Narnia Quest Part 2 (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, 2008)

Coming out three years after the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian picks up in Narnia, decades after the rule of the Pevensie family. The children had lived and ruled into adulthood, but returned to our world as children, with almost no time having passed. But in Narnia, mankind has overrun Narnia. The mythical creatures seem all but gone.

Lady Protectress Prunaprismia gives birth to a son, delighting her husband Lord Protector Miraz. He calls to have the rightful heir to the throne, Prince Caspian, killed. Caspian’s tutor Professor Cornelius helps him escape. Cornelius has tried to teach Caspian in the forgotten ways of Narnia and Aslan. He gives him an ancient battle horn.

In his escape, Caspian runs into the original citizens of Narnia, whom he had believed to be myth. In a fit of panic, he blows the horn, but the horn is not an ordinary artifact. It actually calls the Pevensie children back to Narnia. They discover the ruins of their old castle, and come across their old weapons. The children then discover Telmarine (the ruling class of Narnia) soldiers about to kill the dwarf Trumkin. After saving him, they start to make their way back to the other hiding creatures of Narnia. Throughout the story, Lucy is certain she sees Aslan, but nobody else seems to see him.

Eventually, they reach and meet Caspian. Caspian has cast in his lots with the citizens of Narnia against their Telmarine oppressors. With the help of the Pevensies, they go on a mission to overthrow the Telmarines.

This is an okay follow up, though it pretty much has all the same positives and negatives of the previous film. It is trying hard to be an epic, instead of trusting the story laid out before it. The film invents a temptation to bring back the White Witch for the Pevensie kids that is entirely pointless and unneeded.

Prince Caspian is not terrible…but it really is just an average film adaption. Not great. But decent enough.

December 17, 2017 0

Back to the Future (X-Men: Days of Future Past, 2014)

Days of Future Past is a well loved storyline where Kitty Pryde is thrust into a future where Mutants are herded in camps, marked and in some cases killed. They are hunted by giant robots called Sentinels. And for the most part, Days of Future Past keeps these ideas. Except the film begins in the future and instead of Kitty Pryde going to the future, they send Wolverine back in time to stop it from ever happening. Kitty Pryde is still a part of this, as she can use her phasing ability to phase people through time. Only to a few days earlier, so they are playing a cat and mouse game with the Sentinels finding their hideout, Kitty sending Bishop back in time to warn them. They decide they need to go farther back, but it is to taxing on Kitty and the brain of the person she sends back. Wolverine volunteers to go, arguing his healing factor makes him the best choice.

Wolverine awakes in the 70’s and finds that the School Xavier opened is in shambles…there are no students. Xavier is addicted to a drug that allows him to walk, but also prevents him from using his powers. Beast is also there as his aide. They do not initially buy Wolverines arguments, but he eventually persuades them to the cause. They are trying to stop Mystique from assassinating Bolivar Trask. Trask is the creator of the Sentinels and he has been using mutants as part of his R&D. The research is fatal, and this is actually used to kill several characters from First Class off screen.

This is without a doubt one of the strongest films in the entire X-Men series. The return of Bryan Singer as director was clearly a smart choice. There is well timed humor and exciting action. We see the return of the original (still living cast). The future sequences are full of cool uses of power and we get new characters like Blink (who creates wormholes characters can escape through-the film is very inventive with these powers) and Warpath (a character from the 1970’s return of the X-Men comics). We have Storm and Iceman back. The films have always had a hard time placing Magneto on the side of evil and seeing real life friends Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan back together again.

And the new characters are pretty memorable. Quicksilver appears only a short time, but he totally steals every scene. He is funny and likeable. Peter Dinklage makes Trask a sympathetic and misguided villain. He is not simply evil…he is consumed by fear of what mutants mean for the human race. It does not make his actions acceptable. His choices are evil, but you can see what takes him there. William Stryker returns to the series and is trying to weaponize mutants, treating them as less than human already. The film is, of course, very Wolverine-centric.

There are two cuts of the film out on Blu-Ray. The theatrical cut eliminated Rogue entirely with the exception of the film’s final scene, even though they filmed several scenes focused on Rogue. The second is not a directors cut, it is the Rogue Cut and restores Rogue to the story. Both versions are good, but it is nice seeing the inclusion of Rogue and the important part she plays. It also brings things back to the first film and Rogue’s relationship to Wolverine.

The film has continuity issues in regards to the film series. One being how Patrick Stewart is back…it is a bit more focused on undoing X3 and “fixing a timeline”…which results in questions. Like First Class, Days of Future Past overcomes a lot of these questions while watching it. This film feels like the passing of the baton to the new cast (much in the way Star Trek Generations tried to do…but this does it oh so much better). It is, like X2, a film that has a strong identity that is built on strong performances.

August 1, 2016 0

Artifacting (Pixels, 2015)

Pixels is a mash of Ghostbusters and Adam Sandler’s Nostalgia machine with a lot of likeable actors supporting Sandler and James based on a clever 2:34 minute short film by Patrick Jean from 2010.

The short explanation of the film is that in 1982 the U.S. government sent out a tie capsule into space, aliens with VCR technology thought we were declaring war and attack us with video games from 1982 (or earlier). The world’s best hope is not our military or scientists… it is washed up guys who were super good at video games in 1982.

The idea certainly could have been a lot of fun. But the film was mashed through a standard Sandler Comedy Filter. The jokes depend on Sandler’s 80’s nostalgia (which translates scattershot jokes based on “har, har-80’s!” with no regard to accuracy). The whole opening sequence is set in 1982 where we meet every major character except Michelle Monaghan’s Violet as children. The jokes reference 80’s celebrities whose careers had not taken off in 1982. We learn Adam Sandler’s Brenner is a prodigy at video games, Kevin Jame’s Cooper is only good at the claw game, Ludlow (Josh Gad) has no friends and Peter Dinklage is a gaming champion. Brenner almost wins the championship, but in the end loses to Eddie.

Apparently, this destroys Brenner, and when the film picks up he is a entertainment system installer, which is how he meets skilled scientist and 2nd Lt. Violet, who is getting a divorce. After a failed attempt to kiss Violet, the two spend the movie sparring in that generic “these people hate each other but are really falling in love” fashion.

The movie is very generic in every fashion. The script has no life, and relies on cheap stereotypes (in an Adam Sandler film?!). Gad’s Ludlow is a creepy conspiracy theory nut who admits to having kidnapped people. He is also obsessed with Lady Lisa, the heroine of Dojo Quest. Dinklage’s Eddie is a prisoner who wants a threesome with Martha Stewart and Serena Williams as a condition of helping save the world.

The effects are good (which is not surprising). The cast is promising (Dinklage has the best performance) yet ultimately everyone feels like they are just playing expected roles. Monaghan is the love interest and mom, Brian Cox is Angry Old Man and Josh Gad yells then trails off quietly in his delivery… Adam Sandler is his usual failed schlep and Kevin James channels his Bumbling Man Character through the president.

The film makes “odd” choices…one example is Lady Lisa. All the alien video game warriors are pixelated. Every single one. Except Lisa. And the only reason I can gather is that she is supposed to be a hot woman. So, who cares, right? Sexy trumps your established rules.

This film is supposed to be a comedy. I did not laugh once. Not even a chuckle. I did smile a couple times where the film moved up in level to mildly amusing. But the film is genuinely awful.

July 26, 2015 0