Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

Tags

Comedy, Romance

When money’s no object,
There’s no need for greed.
You know there’s enough
To go round guaranteed.

Go buy a skyscraper
With price tag untold;
Go drink the best wines
From a glass of pure gold.

Go build a palazzo
With fountains and streams
That flow through the house
Bearing all of your dreams.

You think you’d find better,
More sane things to do,
But if I were that rich,
I might go nuts too.
______________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

The romantic comedy hasn’t gotten much love since the 1990s, has it? After the heyday of Nora Ephron, it’s languished in clichés (just look at the recent parody Isn’t It Romantic?), and even the good ones (Elizabethtown, Music and Lyrics) have rarely enjoyed both critical and commercial success. In 2017, The Big Sick seemed to buck that trend, but Crazy Rich Asians really breathed new life into the clichés and broke some barriers along the way, though it may be too soon to say it’s revived the genre in a lasting way.

Constance Wu plays NYU professor Rachel Chu, whose boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding) invites her to a hometown friend’s wedding back in Singapore, where she soon finds out that she’s dating the most coveted bachelor in the country and heir to a huge fortune. While that would normally be a dream come true, she is faced with the hurdles of both jealous rivals and Nick’s judgmental mother Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh), along with a host of extended family members to navigate.

The core plot of Crazy Rich Asians isn’t all that revolutionary, but it features plenty of opulent visuals and good humor delivered by its all-Asian cast, making up for Hollywood’s limited Asian representation with one huge and lavish ethnic crowd-pleaser. At the same time, it weaves in some unique and subtle themes, particularly involving Yeoh in disapproving mother mode; you don’t often see examples of cultural prejudice, which is apparently more prevalent outside the U.S., where everything has become about race lately. Nick’s mother and Rachel are both ethnically Chinese, but Rachel’s American upbringing makes her selfish and unworthy in Eleanor’s eyes, a conflict that is beautifully resolved with some excellent acting between Wu and Yeoh.

While Crazy Rich Asians has many merits and many advocates to praise them, it does falter at times. Despite the best efforts of Ken Jeong and Awkwafina, there aren’t enough laughs for the comedy side of things, and the splendor of the wealthy Singaporeans sometimes went annoyingly over-the-top, which was probably the point considering the film’s title. Back when I reviewed The Philadelphia Story, I had to disagree with Jimmy Stewart’s line “The prettiest sight in this fine pretty world is the privileged class enjoying its privileges.” The same holds true here. The lifestyles of the rich and famous can become insufferable with excess, and Crazy Rich Asians features that same irritating materialism, including the strangest wedding ceremony I think I’ve ever seen, at least as far as set design (though the film does incorporate other positive elements, such as Eleanor’s Christian faith).

Negatives aside, Crazy Rich Asians manages to live up to its name and to the more favorable side of its genre. As a fan of good romantic comedies, I’m glad that it was so wildly successful and hope that other unique and well-made rom coms will follow in its wake.

Best line: (Wye Mun Goh, Rachel’s friend’s father, speaking to his son at the dinner table) “Uh, you haven’t finished your nuggets yet, sweetie. Okay, there’s a lotta children starving in America. Right? I mean, take a look at her.” [Points at Rachel]

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2019 S.G. Liput
608 Followers and Counting

 

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2019 Blindspot Pick #1: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974)

Tags

Classics, Comedy

 

King Arthur and his band of knights
Were questing for the Holy Grail.
(We only know the big highlights
Or else ‘twould be a boring tale.)

Their names in legend often show,
Like Galahad and Lancelot,
Though some had names we’ll never know
Because they liked to dance a lot.

They fought with dragons, rabbits, lust,
And knights called green ere green was cool.
So yes, they quested, as discussed,
Don’t read it; watch the film, you fool!
_____________________

MPAA rating: PG (should definitely be PG-13)

Well, I’ve gotten 2019 off to a slow start as far as this blog. I’m already behind on my Blindspots, but it’s time to get started.

So why did I select Monty Python and the Holy Grail as a Blindspot pick this year? I thought it was about time that I see the source of lines like “It’s only a flesh wound,” which has creeped into the everyday speech of even those of us who haven’t seen this classic comedy. Honestly, there are so many well-known scenes from this irreverent British farce that I just wanted to see whatever connected them. (Note that the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog made it onto my Top Twelve Rabbits in Movies even before I’d watched the full movie.) Plus, I came to realize, although I’ve seen the likes of John Cleese and Michael Palin, I’ve never seen the whole Monty Python troupe together as they are in their first film, each of them playing multiple varied roles.

While I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t much connective tissue between the individual memorable scenes apart from King Arthur’s quest for the Grail, there were plenty of chuckles to go around. Sometimes it was random meta moments like escaping from an animated creature because the animator keeled over or even more random gags that became funnier with repetition. Some of the jokes do go on too long, losing their humor in the process, but even this weakness often becomes another chance for the film to poke fun at itself. (“Get on with it!”) I also got to recognize moments that have been borrowed in other media, like the way the Knights’ Trojan Rabbit is heard being constructed in the woods.

The hilarity wasn’t constant, but Monty Python and the Holy Grail certainly made me laugh with its rye British absurdity, even right from the start with the opening credits about moose and llamas. (It reminded me of the equally hilarious end credits of a weird little film called Roller Town. Seriously, why don’t more movies use their credits as part of the jokes?) The ending was a bit of a letdown, abrupt in a way that reminded me of An American Werewolf in London, but I can see why Holy Grail has become such a lauded and influential comedy, even if it’s not among my personal favorites. I did like those French insults, though, and will be looking for chances to use them myself. 😉

Best line:  (French soldier/heckler) “I don’t want to talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2019 S.G. Liput
607 Followers and Counting

 

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Tags

Action, Animation, Comedy, Family, Superhero

The universe is vast and grand
And larger than we can explore,
Yet what if there were more than one
With possibilities galore.

In one dimension, you might be
Reclining underneath a tree.
In one, you’re driving;
One, in bed;
In one, surviving;
One, you’re dead.
In one, you may be ten feet tall
Or climbing up a building wall.
In one, your hair is blond or red;
Another, you have none at all.

You might be human or a fish
Or living in a Petri dish,
Or made of metal, made of wood;
You might be evil, might be good;
You might be famous or obscure,
Or wearing tentacles or fur.

Who knows what new alternative
Beyond dimension walls might live?
____________________

MPAA rating:  PG (probably the most family-friendly big-screen version of Spider-Man to date)

Many out there who are experiencing superhero fatigue might roll their eyes at the prospect of yet another Spider-Man movie. After all, they’ve already covered this Marvel character with an excellent trilogy with Tobey McGuire, two lesser reboot films with Andrew Garfield, and an MCU incarnation with Tom Holland, so how else could another film retread the same material? A better question after actually watching Into the Spider-Verse is “How can a film with so much prior history turn out to be possibly the most original and innovative movie of the year?”

I remembered the Spider-Man cartoon from the ‘90s had multiple versions of Peter Parker teaming up at times, but I never expected that kind of universe-spanning storyline to make it to the big screen, considering that the spider-mantle keeps getting handed off every few years. Animation was clearly the best medium for it, especially with the involvement of producers Christopher Miller and Phil Lord (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Lego Movie), the latter of whom also co-wrote the screenplay.

The story is quite simply everything we know and love about Spider-Man mixed, mutated, and amalgamated in ways I never thought I’d see. By diving into the multiverse, full of different incarnations of the wall-crawler, it combines the familiar with the new to create something fun and unexpected. For one thing, there are at least seven spider-people total, along with alternate versions of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, and while the story focuses on Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), a black teen bitten by a universe-hopping spider, there is so much going on in Into the Spider-Verse that I won’t even try describing it all, which is best anyway since I don’t do outright spoilers anymore.

Miles himself is an authentic and relatable kid, street-savvy but smart, who is pulled in way over his head when the hulking Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) opens up a portal to other dimensions, summoning varied Spider-people, from a spider-powered Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) to an over-the-hill Peter Parker (Jake Johnson) to a talking pig from a universe of funny animals (John Mulaney). While it gets as crazy as it sounds, the characters are marvelously written, each one with their own in-jokes, histories, and personal arcs, most notably the older version of Peter Parker, who is forced to mentor Miles in order to get back to his own universe.

The character dynamics are great, yet I feel like I’ve barely scratched everything to love about this movie. I never knew much about Miles Morales’ origin story in the comics, but it’s hard to imagine it being better than this film version. There are touchstones to the familiar Spider-Man origin, but it plays out with clever and unique differences, which, along with the multitude of jokes and gags, especially reward the geeky knowledge of fan nerds like me. I don’t usually like familiar characters being reimagined for the sake of diversity, as Hollywood so often does, but the multiverse concept is the perfect way to handle it, introducing new versions of characters, whether it be a black Spider-Man or an anime-style girl and robot team, while leaving the familiar intact.

And let’s not forget the animation; it’s quite literally unlike anything we’ve seen before, a mixture of 2D and 3D with images that feel ripped from the panels of a comic book while also boasting amazingly fluid action scenes. Somehow, the mixing of animation styles (anime, exaggerated cartoon) merges with the main style seamlessly, which fascinates me to no end. Comics are an unmistakable visual influence, such as the dotted background texture of many scenes, and I liked how thought bubbles and such became more pronounced when Miles began experiencing the heightened senses of his spider-powers.

Speaking of heightened senses, the animation in Into the Spider-Verse is likely to yield sensory overload, not unlike Lord and Miller’s earlier film The Lego Movie. The pace and visuals are similarly frenetic, though more sophisticated and not as hard to follow, especially during the eye-popping, reality-warping finale, which might be as close as I ever get to an LSD trip. Every scene is full of such life and detail that I honestly cannot wait to see it again.

While I loved everything –characters, animation, action, story, the touching Stan Lee cameo/tribute—I will say one thing didn’t thrill me, namely the soundtrack. Befitting the urban setting of Miles’ world, it’s largely hip hop and rap, the value of which still eludes me. (Seriously, what’s catchy about someone talking to a beat?) Post Malone’s “Sunflower” was the only song I halfway liked, but that’s likely a personal gripe, since I’ve heard other people laud the soundtrack. One brief scene featured a great little snippet of John Parr’s “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion),” which only made me wish the soundtrack had less rap and more ‘80s rock.

My VC enjoyed the movie overall and agreed the visuals were amazing and Oscar-worthy, yet, though she recognized the trippy style as something outstanding, it simply wasn’t for her. Then again, she also tends to discount the value of animation, viewing it generally as lesser than live-action, to which I quote the talking pig: “You got a problem with cartoons?” I certainly don’t. This film just keeps getting better in my head the more I think about it, and I’m actually looking forward to the inevitable spin-offs and sequels it will spawn. If you have any fondness for the character of Spider-Man, I suspect there is something or many things you will love about this movie. Spider-Man may be a well-worn franchise by now, but Into the Spider-Verse just reinvented it in a way no one saw coming.

Best line:  (Miles, buying a Spider-Man costume) “Can I return it if it doesn’t fit?”  (Stan Lee) “It always fits, eventually.”

 

Rank: List-Worthy

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
600 Followers and Counting!

 

2018 Blindspot Pick #11: The Sandlot (1993)

Tags

Comedy, Family, Sports

 

When I was a child,
I spake as a child,
And acted as foolish as children will do.
Yet now that I’m older
And ought to be wiser,
I find there’s more worry than wisdom in view.
That’s why I, like many, now crave what we lack,
Some innocent childhood foolishness back.
_______________________

MPAA rating: PG

It looks like I won’t be able to quite finish my Blindspot series before the end of the year, but I’ll at least get as close as possible with eleven. (That just leaves Pan’s Labyrinth, which should be first thing next year.) Growing up, I always skipped The Sandlot when I saw it in the kid’s section of Blockbuster – is it weird that this makes me feel old when it wasn’t that long ago? – mainly because I’ve never been a fan of baseball. Then, fairly recently but all of a sudden, I heard people at work saying it’s “the best movie ever,” and I started hearing people say “You’re killin’ me, Smalls,” as if it were some classic line I’d never heard before. That’s when I decided I had to see what was so great about this little ‘90s family film that has somehow amassed a cult following.

The Sandlot is a healthy dose of juvenile nostalgia, one which most viewers should be able to relate to their childhood, even if it’s set back in the summer of 1962. Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry) is the new kid in town, awkward and wimpy as he tries to join a local group of kids on their baseball field. While most of them have no patience for a kid who can’t even throw a ball, Benny Rodriguez (Mike Vitar) reaches out to him and allows him to enjoy the summer as part of the team, which includes various misadventures and a giant terrifying beast on the far side of the fence.

Like The Goonies or Clue, it’s the kind of film that I wish I’d seen when I was younger, because it might well have been a cherished classic by now for me as well. The vignettes of childhood camaraderie and conflict and what matters to an acceptance-seeking tween reminded me at times of Disney’s Recess series and A Christmas Story, thanks also to the nostalgic narration of a grown-up Scotty. There were also echoes of Stand By Me, but thankfully the amusingly juvenile insults lobbed among the kids are kept far more PG-rated. There are no instantly recognizable child stars here (though it was nice to see James Earl Jones), but that only helped each of the young cast feel like real kids, trading taunts, having fun, and exaggerating danger.

There are scenes that go on a bit too long, but overall The Sandlot was a fun film that didn’t require a love of baseball to enjoy. The friendship between Scotty and Benny is also a laudable example for other kids to follow; inviting an outsider into the group and having the patience to help them fit in are not common behaviors for most kids, so I hope this movie helped make some playgrounds friendlier out there. I’m not sure why “You’re killing me, Smalls” has become such a repeated line, since it was only used twice and not that prominently, but at least I’ll get the reference from now on. It’s certainly a film I’d watch with my own kids some day.

Best line: (Babe Ruth, in a dream) “Remember, kid, there’s heroes and there’s legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die. Follow your heart, kid, and you’ll never go wrong.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
600 Followers and Counting!

 

Love Actually (2003)

Tags

Christmas, Comedy, Drama, Romance

 

Love can strike like lightning
Or love can burn like embers,
And what the world at large forgets
The heart in love remembers.

Love’s not as easy as it looks
In film or paperback,
And yet it must be worth the fail
And worth the coming back.

Some fake ideal that isn’t real
Could not move hearts and minds
As love has done for everyone
Who waits and seeks and finds.
______________________

MPAA rating: R (for unnecessary language and nudity, better as a PG-13 if you catch it cut on TV)

It’s about time I got around to seeing this movie. I love a good Christmas movie or a good rom com, so I was bound to enjoy Love Actually, considering its devoted fanbase who consider it a modern classic. It’s hard to believe that it’s fifteen years old now, but it’s a definite charmer with a most impressive ensemble and a sprawling plot that’s like a mixture of Cloud Atlas and a Hallmark movie.

Where to begin on the cast? It’s amazing how many respected British thespians pop up throughout, each with their own little story of romantic love woven among the others. Liam Neeson plays a grieving widower trying to help his son Sam (an adorable Thomas Sangster) with first love, and the boy goes to school with the kids of a husband and wife played by Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson, whose marriage might be in danger, while Thompson is brother to the new love-struck British prime minister (Hugh Grant). Those are only three of the subplots mixed into this melting pot of holiday tales; also present are Colin Firth, Keira Knightley, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rowan Atkinson, Andrew Lincoln of The Walking Dead (I didn’t even know he had a British accent), Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Martine McCutcheon, Laura Linney, Rodrigo Santoro (Lost alert!), and Bill Nighy as an aging and unashamedly vulgar rock star trying to peddle his latest cash grab of a single.

I love these kinds of interrelated stories, which is why I’m so partial to even divisive plots like Lost and Cloud Atlas. Sure, they’re often messy and take time to unravel, but it’s in the unraveling and the connections that we get a glimpse into the interconnectedness of everyday life, which is among my favorite themes. Director Richard Curtis sells it all with good humor, holiday spirit, and shameless romanticism, though not every story has an idealistic ending. Confessions of love abound, and it’s a cold heart that won’t find multiple scenes worth smiling at.

Even so, it is a tad tiresome having to juggle all the storylines, which flit back and forth without warning and could have used a more critical hand at the editing table. Some further editing might also have removed the entirely unnecessary R-rated content featuring some porn stars (Martin Freeman and Joanna Page). I thankfully saw the film on cut TV, and while I would have liked to have seen Freeman, the removal of the nude scenes took absolutely nothing from the film. Plus, while others may love him, I found Bill Nighy’s rock bum more irritating than funny.

The most fascinating thing about Love Actually for me is, naturally, the connections, not in the film but among the cast. I chuckled at seeing Rickman as Thompson’s husband, since he ended up as her brother-in-law in Sense and Sensibility, where Hugh Grant was her love interest rather than her brother. Likewise, Keira Knightley co-starred with Bill Nighy in the first two Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, though they have no scenes together here, and it was unexpected to see Elizabeth Swann marrying Mordo from Doctor Strange. The best connection, though, (and one not everyone may be aware of) was when I realized that the crush of Sangster’s young Sam was played by Olivia Olson. Luckily, I know their names from the cartoon Phineas and Ferb, where Sangster’s Ferb happens to have a long-standing crush on Dr. Doofenschmirtz’s daughter, who is voiced by Olson. It may matter little, but it was a likely intentional Easter egg I never realized was there when I used to watch that show.

I should also mention Red Nose Day Actually, the anniversary/sequel that came out last year as a fundraising short for Curtis’s Red Nose Day charity event. Even if I didn’t have to wait fourteen years between them like everyone else did, it was a delight catching up many of the characters, and I applaud so many of the stars for returning to take part, though sadly the late Alan Rickman could not and Emma Thompson abstained out of respect for his memory. It also managed to create some happy endings out of the dangling threads from the original, so it’s quite a treat for fans, one of which I now consider myself.  Not every character is as likable as I wish, but I can certainly see why Love Actually has gathered such a following, and I gladly will add it to my holiday watch list from now on, at least when it’s cut on TV.

Best line:  (Aurelia’s sister to people nearby) “Father is about to sell Aurelia as a slave to this Englishman.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
600 Followers and Counting!

 

The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

Tags

Christmas, Comedy, Family, Fantasy

 

It was late Christmas Eve, and no sleeper was up.
The cookies were plated, warm milk in each cup.
The snow held a silence, which barely was broken
When Santa Claus came, thinking none had awoken.

He leapt from the sleigh with his sack close at hand,
Entrusting the reindeer to wait on demand,
And nimbly invaded each chimney and home
In a fashion not often depicted in poem.

His task soon completed, rewarding the good,
Saint Nick headed off to the next neighborhood,
When high in the air with the reindeer full speed,
He felt a small tap, as of someone in need.

Well, Santa, unused to surprises, no doubt,
Spun round in his sleigh and began freaking out,
Which then made the reindeer do likewise ahead,
And what happened next should be watched and not read.
__________________________

MPAA rating: TV-PG

Imagine The Santa Clause, Adventures in Babysitting, and Gremlins all mashed together into a surprisingly enjoyable amalgamation of good-natured holiday spirit. If you can also imagine Kurt Russell as a slimmed-down Santa Claus, then you’ve got Netflix’s The Christmas Chronicles.

Christmas movies have long speculated about how Santa does what he does, from The Santa Clause and The Polar Express to Elf and ‘Twas the Night, and The Christmas Chronicles is a welcome addition to such conjecture, with its magical portals and cute, fuzzy elves. As the poem above suggests, a bickering brother and sister (Judah Lewis and Darby Camp) sneak their way onto Santa’s sleigh, causing it to crash in Chicago, where they must help Santa Kurt retrieve his reindeer and sack in time to save Christmas.

Of all the movies I’ve name-dropped, the closest comparison is definitely Adventures in Babysitting, not only for the Chicago setting but for entire sections of the plot (captured by criminals, a marvelous musical number with almost the same bluesy guitar riff). However, it manages to add charm to its more familiar elements, thanks in large part to Kurt Russell, who will surely go down as one of the great Santa depictions on film. Part of that is how non-traditional he is, often grousing over the false clichés about him spread through advertising (he’s not that fat apparently), yet there’s a winking warmth to him that never lets cynicism win out.

It may not be the most original of Christmas films, but The Christmas Chronicles may well become a new holiday classic for family audiences. Netflix certainly seems to have had faith in it, commissioning four elf character balloons at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year to promote it. While the suggestion that no gifts equals no Christmas goes against the better lesson of Dr. Seuss’s Grinch, The Christmas Chronicles is an entertaining jaunt of heart-warming humor from start to smile-worthy finish, which any fan of Adventures in Babysitting or The Santa Clause is likely to enjoy this Christmas (and many more to come).

Best line:  (Teddy) “Can’t you just wave your hand, and, like, Jedi mind-trick the cops?”   (Santa) “I’m Santa Claus, Teddy, not Yoda.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
599 Followers and Counting

 

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Tags

Action, Comedy, Sci-fi, Superhero

When deadly traps and finger snaps can bring the universe to dust,
And most heroics boil down to saving life itself or bust,
It’s effortless becoming numb to world-annihilating threats
And yawning while you wait until the pall of doom and gloom resets.

And that is why you sometimes want some slightly more light-hearted fun,
Reminding you not every story has to be a cosmic one.
A chase, a smile, a smaller trial, when carried out with proper style,
Has enough unique appeal to satisfy this cinephile.
____________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

It’s simply a coincidence that I planned to review a Marvel movie the day after the great Stan Lee’s death. While I’m still deeply saddened at the loss of a comic book icon, I’m also grateful for his cultural contributions, which have not only taken over the 21^st-century box office but have provided countless hours of entertainment, a prime example of which is Ant-Man and the Wasp.  The first Ant-Man was an unlikely success that surprised more than a few skeptical viewers, and I’m just as surprised that its follow-up is even better.

A light-hearted caper like Ant-Man and the Wasp was bound to leave one of two impressions, coming on the heels of a huge, stuffed, sobering juggernaut like Avengers: Infinity War. Either it would be seen as fluff filler that felt out of place after Infinity War’s cliffhanger, or it would be a refreshingly light change of pace from the end-of-the-world exploits we’ve come to expect from the MCU, not unlike the first Ant-Man. Though some critics have voiced the former view, I favor the latter. While Marvel excels at balancing its doom and gloom with humor, sometimes you need a superhero movie where the stakes stay relatably small, and what better vehicle for those “small” stakes than Ant-Man himself?

Of course, the key to ensuring that such a small-stakes story still matters is letting the stakes matter to the characters. After the public debacle in Captain America: Civil War, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is nearing the end of his house arrest and remains a lovably earnest father to his daughter Cassie. Meanwhile, original Ant-Man Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) are on the run from the government while seeking Hank’s long-lost wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) somewhere in the infinitesimal Quantum Realm. Chasing both clues and tech to make that possible, they recruit Scott into their risky size-altering mission.

Ant-Man was a heist film at its core, and while Ant-Man and the Wasp retains a lot of its predecessor’s style, it transmogrifies it into a twisty nonstop chase, freewheeling from one fight or set piece to the next with gleeful abandon. It’s essentially a MacGuffin hunt, with the MacGuffin usually being Pym’s tech-filled lab shrunk to the size of a breadbox. (The way it’s tossed around, he must have everything in the building bolted down!) Of course, Pym and Hope need it to save the original Wasp, but it’s also desired by a greedy small-time gangster (Walton Goggins) and by the semi-intangible Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), whose intentions are more sympathetic than most Marvel antagonists.

Rudd and Lilly continue to strengthen their tag team chemistry, and while it’s significant that Lilly’s Wasp is the first title superheroine of the MCU (and the last of the original Avengers roster from the comics to join), she owns the role in a way that makes a kick-butt female with wings seem only natural as Ant-Man’s partner. (By the way, can she use the wings when she’s normal-sized or just when shrunk? I know I’d be using them all the time.) Also returning is Michael Peña’s Luis, who is still possibly the best comic relief sidekick of the MCU, and Randall Park makes a fun appearance as Scott’s parole officer trying to catch him in the act of breaking his house arrest.

Ant-Man and the Wasp may not have the star power or all-around epicness of Infinity War, but I can honestly say that I enjoyed it just as much for different reasons (and minus the soul-crushing deaths). It’s a smaller affair than others of its MCU brethren, but it’s purely fun entertainment with no shortage of thrills and laughs. Plus, it’s probably the most family-friendly Marvel film yet and feels nicely self-contained, with a conclusion that’s more heartwarming than usual while leaving enough room for future stories. One of my older coworkers saw it with her grandkids and loved it, even though she’d never even seen the first Ant-Man. You’d think that Marvel would be showing signs of fatigue after twenty films, but I certainly can’t tell based on #20.

Best line: (Hank, speaking of his wife Janet and Scott’s brief time in the quantum realm) “We think when you went down there, you may have entangled with her.”   (Scott) “Hank, I would never do that. I respect you too much.”   (Hank) “Quantum entanglement, Scott.”

 

Rank: List-Worthy (joining Ant-Man)

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
594 Followers and Counting

 

Next Gen (2018)

Tags

Action, Animation, Comedy, Family, Sci-fi

 

The world’s an easy place to hate,
For it hates all too frequently.
And anger tends to escalate
The more it’s met with enmity.

One pain of heart
Can sow and start
A seed of hate
To germinate
And grow until
There’s no goodwill
For world or friend.
They all offend!
Life’s all about
The lashing out,
For no one cares
Or answers prayers;
Of that, they do not have a doubt.

But wait…
And hesitate to hate,
Just long enough to listen clear.
The world itself is quite the weight,
But others bearing it stand near
To show you how to persevere.
___________________

MPAA rating:  PG

It might be easy to write off a film that borrows plot elements from other stories as freely as Next Gen does, but this Chinese-American cartoon based on a graphic novel and delivered by Netflix manages to be more than the sum of its parts. Set in a futuristic world where personable robots are a ubiquitous household accessory, young robot-hating loner Mai (Charlyne Yi) becomes unlikely friends with an experimental droid called 7723 (John Krasinski) that might be able to save both her from herself and the world from a robot takeover. That description alone will probably conjure memories of The Iron Giant, Big Hero 6, and I, Robot, and Next Gen wears those similarities on its sleeve. Yet there’s more to appreciate beyond the familiar “boy and his robot” storyline (or “girl and her robot,” in this case).

As I said, Next Gen’s biggest touchstone would have to be Big Hero 6, not only with its big friendly robot mascot but also its urban setting of Asian-Western fusion, with Chinese characters instead of Japanese. But this Netflix film has some intriguing differences as well. One of them is the extent of robot normalization, which goes beyond that of I, Robot. Almost every device in this world is semi-sentient, and while a lot of potential questions surrounding that aren’t even broached, it’s an intriguing setup. Mai’s mother (Constance Wu) is obsessed with her Q-Bot companions and their developer, the Steve Jobs-esque Justin Pin (Jason Sudeikis), and it’s not a coincidence that the robot fascination mirrors the distraction of smartphone use. It’s also worth noting that Isaac Asimov’s three laws of robotics apparently don’t apply, specifically the one about robots not harming humans, since a group of bullies order their robots to beat up on Mai for them.

Beyond the setting, there are some deeper than normal themes at play as well. Mai is resentful of her father’s abandonment of her and the way her mother uses robots to cope, and when she meets 7723, it’s only his weapons and the destruction they create that catch her interest. She’s quite angry and cynical for a cartoon protagonist, and interestingly, it’s 7723 that has to remind her to not lose her humanity when lashing out at the world.  7723 also has a struggle of his own; he values every minute spent with Mai, yet his memory cache is limited, forcing him to choose which memory files and systems to delete and make room for more. It’s not every cartoon that tackles existential questions reminiscent of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, so Next Gen’s themes are definitely a step above the usual “follow your heart” storyline we’ve seen all too often.

On top of that, it’s a quality production, with fluid animation and some pretty awesome action sequences. One explosive scene in particular is one continuous tracking shot with no cuts. I already love those kinds of scenes in live-action, and, although it probably doesn’t require quite as much effort to pull off, I like that the technique is being used more and more in animation. (I could also cite the opening scene of The Secret Life of Pets or Diamond’s big fight scene in the anime Land of the Lustrous.)

As self-aware as it often is, it’s a shame that Next Gen feels obligated to conform to a few clichés, like the bully inevitably deciding “Hey, sorry I beat you up. Let’s be friends.” Likewise, Mai’s mother is pushed into a “you were right, I was wrong” confession that is so fast, it felt like the screenwriter checking off a plot requirement.

I will also say that Next Gen is probably better for older kids, and not just because of its deeper themes or a sudden death scene. There’s a funny running joke where 7723 can translate the barks of Mai’s excitable dog (Michael Pena), bleeping out his more profane words. I guess it’s on the level of any number of reality shows these days, but I don’t exactly welcome it when a kids’ cartoon features even the mouthing of the F-bomb.

Next Gen isn’t perfect, but it comes closer to Big Hero 6 than I would have thought possible from a Chinese production company I’d never heard of. There’s a lot to love about it and how it addresses moving beyond tragedy and anger while remaining a fun and sweet adventure, and I certainly hope that this and other animation houses outside the mainstream can continue the high quality displayed here.

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
590 Followers and Counting

 

The Incredibles 2 (2018)

Tags

Action, Animation, Comedy, Family, Pixar, Sci-fi, Superhero

Incredible is a subjective term,
As critics and colleges can confirm.
One man’s amazing and top-of-the-class
Is another’s mundane because people, alas,
See things either clearly or through rosy glass.

Incredible is a desirable word,
So rarely deserved yet so commonly heard.
At times, there’s consensus for some shining star,
But mostly we just must agree on the bar
And how we compare them decides what they are.
___________________

MPAA rating: PG

Of all the studios churning out long-awaited sequels, Pixar has arguably the best track record. Whether it’s Monsters University, Finding Dory, or Toy Story 3 (I mean 4), the decade-waiting sequelization of their canon is well underway and, with the exception of Cars 2, has turned out surprisingly well. (They’re all weaker than the originals, but they’re by no means bad, except Cars 2.) Yet strangely, Pixar has made fans wait longest for the follow-up to the one film in their oeuvre that was actively crying out for a sequel, namely The Incredibles. Perhaps due to the influx of superhero franchises since 2003, director Brad Bird finally delivered, and I’d say the fourteen-year wait was worth it.

Picking up immediately where the first film left off, The Incredibles 2 reminds us that, even after saving the world from Syndrome, the Parr family still have to deal with the fact that superheroing is illegal. After their battle with the Underminer goes south, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter) and Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) are approached by millionaire entrepreneurs Winston (Bob Odenkirk) and Evelyn Deavor (Catherine Keener), a brother and sister team who are actively trying to bring supers back into the spotlight. Due to her less destructive abilities, Elastigirl is the new face of their law-bending campaign, and while Bob deals with the headaches of parenting at home, Helen faces off with a mind-controlling villain called the Screenslaver.

There are certain elements borrowed from the previous film, such as the family disagreements on how to handle hiding their powers, and if you suspect their new benefactors aren’t entirely on the up-and-up, you’d be somewhat right. Yet The Incredibles 2 does an excellent job at differentiating itself from the first and from other superhero films in general. Chief among the differences is the inclusion of other supers joining the crusade for superhero legality, and their presence allows for added creativity in the battles and actual super-vs.-super fights rather than the repeated super-vs.-robot fight of the first. Anyone who wanted more Elastigirl and Frozone shouldn’t be disappointed, and while Bob seemed sidelined by suppressed egotism and Mr. Mom franticness, it wasn’t as bad as the trailers implied. Ultimately, even with some mature themes being broached, this is still a film for and about families, with Bob’s first-hand struggles with superpowered child-rearing offering a nice counterpoint to the more action-packed beats with his wife.

One thing that seemed like a retroactive change is that the Parrs apparently didn’t see baby Jack-Jack use his powers at the end of the first film, allowing for all of them to be surprised again by his multifaceted abilities. Jack-Jack even steals the show at times, whether he’s paired with an ornery raccoon or fashionista Edna Mode (Brad Bird). Likewise, Violet (Sarah Vowell) and Dash (Huck Milner, seamlessly replacing Spencer Fox) get their fair share of screen time, especially after the villain is revealed. Speaking of which, the Screenslaver may not have as compelling a backstory as Syndrome, but the philosophy spouted by the shadowy figure has a point in denouncing people’s reliance on computer/TV screens and lack of responsibility. It’s the kind of motivation that works well for a supervillain, bearing a kernel of truth but taken to a malevolent extreme, which actually offers a legitimate threat against the supers.

I’ll be honest: I intentionally had very low expectations for The Incredibles 2. Others I know have said they had enormous hopes for it, but when you’re dealing with a film as awesome as the first Incredibles, it’s going to be hard to match. Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed it so much compared with one of my disappointed coworkers, who likely had too many preconceived notions of what the perfect sequel should be, not unlike Star Wars fans of late. Yes, The Incredibles 2 doesn’t quite reach the heights of its predecessor: It lacks the meaningful character arcs of the first film, its villain mystery is semi-predictable, and it raises more thematic questions about right, wrong, and responsibility than it even tries to answer. Yet it was so enjoyable to spend time with these characters again that I didn’t mind, and it still stands head-and-shoulders above the majority of animated films nowadays.

I think I’d go so far as to call it the best Pixar sequel since Toy Story 2, at least in recapturing the spirit of the original. The action scenes are as cool and polished as anything in the MCU, and Michael Giacchino’s bombastic score is still the perfect complement to its comic book world. It’s not above some complaints, but if you compare The Incredibles 2 to Cars 2 rather than the first Incredibles, I think you’ll agree it’s an “incredible” sequel. Pixar does it again!

Best line: (Edna) “Done properly, parenting is a heroic act. [Glares at Bob’s exhaustion] “Done properly.”

 

Rank: List-Worthy (joining the first film)

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
585 Followers and Counting

 

2018 Blindspot Pick #6: Some Like It Hot (1959)

Tags

Classics, Comedy, Romance

What do soup and summer days
And bedtime milk and big buffets
Have in common with your tea
And pie and wind and panini
And thoughts about celebrities
And temps for different types of skis?

Have you thought of it or not?
Yes, that’s right! Some like them hot.
Some also like them cold, and so
Which one are you, I’d like to know?
_______________________

MPAA rating: PG

Well, I’m still trying to catch up on my Blindspots, and since it’s been hot as blazes outside lately, Some Like It Hot seemed like a good choice for my next review. (For the record, I do not like it hot. I can’t wait for fall.) This is one of those classics among classics that it just seemed more and more wrong that I, as a movie lover, hadn’t seen it yet, which is exactly what this Blindspot series is for anyway. Now that I’ve seen it, I can recognize its special place in the pantheon of comedy, but there have been plenty of funnier movies since.

I don’t mean to badmouth a classic, since that is what Some Like It Hot is. Starting out more like a gangster movie than a comedy, the film follows the misadventures of two musicians Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon), who keep finding themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time. When they happen to witness a mob massacre by the vengeful “Spats” Colombo (George Raft), they escape Chicago by dressing as women, calling themselves Josephine and Daphne, and joining an all-girl band on their way to Miami. Of course, things get inevitably complicated when Joe becomes attracted to fellow bandmate Sugar (Marilyn Monroe) and a millionaire (Joe E. Brown) improbably falls for Jerry.

I guess crossdressing is just inherently funny, at least in the movies. That’s what the AFI seems to think, placing Some Like It Hot at #1 on their list of top 100 comedies, with Tootsie right behind at #2. (Incidentally, Mrs. Doubtfire is at #67, and I love that one more than either of the others.) While Some Like It Hot had me consistently amused, especially once Curtis and Lemmon donned their feminine alter egos, I find it laughable that this would be considered the best comedy ever made, much less one of the greatest films overall.

Certainly, there are elements I can tell have influenced comedies since, such as Joe’s rush to change between his male and female clothes, much as Robin Williams did 34 years later. However, Joe does this in order to fool Sugar into believing he’s her wealthy dream man, which begs the question of how he thought he could get away with such a ploy in any lasting way, and his dishonesty not only makes the runtime a bit too long but is also blithely ignored when the truth comes to light, in contrast to the collective shock at the end of Tootsie or Mrs. Doubtfire. Lemmon, on the other hand, gets the best comedic scenes, sometimes struggling with his “femininity,” while other times losing himself in character.

As shameful as it is for a cinephile to admit, this is actually the first comedy I’ve seen of director Billy Wilder (I’ve at least watched his The Spirit of St. Louis) and the first film starring Marilyn Monroe. Wilder’s direction is beyond reproach, and he includes a few clever cinematic touches, like the repeated shots of “Spats” Colombo’s shoes to portend the approach of danger. Monroe had a greater challenge, though, since I had always associated her with her short-breathed, dumb blonde persona (which my VC can’t stand, for the record), but I was pleasantly surprised by her and her musical moments. Despite being a gold digger, her portrayal of Sugar was hardly one-note, even expressing weariness at her own “dumb blonde” proclivities, and I’m now much more interested than before in exploring her other iconic roles.

While I wouldn’t call Some Like It Hot the amazing movie it is commonly considered, it was still a good one and worthy to be called a classic. I finally got to understand the context for many familiar clips, such as the famous last line and that grating “poo poo pee doo” song parodied so perfectly by Ginger on Gilligan’s Island. So, complaints aside, I’d call this a successful and long overdue Blindspot pick. By the way, did you know it’s based off a 1935 French film called Fanfare of Love? I guess that’s another film I’ll have to check out for comparison’s sake some day.

Best line: (Sugar) “Water polo? Isn’t that terribly dangerous?”   (Joe, pretending to be rich) “I’ll say. I had two ponies drowned under me.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
584 Followers and Counting