paint it, discuss it, force it, sacrifice to find it, lie to obtain it, and wait endlessly for it. One lone woman, a petite, wordless girl of routine and whimsy, played bravely by Sally Hawkins, finally acts on her longings and woos the most tortured of all – a creature of the sea. Okay, yes, this is where it gets really odd. Shape of Water is indeed a love story between girl and fishman. The director supposedly saw the old Creature from the Black Lagoon movie years ago and always wanted to give him a love story.  This film is surprisingly explicit at times.  Scenes that give it the R rating include sexuality, nudity, and gore.Communist sub-plots in the space-race era provide secondary plot structure under-lacing the romance between unseen beauty and aquatic wonder man. The secondary characters prove lovable and crucial to the plot as they too work to overcome their own unappreciated uniquenesses.In the 50’s, having a different skin color or lifestyle choice meant exclusion from society. The painter, played by Richard Jenkins, is the friend who lives next door who remains reclusive, hiding in his own pain until challenged to act heroically.Octavia Spencer is the verbose but trusted confidant. It wasn’t until her character was threatened that I started looking for exits in the theater. I had forgotten my visceral response to the scenes of sudden shocking gore in Pan’s Labyrinth, del Toro’s best known work until now.Guillermo del Toro is a designer, an artist, who sculpts empathy and terror, interweaving both. In this film, he somehow succeeds yet again, proving his adept directorial skills as he offers both horror and romance. The question he poses: Who truly is the monster? Then the classic message resounds when true love conquers all.


SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (2017) movie review

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The Marvel machine is up and running the sides of skyscrapers once again, spinning webs over lampposts, swinging freely through city streets.With this latest installment of Spidey in the suit, protecting NYC’s friendly neighborhood boroughs, of course he’s going to meet up with some baddies. And, who better than Michael Keaton to play “Vulture” and offset the mix.

Robert Downey Jr returns as Iron Man – this time as fatherly mentor… Or anti-mentor.

A growing all-star line-up also adds Marisa Tomei, Zendaya, and my personal fav Donald Glover to the already long list of Marvel celebs including returners Jon Favreau and Gwyneth Paltrow. The story is sweet, fresh, young, and suitable for all audiences, I believe.Somehow it’s cool because it doesn’t fight to stay cool; it just builds on confidence and lets Homecoming be the coming-of-age story it’s meant to be.Where both Maguire and Garfield’s Spideys fueled their flames of revenge, young Tom Holland seems to fan sparks of curiosity, hope, and an indefatigable sense of personal justice giving the film an upbeat, playful tone.

GET OUT (2017) movie review

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Don’t watch it alone. Or in the dark. It’s a horror film, but it’s also one of the sharpest and most poignant social commentaries to date.Just as SNL can tackle any political joust adeptly through comedy, so somehow this innocent seeming horror flick lays out an eerie Lottery-esque (a la Shirley Jackson) satire and allows a unique look at perceptions from the eyes of black Americans regarding common stereotypes around interracial coupling, police brutality, economic status levels, even physical make-up.
 The entire film builds smoothly and thoughtfully to its absolutely terrifying finale. Know the genre and the rating going in, as it is rife with hard R language and frightening content – including a few jump scares.Throughout, the bread crumbs are there to be found. (Without spoilers), watch for a reference to picking cotton, parallels between the gorgeous photographs in the beginning and the layers of dialogue, and my favorite: the famous slogan (look up its origin) “a mind is a terrible thing to waste.”