Category: Animated

Luca

Pixar’s new film Luca is what you would get if Finding Nemo and The Little Mermaid had a beautiful Italian child. While Luca is as richly animated as those films, does it have the same emotional depth and timeless quality they do?

Luca follows two sea monsters living on the coast of Italy. Luca (Jacob Tremblay) is shy and curious, fascinated with the human world but forbidden from exploring it by his parents (Maya Rudolph and Jim Gaffigan). He befriends Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer), who has been living on land in his human form for a while. Alberto helps Luca get the courage to run away from home and visit the nearby village, where they meet Giulia, a spunky young girl preparing to enter a local race. The boys join her racing team to make money to buy a Vespa, but their plans are threatened by the town bully and Luca’s parents, who come on land to find their son.

I’m sad to say that Luca is one of Pixar’s slightest, most underwhelming offerings. While last year’s Soul was ambitious but fell short of reaching its full potential, Luca doesn’t falter in telling its story because there’s not much story here at all. The simple tale about two boys, literally fishes out of the water, gaining acceptance from others and learning not to hide works well as a fable. I’m not saying it needed a more complex plot. But Pixar movies always have multiple layers of meaning, with a narrative aimed at kids and then deeper themes for adults. For example, Finding Nemo, like Luca, is about overprotective parents. In Finding Nemo however, Marlin’s fears are thoughtfully explored in a compelling way for adults, while Nemo’s storyline tells a story for kids about gaining independence. In Luca, Luca’s parents are mostly played for a joke.

Disappointingly, Luca is one-note, never able to balance more than one theme at a time. The first part of the movie is about Luca’s conflicted desire between obeying his parents and discovering more about the human world. Once he decides to explore the human world, this conflicting emotion is never revisited. Once he and Alberto explore the human world and Alberto becomes worried Luca will abandon him, they have one fight. Luca makes it up to Alberto by proving that he won’t abandon him, and all is resolved. The sea monsters are worried throughout the film that the humans will reject them, but after the only encounter where Alberto and Luca’s true identities are revealed, the humans accept them, and it’s completely resolved. A story can be simple while still having depth. But Luca feels like a story of bullet points, rather than a narrative woven together. 

Despite these issues, what keeps the film together is the atmosphere. After last summer, which didn’t feel like much of a summer at all due to COVID restrictions, there is something truly refreshing about seeing a movie that is rich with sensory details. You can feel the warmth of the sun beating down on the Italian Riviera! You can feel the cobblestones beneath your feet. You can almost taste the gelato! (Side note- I had pasta and gelato before watching, and I highly recommend it to get you into the mood to watch). This film made me really, really want to ride a Vespa and feel the wind in my hair as I roll down the Italian countryside. While I can’t see Luca being a timeless, rewatchable film, it is a pleasurable experience. If you have young children, or enjoy animated movies and want to celebrate summer, Luca is a charming way to pass the time. But raise an Italian soda with me: here’s to hoping Pixar gets its groove back soon.

-Madeleine D.

Triple Feature: Raya and the Last Dragon, Justice League, and Godzilla vs Kong

I’m back!

April was a hectic month, but never fear! I did watch movies, and I’ve got some thoughts on these recent blockbusters and streaming hits to help you navigate what you should watch next, from the latest Disney family fare to the mythical 4-hour superhero epic to the monster mash that helped re-open the box-office.

Raya and the Last Dragon

Raya and the Last Dragon, which did a simultaneous theatrical and Disney+ premium access release, follows young Raya on a search to find the last dragon in her fantasy world of Kumandra in order to save her father and the world from monstrous creatures called the Drunn.

Out of recent Disney movies, Raya has the most in common to Moana, with a weak pseudo-villain who later becomes a friend, lovable misfits accompanying the protagonist, and rejection of former Disney princess tropes like a romantic interest or ballgowns (and unlike Moana, Raya doesn’t even have musical numbers!). Both films are also set in an amalgamation of vast non-Western regions- Moana of Pacific Islander cultures, Raya of South Asian countries. There is an epic fantasy feel and scope to Raya that is ambitious for Disney (I’d say on par with or exceeding Frozen 2), although as many have pointed out, the world-building is similar to Avatar: The Last Airbender, which has been an influence on the fantasy genre across the board (such as the recent Netflix series adaptation of Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone).

All of those other pieces of media- Moana, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Frozen 2, and Shadow and Bone– are hits with audiences, and Raya is just as likeable as those other films. However, I think it’s more unmemorable, for a simple reason. Because the film tries to cover a lot of ground in complex world-building, it’s so fast-paced that in order to get its numerous messages across- admirable ones about trust and cooperation and forgiveness- these themes must be talked about, rather than shown. Characters talk about the importance of trusting, cooperating, and forgiving one another, but the examples of that happening in the story are rushed. We are told emotions without seeing the characters fully feel them, which means we can’t feel them deeply either. The animation is beautiful and the voicework is strong, but they don’t service a story that can stand up on its own without being overly explained to the audience. This makes Raya feel like it was made for a younger audience than that for which it really was made.

The Snyder Cut

Mamma Mia! Here we go again!

That’s right, 2017’s Justice League is back, and I sat down and watched all of the new 4 hours of it. And I’m here to report that…. It’s fine! It’s better than the original Joss Whedon version (“Josstice League”).

If you like Zack Snyder’s work and his aesthetics, you will love this. This is an auteur completely unbridled, and it means the film has a distinct flavor that differentiates itself from other DC movies, even Snyder’s own. Snyder is not my personal cup of tea, but I see the appeal. He excels at grandeur, using the camera to worships its subject. His visual style is a perfect fit with comic book panel styling, which similarly venerates its god-like subjects. And he puts the extra time to good use giving more story to Cyborg, who becomes the emotional core of the movie, removing the sexism towards Wonder Woman present in Josstice League, and expanding the story so it’s not as rushed or slapped together as it previously was. Most of my issues with the original film– that everything felt hasty and half-baked, unfinished CGI, lame humor– are all fixed. But those problems being fixed doesn’t mean this is an enjoyable four hours.

In case you haven’t been keeping up with the saga of why this “Snyder Cut” came about, I’ll give you the short version. During the production of Justice League, Zack Snyder’s family suffered a terrible tragedy that caused him to leave the film. Joss Whedon, hot off of the newest Avengers movie (my beloved Age of Ultron), was brought in to finish the film. When it was released with negative reviews, the legend of a “Snyder Cut,” a cut of the film that was solely Zack Snyder’s creative vision, unsullied by the studio or Whedon, became to emerge online in fan communities. It continued to grow as more details of both Snyder’s original film came to light, along with more and more ugly allegations against Warner Brother executives and Joss Whedon on the set, primarily from Ray Fischer (who plays Cyborg). In late 2019 the actors took to social media to voice their support for Zack and the cut. This coincided with the development of HBO Max streaming service, which needed original content to entice subscribers. Why not bring back Zack and give him money to complete his original film and serve the fanbase and distract from the Joss Whedon allegations and build up HBO Max? So that’s why we have the Snyder Cut. It’s a juicy Hollywood story, it does make it feel some justice has been served, and it means we will never hear the end of “Release the ___ cut of ___ Movie!”. 

Ultimately, the story about this film is more interesting than the film itself. For fans of DC comics and Snyder, The Snyder Cut is a worthy reward, but I can’t recommend it for anyone else.

Godzilla vs Kong

Is Godzilla vs Kong the best movie of 2021? Ok, maybe that’s hyperbolic (although hyperbole is in line with a movie like this!). But, I’ll argue that it’s the most fun movie of 2021 so far. I’m not usually a fan of monster action movies, and I haven’t seen the other Godzilla or Kong movies. But there are two reasons why I think Godzilla vs Kong worked for me. 

First, we came here to see two CGI monsters duke it out, and director Adam Wingard understood the assignment. We get three epic fights, the first of which could be studied in film school. We have Kong chained down on the boat, unable to fight Godzilla, who’s already at an advantage in the water. Their ancient rivalry has been established; there can only be one winner. The stakes have been set. Our human characters are helpless until, in the eleventh hour, they’re able to help turn the tables of the fight. There’s character development, tension, and suspense. Poetic cinema.

Speaking of the humans, they aren’t annoying! Okay, some of them are. But while such a large cast of characters means no one is well fleshed-out, it also does mean we don’t have to spend too long with any one group of them, so you won’t get bored as the movie jumps between them. Everybody knows what kind of movie they are in and thay all do an excellent job. Rebeca Hall, Kaylee Hottle (joining the proud cinematic tradition of silent young girls), and Brian Tyree Henry are standouts. 

Godzilla vs Kong is fun and silly without feeling phoned in. It’s a love letter to monster movies and good! We need it. While the pandemic continues to rage on worldwide, there is no better time to see a movie that is both escapist fun and reminds us of what the pandemic has taught us- which is that history shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men.

-Madeleine D

Netflix Bundle- Over the Moon, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and The Prom

Over the Moon

Over the Moon is a cute animated film about a young girl in China who believes in a traditional Chinese myth about a goddess who lives on the moon. When the girl’s father introduces her to her future stepmother, the girl builds a rocket to go to the moon goddess for help in breaking up the marriage. 

Over the Moon is best when it takes place on Earth, telling a tender story about grief and blended families. Once the characters get to the moon, the pacing becomes more frantic and the story more silly. Still, through it all, the animation is cartoonish but stylized, and the musical sequences are catchy. It’s the perfect choice for a family film, and I think will be entertaining for older viewers as well. 

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a lot like 2016’s Fences,beyond both being adaptations of August Wilson plays. Both star Viola Davis in mesmerizing performances. Fences was directed by and starred Denzel Washington, and Ma Rainey is produced by him. Both films never utilize the film medium enough to ever feel like anything other than a play, yet both are so incredibly acted and written it doesn’t really matter. Like Fences, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom delves deeply into the specifics of the Black American experience while still exploring universal emotions, even in a period piece. Here, it depicts the struggle of trailblazing Black musicians like Ma Rainey to gain respect and maintain power. The film is worth watching on multiple accounts, but it is especially resonant as Chadwick Boseman’s last film, and he doesn’t disappoint in his intense, soulful performance. 

The Prom

The Prom is based on the 2018 Tony-nominated musical about Broadway actors going to a small town in Indiana to advocate on behalf of a young lesbian, Emma, who is denied the ability to go to prom with her date. While the actors, played in the film by Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Corden, and Andrew Rannells, go for selfish reasons, over the course of their stay they become less self-absorbed and genuinely helpful in bringing about change in town. 

This Ryan Murphy-directed musical has received blowback for James Corden’s performance (I didn’t find it horrendous, but at best, it’s grating and tired), the lack of development for most of the characters, and leaning less into the satire of famous people and more into just focusing on famous people. The film has also been criticized for certain adaptational changes, which is what I find most revealing. One of the key adaptational changes is that Barry (Corden’s character) ends up reuniting with his mother, who kicked him out of the house as a teen. The film also has Kerry Washington’s character redeemed, accepting her gay daughter at the end of the film.

Neither of these story beats are in the musical and seem to me strange choices by Murphy. The LGBTQ+ community has a strong tradition of found families, yet The Prom prioritizes reunion with biological families, even families that treat their children terribly. The Prom is preaching to the choir but doesn’t really represent the diversity and core values of the LGBTQ+ community. In trying to be super palatable for straight people, it ends up feeling mushy and shapeless, like an overly-long musical number.

– Madeleine D.

Soul

*Spoilers

Soul, Pixar’s newest animated feature, now on Disney+, tells the story of Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx), an aspiring musician who, on the day of his big break, nearly dies. His soul is transported into The Great Beyond, where he must pair up with another soul, Number 22 (Tina Fey), and try to get back to his body. 

Since this is a Pixar movie, it goes without saying that the animation is stunning and the music, character design, and voice work is excellent. Soul is beautiful to look at and enjoyable for all ages. 

Yet Soul, to me, is far from the studio’s strongest efforts, for a few reasons. 

At this point, I am sick of depicting the afterlife as a bureaucracy, a place of lines and procedures and paperwork. This has, disappointingly, become a default-characterization. Soul desperately avoids being religious, but choosing to depict the afterlife in this way is disappointing and speaks volumes of the lack of imagination we as a culture have that we can’t picture an afterlife as being any greater than our own workplaces. We hesitate to imagine what divine, beyond-Earth splendor- or horror- could actually be. 

2013’s Inside Out, the clear predecessor to Soul (both are directed by Pete Doctor) has a similar depiction. Inside Out shows the inside of the human mind as also being a place of rules and regulations. This depiction wasn’t as annoying in Inside Out, not only because it was the first film to do it but also because Inside Out was clearly a metaphor for what could be going on in someone’s brain, and, to an extent, what a person imagines their own mind to be like. It makes sense that a character like 12-year old Riley could only imagine her head as a workplace because that’s what she’s exposed to. It was an interior look, while Soul aims to explore something spiritual, something beyond us, yet can’t imagine it as anything beyond us. 

Granted, there are moments of visual imagination when it comes to the afterlife. One of my favorite sequences is the climax, where Joe goes to find 22 and discovers that she has become a “lost soul.” The visuals of this sequence are gripping and shows just how good Pixar can be when they lean into the darkness. Joe is able to rescue 22 by speaking to her compassionately, following a new (and welcomed) trend where the protagonist and antagonist do not fight, but the protagonist extends grace to the antagonist and coaxes them out of their actions (see also Moana, A Wrinkle in Time, Over the Moon, and Wonder Woman 1984).

The lost souls are depicted as people who have just lost their love of life; their “lostness” is not tied to their actions or sin or consequences. If you don’t love life enough, you are a lost soul. It’s not bad, per se. But it does feel a little flimsy, especially considering the stronger choices Soul promises but pulls back on. In this same sequence, the movie sets up Joe to be making a great sacrifice to give 22 life. But then he is immediately granted another chance at life, meaning there is no sacrifice, cutting short the possibility of real consequences and emotional stakes. The lack of strong emotional stakes tie into Soul’s likewise muted moral, which boils down to: don’t forget to stop and smell the roses, and, you’re a human be-ing, not a human do-ing. These are good messages, and there are several lovely moments of the film that call attention to everyday beauty. But these morals are not new, nor do they completely fit in with a movie that still spends more time on Joe’s musical ambitions than they do any other part of his life. Soul argues that Joe needs to care about more than his music, yet that is all that the movie fleshes out about Joe. 

This is not the only way Joe is held at a distance from the audience. Throughout the movie, his soul jumps into several different forms. As reviewer Andrew Tejahda writes for Tor.com: “it’s hard to ignore that [Soul’s] main plot can’t work unless a black man is left stranded outside his body and robbed of his identity. His drastic transformations kept creating distance between us and his true self. This left the impression that this beautiful looking Pixar film wasn’t fully connected to its main character’s…well, soul.” 

Soul is fun to watch and is certainly one of the best animated films of 2020, but it is hard to shake the feeling that it’s a missed opportunity, or could have been better with a little more direction. 

– Madeleine D.

Taking It To Eleven: Frozen 2

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*Major spoilers!

The biggest complaint I’ve heard about Frozen 2 is something along the lines of “Frozen didn’t need a sequel.” To which I say, does anything ever need a sequel? How do you even justify a fictional story continuing? No fictional story actually needs to be continued. Sure, we know why Frozen 2 actually exists: to make money. So do all sequels. The question is really, is the sequel a good film? 

I would also argue that, of all the animated movies out there that could benefit from a sequel, Frozen is one of the top. Frozen was a rush job from Disney- reworked at the last minute and plagued with production troubles from the beginning. The film is oddly paced, tonally inconsistent, and hints at darker themes but is stubbornly shallow in many regards, including its half-hearted jabs at Disney’s past that acts as meta-commentary. But, despite the chaos, there was enough gold there, enough sparks of inspiration, that it became a worldwide phenomenon (and one of the most financially successful films of all time). 

So Frozen 2 is a test: can Disney understand what parts of Frozen made it so popular, trim the fat, and get to the core? Can Frozen 2 build upon the first, or will it be a retread, with all the warts of the first? 

In my opinion, Frozen 2 is an excellent sequel. It builds perfectly upon the first. 

Frozen 2 figures out what people love about Frozen: the sister bond between Anna and Elsa, the music, the timeless-yet-progressive-but-not-too-daring script, the dark undertones of Elsa’s powers and how she is a mirror for whatever “differentness” you feel, and the primal urge to scream-sing as you pretend to blast ice from your hands. Frozen 2 takes all those things to an eleven. It has an epic quality that many animated films aren’t able to capture. It takes elements from horror and superhero and fantasy films and weaves them together through exciting visual and narrative choices that present a truly moving spiritual coming-of-age story of Anna and Elsa. 

The animation is stunning. Comparing this film to the first, it’s astonishing how sharp and clear the animation is after just six years. The music is also as compelling as the first, although because the whole soundtrack is more elevated and heightened, there is no one standout “Let it Go,” despite Disney marketing “Into the Unknown” as such (personally it’s “Show Yourself” that sends shivers down my spine each time I listen to it).

The shaky foundations laid for each character in the first film get expanded upon. Anna is given more substantive character traits than quirky and clumsy and is transformed into a believable leader. She makes several tough decisions and sacrifices in the film and multiple emotional moments. 

Kristoff is relegated to the sidelines, but he does get a great musical number. His storyline is primarily a comedic b-storyline about trying to propose to Anna, but under that is a rather touching lesson in learning how to be a more mature partner. He also says the two most romantic lines of the movie (and possible any Disney movie ever): “I’m here. What do you need?” and “My love is not fragile.” His storyline is a continuation of a theme from the first film: that true love isn’t instant; relationships, both the romantic and familial kind, take work. 

As for Elsa, she continues to represent all the weird and repressed older sisters out there. She gets all the grandiose moments, but those are balanced with exploration of her shy and reserved personality, traits which aren’t framed as something to get rid of. She is loved and accepted by the more spunky and extroverted Anna, and as long as Elsa continues growing and loving people, then it’s okay. 

Like its predecessor, Frozen 2 hints at much deeper themes and ideas but hesitates to commit to them. For example, after much fanfare, Elsa is not confirmed to be LGBTQ+. Also, this movie stresses that Anna and Elsa’s parents were kind and loving, and not the abusive ones Frozen sort of suggested they were. But overall, Frozen 2 follows through much more than Frozen, and in the words of Anna’s song, sometimes it’s enough for someone (or a studio) to just do the “Next Right Thing.”

The biggest example of this is that Frozen 2 is kinda about reparations. In this case, it’s about honoring a treaty made with the Northuldra people (an indigenous people group based on the real-life Sámi people in primarily Norway and Sweden). In the film, Anna and Elsa’s grandfather (king of Arendelle) made a deal with the Northuldra people, but then killed their leader and started a battle that ended up imprisoning the Northuldra and some Arendelle people in a forest. To make amends to the tribe and end their imprisonment, Anna has to break a dam, which will unleash enough water to destroy Arendelle. All of the people of Arendelle have been evacuated, but Anna still makes the decision to sacrifice the kingdom to make things right. While I am not familiar enough with the Sámi people to know how they have been treated historically, it’s hard to not draw similarities in this story with the current conversation in America about reparations and making amends for the centuries of genocide and disenfranchisement of Native Americans, African Americans, and other people groups. However, because Disney is a major corporation and not in the business of revolution, Elsa swoops in at the last minute and uses her powers to redirect the water, saving Arendelle. So, yay! We fixed colonialism and we didn’t have to sacrifice anything in order to implement reparations!

Despite the lack of consequences in this film, compared to Disney’s other film about Native Americans and white settlers, 1995’s Pocohantas, this is a big improvement. Frozen 2’s colonialism commentary doesn’t both-sides the argument like Pocohantas, which showed the settlers and the Native Americans as equally responsible for the destruction of the Native Americans. And Disney signed an actual treaty, promising respectful representation, with the Sami people for Frozen 2 and hired Sami people as “cultural consultants”. Yet, Frozen 2 does, like Pocohantas, frame one man as the instigator of violence and the embodiment of racism and hatred. If that one guy hadn’t been so fearful of the people he didn’t understand, then everything would have worked out! Luckily, though, two people can fix this one guy’s actions years later. 

But while those are all things to consider, I still appreciate the effort and zeal of the film, even if it only goes halfway. It’s a positive movement for the Disney company and gives families plenty to talk about, and can even be integrated into conversations about Thanksgiving and the holiday’s origins. 

Frozen 2 exceeded all of my expectations and I think it sets a new standard, not just for sequels, but for Disney animation. Now the question is: is the world ready for a Frozen 3?

Toy Story 4 Video Review ft. Mark Branson Thurston

In honor of Toy Story 4, I wanted to do something special, so I recruited my friend Mark Branson Thurston, a filmmaker and fellow film-lover, to make madeleinelovesmovies.com’s first video review. Mark and I discuss various themes of the film, Woody’s character arc, and whether or not you will cry (I didn’t find it as emotional as the other Toy Story films, but Mark disagreed). I went into Toy Story 4 with low expectations, not believing the movie could live up to the ending of Toy Story 3. What I should have remembered is to never underestimate Pixar. 

Mark Branson Thurston currently resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He loves spending time with family and friends, staying connected with the local churches in the Tulsa Area and is working on scripts as well as treatments for the films as we speak. He is the creator of Notebook Chronicles Studio, where he has made four short films along with a multi-part youtube series, and make one-minute movie reviews.

Notebook Chronicles Website

Youtube

Thurston’s personal quote for film-making is: “Films making us think, cry, laugh, or strive are enjoyable. Creating a film that possesses all of those qualities is what makes it stand out from the rest.”

-Madeleine D.

Movie Minute: Alita, Isn’t It Romantic, and How To Train Your Dragon 3

College is hard, but not as hard as finding good movies to watch between January and April! Here are some that I’ve seen during the beginning-of-the-year movie desert.

Alita: Battle Angel

Related image      Wow, I didn’t know Christoph Waltz was making a second Big Eyes movie!

If anyone was excited for Alita: Battle Angel, it was me. Sure, I’ve never read the comic, and I’m not into anime or manga. But as far as general audiences go, I was ready to love it, because I’m a sucker for a bunch of things promised in this film. A teenage heroine in a dystopian future? Check. Oscar-winning actors in crazy costumes saying hilarious sci-fi jargon? I admit it. Trope of a scientist who goes too far in playing God? Sign me up.

But now I’ve seen it, and now I’m grumpy.

Alita: Battle Angel takes place in a dystopian future where Dr. “father figure at the ready” Ido (Christoph Waltz), a doctor/scientist/scavenger/”hunter-warrior”/Sad Man with a Sad Past™ finds the still-alive brain of a cyborg girl. He puts that brain into the conveniently pre-made cyber body he has, and when the girl, Alita (Rosa Salazar), comes to, she has no memory of her previous life and goes on a series of adventures to discover who she is.

To put it delicately: the script is bad. Real bad. There are too many characters whose arcs go nowhere, the plot is mangled and disjointed, and there is no sense of time in this film. In the first twenty minutes, we know a day has passed, and then after that, there is no sense of a timeline. How long as Alita been with Ido? How long did it take her to become a Hunter-Warrior? Has she really been with romantic interest Hugo for only two days by the time she’s literally ripping out her heart for him? It’s the halfway point of the movie, and I still have no clue the direction of the film or what it is going to be focused on. We’ve been introduced to father/daughter drama, boyfriend drama, big bad guy in the sky drama, hunter-warrior bully drama, gotta find my new sexier body drama, and motorball drama. Which direction are we going in? Oh wait, all six? All six storylines are going to be treated with equal focus so that the main storyline is super unclear and without any sense of urgency?

Well okay then.

If I was to try and find a theme or coherent storyline in this mess, I would say that the film is about all of the characters trying to force identities upon Alita. Ido wants Alita to be his replacement daughter. Hugo wants her to be his girlfriend who he may eventually scrap for parts. Gina Rodriguez wants her to be a soldier. Mahershala Ali wants her to be dead. Jennifer Conelly wants her to be dead. Edward Norton wants her to be dead (seriously, this cast is insane.) 21st Century Fox wants her to be a massive box office hit. But Alita decides to become none of those things.

Yet while all of that is in the movie, it’s not presented as I just presented it, because I don’t think writer/producer James Cameron and director Robert Rodriguez actually see anything wrong with the way the other characters treat Alita. I see the empowerment coming from her asserting her own identity and redefining her relationships with people on her own terms. They see the “empowerment” angle as coming from her beating people up. 

But hey, maybe this whole movie was worth it for the sheer spectacle of watching a scene where, and I’m not kidding, Christoph Waltz is cradling the decapitated, talking head of Alita, and walks past his character’s ex-wife, played Jennifer Connelly, who smirks and says, “you can’t bring our daughter back.” End of scene. I can never unsee it.

Isn’t It Romantic

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Aspiring to be the Deadpool of romcoms, Isn’t It Romantic suffers from being very ill-timed. A film about a cynical, modern woman trapped in a romantic comedy, it delivers a meta-commentary of the genre as it was twenty-five years ago. The film’s loving critique comes only from films that were made between the 1990s and early 2000s. That would have been fine a few years ago, but we’re currently in a new, more diverse and inclusive romcom renaissance with the likes of The Big Sick, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, and Crazy Rich Asians. So while the throwbacks are fun, they don’t feel relevant, putting the entire movie’s premise on a bit of an outdated and uninspired note.

But for what this movie is, it is unabashedly fun. The musical numbers are delightful, the message is easy but sweet, and Rebel Wilson is a capable leading lady with this perfect supporting cast. It’s a rental, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say it put a smile on my face… and made me want to go watch my favorite romcom.*

How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

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The How To Train Your Dragon movies weren’t a pivot part of my childhood like some fans of the series. I saw the first one in theaters and liked it, but didn’t like the second one as much. I’ve always had great respect for the franchise and how revolutionary it was in the animation world, but never truly got why it is so beloved. 

But when I went to go see this film on a whim, with zero expectations, I suddenly understood why people were such hardcore fans of these films. Because they’re awesome.

The animation, score, action sequences, and the characters? Breathtaking, detailed, and compelling. This movie is able to have an epic scale but an intimate narrative. I was particularly surprised that the message of HTTYD3 basically boils down to: part of becoming a man means committing to your loved ones and settling down. I know the audience for this franchise has grown up alongside it, but there is a lot of nuanced (and funny) conversations about responsibility, marriage, and family here that are not only rare for a movie aimed at families but especially for a movie starring a male lead. Hiccup has always been a wonderful role model, but I was reminded just how revolutionary and inspiring his brand of compassionate and empathetic heroism is. He’s a true leader in a way that I think is still rare to find in blockbusters.

Even if you haven’t seen these movies in a while, or only saw the first one, I think you can still go into this movie cold and enjoy it, and I highly recommend you do.

 

*13 Going on 30. And if you disagree with me, a friendly reminder that this film stars Elektra, the Hulk, Captain Marvel, Ulysses Klaw, Ant-Man’s ex-wife Maggie, and Silver Fox from X-Men. It’s an MCU movie, confirmed.

December Round-Up, Part Two

To the tune of “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”

Don’t cry for me, my dear readers
The truth is, I never left you
All through my college days, my mad semester
I kept my promise
Returned with vigor

Here are five of the biggest movies, box-office and awards-wise, that have recently come out.

Bohemian Rhapsody

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I didn’t know much about Freddy Mercury before seeing the film, so for the first half, I spent it thinking, “Rami Malek sure is overacting. I don’t know why he’s being nominated for so many awards.” And then I realized this was just the character, and then it got better.

Bohemian Rhapsody is ambitious in recreating famous Queen performances but never decides if it is a character study of Mercury or a celebration of the band and its music. It ends up trying to do a bit of both, and therefore doesn’t do either full justice. It’s a competently made, standard biopic, but there are enough glimmers of greatness here that makes its by-the-book approach feel like a big let-down.

For someone like me, who didn’t know much about Queen beforehand, I was disappointed that the film didn’t change this fact. It is so focused on Mercury that it 1) pushes the other band members aside, and 2) doesn’t tell me why Queen was so revolutionary in its day. It never explains how this band appeared and delighted the wider public. In that way, the film is claustrophobic and doesn’t have much of an outside perspective. But if you like Queen, it sure wouldn’t hurt, and it does do a good job recreating the feeling of seeing a great concert.

Roma

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A black and white foreign language film about a maid in Mexico City in the 70’s is, frankly, not what I usually want to watch. It was a bit of a chore psyching myself up for it. And it might be the same for you, too, but I think you should watch Roma anyway, even if you don’t love it.

For one, it’s a masterclass in filmmaking. Every beautiful shot is deliberate, and every scene breathes. The movie is excellently paced, in a way that tests the audience’s patience but with purpose. There’s not really a plot, but the stakes are raised so excellently that it never feels aimless.

It’s not a film I would want to rewatch, but I marvel at its craftsmanship. And further, it makes a movie star out of someone who represents a group that is never considered worthy to be a movie star, and there is something precious within that itself. It makes the trials and trivial of life feel epic in scope and worthy of attention, which it is. Life, and every life, is worth paying attention too, and that humanity makes Roma a special film, even if it isn’t the most entertaining or poignant film of the year. And it’s on Netflix! There are no excuses.

Mary Poppins Returns

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Mary Poppins Returns is technically a sequel, but it certainly feels like a remake. It hits the original movie beat-for-beat with most of the songs carefully crafted to be one-to-one remixes of songs from the original. I want to fight against the chronic “safeness” of most of the recent Disney movies, but for this film, I can’t. I fell for Mary Poppins Returns.

It probably helps that I don’t have any nostalgia or feelings towards the original. I’ve seen it, but it was never a favorite of mine or a part of my childhood. For those who do love the original, this movie will either be heresy or a delightful reworking. For me, it was a lovely film that was truly able to be a magical way to end the year. It’s not revolutionary, but it plays to its strengths and is propelled by excellent performances all around. It’s the perfect family film.

Aquaman

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Aquaman can be best described through a scene near the end of the film, so mild spoilers. Arthur Curry/Aquaman goes into the den of a monster to retrieve an important trident. He approaches the monster and begins to talk to her.

Before this moment, Arthur tells another character how he grew up only using his fists and hiding his feelings. So when he began to talk to the monster, I started to get excited. Is this going to buck the trend of superhero movies ending with a big battle? Is the day going to be saved through communication and empathy? Is Arthur Curry going to be an example to young men that coming of age doesn’t have to be tied to acts of violence? Are they doing the same ending as Moana?

Arthur begins saying he is Arthur Curry, son of a lighthouse keeper and Queen Atlanna of Atlantis. He’s a nobody, and that’s what makes him the rightful ruler. I started getting more excited. Wow, the story is going to be about our worth coming from our identity, which empowers us! I looked over at my dad next to me. This could be a sermon illustration or something!

Then Arthur finishes his speech by saying to the monster: “and if you don’t like it, then screw you.” And then he grabs the trident and goes to fight in the big battle that ends the movie. So much for diplomacy and empathy.

I applaud the ambition and complete sincerity that director James Wan and the rest of the cast and crew go about making this movie. They go for it. I never felt a single emotion in the entire film, except for disappointment and lethargy, but they go for it. Perhaps I’m just not the right audience. I don’t care for Aquaman, I don’t know the mythology, and the worldbuilding (which is done with excellent special effects) didn’t interest me. That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be fun for someone who is invested in the character. It’s just a shame it didn’t hook a new fan.

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse

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Into the Spiderverse feels very much like Incredibles 2, except with a completely different moral to the story. Both are beautifully animated films, appeal to both children and adults, and are about superheroes. Both build off previous films, and both came out opposite another superhero movie. And both are the only real competitors for animated movies for this year.

From a story perspective, both get bogged down with plot details and villains who are underbaked and feel more like obligations than actual additions to the story. Particularly in Spiderverse, there are scenes that can feel extremely tedious. The real strength lies in the character interactions. Incredibles 2 makes the most of the family dynamic, while Into the Spiderverse gives a delightful deconstruction of Peter Parker and introduces us to a fantastic new hero in Miles Morales. The scenes that highlight their mentor/mentee relationship are some of the best of the year.

Thematically, the two films are opposite. Incredibles 2 tries to say that every person is responsible for being their own superhero, but undercuts its own message by not having any regular people do anything super. In that way, it feels more of a story about exceptionalism, and how to handle being the exception.

Into the Spiderverse, on the other hand, is all about inclusivity. Everyone can wear a mask.  Everyone can be a superhero. Every race, gender, nationality, and age can be Spiderman. Just check out the #spidersona on twitter to see how this is already inspiring people to imagine themselves as heroes.

Musing on this, I came to an epiphany. It’s no secret I love Marvel films. But by this point, those movies have zero interest in inspiring heroism in the audience. MCU movies are melodramas, fueled by the storylines of the characters. The entire franchise is a big soap opera with lots of episodes. You aren’t supposed to see yourself in Tony Stark or Steve Rogers, you’re supposed to see them interacting with each other and reckoning with their own powers. And that’s great, I love watching superhero drama.

But Into the Spiderverse refocuses the genre. It brings the attention back to the audience. In this way, it is the best tribute to Stan Lee, who created these characters to inspire and teach readers. It’s an excellent film with groundbreaking animation that I would highly recommend if you aren’t completely fatigued with superhero faire. It shows there are still new places to go with comic book stories.

-Madeleine D

December Round-Up, Part One

If you’re anything like me, December, with the holidays, relatives, and breaks from school/work, becomes the perfect month to catch up on all of your movie watching before Oscar season and a new year. In my case, this is also the month where I have the time and mind to catch up on some reviews, so let me offer some suggestions for what movies should be on your “nice” list. Here are six smaller films, some of which were released earlier in the year.

Sorry to Bother You

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It’s useless to try to describe this film to anyone who hasn’t seen it, so I’m just going to say this: if you want to see one of the most bizarre, memorable, and radical pieces of art this year, see Sorry to Bother You. A defiant and explosive mix of satire, parable, and horror, it embodies the chaos our nation felt this year. It feels like 2018 in movie form, and it does so while feeling completely fresh and wholly unique.

A Simple Favor

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The movie equivalent of a twinkie, A Simple Favor is ridiculous and completely over-the-top but is well anchored by a great performance by Anna Kendrick and twists that never stop coming. Its mysteries are not ones the audience is supposed to be able to solve alongside the protagonists, so the fun comes from the absurd escalation of stakes. It’s not a good movie, and but it’s a perfect addition to the emerging Gone Girl knockoff genre. I think it has been well-established by now that yes, women can be crazy, but if you need more evidence, this film will suffice.

The Spy Who Dumped Me

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There have been lots of great films starring women this year, but less starring multiple women and close female friendships (no, Oceans 8 is not enough). The Spy Who Dumped Me then is a fun surprise for its likable and hilarious center of best friends played by Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon. Sure, not every joke in this action caper comedy lands, and it doesn’t quite pay off in the end, but it’s hard for me to dislike a film that made me think of me and my best friend. It’s a solid perfect rental for a light movie night and despite some crudity and gory violence, it ends up being a sweet celebration of friendship.

The Grinch

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Dull. I’ve forgotten most of what happens in it. There is absolutely no reason to watch this instead of the original animated film.

Mowgli

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Thrown onto Netflix after seeing they wouldn’t be able to compete with Disney’s live-action remake, Andy Serkis’s version of the live-action Jungle Book is sadly in the right place, not on the big screen. I applaud the more mature tone and ambition of the film, but it ends up feeling like a joyless slog. Serkis’s effort to differentiate his version from the Disney versions means all of the characters are mean and without any strong characterization, making you wonder why Mowgli likes these unpleasant companions at all. The questionable choice of putting human faces on animals works against the film’s interest, actually keeping most of the actors from being able to get through, with the exception of Christian Bale as Bagheera, who is able to put in the strongest and tenderest performance. Mowgli is never able to give a spin on the story that justifies its existence.

Instant Family

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Instant Family, a movie about a couple (played by an extremely good Rose Byrne and Mark Wahlberg) who take in three foster children, isn’t a revolutionary family dramedy, but it gets the job done. It tells a sweet story that, while sanitized, is still able to get across many of the difficulties and complexities of its subject matter. I’ve been told by at least one family who fosters that the film is very realistic.

For what it’s worth, I cried at the end. True, I watched this right after finals, and its tear-jerker ending was the perfect outlet for my catharsis. But I also think it is just a good film without so much as a drop of cynicism, and I hope it is truly able to do some good and inspire people to accept the noble calling of being a foster parent.

 

-Madeleine D

Just Say No To: Teen Titans GO! To the Movies

Image result for teen titan go to the movies*Major spoilers for Incredibles 2

Exactly 364 days before Teen Titans Go! To the Movies was released, The Emoji Movie was released. A film that was so disgusting, I offered to babysit any child for an hour and a half in exchange for them not to see the film.

While I cannot offer that currently, I wish I could, because Teen Titans Go! To the Movies isn’t deserving of your child’s affection.

Granted, it’s not the worst movie made for people who believe kid entertainment should lack any element of sophistication. And I’ll give it this- the songs are catchy. Most kid movie songs aren’t very catchy.

Now I want to stress that I actually like the TV show this movie is from. I have watched quite a few episodes on Cartoon Network of Teen Titans Go! while babysitting. I understand why it’s popular. The twenty-minute episodes are full of superhero deconstructionism, goofiness, creative visual gags, and appealing characters done by great voice actors. As someone who didn’t know who the Teen Titans were in DC comic lore before the show, I have a better appreciation for the characters and understand why this team has such staying power. If there was an eighteen-year-old sitting in that movie theater by herself that was ready to give this movie a fair shot, it was me.

But some things that are twenty minutes are not meant to be stretched to an hour and a half. Just like emojis are not meant to shoulder a full-length commercial, Teen Titans Go! was not meant to be both Deadpool for kids and a “we read your internet complaints” message from Warner Brothers.

The basic premise of Teen Titans Go! To the Movies is that every superhero has a movie except Robin and the Teen Titans (consisting of Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven). Robin, in particular, wants a movie and will do anything, even find a supervillain and abandon his friends, to do so.

And that’s the whole plot. And it’s stretched ttthhhhiiiiiiiinnnnnnnn. To be fair, it avoids feeling as episodic in structure as many TV shows-turned-into-movies are, but still. The only things moving this story forward to the inevitable moral conclusion are dance numbers and jokes about Batman V Superman. There are a few good gags, and excellent voicework all around, but it’s not enough.

While watching the third fart joke of the film, my mind started to wander, and I decided to reflect on the philosophical implications of Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. The villain, Slade, has an evil plan that, not to spoil anything, basically involves using screens to mind control people, including other heroes like the Justice League. He gains control of people’s screens through superhero movies, and because superheroes are too busy staring in these movies, they aren’t around to save people.

That is actually an interesting idea, that we spend too much time consuming media about superheroes but not actually enacting the morals they are supposed to teach us. And at the end of the film, Robin decides that it is better to be a superhero with his friends than a movie star.

However that message is defeated by the fact that this is a movie, and half of the runtime is dedicated to selling how cool superhero movies are. So kids are probably not going to walk away thinking- I should consume less superhero media and instead live out the values I have learned from them so I may serve my neighbors and community. I’m pretty sure they’ll be thinking, Robin and the Teen Titans are so cool! I want to watch more of their show! I wish I could be a movie star!

But you know what other movie has a villain with this exact same plan? Incredibles 2. In that film, Screensaver/Evelyn Deavor uses screens to control superheroes. She believes the existence of superheroes makes the public weak and passive, believing someone else will save them. So she uses mind control to make the superhero’s fail publicly, and ruin their reputation forever. She believes this will force people to become active again.

The “who did it first” argument doesn’t really matter here, although I’m going to give it to Incredibles 2, considering that Teen Titan Go! To the Movies looks like a rush job. The point is, we have two children’s films where the main question is: do superheroes (and superhero movies) make us more passive, easier to mind-control? Teen Titans does very little with the premise, ultimately burying it under the goofiness and flippant style of the film. Incredibles 2 thinks through it more clearly and ultimately comes to the conclusion that it’s on us to be superheroes, although we should let superheroes share their gifts. Both films suffer by having only the superheroes save the day, when thematically it would probably be better to get some human people in there, but Incredibles 2 gets to the heart of both the problem and appeal of superheroes, even more than the meta-Teen Titans Go!

And plainly, Incredibles 2 is a much better film. It is for both kids and adults. So why not see that? Unless you are a strong Teen Titans Go! TV show fan, this movie will feel like a chore. It’s a bummer there aren’t more animated movies out this year, but there are plenty of classic family movies to rent or stream. In a world with so many movies, why pay to see this one? Or watch a few episodes of the TV show instead. The Teen Titans may be going to the movies, but you don’t have to.

-Madeleine D