June 2019 – Best Case Reviews.

Yesterday Review

Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis Imagine a World Where The Beatles Never Existed

Based on a story by Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, About Time) and Jack Barth (Japanorama, The Fabulous Picture Show), with a screenplay written by the former, comes the delightfully refreshing Yesterday, directed by Danny Boyle (127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire). In this comedy/fantasy/musical Jack Malik, played by big-screen newcomer Himesh Patel (EastEnders, Damned), is a struggling singer/songwriter with his childhood best friend Ellie, played by Lily James (Baby Driver, Cinderella), as his manager and sole believer. Working part-time at a mass grocery store in London, Jack is well-liked by his customers, but very dismally received by his musical audience. When he decides to quit the music business for good, against Ellie’s fervent wishes, he sets off for home on his bicycle with his guitar strapped to his back. This is where things get weird.

In a freak, global power outage that happens at the very moment Jack is crossing the street on his bicycle, a bus hits him. Waking up in the hospital to his friend Ellie, he discovers he has lost two teeth, but other than that he is physically okay. When Ellie and Jack’s other friends come to take Jack out after he leaves the hospital, they shower him with gag gifts including a new guitar. When they ask him to play a song, Jack decides to sing Yesterday by the Beatles. His friends are absolutely blown away and continue to ask him how he came up with something so beautiful. After a bit of Google searching, Jack discovers that after the accident/power outage the Beatles have ceased to exist. In a moment of existential crisis, Jack decides to play the Beatles songs as if he wrote them and slowly but surely he becomes more and more popular, finally realizing his dream of becoming a famous singer/songwriter, with his trusty roadie/comedic sidekick, Rocky, played by Joel Fry (Game of Thrones, 10,000 B.C.).

Without spoiling things, Richard Curtis has written yet another fantastic screenplay that warps the real world we live in just slightly enough to be utterly bizarre. Danny Boyle takes this screenplay and perfectly adapts the feeling it is to be trapped in a small hometown with desperate aspirations to get out and be successful. The film is filled with dry British humour as well as plenty of music numbers, mainly by Jack, but also by the self-deprecating Ed Sheeran, who helps Jack along the way. The film challenges what the definition of success is with Jack being pulled between Ellie and his new manager, Debra Hammer, played by Saturday Night Live alum Kate McKinnon (The Spy Who Dumped Me, Ghostbusters 2016).

Danny Boyle proves he is the master of tackling different genres as he directs Yesterday with so much ease, it’s as if he has been making comedies his entire career. Well, when you look at his filmography, I suppose he does have a knack for comedy, even in his more twisted film 127 Hours. It’s truly inspiring that he can make so many truly great films that touch on so many different unique genres. He directs the actors extremely well, as each and every character in the film is just that: a character. Very memorable performances given, especially by the supporting cast, with shout outs to Jack’s hilarious parents Sheila & Jed Malik, played by Meera Syal (Doctor Strange, Absolutely Anything) and Sanjeev Bhaskar (Absolutely Anything, London Boulevard) respectively. Kate McKinnon injects her own dry sense of humor into the veritable “devil on the shoulder” talent manager. Himesh Patel and Lily James own the screen with their charisma and charm, both dealing with an odd situation in completely different ways. Patel also proves he has a very beautiful voice, and that he can carry a movie on his shoulders, as he sings the majority of the songs in the film himself.

With such a wacky world-building device as a mass blackout where things are literally forgotten from the world, it’s only fitting that Jon Harris (127 Hours, Kingsman: The Secret Service) edits Yesterday. Harris’s films are consistently edited with a fresh and kinetic style like no other. With one Oscar nomination under his belt already for 127 Hours, don’t be surprised if his name comes up during awards season. Filled with tons of interesting title crawls introducing the many different locations the characters visit, Yesterdayis a melodically, warm summer film. Combined with the lovely & colorful cinematography from Christopher Ross (Black Sea, Blackout) Yesterday is, simply put, the feel-good movie of the summer. If you enjoy the Beatles, wacky British humour, and/or Danny Boyle, I highly recommend this film, which takes a pretty insane plot device to lengths you couldn’t imagine.

Child’s Play Review

Chucky Slays In This Upgraded Reboot Of The Horror Classic

Shocking as it may sound, if you haven’t heard, Child’s Play, the old school horror series about a killer doll named Chucky, got a reboot. Even more surprising is that, for the most part, it is a relevant and noteworthy reboot. From the producers of It (2017), comes a re-imagining of the classic tale about mass-consumerism in a day and age where smart phones have taken over our lives. There a few major differences between this iteration and the original. First, Brad Dourif (Child’s Play Franchise, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers), who has voiced Chucky in every single Child’s Play film from Child’s Play (1988) to Cult of Chucky, got replaced by the very talented voice actor, Mark Hamill (Star Wars, Batman: The Animated Series). Chucky also isn’t brought to life via voodoo this time around. He is just an artificially intelligent robot gone awry. The final big difference is the fact that Andy, played by Gabriel Bateman (Lights Out, Benji remake), is a few years older than his counterpart in the original film, and he is joined by a group of kids, which is probably inspired by the massive success of that dynamic in It (2017) and Stranger Things.

Child’s Play begins with a television ad about the “Buddi Doll” featuring Henry Kaslan, the head of Kaslan Corporation, played by Tim Matheson (Animal House, Hart of Dixie). Kaslan Corporation specializes in smart-home technology like thermostats, vacuums, and speakers, as well as drone technology. The Buddi Doll is introduced as a similar device as Alexa, but in a kid-friendly form that does everything from singing bedtime songs to helping them remember their science book. A disgruntled Kaslan employee, working in a factory in Vietnam, disables one of the Buddi doll’s safety features following his unceremonious firing and all sorts of nasty shenanigans are in store for whoever’s hands the doll ends up in. Fast forward to Andy and his mother, Karen, played by Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation, FX’s Legion). After a sudden move for unknown reasons, Andy is a lonely kid, spending all of his time looking at his phone, while his mom works at the local Zed Mart, the local toy/electronics store.

Andy has trouble staying at home because of her mothers’ jerk boyfriend, Shane, played by David Lewis (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Man of Steel), so the only friend he has made since the move is nice guy detective Mike Norris, played by Brian Tyree Henry (If Beale Street Could Talk, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse). Noticing her sons’ lack of friends, Karen decides to give Andy a Buddi doll she tactically acquired from work so that he has something of a companion. Sure enough, it is the same safety-featureless doll which was tampered with at the films’ beginning, and this is when the real fun of the film begins. As Chucky learns more and more from Andy and his ragtag group of friends the more violent he becomes. Without spoiling anything, the film definitely earned its’ hard R-rating with its’ horrific situations and intensely gory deaths.

The Child’s Play series has always relied on a combination of horror and comedy and the reboot, directed by Lars Klevberg (Polaroid), applies the same formula. Oddly enough in these films, there are times when we are almost rooting for Chucky, as an audience filled with a sense of blood-lust, and this film is no different. There are plenty of outrageous laugh out loud moments as well as truly horrific and violent moments which got groans and gasps from the mostly full theater I watched it in. Klevberg does a fine job of directing the actors during these tonal shifts from a debut screenplay written by Tyler Burton Smith. It’s really an interesting take on the Child’s Play story due to the fact that the majority of the technology in the film mirrors our current state of affairs. I could easily imagine this film as a twisted Black Mirror episode.

The child actors do a pretty good job, especially Gabriel Bateman, who seemed to convey so many different emotions of a kid who feels trapped and unhappy in a situation beyond his control. The other kids are pretty one-dimensional, but they serve their purpose well, as there wasn’t enough time to completely build their characters. Aubrey Plaza does a very good job of playing Andy’s mother, even though its’ her first time playing a mom. She conveys the necessary concern for her son, the reckless abandon of a recently single mom, and the unbelievable blind eye to the psychopathic doll living in her house. Mark Hamill does a fantastic job with Chucky’s voice, unsurprisingly. Hamill boasts a very large body of work as a voice actor, most famously voicing the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series and the Arkham Asylum video games. I would say his Chucky voice slightly resembles his Joker voice, but he does an incredibly good job with the small emotional subtleties which Chucky requires. Just like in the original film, Chucky seems to have two modes: good guy doll and evil psychopath. Hamill is incredible as he can switch from one mode to the other in an instant. Decades of voice acting experience made him the obvious choice to portray Chucky in this reboot.

Another reason I enjoyed this film is the shoestring budget which seems to be accompanying some of the greatest horror films these days like Don’t Breatheand any film produced by Jason Blum, who lives and breathes on small budgets. The reason I like a film with a small budget is that the filmmakers have to get creative and in the case of Child’s Play, it forces the filmmakers to use practical effects, which in this modern era of films is a breath of fresh air. It reminds me of the good old days of practical effects produced by Stan Winston (Terminator, Predator) and his protégé Rob Bottin (John Carpenter’s The Thing, Total Recall) whose creature effects redefined what could practically be done on a film set. The majority of the doll effects in Child’s Play are practical, with a tiny bit of CGI used when practical effects were simply impractical. Hats off to special effects coordinator Barry Hebein (X2: X-Men United, Trick r’ Treat) and his team for pulling off the cool robotics seen in the film.

Finally, the best horror films have great scores and Bear McCreary (The Walking Dead, Godzilla: King of the Monsters) creates an incredibly creepy score for this film. McCreary is having an excellent year as he also composed the wonderful score for the blockbuster Godzilla: King of the Monsters. It’s really a pleasure to listen to his work as each of his scores is so unique and different. His score for Child’s Play bears an overall theme, which is used in the Buddi song which Kaslan Corp uses as a marketing tool in the film. It is essentially retooled throughout the film as well, bearing many different toy instruments at its’ core. Everything from a kazoo to a child’s xylophone are used to create a very unique and creepy score, which plays on the fact that this is a film about a killer doll. The music changes from heartwarming to chilling in an instant, which plays well with the multiple tonal shifts throughout the film. Recently released on vinyl at Waxwork Records, I highly encourage fellow wax heads to check it out!

As far as reboots go, I was not disappointed with Child’s Play. It seems their clever marketing campaign, which feature Chucky humorously killing off different characters from the Toy Story franchise (seriously, checkout the crazy poster designs they came up with), has paid off as the film is heading for a $20+ million weekend. Considering the films’ small budget, this could be a good indicator that a potential sequel could happen. If you have kids, definitely take them to see Toy Story 4 instead of this, but if you’re a fan of horror films and can stand a bit of gore, I would give this movie a chance. After seeing this movie, I’m not going to lie, I’m slightly scared of going to sleep with my Amazon Echo device in the house. Hopefully it hasn’t gained the same malicious self-awareness that Mark Hamill’s Chucky did.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters Review

Godzilla Proves To Be The King of the Big Screen!

After the disappointment of the 2014 Godzilla reboot, which was directed by Gareth Edwards (Rogue One, Monsters), and starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass, Godzilla), Elizabeth Olsen (Godzilla, MCU), and Bryan Cranston (Argo, Breaking Bad), I’m sure fans were skeptical when news of a King Kong reboot was on the way in 2017. Luckily, audiences got the spectacular Vietnam-period piece which was Kong: Skull Island. So, when word that a straight up sequel to Godzilla was coming with an entirely (mostly) new cast, my ears perked up. Then the first trailer was released, and I’ll never forget the feeling of utter thrill and joy I felt when it ended with Godzilla and King Ghidora running at each other at full speed. As the next trailer started in the theater, I looked over at my girlfriend, heart beating out of my chest, and I saw the same look of excitement on her face. The film lives up to the incredibly well-done set of trailers that were released, and the reason why is that the filmmakers knew exactly what they were making: a monster film.

The first attempt at Godzilla was bogged down by the human factor. While Bryan Cranston’s storyline was ultimately tragic in nature, the major draw of a monster movie should not be the human element. We didn’t even get to see a full image of Godzilla until the third act. Even though it was a bearable film, I haven’t watched it again, yet. That says something right there. King of the Monsters on the other hand is absolutely rewatchable. The film begins during Godzilla’s battle in San Francisco from the point of view of Kyle Chandler’s (Argo, Friday Night Lights) character, Mark Russel, and his family. Suffering a tragic loss, the film then jumps ahead to present time. The Russel family is split up and they are dealing with the loss in different ways. Mark is off doing his own thing, upset at the “monsters” as he calls Godzilla, while his wife, Dr. Emma Russell, played by Vera Farmiga (The Departed, Up in the Air), and daughter Madison, played by Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland), are working for Monarch on some unknown mission.

Emma creates a device that can essentially communicate with the monsters by the use of “Alpha” channels, which they test out on a larva version of Mothra. When Mothra is woken up she is NOT happy, but Emma’s device works and Madison gets to go pet the docile thirty story creature. Enter our villain, Alan Jonah, played by Charles Dance (Last Action Hero, Game of Thrones), an eco-terrorist who plans to use Emma’s device to wake the other Titans (AKA Monsters/Kaiju) so that they can bring the world back to a purer, more basic state of affairs. The only problem with his plan are the millions and potentially billions of innocent people who would become collateral damage. Jonah absconds with Emma, Madison, and the device, while Mothra goes into cocoon.

Sally Hawkins (Godzilla, The Shape of Water) and Ken Watanabe (Inception, The Last Samurai) revisit their characters from the first Godzilla as scientists who urge Congress to embrace Godzilla, rather than treat him as an enemy, on the behalf of Monarch, the secret organization which monitors the activity of Godzilla and the Titans via bases situated throughout the world. They also have a few new team members in the form of Thomas Middleditch’s (The Wolf of Wall Street, Silicon Valley) Sam Coleman and Bradley Whitford’s (Get Out, Cabin in the Woods) Dr. Rick Stanton who has some of the films’ best one-liners. Once word of Emma and Madison’s kidnapping reaches them, they team up with Mark and a special ops team led by Colonel Diane Foster, played by Aisha Hinds (Assault on Precinct 13, 9-1-1) and Chief Warrant Officer Barnes, played by O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Straight Outta Compton, Den of Thieves), to try and get them back before any real damage can be done. Unfortunately, they are unsuccessful and Ghidora is woken up, which causes a whole bevvy of other problems.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is successful because Michael Dougherty (Trick ‘r Treat, Krampus) is at the helm. Dougherty has referred to his movie as “the Aliens to Gareth’s Alien.” He is of course referring to the drastically different tones of those two classic films. Dougherty embraces the sort of quirky humor Aliens embraced when following up the ultra-dark sci-fi horror gem, Alien, directed by master director Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Gladiator). It’s clear that all of the projects he has worked on thus far have led him to this point. He is fantastic at creating genre pieces, as Trick ‘r Treatredefined the horror genre and his screenplay for X2: X-Men United produced easily the best X-Men live action film. Dougherty is the perfect choice for this film, looking back, and I’m glad the studios made the right call this time around.

This film embraces the true nature of monster/Kaiju movies, which is the monsters themselves. It also does away with the ultra-realism the first film had. In this film, the technology is inexplicably updated to the point that some of Monarch’s gear/weaponry/planes are extremely sci-fi. I’m so glad the makers of this film had the good sense to know what to make of importance. Obviously, the technology and human element (for the most part, there is still some good old’ fashioned human drama in play) aren’t nearly as important as the look, feel, and especially sound of these magnificent creatures. Godzilla hasn’t sounded this much like himself since 1954 and King Ghidora’s intense scream is so exhilarating. Each of the different Titans has a different and unique sound, so don’t worry about the potential for confusion when all hell is breaking loose. The choreography (if you want to call it that) of the Titan battles is never out of control to the point that it is confusing.

Bear McCreary (The Walking Dead, 10 Cloverfield Lane) composed the music for this film, and it is yet another reason why the film is so good. The Walking Dead has definitely prepared him for this film, with subject matter that is totally unrealistic, yet dramatic at the same time. In the smaller, more delicate scenes, soft strings play soothing sounds of regret, hope, and wonder, whereas the big battle scenes boast blaring horns. McCreary also utilizes some of the original soundtrack, such as Godzilla’s theme, to great effect. We saw the film in Dolby Atmos, which really goes above and beyond with the sound/speakers in the theater. When Godzilla is rearing up to do battle and his theme song played, everyone cheered.

I recommend seeing this film in the best theater you can, whether it is Dolby Atmos or IMAX. Monsters as tall as skyscrapers deserve to be seen on the biggest and best screen possible. If you can’t, I still recommend seeing it on any big screen, as there is something fun about watching a bunch of giant monsters laying waste to Boston. Talk about some kahma (Go Blues!). The filmmakers behind these “Monarch” films have really outdone themselves this time, and it’s exhilarating and exciting that this cinematic universe is continuing so well. Let’s just say that the bar is set very high for the next major monster film in the series, because Godzilla: King of the Monsters was a smashing success!

Late Night Review

Emma Thompson Shines in Mindy Kaling’s Screenwriting Debut

I can honestly say, at one point, I absolutely could not stand Mindy Kaling (The Office, Inside Out). All I knew her from for the longest time was her role of Kelly Kapoor on The Office, and I felt like Ryan most of the time: exasperated. It wasn’t until I started watching The Mindy Project with my girlfriend that I realized how wonderfully talented she is. After a recent re-watch of The Office, she easily has become one of my favorite characters on the show, and anyone who has seen it (c’mon, slap yourself if you haven’t watched it yet) knows those are some pretty strong words considering the strength of the cast. Mindy brings her raw, untapped wit to Late Night which is a brilliant film about a woman who is being pushed out of her late-night show in a male-dominated field.

The woman in question is Katherine Newbury, played dourly by Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility, Saving Mr. Banks), and at the beginning of the film her head writer Brad, played by Denis O’Hare (American Horror Story, This is Us) tells her she needs to hire a woman on the writing staff. Enter Molly Patel, a perky woman who is absolutely head over heels in love with Katherine and her show. After beating out a nepotism hire, she gets the job and realizes she is in for more than she bargained for when she meets the male-dominated writing staff, led by Tom, played by Reid Scott (Veep, Venom), the head monologue writer. Almost immediately after the oft joked about “diversity hire” of Molly, Katherine is told by her boss, played delightfully cruelly by Amy Ryan (The Office, Beautiful Boy), that Katherine has until the end of the season before she has to give up the show. Katherine realizes after a discussion with her maligned husband Walter, played by John Lithgow (Cliffhanger, 3^rdRock from the Sun), that her show needs an injection of fun.

The writers room has a vast array of different personalities, including the sex icon Charlie, played by Hugh Dancy (Hannibal, The Path), the veteran Burditt, played by Max Casella (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Jackie), the flamboyant Reynolds, played by comedian John Early (Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, The Disaster Artist), and the loveable goofball Mancuso, played by Paul Walter Hauser (I, Tonya, BlacKKKlansman). The writers must figure out a way to make the show relevant again, all while Katherine seemingly doesn’t want to change. Molly, meanwhile, is thrilled to just be a part of the team, as she idolizes the show and Katherine herself, although her experience proves the old adage, “don’t meet your heroes.” As the writers struggle to come together as a team and accept Molly at the same time, Katherine is dealing with a serious moment of regret which could cost her everything. Late Night is an absolutely hilarious example of a witty and relevant film taking chances left and right and succeeding every single time.

This story came from the mind of Mindy Kaling, and it is pretty apparent that she is set to take over Hollywood if she continues this stream of success. Her characterizations are so poignant and wonderful that I instantly felt a draw to the characters. I felt like I could relate with each and every character on multiple levels. These characterizations are brought to life by the amazing actors, who each serve their purpose, but also by the wonderful direction of Nisha Ganatra (Chutney Popcorn, You Me Her). The film is a nonstop rollercoaster with tons of laughs with all sorts of combinations of different types of humor, whether it is slapstick, witty, or even bathroom humor, this film just keeps busting guts throughout its’ entire runtime of one hour and forty-two minutes.

As for Emma Thompson… WOW. Mindy Kaling wrote this film with Emma Thompson specifically in mind, and after seeing the film I totally understand why. She absolutely nailed the role of Katherine Newbury in a way that couldn’t be done by anyone else. Katherine is a cold, arrogant woman, who refuses to change (as many protagonists often do), yet underneath all her armor, she is a human being, with loads of emotional baggage and fragility which we rarely see her express. This is what makes her such an amazing character. In a day and age where women are finally breaking through the glass ceiling, Katherine Newbury is the epitome of the hard work that led up to this cultural awakening. She is a tough and gritty woman who once knew how to connect with her audience, and slowly over time this same toughness and grit has turned her against the world in many ways. As a character there are so many layers to peel back and Emma Thompson allows the viewer to experience life from her point of view, which in a single word is lonely. I’d be surprised if she isn’t one of the frontrunners for an Oscar at this moment, because her performance alone made it a good movie. Adding in everyone else’s performance made it a fantastic movie.

I wanted to address the acting performances of the supporting writing team. I have been a fan of Hugh Dancy since his breakout role of Will Graham on the hit show Hannibal. It was nice to see his depth as an actor. Reid Scott blew me away at how naturally funny he was. Denis O’Hare proves yet again that he can provide more than most of his twisted characters on American Horror Story suggest. Paul Walter Hauser’s performance definitely didn’t hurt his chances of winning the envious role of Richard Jewell in Clint Eastwood’s The Ballad of Richard Jewell with this role. Max Cassela brings the male side of the old school way of doing business to life in this film and shows that even the tough-hearted can change. John Early provides another hilarious performance. Last but not least, Ike Barinholtz (Blockers, Neighbors), who worked with Kaling on The Mindy Project turns in a strong performance as the dim-witted stand-up comedian Daniel Tennant, who is clearly a caricature of Dane Cook, oh how the mighty have fallen.

Lesley Barber (Manchester by the Sea, Nappily Ever After) wrote the score for Late Night, and like her previous work suggests, she is able to hit both the light and serious notes. Her theme for Katherine Newbury’s show (every late-night talk show host has a theme) reminds me of Damien Chazelle’s scores for Whiplash and La La Land, with plenty of percussion and strings. The film isn’t entirely light though, as it deals with some intense subject matter involving Molly’s deceased father, which may have stemmed from real life (Kaling’s mom died from cancer in real life). Barber approaches these more emotionally driven scenes with a lovely piano theme tied with a beautiful guitar melody. As a movie score aficionado, I am excited to dive into Lesley Barber’s body of work after discovering her with Late Night.

Late Night’s key players are all women, and it clearly shows that these women all have something to say. I was incredibly blessed to have heard that message. I urge everyone to go see this movie, because it bears an important message that diversity is important and better yet, the unique perspective it can provide is rewarding in more ways than one. I know this first hand, as I am dating a talented, driven, beautiful, Indian woman myself and the amount of perspective I have gained from our relationship, I am forever grateful for. I am on the edge of my seat for more to come from Mindy Kaling, and I am equally excited to see what Lilly Singh brings to the table, as she has recently become the first Indian woman to host a late-night show. On that note, as Katherine Newbury would say, I thank you for your time.

– For Karuna

Dark Phoenix Review

The Fox X-Men Franchise Goes Out With a Bang

The long running X-Men franchise has had plenty of hit films, yet, it’s hard to forget The Last Stand. In that film, Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix) botched the Dark Phoenix Saga, written by John Byrne, Chris Claremont, and Dave Cockrum. The Last Stand had way too much going on plot-wise, which negatively affected how Dark Phoenix was handled. A lot of fans were upset, and it literally resulted in the franchise being shut down for five years until it was rebooted with the new James McAvoy (X-Men Franchise, Wanted) led cast in X-Men: First Class. We aren’t going to talk about X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Without a doubt there was much trepidation and fear when it was revealed that Simon Kinberg was assigned not only to write Dark Phoenix, but also to direct it. Critics haven’t been too nice to it, and in this writer’s humble opinion it seems like a lot of this backlash is still aimed at The Last Stand as Dark Phoenix is a complete success in my book.

The most recent X-Men film before Dark Phoenix was Apocalypse. In this film a good amount of the new cast are introduced, such as Jean Grey, played by Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones, X-Men: Apocalypse), Scott Summers/Cyclops, played by Tye Sheridan (Ready Player One, Mud), Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, played by Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In, The Road), and last but not least, Ororo Munroe/Storm, played by Alexandra Shipp (Shaft, Straight Outta Compton). While critics haven’t been too kind to that film either, I believe it was a natural progression from the excellent adaptation of Days of Future Past. While Oscar Isaac’s (New Star Wars Trilogy, Ex Machina) iteration of Apocalypse left much to be desired, the film accomplished its’ goal. The X-Men are finally respected by the leaders of the world and humans and mutants live in harmony. This is exactly where Dark Phoenix picks up several years later, this time in the 90’s.

With the X-Men now directly helping the President under the guiding hand of Charles Xavier, NASA’s latest mission has a catastrophic failure when it hits an unknown force. Against the wishes of Raven/Mystique, played by Jennifer Lawrence (Hunger Games Films, Silver Linings Playbook), Charles sends the X-Men into space for the first time in the long-running franchise. They arrive to find the shuttle spinning hopelessly, with no way to contact the crew. Cyclops uses a periscope gadget to amplify his powers to stop the shuttle from spinning, while Nightcrawler and Quicksilver teleport into the shuttle to gather the crew. They quickly retrieve everyone and teleport back to the ship only to realize they’ve left the ships’ captain behind. Again, against the wishes of Raven, Charles insists they leave no one behind, which causes Nightcrawler and Jean to teleport back to the shuttle. Amidst all the confusion, while the mysterious force threatens to destroy the shuttle, Nightcrawler finds the Captain of the shuttle, but can not get back to Jean in time. He teleports without her as the cosmic entity overtakes the ship and gets absorbed into her, while bursting into a giant explosion, seemingly killing Jean. As the X-Men temporarily mourn Jean’s loss, they realize she somehow survived.

Back on Earth, the X-Men celebrate their victory as the young students at Xavier’s School for the Gifted whisper about Jean Grey’s miraculous survival. They give her the nickname, Phoenix. As Jean struggles to control her powers, mysterious shape-shifting aliens arrive elsewhere. These aliens are the D’Bari, whose home world has been destroyed by the Phoenix Force, and are led by Vuk, who quickly morphs into Jessica Chastain (Interstellar, It: Chapter Two). Jean realizes her abilities could put the ones she loves in danger, so she leaves the X-Mansion, not knowing what to do and unbeknownst to her she is followed by Vuk and the D’Bari.

Dark Phoenix is probably the most intense and gritty X-Men movie made to date, not including the R-rated Deadpool films. The second act features a lot of surprise turns of character and introduces us to Magneto who is living happily on an island with other mutants, which, with a closer look at the credits can only be Genosha. It was disappointing that this wasn’t made clear in the actual film, because Genosha has plenty of lore behind it in the comics and X-Men: The Animated Series, which came out in the 90’s. As more and more characters team up to either save or kill Jean, the film ramps up to an exciting climax on a train in the third act.

While I think the Dark Phoenix saga was adapted better than The Last Stand’s attempt, I believe in the future, in the hands of Marvel and Kevin Feige, it could be done even better. It saddens me that critics and fans can’t seem to enjoy this version though. The film deals with trauma and how characters deal with it in a realistic manner, set in an unrealistic universe. The action scenes are thrilling and exciting, we get to see the younger X-Men use their well-controlled powers in unique ways, and Hans Zimmer (Inception, The Lion King) creates a dark score which sucks viewers in from the very beginning. Unfortunately, the Disney-Fox merger negatively impacted this films’ chance of success. As the pre-production/production had already been well under way before the merger happened, Dark Phoenix was suddenly to be the last film in the long-running franchise. I can’t be sure, but I can only imagine this wasn’t Simon Kinberg’s initial intention, and the fact that the film underwent extensive reshoots seems to support that theory. It’s always a bummer when business/politics negatively interfere with a popular franchise.

All in all, Dark Phoenix was a fun ride. If you go into it with that mindset, I imagine you will enjoy it. If you’re going into the theater with unrealistic expectations, you’re only going to be disappointed, which most of the superfans/comic book fans seem to be. By no means do I expect everyone to hold the same opinion as me, yet, I do wish that more people today could separate themselves from some of the toxic fandom which seems to be everywhere. In a social media age, it is nearly impossible to make something that is universally accepted. Although Endgame seems to be the exception to the rule. Hopefully the X-Men can be adapted in new and interesting ways now that the characters have finally come home to Marvel. As for this version of the X-Men, thank you for the many years of excellent storytelling and intriguing characters.

Gotta Catch ‘Em All… Well, Most of ‘Em, That is.

Detective Pikachu Review

Detective Pikachu is the first live-action Pokémon movie, and naturally there were lofty expectations, and for the most part these expectations were met. Directed by Rob Letterman (Monsters vs. Aliens, Goosebumps), Detective Pikachu instantly captures the spirit of the Pokémon universe with a thrilling action sequence involving Mewtwo, followed up by an adorable attempt by Justice Smith’s (Paper Towns, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) character, Tim Goodman, to catch a Cubone. With inside jokes about Cubone’s motherly issues, I instantly recalled the episode in the popular cartoon series when Ash finds out why Cubone cries and I was drawn into the film.

Although the story hitches at times, overall it is well done. Tim is notified of his father’s death and must meet with Ken Watanabe’s (The Last Samurai, Godzilla Reboot Franchise) Lieutenant Hide Yoshida in which Tim finds out his father had a pet/partner Pikachu. Upon looking through his father’s apartment Tim meets the aforementioned Pikachu, voiced hilariously by Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool Series, Waiting), and realizes he can understand him! Once the two team up to figure out Harry’s (Tim’s father) death, they begin to unravel an insidious mystery, which follows the classic tropes of film noir. With the help of a perky news intern named Lucy Stevens, played by Kathryn Newton (Supernatural, Big Little Lies), they are determined to get to the bottom of it for various reasons. Add in Bill Nighy (Hot Fuzz, Rango) as the aging head of the news organization Lucy works for and his greedy, ruthless son, played by Chris Geere (Modern Family, You’re the Worst), and the classic Team Rocket-esque conspiracy unfolds delightfully under the scribes Dan Hernandez/Ben Samit (The Tick, One Day at a Time), Rob Letterman, and Derek Connolly (Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic World).

While I, and I am sure plenty of other fans, was disappointed that the traditional Pokémon theme song wasn’t utilized, I must say that Henry Jackman (Kingsman films, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End) did a bang-up job with composing the score. It isn’t easy to follow up arguably one of the most well-known scores in videogame/cartoon history and Jackman’s bold decisions make it clear why he is one of the most sought-after composers today. With slight hints to the cartoon/videogame’s music, Jackman’s score is purely original with notes of film noir-ism as well as excitement during some of the film’s more intense action scenes. Jackman’s score is worth a listen or two, as are most of his scores, which are reminiscent of the great composer, Alan Silvestri’s amazing body of work.

One of the biggest concerns for fans was that live-action Pokémon would, plainly said, look weird as hell. Luckily, for the most part, the Pokémon are extremely well done. Instead of landing somewhere within the uncanny valley, the Pokémon are legitimately cute and adorable. Many times, during our screening, I looked over in glee at my girlfriend due to the instant callbacks to my childhood. Whether it was a marching troupe of Bulbasaur (s?) or the firemen Squirtle’s (you read that correctly), it was truly tear-jerking to see so many Pokémon brought to life in Ryme City, where the film is based. I have to say, I think Psyduck may have stolen the show from Ryan Reynold’s adorable Pikachu, which brings me to my next point: how the Pokémon sounded. The sound team did a spectacular job with the unique voices of the respective Pokémon, which proves the hard work/research that went into it. While there wasn’t nearly as much fan service as in Avengers: Endgame, which you can read about in my spoiler-free Endgame review, the team behind Detective Pikachu clearly made this movie for the fans.

All in all, Detective Pikachu was a pretty alright first live-action outing for the Pokémon universe. The story was decent, the performances, especially the Pokémon’, were great, and the instant callbacks to a childhood in the 90’s were superb. Of course, I wish we could have heard the OG Pokémon Theme Song, but maybe we will hear it in another live-action Pokémon movie one day. As a Pokémon fan, I felt that the film was pretty good, but could have been better. Hopefully Pokémon series creator, Satoshi Tajiri, is proud, but perhaps nothing will top the original creativity of the Blue/Red and the cartoon series. Only time will tell.

John Wick 3: Parabellum, a Brilliant Entry in an Already Cult-Classic Series

John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum Review

Chad Stahelski (John Wick Series, the upcoming Highlander) and Keanu Reeves (John Wick Series, The Matrix Trilogy) have created one of the coolest characters of all time, not to mention the ridiculously deep world building that has been done over the course of three films. John Wick introduced us to the retired assassin, played by Keanu Reeves (Speed, The Matrix Trilogy). The reluctant assassin, who was mourning the loss of his wife, was brought back into the fold when the punk son of a Russian mobster kills his dog and steals his car. After killing all the people responsible John adopts a new puppy and he retrieves his car in John Wick: Chapter 2.

Having buried his life as an assassin once again, John is instantly pulled back into the fold when he is presented with a marker by Santino D’Antonio, played by Riccardo Scamarcio (Master of None, The Ruthless), which is essentially a blood oath to do a favor. Unfortunately, Santino double crosses John and places a bounty on his head. John survives and after killing all of Santino’s henchmen, with the help of Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix Trilogy, Black-ish), who plays the Bowery King, yet another sect of assassins who pretend to be homeless beggars and communicate via pigeons. Santino finds sanctuary in the New York Continental, the hotel for all the assassins, in which no “business” can be done. After goading John about this fact, John promptly shoots Santino in the head, instantly forfeiting his good standing with the Continental.

Chapter 2 ends with Winston, played by Ian McShane (Deadwood, Game of Thrones), who is the manager of the NY Continental, informing John that he will be “excommunicado” after an hours’ time, which essentially means John is cut off from any facilities related to the Continental, including medical assistance, weapons, and allies. This all while the 7-million-dollar bounty on John’s head is doubled to 14 million by the High Table, which control the world John Wick lives in. At the end of the film, John is running through Central Park with his dog, nervously watching all the people around him picking up their phones, unsure of who is trying to kill him or not.

Parabellum opens seconds after Chapter 2 ends with John running away with his dog. After sending his dog to the NY Continental’s concierge, Charon, played by Lance Reddick (The Wire, John Wick Series) John heads to the NY Public Library to pick up some supplies, where he is brutally attacked by a giant assassin, played by NBA star Boban Marjanovic. After dispatching him, John continues to run through New York, being relentlessly pursued by all sorts of assassins. The film is a non-stop action-packed thriller with arguably the best fighting choreography of all time. John must figure out a way to right his wrong with the help of old friends, Sofia, played by Halle Berry (X-Men Series, Swordfish) and Anjelica Huston (The Addams Family, The Life Aquatic) who is a mysterious ally who reveals some of John’s background. On another front, an Adjudicator, played by Asia Kate Dillon (Orange is the New Black, Billions), is going throughout New York finding any and all people who have helped John and serving out exacting punishments straight from the High Table.

Parabellum is a bit larger in scope than the previous outing, but what really makes it a success is how utterly intense it is. Chad Stahelski, a former stuntman himself and the director of the John Wick movies, creates some of the most exciting fight scenes in cinematic history. Being the ultimate assassin he is, John goes about killing in all sorts of ways, using knives, swords, and even horses to kill his enemies, and that requires master direction to deter the fighting from getting stale. The writing of Derek Kolstad (John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2), who is also a former stuntman, helps Chad and Keanu come up with all the thrilling fight scenes. This time around there are motorcycle samurais, highly trained attack dogs, and high-speed horse chases, oh my!

The John Wick movies also work so well due to the excellent music composed by Tyler Bates (John Wick Series, Atomic Blonde) and Joel J. Richard (John Wick Series, Triple Threat). As the movies continue to evolve, so does the musical score, which is gritty and intense. Bates brings the dark guitar sounds from his time of touring with Marilyn Manson which, in combination with the electronic score, combine to make one of the more memorable movie compositions in recent history. Excommunicado, Tick Tock Mr. Wick, and Winter at the Continental really stand out as interesting twists from the music these two composers have already created in John Wick and John Wick: Chapter 2.

John Wick: Parabellum is a rare example of a sequel which is better than its’ predecessor. In fact, the entire series just seems to be getting better and better as the movies continue to come out. Keanu Reeves perfectly embodies John Wick and since Parabellum made more money than its’ predecessor in less than 10 days and John Wick: Chapter 4 has already been greenlit; it seems audiences will be able to see more John Wick for the foreseeable future. The only question is how will Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves keep raising the stakes? I’m sure it will be interesting to say the least.

Avengers: Endgame Review

Spoiler-Free Review

Avengers: Endgame Review

The MCU, or Marvel Cinematic Universe, has been building to this moment for a decade over the course of 21 interconnected films. If that statement doesn’t make your jaw drop, I honestly don’t know what will. Against all odds, the MCU has created a cohesive universe of films, which will undoubtedly be taught in history classes in the years to come. Endgame has also broken all sorts of box office records, making it the 2^nd All Time Domestic/Worldwide Release (at the time of this writing). Not only is it a financial success, it is also a critical success, with a 94% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Endgame is the culmination of the MCU, which has been split into three different “Phases” of films thus far. Spiderman: Far from Home will complete the third phase of the MCU, with all three phases being dubbed the “Infinity Saga.”

The Russo Brothers have had experience making Marvel movies. They have directed some of the best in the franchise, starting with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The scope of Endgame is quite daunting, as the bar was raised to incredible heights with the release of Avengers: Infinity War. Somehow the Russo Brothers manage to top it. They coherently balance the many different character and action beats into a story, which is impressive to say the least. Without giving too much away, the movie picks up directly where Infinity War left off. Thanos’ (played by Josh Brolin) snap has successfully destroyed 50% of the life in the entire universe, leaving the Avengers struggling with the fact that they lost. Each character deals with this loss in their own way, which is an interesting approach to a Marvel film. While these characters are superheroes, the film perfectly depicts how human beings deal with grief and loss in a multitude of ways.

Without spoiling anything (although, if you haven’t seen it by now you should probably slap yourself), Endgame pays off in huge dividends. If there were one word to describe this movie, it would have to be: fan service… anybody want a peanut? The Princess Bride jokes aside, the film manages to throw in as many cool moments as it can, including my personal favorite iteration of the Hulk (played by Mark Ruffalo) yet. The best way to experience the film had to be seeing it on opening night when all the super fans came out in droves. We cheered at moments in the film so many times I lost count. Endgame was able to balance the lightheartedness and seriousness masterfully. While there are plenty of laugh out loud moments, especially with Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth), the film doesn’t shy away from its’ serious subject matter of mass genocide. The stakes couldn’t be higher as the Avengers assemble to undo Thanos’ snap.

The performances in the film were absolutely the best in the MCU movies to date. Robert Downey Jr., whose portrayal of Iron Man kicked off the MCU 11 years ago, gives a powerful, heartfelt performance. Chris Evans completely embodies the role of Captain America and Chris Hemsworth turns in a truly hysterical performance as Thor. Jeremy Renner finally gets some screen time as a broken Hawkeye who has turned to a life of vigilantism under the guise, Ronin. His character is involved in one of the coolest long-take action sequences I’ve ever seen. Marvel has also strongly embraced its’ female characters with Scarlet Johannson (Black Widow), Karen Gillan (Nebula), and Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts) giving incredibly strong performances. Brie Larson also returns as the truly overpowered Captain Marvel. Bradley Cooper continues to impress as the voice of Rocket, who is the only surviving member of the Guardians of the Galaxy (not including Nebula).

Alan Silvestri (Back to the Future, Predator) returns to compose the now iconic music that the Avengers movies have to offer. He composed the music for the first Avengers film as well as Infinity War. Given the plot of the film, Silvestri had his hands full with all the different musical cues going on and he did NOT disappoint. The music never overtakes what’s happening, it just does a fantastic job of enhancing everything on screen. Thanos’ theme is as dark as ever, while the Avengers theme is sure to go down as one of the best superhero themes ever created. Silvestri likes to use lots of brass instruments to emphasize despair and it was interesting to hear musical cues that reminded me of the original Predator score. Silvestri does a fine job of combining some of the music from most of the MCU films to date.

Endgame is a strong film through and through and will be a lot of people’s favorite Marvel film, even though it does run at just over three hours long. The film had so many cheer-worthy moments that fans couldn’t help but be overcome with emotion as this chapter of the MCU ends, even though technically Spiderman: Far from Home is the end of this phase/saga. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for the MCU and how on Earth-66 Kevin Feige will top this film. Kevin Feige has been the executive producer of the majority of the MCU films and has been the mastermind behind the cohesiveness of all these films. But of course, none of these movies would exist without the great Stan Lee. Rumored to be his last cameo in the Marvel films, everyone in the theater cheered when Stan made his heavily awaited appearance in Endgame. Stan Lee, of course, is the creator of many of the Marvel characters and he passed away in November 2018 before he was able to see Endgame. I’m sure he was watching up in Heaven and had one word to say about it: Excelsior!