Quick-Fire Reviews: 4 Film Special

Hey everyone, doing a bit of catch-up here. I’ve watched a number of films over the past little while and I’d like to give my quick thoughts on each one as I don’t feel like I have a full review’s worth for each. Today we’re going to talk about Colossal, Ghost in the Shell, the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast, and The Hitman’s Bodyguard. As always, no spoilers here.

Ghost in the Shell

First off, I don’t know anything about Ghost in the Shell. This is in fact the first entry I’ve seen into the franchise. With that being said, even I can see that it suffers many of the same problems as The Dark Tower when it comes to story and lore. They’ve really simplified and dumbed things down; I’ve seen enough of these kinds of things to know it when I see it. I get the sense that there is so much more to this world that is really interesting and really amazing but would be a deeper cut into the lore than the story was willing to go. Which is too bad because I would’ve liked to learn more about the characters. That’s not even addressing the whitewashing controversy, which is a different discussion entirely. I will say that it looked really cool, though. Visually, it looked fantastic. I’m not the best person to tell you if this is a good Ghost in the Shell movie, but I can tell you it was enjoyable enough to throw on and watch if you’re folding laundry or something. 6/10

Colossal

I was kind of intrigued by the premise of this movie. It’s a kaiju film, but not a typical kaiju film. It has a definite comedic bent to it and delves into some issues further than I thought it would. It definitely goes in directions I wasn’t expecting, and that’s a good thing. It didn’t play in theatres close to us so we had to wait for video release. It’s a really neat little movie. The performances are really great too, and it was cool to see Anne Hathaway do something different from what she usually does, role-wise. It’s not a super-funny, laugh-out-loud comedy; it has some dramatic elements to it as well. Also, it’s rated R, but it doesn’t take too much advantage of that, outside of a few too many F-bombs for a PG-13. It slides in just under two hours and there are certainly worse ways to spend that time, and leaves you thinking about the directions that the characters take based on what is happening around them. I definitely recommend this for anyone who’s thinking about checking it out. 7/10

Beauty and the Beast 2017

I was initially kind of excited for this one. The original animated film was a big part of my childhood and Belle one of my favorite Disney princesses so I was curious to see what they would do with it in live action. And… they kind of just did the same thing over again. Honestly, this just feels like a rehash of the cartoon, but not as good as the cartoon. There’s something to be said for animation’s ability to exaggerate expressions or actions for the sake of comedy or effect. One scene in particular, the reveal of the library, was so much flatter and less magical than in the animated version, and that made me very sad. The extra songs added in didn’t really do much for me either, and I couldn’t help thing during some of them that I’d rather listen to the originals or the covers by Jonathan Young. Personally, I also thought that the castle was not quite as… grand as I thought it should be. I just didn’t feel the faded, forgotten opulence the way I felt I should have. I mean, you want run-down grandeur, go watch Crimson Peak (which I kind of liked, even if a lot of people didn’t). I don’t know, it almost feels unnecessary because again, it really didn’t add anything new, except maybe for one subtle joke during Be Our Guest that totally floored me. If you’ve seen it, you know which one I mean. It’s not all bad, the performances are excellent and the cast is really good. The Beast’s CG is a bit janky, which surprised me, but the performance was solid. If you’re a hardcore Disney lover, give it a go but I think I’ll stick with the animated version. I hope they do better with the next ones, like they did with The Jungle Book. 5/10

The Hitman’s Bodyguard

This was one that we were pretty excited for, based on the awesome promotional material we saw spoofing the 1992 Whitney Houston film. And it is a lot of fun. It’s like Nick Fury and Deadpool go on a fully-armed, unfiltered road trip in Europe. I’m pretty sure there are scenes where they basically just let the two of them loose and told them to do their thing. A scene-stealer here is Salma Hayek as Jackson’s wife; she is absolutely fabulous and amazing to watch. It’s a bit of a throwback film to the fun, over-the-top kind of action film from the 80’s or 90’s that didn’t take itself too seriously. Being a fan of those kind of films, I really loved that. The soundtrack is awesome too, and I’d honestly buy it just for one song written and performed by Samuel L. Jackson himself. In the score there’s some callbacks to and older generation of spy movie as well, a la the old James Bond or The Man From U.N.C.L.E or something like that. There are some parts that seem cheesy, but they seem intentionally cheesy. This movie knew exactly what it was and had fun with it. And I had fun with it. Definitely recommended for a good time if you just want to chill with a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It earns that R rating though, so this one’s not for the kiddies. 8/10    

Atomic Blonde Spoiler Free Review

Look at me, back again with more movie reviews! There’s always a busy time of the year when it seems like there’s a new movie we want to see every week, and it seems like this is that time. Today we’re going to talk about another one that I was really excited for: Atomic Blonde, which is based on the graphic novel The Coldest City. No spoilers ahead, so let’s jump right in. 

I’d like to start by saying how much I am loving all the kickass ladies we’ve been getting this year. As someone who likes movies in the comic book and action genres (among others), it’s great to see some awesome female characters. Real characters, not a sexy sidekick/sidechick/damsel in distress. Laura/X-23 and Diana/Wonder Woman have been two of the biggest ones so far, and now we have Lorraine Broughton. We need to keep making this happen, folks! 

Anyway, on to the movie. Atomic Blonde is directed by David Leitch, co-director of the first John Wick film, director of the upcoming Deadpool 2, and a veteran of stunt work and stunt coordinating. So that sounds pretty cool on paper, right? Well, it’s also pretty frickin’ cool on screen too. I had so much fun with this movie and there’s a lot I want to talk about. 

Okay, I’m going to talk about the soundtrack first, given that it’s the thing mentioned most often in my notes. The story is set in the days leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall, so the music is all appropriately, gloriously, egregiously 80’s dance/pop. I loved it so much. I mean, it also served to set up the time period and the locations really well, too. I’m not going to sell it short in that regard. The soundtrack is fantastic, there’s not much else to say. 

Also fantastic is the cast. Charlize Theron is ferocious in this movie as Broughton, a veteran MI6 agent. She’s amazing to watch, whether she’s taking down a whole crew of baddies in a stairwell, or talking to her superiors back in London. No one else in the cast is slouching, either. James McAvoy is another fascinating watch in this, as are Sofia Boutella, John Goodman, Toby Jones, and Bill Skarsgard (who we’ll see later on this year as Pennywise the Clown), among others. 

I kept wondering why he looked so familiar

In a film like this, the big question is the action, which is warranted given how central it is to the genre. For how slick the film looks, the fights are dragged-out and dirty in comparison. It’s not pretty fighting, stylish yes, but no fancy flips or kicks or outlandish stuff. John Wick was 95% headshots, Atomic Blonde is mainly hand-to-hand, often using whatever is available as a weapon. It’s not overly gory or graphic (there’s only one instance I can think of where someone’s brain matter repainted a wall), but it doesn’t skimp either. And even better, there’s no tropey wounds either. Lorraine doesn’t end up with the fashionable cheek cut, or any of that crap. In one particularly nasty fight, both her and her opponent are legitimately bruised, bloody, and exhausted by the end. When do you see that? People actually getting realistically tired and hurt in a fight? Not often enough. 

something like this.

    

In conclusion, go see Atomic Blonde. Think of it as a James Bond story with a John Wick look. It has a fascinating setting, a story I’m purposely not talking about to avoid spoiling all the twists and turns, and a great cast. Its super fun and I definitely recommend it. 

8/10

PS: the reviews don’t stop here. We are T-minus 2 days until The Dark Tower. So, for good or ill, expect a review for that sometime not long after!

Spider-Man: Homecoming Spoiler Free Review!

The time has finally come! Sony and Marvel have come together to bring us Spider-Man in the MCU in his first solo movie. We are talking of course about Spider-Man: Homecoming, one of the two most highly anticipated movies to come out of Captain America: Civil War (the other being Black Panther, of course). So let’s see how the third cinematic Spider-Man did leading a film instead of being part of a team. As always, things will be spoiler free.


So right off the bat I want to talk about Spider-Man himself. As I said above, this is the third live-action, cinematic incarnation of the character in the last fifteen years. That’s crazy, especially considering this is only the sixth solo movie. I’ve always loved the Sam Raimi films (the third obviously has its issues) and I would have loved to have seen his fourth movie. I’ve also liked the first Amazing Spider-Man for what it was, even if it had its issues and the sequel was awful. But one thing, as a lifelong Spider-Man fan, I’ve always wanted is a really true portrayal of the character. In Sam Raimi’s films, Tobey Maguire looked far too old for the age he was playing, and while he was a really good fit for Peter Parker, he just couldn’t bring out the Spider-Man persona convincingly. In contrast, Andrew Garfield worked better as a high school student, and he really brought the perfect attitude for Spider-Man. But he was not good as Peter Parker, let’s face it, he was just too cool to be that unpopular nerdy character that gets picked on every day. Enter Tom Holland. Guys, we have finally found that balance. He is great as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. He looks age appropriate and he nails both personas. This is the Spider-Man I’ve wanted to see on the big screen, and we’ve finally got it.

The rest of the cast is really solid as well. One thing I would like to say is that Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark does not overstay his welcome or take over the film. He’s really not in it a whole lot and that’s not a bad thing. I’m glad we spent more time learning about Peter’s world; the people he goes to school with, his friend Ned, Aunt May, etc. You get to know the people around him as people. It's a really localized film in that way, it feels smaller and and more personal. On the other side of that you also get the villains. Michael Keaton is amazing and also terrifying as The Vulture. He has a slightly different backstory than he usually does, but it makes him a more relatable villain for it. You really understand why he’s doing what he’s doing, if not kind of sympathize with him. It was a small change but I like the impact it had on the overall story of his character. His design also looks great, incorporating some classic elements into an overall really scary and modernized costume that is still instantly identifiable as The Vulture. They didn’t drag out his origin either, and you didn’t really need to, what setup we got was all we really needed. Again, I really appreciated that we skipped the drawn out origins.

Scary.

Another thing I really liked about this movie is that, much like in Civil War, there’s no flashbacks or backstory, just enough little hints peppered through the dialogue to infer the origin we all know so well. I liked that a lot. It’s like Batman, we don’t need to see that over and over again. We all know how it goes at this point and it was so much nicer just to get to the story. Spider-Man is still pretty new to the game at this point, and watching him trying to navigate these two aspects of his life and try to keep them balanced is way more interesting than seeing Uncle Ben shot for a third time. It also didn’t lay the MCU too heavily on us either, but instead showed us day-to-day life in a world where these things have happened. At this point, The Avengers are part of everyday life, and just part of the fabric of the culture. Not an overwhelming part, but about where you would imagine it would lie in the public consciousness. I thought that was really well done.

Overall I thought the action was really good and you get to see a good showcase of Spider-Man’s abilities. The big set pieces, like the ferry from the trailers, is very impressive. My only complaint is that near the end there is a sequence that, due to it being at night and what is going on in that sequence, that I had a hard time following what was happening. A few of those shots seemed like they should have been pulled back a bit to be easier to see. That’s about my only complaint with the film, however. The rest is excellent overall.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is not only a great addition to the MCU but also a great Spider-Man film and a great film overall. You really get to see the struggle of someone trying to do the right thing with the powers he has while also trying to maintain an actual life outside of that and how he grows as a character through that journey. Highly recommended.

9/10

Trailers of the Week + Bonus Movie Review!

Hey everybody, how’s it going? We’re doing trailers again this week with a quick movie review at the end to round things out. These are in no particular order but I want to talk about ones I haven’t touched on as much first, with others that don’t need much discussion afterwards. We’ve got lots to talk about today, so let’s get started.


The Mummy

Well, I’m going to be honest, this is hilariously bad looking. Much like the first trailer, it has such a Mission Impossible feel to it that you almost expect that theme to start playing. That’s pretty much the tone of the trailer with paranormal elements thrown in the mix. I’m also going to admit that the song choice is a little weird. The first time watching this trailer I had to stop it and ask aloud ‘Why Paint It Black?’ and never really got an answer to that. The next thing that strikes me is the assertion that whatever they’ve found has been there for two thousand years. Two thousand years ago (from today, and the movie is set in modern times) is after the death of Cleopatra and in the Roman period of Egypt, which is clearly not what they’re going for based on the shots of Ahmanet before she was a mummy.  They should have tacked on another thousand or so and that honestly kind of bugs me. A lot. The rest of the trailer is more of the same and I’m starting to think this might be a hate-watch.


Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

So, Orlando Bloom is back. Really, this one could go either way. It looks very much like a Pirates film and seems to have a lot of the same tone. Some of the CG still looks dodgy but I’ll reserve judgment on that aspect until I see the final product. The trailer itself is fine, I’m personally just having a hard time getting excited about another entry into the franchise. This really doesn’t have anything that really grabbed me and made it a must-see.


It

Ah yes, the Stephen King adaptation. We’re getting two of those this year, between this and The Dark Tower. This movie, however, has actually released a trailer. And it’s actually a pretty good one. It starts off with the familiar scene with the boat in the sewer and Pennywise showing up and builds up quite nicely. It doesn’t really give much away either, even if it’s a familiar story. It definitely looks like they’re going full-on scary and none of the cheesy charm that the last attempt at this property had. There’s going to be some of those horror tropes, you can see that already, but it overall looks pretty solid.


King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

I’d heard about this one, but the first time I actually saw something for it was the trailer that ran before Power Rangers. My reaction to that was basically ‘well, that’s a Guy Ritchie movie right there’ and that was about it. So now this trailer drops and I kinda feel the same way. It looks like it’ll be about as historically accurate as 300, but also that it could be a lot of fun the way that movie was. It’s going to be visually stunning, and Guy Ritchie’s trademark style is all over it. This could be a lot of fun. I’m not sure whether I’ll see it in theatres, but I’d certainly be up for seeing it in some capacity. And unlike The Mummy’s trailer, the inclusion of Led Zeppelin’s Babe, I’m Going to Leave You actually fits the tone and works really well for the trailer.


War for the Planet of the Apes

This is one of those trailers where nothing needs to be said. I’m eagerly awaiting July 14^th.


Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

This trailer didn’t really add anything especially new. As I’ve said before, I didn’t know anything about this or the comics it’s based on beforehand, so it kinda just looks like Mass Effect meets Guardians of the Galaxy to me. I’ll give it a rental because if nothing else, it’ll probably be really cool visually.


Spider-Man: Homecoming

Another trailer with nothing else that needs to be said. Just sit back and enjoy.

Moana Quick Review

Finally, we finally got around to seeing Moana and I just wanted to give my quick thoughts. I didn’t take any notes for this one, this is just off-the-cuff. The short version: this is a great movie and everyone should see it. The music is fantastic, the animation is beautiful, and the characters are super engaging. All the voice work is top-notch, even Dwayne Johnson’s singing is really not as bad as others have said. There were parts that had the four of us howling with laughter, and others that were really heartfelt. It has a certain self-awareness of the tropes of the ‘Disney Princess Movie’ while also kind of following a lot of them. As far as the Disney Princesses go, Moana is a damn good one and I’d say up there with some of my favorites. Go check it out, it’s well, well worth it.

Well, that's it for me. I'll see you next time!