Month: September 2019

Cosmos Heart of Darkness

Ad Astra – 2019

Ad Astra, Latin “to the stars” foreshadows the celestial ambitions of a film aiming for the stars but in celluloid reality, is locked into our gravity-bound solar system, destination Neptune. Brad Pitt, suiting up as stoic (wooden), impassive (dull), invincible astronaut, Major Roy McBride, ditched his charm and traded in his Once Upon a Time in Hollywood charisma for monotone utterances and blank, vacant stares in this sci fi version of Apocalypse Now. Roy is a troubled, solitary man on a perilous interplanetary journey to eradicate a madman, Captain Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), Roy’s estranged father. Earth is edging dangerously close to doomsday and the senior McBride, who disappeared into deep space years before on the Lima Project, a mission seeking intelligent life, is identified as the mad mastermind. Cue the son to undertake a classified bounty hunter journey from Earth to the Moon to Mars to Neptune to find his father and save the planet.  Captain McBride goes from fallen hero to celestial villain. We the audience hitch a ride on this laborious journey where we witness crowded shopping moon malls, space punk pirates, a catapulting lunar rover chase, a deranged attack baboon, gaudy interstellar “Comfort Rooms,” meteorite dodge ball and a Neptune nuclear tsunami. Choose your thrill. Strapped in between the malls and meteorites is a tedious storyline stab at deconstructing the psychological baggage Roy is packing from planet to planet. Oh, ok, got it. It’s about father-son stuff. Oh, wait. It’s about husband-wife stuff. No, no. It’s about self and soul and spirit stuff. It’s about love. It’s about life. Oh, good grief! Stop already! Can we just rewind to the killer baboon? For a sci fi space thriller, it’s stodgy and slow. For a relational drama, it’s thin on insights and thick on “stuff.” For an inspirational message about human transformation, it’s not. It is meandering, dry, dreary and dark. The film tried too hard to be a monumental, profound, psychological, sensory odyssey through time, space and self.  But, instead it spiraled out of control, coming off as so dense and opaque, that it dimmed any hope I had to engage. Consequently, I was neither disturbed nor inspired. I didn’t care. Myself, I suggest skipping Ad Astra and renting Apocalypse Now. 

Happily Ever After

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – 2019

When I see “Quentin Tarantino, Director,” I proceed with caution. The violent nonchalance of Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Django Unchained (2012) so stupefied me that I swore off The Hateful Eight (2015). Given six years of a Tarantino respite, when Once Upon a Time in Hollywood rolled in, looking both ways and over my shoulder, I slid way down into the theater’s recliner and settled in for two hours and forty minutes of Tarantino trepidation.  It wasn’t exactly a kinder, friendlier Tarantino film but it was far more fantasy than savagery. Rick (Leonardo Dicaprio) and Cliff (Brad Pitt) are evenly matched as actors and a ton of fun to watch going up against each other in this Hollywood period piece full of classic jargon and memorabilia. If you lived through the Helter Skelter 1960s and the terrifying 1969 slaughter of Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) by the psychotic, sociopathic Manson Family, this film kept you on edge wondering when and how a combined Tarantino-Manson bloodbath would blow up the big screen. Then in a stunning reversal, what didn’t happen did. What we, the entire cringing auditorium audience, were expecting was over…kind of. Personally, the ending left me flattened in my movie house lounger, swindled, bamboozled by a slick Hollywood makeover. Tarantino trickery taming the carnage was so unexpected that I couldn’t even begin to appreciate the fantastical story twist towards vengeance. In fact, sometimes a moment in history is so sadistic, so brutally horrible that it’s etched into sacred space and can never be repackaged as entertainment.  Mea culpa. My bad. I should have known better. Sigh. I sense this Tarantino respite may be permanent. But give me another six years or so. You just never know. 

Magical, Mystery Tour

Yesterday – 2019

Meet Jack Malik (Hamesh Patel), a lovable,stereotypical swell British guy who is also a struggling, frustrated musician ready to hang up his guitar and trade in his sad crowd-less gigs for a secure teaching job. Cue a global blackout, bus accident, hospitalization, replacement guitar, and coaxed out serenade of perhaps the greatest song of all time,Yesterday, to loyal and loving friends met with “When did you write that?” and the movie sets off to pursue the surreal question: what if a cosmic shudder caused the music of The Beatles to vanish from the planet with nary a trace? It is funny to see the endless insect webpages that pop up from Jack’s frantic Google search of The Beatles.  It is fascinating and revealing to check off how many historical and cultural connections are linked to the famous Fab Four. The romantic story line of persistent but unrequited love between Jack and his friend and agent from grade school, Ellie (Lilie James), meanders harmlessly along.  All together now, ain’t she sweet! I do admire the creative spirit of this movie. But, I’m a Beatles purist. I cut my teeth on Yellow Submarine, Penny Lane, Yesterday and the complete Beatles songbook.  I instinctively balk at karaoke renditions regardless of how passionately played. Help! I can’t stop myself. Jack isn’t John or Paul or George and definitely not Ringo.  Tribute performances need not take the stage. So that’s my single issue with this film but it’s a big one given all the songs and concerts Jack belts out. I’m happily stuck in yesterday.  For me, let it be. For you, maybe all you need is love. Go see it for yourself and I bet we can work it out.

Royal Fun

Downton Abbey – 2019

Do not see this movie unless you are a bonafide Downton Abbey aficionado who watched the official trailer at least a dozen times. No wannabe water cooler Anglophile conversationalists welcome in the Crawley fan club. There are so many intersecting story lines that build upon the six seasons of royalty and riches, loyalty and labors that you simply can’t drop everything and drop in on this movie. Downton Abbey the movie is akin to a season seven condensed into a single episode pumped with steroids. In fact, plan on seeing Downton twice so you can relax and enjoy stress-free the pure feast of personalities, plot twists, tea and toast, curtsies and courtesans. There was one sad, dignified story line, tidy but needless. I’ll stop there to avoid a spoiler alert. You will suss it out, no doubt. All in all, this movie is everything I’d anticipated, no more, no less. I loved it. But, it’s Downton Abbey, what’s not to love? 👍

Mercurial!

Bohemian Rhapsody – 2018

 I must admit I knew nothing of Queen, not my music era. I did visit Mercury’s Restaurant while roaming about Zanzibar. I can hum along with We Are the Champions and stomp along with We Will Rock You but I couldn’t have told you before this movie who they were by. Ergo, I watched Bohemian Rhapsody as a complete outlier. I was probably camping with my two young sons during 1985’s Live Aid Concert, missing Queen’s twenty-one minute performance, voted the greatest live performance in the history of rock, an embarrassing omission of my pop culture heritage. Mea culpa. Now, with these mildly humiliating disclosures out in public, let me enthusiastically add my vote and say I loved this movie! Everything about it entertained and held my interest: the music revolution, the band evolution, the intertwined relationships, and the rise, fall & redemption of Freddie the superstar, the musician, man, son & friend. The 135 minute film duration was engaging, intriguing and provided full throttle fascination from start through the credit roll. While I doubt the Academy Awards will align with the Golden Globes, there are better 2018 films for an Oscar nod (A Star Is Born is NOT one of them), Bohemian Rhapsody well earns the price of admission and Rami Malek’s sensational & mesmerizing performance as Freddie Mercury without question deserves nomination for Best Actor. 👍

Bad Shot

The Kid – 2019

Cinematography was dark, I was squinting at times. Plot was boring, eyes closed at times. Relationships were never believable, one gang or another would suddenly appear, shoot someone or even shoot a horse. Was that necessary? Even Billy the Kid asked why. Dull, dud, slow, lame, lackluster. I went into the theater saying that there is no such thing as a bad Western. I was wrong. 👎

Toys for Us Big Kids

Toy Story 4 – 2019

The Toy Story franchise more than holds its magical own 24 years after Randy Newman invites Woody & Buzz into our hearts, promising we’ve got forever friends in them. Toy Story 4 moves into a new developmental stage and shakes off the heretofore inevitable fate of toy obsolescence and discard. Of course, kids grow up and move on but, hey, so can the Sheriff Woodys and Bo Peeps of the world. Imagination and courage rejects passive toy box storage and closet dust bunnies for fearlessly setting off into life’s bold adventures. You can bet Toy Story 5 is ahead. A-Ok because Buzz, Woody, Slinky, Hamm, Gabby Gabby, et.al, never fear ‘cause you’ve got a friend in me! 👍

A Roaring Good Time!

The Lion King – 2019

Going in I wasn’t sold on talking real animals, skeptical at how that could possibly look and sound right. But, the animal mouths perfectly matched the words being spoken! Amazing! The cinematography was absolutely stunning. So many bugs and grubs, so little time. Timon & Pumba are hysterically the best! Even the teens sitting next to me were giggling and guffawing. Live action Simba, in my estimation, is far superior to animated Simba who always struck me as too goofy to be king. The storyline was completely faithful to the original. Music exquisite as ever. Our minivan was rocking all the way home with the kids singing Hakuna Matata at the top of their lungs. My Lion King moviegoers are lobbying for Disney to make a prequel and reveal why Scar is so bitter towards his brother. If you liked the original animated version, you are bound to dote on this live action version. At least it worked beautifully for me. We all enjoyed a rip-ROARING good time.👍🏼

Little Farm, Big Heart

The Biggest little Farm – 2018

What a special movie. I usually wince at documentaries because it often seems like they are a malevolent contest to see who can tell the most painful, grim and hopeless stories of the genre. Then Indie films almost always run too long because the filmmakers can’t abide serious editing. “NO, please I must keep that (and that and that) scene.” Biggest Little Farm defies the odds and nudges sweetly close to wonderful and wonder-full perfection. A life treat movie experience. 👍

This Peanut Butter Soothes the Soul

The Peanut Butter Falcon – 2019

Peanut Butter Falcon, what an absolutely gem of a feel-good film that kept the entire theater crowd, all six of us, in our seats through the last credit just to make sure we didn’t miss anything. No sex, no random acts of violence, no special effects, gizmos or gadgets, just a sweet, rewarding story line where the good bad guys win and the bad good guys lose. I totally predicted Zach, the runaway Downs Syndrome Southern boy wanna be wrestler, coming of age Karate Kid moment and still LOVED IT! Peanut Butter Falcon’s cast especially Shia LaBeouf as Tyler, Dakota Johnson as Eleanor, Zach Gottsagen as Zach and Bruce Dern as Carl we’re perfectly matched to their roles and to each other in this Everglades rafting odyssey. 97% Rotten Tomatoes audience rating. Seriously, I can’t begin to imagine who are the 3% that didn’t like this heartwarming film fable. Every so often I need a life timeout for a dose of happily-ever-after. Got my fix today! 👍