There’s something to be said for a movie that doesn’t overtly sell itself as something more than it is. Sure, Shazam! addresses important messages and themes, but they take a backseat to the delightful silliness on screen in what amounts to a live-action cartoon. This is the first big-screen superhero since Ant-man who seems to truly enjoy himself and the film mostly embraces that. In the class of DC heroes, Aquaman is the jock who thinks he’s funny recycling jokes that don’t interfere with his reputation, and Shazam is the actual class clown throwing expectations and any “cool” reputation out the window in favor of entertainment. It often feels like a kids’ movie, which makes some things hard to take seriously, but there’s a lot of fun to be had along the way.
0 Comments
Right from the start, it’s difficult to shake the idea that “The Beach Bum” is an exaggerated autobiography from both director Harmony Korine and star Matthew McConaughey. The latter has not been afraid of comparisons to Moondog (one name), the hippie-stoner-alcoholic-sex addict-awful-beyond deadbeat-depraved, yet genius poet at the center of the film. Much like McConaughey, Moondog is extremely entertaining despite the real (or rumored) debauchery, and we are at least told he is an undeniable talent despite the mediocre examples of his poetry. McConaughey’s real life isn’t front and center though, and we don’t see the details of how his real relationships function. If he’s truly as out-there as the media (and he) likes to portray, then living with him is certainly less fun than watching it on screen. So, while much of Moondog’s antics are a decent way to pass time, the fact that he has no character arc and the crimes/abandonment/insolence is not only ignored but celebrated sends a dangerous message. “The Beach Bum” has the potential to become a stoner cult classic, especially with Snoop Dogg and Jimmy Buffett as co-stars, and if that happens I’m worried about the drug-addicts and drunks that will simply wait to be loved for the genius they really are.
Launching a career with Get Out infinitely raised expectations and the difficulty level for whatever Jordan Peele did next. Us lives up to the promises from a filmmaking and suspense standpoint. It surpasses Get Out in laughs, cinematography, and performances. Us isn’t quite as well-written or unique. But most importantly it prevents audiences from developing a blueprint of expectations for all Jordan Peele films. For months I assumed a giant twist revealing a mind-blowing political reality was coming at the end of Us. That’s not there. It says a lot (and assuredly even more I haven’t figured out yet), it’s just a more straightforward horror film. As with 99.99% of films, Us isn’t quite as good as Get Out, but that doesn’t make a bad film. It’s a great film and ultimately successful at almost everything it attempts. With Us Peele proves why we shouldn’t do what I just did and was inevitable: compare everything to Get Out.
Captain Marvel is a wildly entertaining, action-filled buddy cop movie with some smaller character moments that let the fantastic crop of actors shine. The first origin story after Black Panther continues the more overtly allegorical tone, focusing on the universal (literally) undermining of and disrespect towards women. At times Captain Marvel repeatedly hits the same point, losing metaphor altogether and letting the characters directly state the message, which creates some stilted and trite dialogue, but that’s a small sin compared to most of its blockbuster brethren. The action scenes are organically integrated into the plot, so it rarely feels like the directors or producers just said ‘ok, time for an action scene' (even if they did). The transitions are smooth, and the storytelling continues during the fairly consistent battles. Overall, this is one of the better superhero origin films and a good sign for the long term plans for the MCU.
I was fascinated throughout the entire first season of “Trigger Warning with Killer Mike” on Netflix, but I didn’t expect to find a case study on branding and community marketing in the “White Gang Privilege” episode. Rapper and activist Killer Mike starts every episode with a relatively straightforward thesis – in this case, why can a white “gang” like the Hell’s Angels sell merchandise (a stream of revenue that has helped them become more legitimate) and black “gangs” can’t – then does a real-world test. There are a lot of fascinating racial politics at play, and I urge you to go watch the entire series since it dives into those divides from many angles. But here I’m going to look at the launch of Crip-a-Cola and Blood Pop as branding experiments, taking the facts presented in the episode at face value and ignoring any other assumptions or expectations I may have. With that in mind, this is a perfect example of how story-driven, preferably in-person marketing is especially important when brand recognition is high, yet reputation is low.
When thinking about the themes of the films of 2018, part of me thought it was positivity, but when I look at my list, that’s clearly not the case. Two of the best superhero movies ever came out, hopefully signaling that genre has reached a more artistic plateau and it’s not just a fluke. There was a sudden resurgence of skateboarding. It was a GREAT year for documentaries, reflecting on powerful life stories with a realization of dreams or camaraderie in there somewhere. But inevitably my final theses were driven by the real-world context into which these movies were released.
First, I noticed a lot of stories celebrating outsiders who are ok with being outsiders, sometimes even proud. Occasionally this required fighting against oppression, occasionally it was just remaining isolated. We were finally treated to an abundance of characters who saw being unlike everyone else as a good thing. We should always celebrate that in ways both large and small, in fiction and nonfiction, on-screen and off. The second and most prominent theme of my personal list is that even when things are terrible, they can still be funny. I noticed a lot of great dark, weird comedies, which always strike a chord with me but may be even more effective now as reminders that we need to laugh at something in even the worst circumstances. Maybe reality has gotten so dark that anything is a pleasant break? it’s all absurd anyways, and any gentle reminder of that is nice. These thoughts are not deep revelations about film, but these movies are reminders it can be an escape or it can remind us all is not lost, even when showing us how it can be. It’s not an excuse to ignore what’s around us, but it can occasionally give us a bit more optimism. Enjoy my top thirteen (plus a bunch of honorable mentions) and let me know your thoughts! Vice is a comedy, and can be quite funny at times, but the dominant feeling I had was not joy. It was anger. And I'm pretty sure that was director Adam McKay’s goal, with laughter as a secondary objective. The film's political bias (although it makes the argument it's simply a humanity bias) is in plain view, and that education appears to be main purpose other than letting us watch Christian Bale play this part. When you have a villain as the lead in your story, it’s typically important for the audience to be on their side at some point, but while Vice often shows (or strongly implies) Dick Cheney’s motivation for his awful acts and beliefs, it never agrees with him, and certainly never wants the audience to be on his side.
Much like the character himself, Aquaman is stuck between two worlds, unable to leave one behind for the other. While Aquaman manages to bring his two worlds together, Aquaman’s dramatic and comedic elements never mesh into an enjoyable movie. If it was just a little bit better or a little bit worse, it might have been fun. As is, it’s a tonal disaster.
Aquaman made me realize just how impressive it is that Marvel pulled off the first Thor movie. It’s hard to remember now since that character has changed so much, but when introduced, Thor himself was played completely seriously, as was the entire Asgard setting. But as a fish out of water, Thor was funny. One of the things that made Jason Mamoa stand out as a supporting player in Justice League was his humorous, self-aware attitude. That may have worked when Aquaman was a bit player in the ‘real’ world, but it proves detrimental to a similarly Shakespearean origin story. It tries to be self-aware but only when Aquaman is making fun of other characters, and nothing about the entire proceedings. The character and production team is so amazed by his underwater home, the one thing that should be made fun of for being absurd is left alone. As everyone takes a break from work, it’s time for a lot of us to catch-up with the year’s best entertainment. I’m certain you have a list and there's an abundance of things that deserve your time, but I am here to make the case for why Patriot, an Amazon Prime hidden gem that released its second season a few weeks ago, should be a priority. It's admittedly difficult to describe, but I'll do my best.
Patriot follows John Tavner (Michael Dorman): a very sad spy, yet also manages to be one of the funniest, most enjoyable, most bizarre things I’ve seen in a long time. If you have a penchant for dark humor and characters that tenaciously move forward by any means necessary, no matter how bad it gets, with a grin on their face, then this is for you. If you find it funny when the lead pushes someone in front of a truck in the first two minutes, then this is for you. If you’d like to hear a spy sing sad folk songs outlining his missions in way too much detail, then this is for you. If you like one of those things or none of those things, there's a good chance you’ll still like Patriot. For the first moment after walking out of Bumblebee I thought it was kind of good. But as I tried to figure out what I liked about it, I realized I couldn’t find more than one or two things that stood out. Sure, it makes sense. Most of the acting is fine, and the central performance is good. Neither of the leads exist only to be ogled. There are even a couple jokes that work and real people talk with other real people more than robots fight each other. It’s even less than two hours long (by a hair). Those are all things that Bumblebee delivers. So, if you go in with the standards of the Transformers franchise, you might be tricked into thinking this is a good movie. But it is a step in the right direction, so I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad movie.
|
Categories
All
Archives
April 2019
|