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!

 

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Mirai (2018)

Tags

Animation, Anime, Drama, Family, Fantasy

 

When a child asks, quizzically,
“Where did I come from?”
Who knows what the most fitting answer may be?
The truth of it, physically,
May create someone,
But ‘tis but a branch of the whole family tree.

For what you’re aware of,
Your path and your parents,
Are products of precursors we’ll never know,
Dependent on their love,
Their choice and forbearance,
The roots they put down that their children may grow.
_____________________

MPAA rating:  PG

Back when I reviewed Netflix’s Flavors of Youth, I mentioned there were two new anime films I was dying to see before the end of the year, and now that I have, I also wanted to squeeze in a review for each of them. Thus, I’ll do one today and one tomorrow, starting with the one I’ve been expecting longer.

I’ve enjoyed the works of anime director Mamoru Hosoda for years (The Girl Who Leapt through Time and Wolf Children are still in my top 365 Movie List), and Mirai was one of my most anticipated movies this year. With every new feature, Hosoda has carved out a niche for animation fans, putting his own stamp on imaginative half-Ghibli-like fantasies mixed with real-world drama. In Mirai, his latest acclaimed feature, he does the same with a highly minimalist plot and a younger-than-normal protagonist.

At its core, Mirai’s story is deceptively simple, that of a four-year-old boy named Kun accepting the presence of his newborn sister Mirai (which also means “future”). Yet the lessons he learns about jealousy, relationships, and family have surprising depth and are often taught through extended visual metaphors. I was a little surprised that any explanation for the time travel aspect was basically an afterthought. Thanks to the dad, the family’s house is an architectural curiosity with three levels, one of which is roofless with an interior yard, and anytime Kun passes the family tree, it’s as if his imagination conjures up another realm.

Sometimes, it’s the family dog transformed into a grouchy human, or his teenage sister arriving from the future, or his great-grandfather showing him how to ride a bike, and certain moments of the fantastical affecting the real world make you wonder whether it’s all in Kun’s head or not. These elements are a tad random and he sometimes tends to relearn the same lesson over again (be more patient with your parents/sister, for instance), but there’s an ingenious visual nuance to how Kun learns about his family and factoring his new role as a big brother into his identity.

I said earlier that Hosoda excels at mixing the magical with the mundane, but it doesn’t work quite as well here as it did with, say, Wolf Children. Some of the transitions between real life and fantasy were rather weird for my taste, and I would have liked a definitive answer of what was actually going on beyond “it’s a visual metaphor.” To be honest, I found myself more interested in the day-to-day activities and struggles of Kun and Mirai’s parents. Let’s face it: Whiny kids can be annoying, especially kids in anime, so I felt more of a connection with the harried father and the long-suffering mother than with the often bratty Kun.

There’s a lot to love about Mirai, not least of which is the beautiful hand-drawn animation. (One scene in a train station is breathtaking in the amount of detail and motion on display.) Plus, it’s funny and relatable on multiple levels. I especially admired how many of the individual stories were brought together near the end to show Kun how a complex web of lives and choices combined to give him the life he had. It was profound and visually striking and helped make up for some of the plot’s earlier weaknesses.

It’s worth noting that Mirai surprisingly received a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globes this year, making it the first anime to be nominated. It’s certainly worthy and a sign of improvement in what gets recognized, but it irks me that they didn’t give that honor to even more deserving contenders in the past, like Your Name, Wolf Children, or A Silent Voice. But I digress…. Mirai may not be Hosoda’s best work, but it’s another laudable credit to his name. And it made me appreciate my parents a little more, so that I just had to give my mom a hug. Any film that gives me another reason to do that deserves praise.

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 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!

 

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

 

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

 

All Saints (2017)

Tags

Drama, Family

The saints whose names are still revered
Were known for how they persevered.
Some kicked and screamed; some volunteered,
But was not God’s will done?

Yet does that mean their walls and woes
Came tumbling down like Jericho’s?
No, perseverance only shows
When clouds eclipse the sun.
____________________

MPAA rating: PG

I’m a devout Christian, but I must admit that most overtly Christian movies are not very good. Some are just low quality, but even the ones I enjoy and admire (Facing the Giants, Fireproof, Miracles from Heaven) are often too sincere for their own good, preaching to the choir and sometimes irritatingly so (God’s Not Dead). The secular critics are just as often harsh with these films, and that’s why it was such a surprise when a faith-based film called All Saints managed to net a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes last year. It took me till now to see it myself, and I now see why it earned such positive buzz. Biblical films aside, it may be the best faith-based film so far.

This based-on-a-true-story movie features John Corbett as Michael Spurlock, a salesman who becomes an Episcopalian pastor and is immediately assigned to close the dying All Saints Church in Smyrna, Tennessee. With only twelve members, the church leadership have decided to sell the property, but Michael has an inspiration when a collection of Southeast Asian refugees come begging for assistance. Led by God and against everyone’s advice, he decides to try saving the church for these displaced families by using them to turn the surrounding church land into a farm and pay off the church debt.

What I think sets All Saints apart is that it doesn’t feel designed to appeal only to Christians by getting preachy; it’s the classic rule of “show, don’t tell.” A movie can moralize all day about how God works in mysterious ways and how good can come out of seemingly terrible situations, but it means much more when we see those lessons in action. All Saints lets the story itself illustrate that wisdom rather than rubbing viewers’ noses in it. It’s more concerned with the existing faith of the characters rather than earning converts; at one point, a volunteer describes himself as Buddhist and his two friends as “apparently nothing,” and Michael responds that “some of my best friends are nothing.” Instead of finger-wagging, there’s a challenge to Christians and nothings alike to work together, and it’s inspiring.

There are still moments where the acting and script have traces of that faith-movie weakness, but they’re largely overshadowed by strong performances from Corbett, Barry Corbin as an irascible veteran church member, and Nelson Lee as Ye Win, the representative of the Karen refugees who speaks the most English and works hard to improve their situation. The story itself is also not as predictable as it may seem; sometimes things fall into place with George Mueller-style providence, while at other times, Murphy’s law rules, which always makes people with and without faith wonder where God is and what His will might be.

I hope it’s not odd if I point to Fall Out Boy lyrics (“Immortals”) as a good summation of the film’s major theme: “Sometimes the only payoff for having any faith is when it’s tested again and again every day.” Most of the characters are Christian and God is glorified, but there’s a real-life story of encouragement, sacrifice, and community here that I think is universal, one that earns its sincerity. Those who normally avoid “Christian movies” ought to give this one a try.

Best line: (Forrest, to Michael after a risky decision) “Did you let your stupid off the leash again?”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
578 Followers and Counting

 

April and the Extraordinary World (2015)

Tags

Action, Animation, Family, Fantasy, Foreign, Mystery, Sci-fi

(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was to write about how one of a list of impossible things could actually happen, so I thought of a certain highly imaginative film.)

 

“Pigs can’t fly,”
They said. “Of course,
And cats can’t join
The labor force.”

“Clocks can’t chime
Thirteen,” they vowed,
“Nor rewind time.
That’s not allowed.”

But some will hear
Such sober laws,
And ask with thought,
“Why not?” because

The present world
They recognize
Is changing more
Before their eyes.

If they dislike
Such rules, they dream
Worlds where clocks strike
Thirteen, where steam

Propels machines,
Where pigs can fly,
Where magic beans
Grow greens so high,

Where men can grow
Beyond their flaws.
Imagination
Knows no laws.
___________________

MPAA rating: PG

I love animation, and I love discovering hidden gems that remind me why I love animation. April and the Extraordinary World is a delightful case in point. At a time when the U.S. and Japan seem to rule the animation industry, it’s also an important reminder that Europe has no shortage of talent and is just as likely to churn out an instant classic for those willing to search for it.A French-Belgian-Canadian co-production, April and the Extraordinary World is one of the most imaginative films I’ve seen in a while, broadly rewriting history to create a unique steampunk setting, one in which science and technology couldn’t develop beyond the Steam Age. Vegetation has been decimated by fuel needs, and the air is thick with industrial smoke, while the scientists that could improve things have vanished without a trace. After a fast-paced introduction in which everything is significant, we meet April Franklin (Marion Cotillard in the French version, Angela Galuppo in the English dub) and her brilliant family of fugitive scientists. Due to events best seen rather than described, April grows up alone with only her talking cat Darwin (a product of SCIENCE!), and her chemist’s quest for an immortality serum soon turns into a whirlwind adventure as the French government and a mysterious group with advanced technology vie for the scientific secrets of her family.

Animation allows its creators to fashion worlds limited only by their imagination, but most cartoons are content to imagine small. It’s usually Pixar or Ghibli that brings the medium to its full potential, but so does April and the Extraordinary World, which often feels like something one of those two powerhouses would have conceived. Where else are you going to see giant cable cars that run from Paris to Berlin or a helicopter plane escaping an underwater prison? The animation has the distinctive look of a European comic (apparently based on the work of French comic artist Jacques Tardi), and although it seems like it would take some getting used to, it actually flows quite nicely, with plenty of clever detail in the settings and backgrounds. It has strong characters to boot, from resourceful April herself to her quick-witted grandfather, though, as a cat lover, my favorite has to be the talking cat Darwin (Tony Hale in the dub, which also includes Paul Giamatti, J.K. Simmons, and Susan Sarandon).While the imagination is impressive, I could still recognize prior influences for April, most notably 2004’s Steamboy, another steampunk adventure featuring a young protagonist caught in the middle of a scientific power struggle with a similarly explosive ending. Plus, it’s hard to avoid comparisons to Ghibli when there’s an actual house atop mechanized legs á la Howl’s Moving Castle or a polluted atmosphere contrasted with a clean underground biome á la Nausicaä. You might also pick up on traces of Atlas Shrugged and Tomorrowland, though the latter was released the same year as this film. Regardless, April and the Extraordinary World brings all these disparate elements together into a thrilling package that’s better than most of the films I just mentioned.

With a complex and fast-paced storyline and a number of off-screen deaths, it does feel more intelligent and mature than your typical American cartoon (not to mention the detail put into Darwin’s backside), but there’s nothing to make it un-kid-friendly either. By the surprisingly satisfying end, I was just happy to have stumbled upon such an underrated gem, one that no fan of animation should miss.

 

Rank: List-Worthy

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
563 Followers and Counting

 

 

The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)

Tags

Biopic, Christmas, Comedy, Drama, Family, History

(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was for a poem featuring simultaneity, where more than one thing happens at the same time, a concept I applied to a writer’s creative process.)

 

The writer sat in the market square,
But that’s not all he did.
He bade “Good day” to Mrs. Wise
And fed the pigeons gathered there
And made a cat jump with surprise
And watched the vendors sell their wares.
To outward eyes,
He just sat there,
But that’s not all he did.

The mind inside the writer’s head
Was hard at work within,
Populating worlds unwritten,
Raising heroes from the dead,
Lads in love and lasses smitten,
Tales of kings that none had read,
Smiles to fit in,
Tears to shed,
And all unseen within.

So though he seemed to waste the day,
Just sitting as he did,
The writer had done no such thing.
He watched the world at work and play
And gleaned its ample offering
To shape what only he could say.
His loitering
Seemed like delay,
But that’s not all he did.
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MPAA rating: PG

Considering how much I love A Christmas Carol and movies about literature, I was excited for The Man Who Invented Christmas, a yuletide biopic about Charles Dickens’ tumultuous writing of his most famous work. While I liked it quite a bit, I wonder if my hopes were too high since it wasn’t the instant classic I had thought it might be. I can’t say I was disappointed since it lived up to its trailer at least, but it didn’t surpass any of my expectations either.

Dickens, played by Dan Stevens, hits a wall when his fame and fortune are diminished by three commercial flops in a row. After contending with writer’s block, the sight of a rich man’s funeral gives him the seed of an idea, and what the world will eventually know as A Christmas Carol speedily develops in his mind as he rushes to get it written and printed in time for Christmas sales. Along the way, he contends with his spendthrift father (Jonathan Pryce), his own past trauma, and his characters mentally coming to life, including a critical Scrooge (Christopher Plummer).

I must say that Stevens is outstanding, playing Dickens with just the right amount of ego and eccentricity, the way we imagine many creative geniuses might have been. When he entertains his children with random voices, I could imagine Robin Williams playing this role thirty years ago. Likewise, I loved the visualization of his creative process, as he interacts with characters only he can see, only to have them vanish when he is all-too-often interrupted. The story also provides a glimpse into Dickens’ difficult childhood, offering insights into what made him the ambitious but compassionate man he was, and it was interesting to see how his original plan for an unhappy ending yielded to others’ hopes and beliefs that even the worst men can change.So, yes, I did enjoy it, including its lesson of forgiveness and the reminder of how Dickens shaped the Christmas holiday we know today, which was not as vigorously celebrated back then. I suppose the weakest aspect was Pryce as Dickens’ father John, whose good nature is undermined by drunkenness and financial waste as he mooches off his son. Despite John’s good intentions, I didn’t blame Charles much for snapping at him at one point, and it didn’t seem entirely right that Charles is in the wrong and apologizes with little change seen on his father’s part.

Despite that objection, I’ll still gladly watch The Man Who Invented Christmas if it comes on TV around Christmastime to enjoy its well-acted, wholesome glimpse into the mind of a great author. I’m just a little sad that there was something lacking, which will make me more likely to just watch some version of A Christmas Carol instead of the story behind it.

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
552 Followers and Counting

 

Wonderstruck (2017)

Tags

Drama, Family, Mystery

(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was to describe an abstract concept in terms of more concrete words, so I picked the obvious choice for this film, namely wonder.)

 

Wonder is a pair of eyes
Wide and twice their normal size,
Rising in an optic smile
In case the mouth can’t do likewise,
Hanging open in surprise,
Not caring if it hangs awhile.

Wonder is in aeroplanes
Thrilling 1903 brains,
Moving pictures scaring crowds
Who flinched at filmed approaching trains,
And computers making gains
That no one dreamed, at least out loud.

Wonder is in works of art
Seen before they’re known by heart,
Creatures people rarely find,
The goosebumps of a ball game’s start,
Zoos, museums that impart
Their awe, and firsts of every kind.

Wonder is a city block
New, once-sheltered tourists walk,
High skyscrapers tilting heads.
It’s found in mountaintops of rock,
In galaxy and swooping hawk;
There wonder weaves its welcome threads.
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MPAA rating: PG

Did anyone else notice the preponderance of 2017 movies with “wonder” in the title? We had Wonderstruck, Wonder Woman, its biopic cousin Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, Woody Allen’s Wonder Wheel, and the inspirational Wonder with Jacob Tremblay. Amazon Studios’ Wonderstruck may have gotten lost amid all the others, but it’s the one that most strives for the actual “wonder” in its name.

I say “strive” because it doesn’t quite reach it, though I can certainly appreciate the effort. Based on a Brian Selznick novel, the story is something of a double period piece, with two stories playing out fifty years apart. In 1977, an orphaned boy named Ben (Oakes Fegley, just as genuine and in need of a haircut as in Pete’s Dragon) suffers an accident but manages to sneak off to New York City in search of his mysterious father. Parallel to Ben’s quest is that of young Rose (Millicent Simmonds of A Quiet Place, who is actually hearing impaired), a deaf girl in 1927 who also searches New York for her mother. Each story nails the visual aesthetic of its time period, with Ben’s yellow-tinted settings, music, and surrounding fashions screaming ‘70s, while Rose’s experiences are like The Artist, all in black-and-white and silent to reflect both her deafness and the silent films she loves.

I will applaud Wonderstruck for its gentleness and commitment to remaining family-friendly when such films are rare these days. Its stylistic choices and excellent acting also add to its appeal, while the editing between the two stories can be a little too frequent at times. I suppose my main complaint is it tries too hard to inject “wonder” and mystery in a way that feels like padding by the end. Just like with Hugo, another Selznick adaptation, so much time and interest are spent on the mystery that its sort of a letdown when you find out it’s something that could have been told within minutes, making me wonder why certain characters are so cryptic. At one point, a character waits to reveal the truth until she takes Ben across town, even as he restlessly wants to get to the point, not unlike me.

Ultimately, Wonderstruck is a curiosity, with a palpable love for museums and storytelling and a touching ending, and like Hugo, the passion on display goes a long way to keeping viewers engaged, though the visuals can’t match Scorsese’s film. It’s nice to see that a quality live-action family film can still get made, even if it’s not quite as fascinating as it means to be.

 

Rank: Honorable Mention

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
549 Followers and Counting