Bless the Beasts and Wizards (Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald, 2018)

The first film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them had Newt Scamander, witches Tina and Queenie and muggle Jacob trying to save a young but powerful man from being both destroyed by his power and that of being a pawn by a wicked wizard. In the end, it appeared the young man, Creedence, was dead and the villainous Grindelwald was revealed.

The sequel picks up with an action packed escape by Grindelwald before returning to Newt Scamander who is trying to get his right to leave the country reinstated. The Ministry of Magic reveals that Creedence is alive and well. He is hiding in Paris trying to find out who he really is. He has fallen in love with a young woman. Tina and another Auror trying to catch Creedence (but with different goals). Jacob has regained his memory and he and Queenie are an item, but after a fight, Queenie runs off to Paris to find Tina, but Grindelwald is in Paris looking for Creedence…confused yet?

I actually quite liked the first film. I enjoyed the introduction of a decent and prominent “muggle” character. I felt the four leads had a nice chemistry. I was sympathetic to Tina’s attempts do things all by the book, but also her sympathy for Creedence in the film.

And yet, this film has none of that. For one thing, there are about twenty separate storylines, separating almost all the characters for a large part of the movie. So, it is all really a mess. And by themselves, some of the characters start to become grating.

The film is full of scenes giving us back story and it becomes super clear from the earliest moments in the film that this is literally all a set up. The film is more interested in its world building and fan service with origins to characters that never needed an origin. A lot of things feel like they will not pay off until a later film.

The last half hour or so just keeps hitting the audience with twists and reveals…and none of them feel consequential.

I mean, I basically liked Jude Law as a young Dumbledore. But can I say…the most controversial casting of the film was Johnny Depp. And I really do wish the filmmakers had listened to the outcry. Because, honestly? This is one of the most uninspired and dreadfully dull Depp performances I have ever seen. It is just lifeless.

This ends up being a lackluster sequel…and I am disappointed to say it did not keep me entertained.

November 18, 2018 0

Curses (Logan Lucky, 2017)

Steven Soderbergh retired from directing in 2013. He directed multiple episodes of the Knick after that. He has three more films in the pipeline after this years Logan Lucky. The guy sucks at retirement.

But that is okay for me. Logan Lucky is about Jimmy Logan…should have been football star who hurt his knee and went on to live the blue-collar life in West Virginia. His brother, a one armed bar tender and vet Clyde, believes the Logan family is cursed. Tragedy follows the family everywhere. When he loses his job, Jimmy is desperate to find money to improve his situation. His ex wife plans to move with her husband and take their daughter with them. And this leads us to the heist at a race track on race day.

Like a blue-collar Ocean’s 11, Jimmy (along with Clyde and their sister Mellie) recruits Jimmy Bang (who in turn has them recruit his brothers) an explosives expert. The plan is elaborate, and you almost wonder if the kind but somewhat simple Jimmy can manage it. And here is the weird rub of heist films, for me.

I do not endorse robbing people. I do not believe it is okay to come up with big heists. But I sure do love a heist movie…watching the plan come together, watching the plan get executed…and the inevitable reveals of the stuff I missed.

And Logan Lucky does not disappoint there. It is charming and funny. Part of this is in the cast. Channing Tatum has been one of those guys who I under-estimated. As Jimmy Logan, he is soft spoken and gentle, but not afraid of a fight. And Adam Driver’s Clyde is somewhat heart breaking yet endearing. Riley Keough is the fast driving Mellie…and then there is Joe Bang…played to great comic effect by Daniel Craig. Oh yeah… Farrah McKenzie as Sadie Logan? Adorable little kid.

For the most part, the film loves these characters…the only characters that feel a little to over the top and cartoonish? Fish and Sam Bang…but even they have their moments. Logan Lucky was a lot of fun and even had a few moments that made me tear up. It plays out very in a very satisfying fashion.

The New York Post claims this film does not “get Trumpland”…but frankly? Why should a person who just enjoys a fun movie care about that?

August 27, 2017 0

The Hunter Or the Hunted? Pt 6 (Alien Covenant, 2017)

After the beating Prometheus took from critics and fans, the rumor is that Ridley Scott proclaimed, “They want Aliens? I will give them f___ing Aliens.” And so the Prometheus sequel morphed into an Alien Prequel.

Set ten years after Prometheus, we are introduced to a ship called the Covenant. It is carrying thousands of colonists (and embryos) and is headed for a distant planet suitable for human colonization. Piloted by a crew of married couples. When tragedy strikes and kills the captain, the crew goes to fixing the ship. They desire to honor the death of their captain, but Oran (now as the acting captain) is focused on the business. As they finish the work, a transmission is intercepted. It leads to the discovery of a habitable planet just weeks away. Somehow this transmission and planet escaped notice. Oram wants to visit the planet, as their original destination is seven years away. Daniels (who was married to the deceased Captain) expresses concern that this is a bad idea. Also on the ship is a Synthetic named Walter (played by Michael Fassbender). While he looks like David, he is a decidedly different character.

They land on a lush, yet seemingly lifeless planet. And things rapidly descend into horror. Some of the crew is exposed to spores that result in proto-xenomorphs that burst from the backs of victims. You know, instead of from the chest. David saves the crew, only to be revealed as a lone hermit who spent the last ten years trying to create a weaponized life form. In a flashback we discover that when Shaw and David arrived at the planet, he dropped the goo on the Engineer populace. Now he hopes to do the same to humanity.

The film borrows from all the previous films in it’s resolution. For example, there is an airlock fight like Alien and Aliens. The film has a lot of ideas that never play out. And worse, the questions of Prometheus are cast aside, as is Shaw. The film telegraphs it’s twist ending from miles away.

The film takes several moments to cast Billy Crudup’s Oram as a disgraced man of faith. Not disgraced in regards to his faith, but rather that his faith has had him blackballed from further advancement within the company. The problem is, aside from a couple mentions of his faith, we never really see what that faith is in…or why it has been an impediment.

Daniel seems to be in shock the entire film, some of which is understandable, but then she suddenly becomes the “Ripley” of the film. And they try and out-Ripley with Daniel. She swings around the outside of a ship with a giant gun blasting away at the xenomorph.

For the large part, the effects are good, though there is one scene where a newly birthed xenomorph is clearly (and pretty embarrassingly) CGI. Like Prometheus, the ideas seem unexplored and the story incomplete.

I did not hate the film. Fassbender was great in his dual roles. Walter had an entirely different tone and cadence to David. I have always liked the design of the Alien franchise. And the ships in Prometheus and Covenant do not feel like they cannot occupy the same space as the rest of the franchise. In Alien we saw an industrial transport ship in Aliens a military vessel, in the third film a dilapidated prison and in Resurrection a military station. All of these were utilitarian. The Prometheus was a private company’s high tech research vessel and the Covenant is a luxury transport.

I really like the design of the proto-xenomorphs. They are creepy and unnervingly vicious. I liked the characters for the most part, and felt Danny McBride’s Tennessee one of the more stand out characters, in spite of being a fairly standard character in these types of films. I would put Covenant above, say, the Alien Vs Predator films or Alien Resurrection. But it does not rise to Alien or Aliens either. The movie takes so many shortcuts, it results in characters looking a bit stupid. “Lets not wear protective gear in a new environment, after all, we can breath the air!” It is still a disappointing follow up with a annoying and dismal final reveal.

June 2, 2017 0

Suitcase Packed (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, 2016)

It was not long after the Harry Potter series came to a close, we got the fairly expected announcement of a new movie that would be set in the magical universe of Harry Potter. This was certainly enough to get fans excited. It was then announced it would be a story set before Harry or Voldemort were walking the earth.

Earlier this year they said it would be a trilogy. A few weeks back? It became a …uh…Fivology. And so, this new beginning for the wizarding world is meant to kick it all off. Set in 1926, we find that the world of Wizards is not idyllic. There are issues with the possibility of exposure. The Dark Wizard Grindelwald has gone missing. Disgraced wizard Newt Scamander has come to New York and finds a problem when his suitcase full of magical beasts gets switched with aspiring baker Kowalski’s suitcase of pastries. This forces their lives to be intertwined, but things get even more complicated when former Auror Tina tries to take Newt in.

Instead of a coming of age tale focused on friendship, sacrifice and so on, Fantastic Beasts is more focus on political thriller territory. This is not inherently bad, but it is all pretty light in how it is handled. There are good ideas at play, but one big twist is absolutely no surprise at all. While the film explores surface issues such as the rules of the Wizard world and the conflicts between the various Wizarding communities. At this time, no muggles (or No-Maj as they are called in America) were allowed to be aware of the Wizard world. Wizards are not allowed to have friendships with muggles, even.

The film is a bit stuffed with characters who feel like they are important. There is the creepy anti-magic “family” led by Mary Lou. Her use of children to disseminate her ideas is never deeply explored. Then there is publisher Henry Shaw and his sons Henry Jr and Langdon Shaw. Langdon is intrigued by the claims of Mary Lou, but his father is more concerned with his brother’s political campaign. And yet, these characters do little to the point of barely feeling necessary.

On the other hand? I really liked Newt and Tina. Both are simply trying to do the right thing, and both are thoughtfully compassionate and, a little clumsy. I found Kowalski an enjoyable presence. He is at first stunned, but then takes great joy in his discovery of the world of wizards. Rather than be frightened of Tina’s psychic sister Queenie, he finds it exciting. The four make a fun team.

It is fun to revisit the Wizard World of J.K. Rowling, really, it is. I enjoyed the character moments (especially between our four heroes). Remember how I said there were going to be five films? Well, as the film built up, I was finding myself looking forward to the story of these four going forward. Except, really? The film ends in a way that makes it clear this was originally going to just be one film. Everything gets neatly tied up and everything is fixed, making much of the film feel rather meaningless on its impact on the world of wizards.

This will be fun for those who simply miss getting to revisit the Harry Potter Universe. I had a nice time watching it, it is just that it ends somewhat…anti-climatically. It is passable entertainment, but it is not quite a triumphant return.

November 19, 2016 0