written and directed by Christopher Nolan
Dunkirk is one of those movies that only a filmmaker with huge balls would be able to make, considering that, unlike most of the successful movies that have been made about World War II in the last 70 years, it doesn't a) feature Americans, b) depict a decisive military victory, or c) make any mention of the Holocaust. While the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940 is probably known only to WWII buffs and very studious Brits, thanks to this movie, that's all set to change.
The film tells the story of the evacuation of Dunkirk, albeit from three perspectives, that of the soldiers awaiting evacuation on the French coast, desperate to get home, as represented by the travails of Tommy (Fionn Whitehead), his silent companion Gibson (Aneurin Barnard) and Alex (Harry Styles), that of members of the Royal Air Force out to protect the evacuees, namely Farrier (Tom Hardy), Collins (Jack Lowden) and their unnamed squad leader (played by Michael Caine's voice), and that of the civilians whose boats were requisitioned by the English government to rescue the trapped English soldiers, represented by Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance), his son Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Peter's friend George (Barry Keogh). Their stories are told in three separate but ultimately interweaving narrative threads. Kenneth Branagh also stars as Commander Bolton, who supervises the evacuation from the Dunkirk pier and who also provides some pretty convenient exposition, such as an explanation of why the British Navy can't just swoop in and save the 400,000 English soldiers stranded on the beach (the short version: the waters are too shallow for big ships).
In telling this simple story, Nolan brings his considerable visual storytelling prowess to bear, establishing the urgency of the situation right out of the gate with a superb first few minutes that show the squad of soldiers to which Tommy originally belonged get wiped out by unseen German shooters. He may not have invented the split narrative technique, but he uses it to astonishing effect here, as he ratchets up the tension with each passing moment, especially given that the three narratives are out of sync with one another. Each set of protagonists, while all caught up in the same overarching event, faces different perils. The soldiers on the beach try desperately to get off the beach, only to fail several times, the pilots must ever be mindful of both enemy planes and their limited fuel loads, while Mr. Dawson and his two companions are basically sailing into hostile territory with nothing more than Mr. Dawson's experience and their collective grit.
The payoff of narratives like this is seeing everything eventually tie together, which it all does in fine fashion.
This film has been hailed by many critics as the greatest war movie ever, as while I'll certainly join them in their praises for the most part, I wouldn't go quite so far to say "the greatest," especially since the yardstick cited is the seminal Saving Private Ryan.
The film does an incredible job of conveying tension during wartime while eschewing the gore and usual shots of people getting riddled with bullets, but where it falls slightly short for me is in convincing me why I should root for Tommy in particular to "get away" considering there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers in similar straits to his. I get that, in contrast to the Spitfire pilots and the civilians coming to the rescue, the soldiers scurrying to get home are basically everymen, not really "heroes" in the traditional sense, but there is something important about feeling a connection to these soldiers, wanting to see them safe from harm. "Good show, lads," an elderly gentleman says to two of the soldiers who made it home, to which one replies, "all we did was come home." Because all the soldiers are just "coming home," this emphasizes the importance of being able to connect with them, which, for some reason, I did not. Tommy is depicted as a would-be queue-jumper who says precious little, and I don't know whether it's down to newcomer Whitehead's muted acting or Nolan failing to flesh out the character, but truth be told I didn't really see myself cheering him on any more than the thousands of others who needed saving. I felt similarly indifferent towards Harry Styles's Alex, but at least he showed some kind of self-awareness towards the end.
The accusation that the film does not have an emotional core does not feel valid, but I think it's fair to say that there's some deficiency in its emotional heft. Maybe someone like Asa Butterfield or Tom Holland would have done a better job with the character, and to my mind the mere fact that the character doesn't have much dialogue shouldn't have been a barrier to him generating some kind of emotional resonance with the audience, independent of the sheer magnitude of what was happening to him.
Speaking of young actors, I was genuinely annoyed by Keogh, who basically mumbled all of his lines.
Also, I wasn't a fan of Hans Zimmer's virtually omnipresent music score, which Nolan clearly leaned on quite heavily to help him create tension, sometimes at instances where it really wasn't necessary. Anyone who claims that Spielberg leaned on sentimentality to manipulate the audience in Saving Private Ryan should also consider that the throbbing, frequently overbearing score by Zimmer is used to similar effect in this movie. It's not unlike how Alfonso Cuaron used Steven Price's music in Gravity, but in that film the music substituted for sounds that could not be heard in the vacuum of space, while here the music being pounded into my skull just felt like overkill.
Those nitpicks aside, I was a big fan of the performances of Rylance, Hardy, Lowden, Cillian Murphy as a PTSD-afflicted soldier, the exposition-spouting Branagh, and even James D'Arcy, who has a small role as an Army Commander and basically gives Branagh's Bolton someone to whom he can explain everything that needs explaining. This is the most British that a Hollywood blockbuster has even been outside of Harry Potter-related movie, and the quality of the acting (for the most part) benefits from it.
As WWII movies go, this is definitely one of the best, and will certainly be regarded as a definitive dramatization of what happened during the Dunkirk evacuation.
8.5/10
Sunday, July 23, 2017
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
So...How About Those Twists, Huh? (SPOILERS GALORE FOR SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING)
With Spider-Man: Homecoming having conquered the American box office and several others across the globe last weekend, there is no doubt in my mind that comic book geeks all around globe are now discussing the story twist in the movie in which comic book mainstay Liz Allen was revealed to actually be Liz Toomes, or the daughter of the film's villain, Adrian Toomes, aka the Vulture.
At that point, I was so happy with the movie that they could have just given me a generic showdown and I still would have enjoyed it thoroughly. As it was, though, so late in the film the storytellers still managed to throw me for a loop. Peter Parker's reaction was portrayed to utter perfection by Tom Holland, who has, in my mind, at least established himself as the definitive Spider-Man and Peter Parker. Peter's profound discomfort at the discovery that his worst enemy was actually the father of his longtime crush and homecoming date was a superb piece of acting, and Holland didn't even need his perfect Queens accent; his expressions said everything. The car ride from Toomes' mansion to the high school was the real payoff, and I guarantee that people are going to be talking about that sequence for years to come, way more than they will be about the CGI fight sequences. It's easily one of the most tense confrontations in any superhero story ever put to film.
Quite a few of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have had story twists over the years, starting with the not-so-shocking revelation that Obadiah Stane had hired mercenaries to have Tony Stark killed, the slightly-out-of-left-field revelation that Ben Kingsley's ruthless Mandarin was, in fact, a drunken, washed-out actor, the disclosure that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been taken over by HYDRA, and most recently the blatantly-telegraphed revelation that Bucky killed Tony Stark's parents. As twists go, however, this one was, for me, anyway, the most effective one, considering that it came out of nowhere and had the most visceral impact. The car ride that followed the reveal was really something else. Also, while it's not the first time that a bad guy figured out who Spider-Man was without an unmasking (which, laughably enough, has happened quite a lot over the course of the five previous movies), the depiction of how Vulture figured out Peter's secret was the most well-conceived that I've seen so far.
And then, of course, just when we think the film is about to wrap up, there's the moment that Aunt May walks in on Peter while he's wearing the high-tech Spider-Man suit that Tony Stark has just returned to him. It's considerably less dramatic than the Vulture twist and played more for laughs than anything else, but it sure made for a heck of a cliffhanger. Truth be told, Marisa Tomei's Aunt May was tragically underused in the film especially considering how important the character of Aunt May is to Peter, but I get that the imperative of this film was more to establish his relationships with his peers rather than show him as the "aunt's boy" he was in previous films Still, this particular sequence seems to indicate that they've got big plans for the character for the inevitable sequel.
This film delivered on so many fronts for me I was more than ready to embrace it even without these little"bonuses," but these have just sweetened the pot all the more and now have me even more excited for the prospect of more movies from this team. May they make many more movies as good as, if not better, than this one.
I just hope they work his Spider-sense into the next film.
At that point, I was so happy with the movie that they could have just given me a generic showdown and I still would have enjoyed it thoroughly. As it was, though, so late in the film the storytellers still managed to throw me for a loop. Peter Parker's reaction was portrayed to utter perfection by Tom Holland, who has, in my mind, at least established himself as the definitive Spider-Man and Peter Parker. Peter's profound discomfort at the discovery that his worst enemy was actually the father of his longtime crush and homecoming date was a superb piece of acting, and Holland didn't even need his perfect Queens accent; his expressions said everything. The car ride from Toomes' mansion to the high school was the real payoff, and I guarantee that people are going to be talking about that sequence for years to come, way more than they will be about the CGI fight sequences. It's easily one of the most tense confrontations in any superhero story ever put to film.
Quite a few of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have had story twists over the years, starting with the not-so-shocking revelation that Obadiah Stane had hired mercenaries to have Tony Stark killed, the slightly-out-of-left-field revelation that Ben Kingsley's ruthless Mandarin was, in fact, a drunken, washed-out actor, the disclosure that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been taken over by HYDRA, and most recently the blatantly-telegraphed revelation that Bucky killed Tony Stark's parents. As twists go, however, this one was, for me, anyway, the most effective one, considering that it came out of nowhere and had the most visceral impact. The car ride that followed the reveal was really something else. Also, while it's not the first time that a bad guy figured out who Spider-Man was without an unmasking (which, laughably enough, has happened quite a lot over the course of the five previous movies), the depiction of how Vulture figured out Peter's secret was the most well-conceived that I've seen so far.
And then, of course, just when we think the film is about to wrap up, there's the moment that Aunt May walks in on Peter while he's wearing the high-tech Spider-Man suit that Tony Stark has just returned to him. It's considerably less dramatic than the Vulture twist and played more for laughs than anything else, but it sure made for a heck of a cliffhanger. Truth be told, Marisa Tomei's Aunt May was tragically underused in the film especially considering how important the character of Aunt May is to Peter, but I get that the imperative of this film was more to establish his relationships with his peers rather than show him as the "aunt's boy" he was in previous films Still, this particular sequence seems to indicate that they've got big plans for the character for the inevitable sequel.
This film delivered on so many fronts for me I was more than ready to embrace it even without these little"bonuses," but these have just sweetened the pot all the more and now have me even more excited for the prospect of more movies from this team. May they make many more movies as good as, if not better, than this one.
I just hope they work his Spider-sense into the next film.
Sunday, July 9, 2017
Peter Parker's Day Off: A Review of Spider-Man: Homecoming
directed by Jon Watts
written by Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers
For the third time in fifteen years, Sony Pictures unleashes a new big screen iteration of Marvel Comics' single most beloved superhero, the amazing Spider-Man. This time, however, they've got the might of Marvel in their creative (and marketing) corner, and the results are exactly what millions of fans the world over have been hoping for since it was announced that Sony was finally allowing Spidey into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including this longtime fanboy.
Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is a fifteen-year-old high school sophomore with typical high school problems; he has a hard time talking to girls, particularly his dream girl Liz (Laura Harrier). He has to deal with school bully Flash (Tony Revolori), and apart from his best bud Ned (Jacob Batalon), he doesn't really have that many friends. He also has the proportionate strength, speed and agility of a spider, and a super-hero secret identity, that of Spider-Man. As the film begins he has just taken part in an attempt to capture Captain America. Having quietly flown him to Germany for the aforementioned mission, Peter's mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), quietly drops Peter off at home back in Queens where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and leaves his driver/bodyguard Happy (Jon Favreau) in charge of making sure he stays out of trouble.
Unbeknownst to Stark, however, since one of his companies, Damage Control, booted out contractor Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) from a clean-up job he and his crew had gotten from the City Government of New York to clean up after the Avengers' battle with the Chitauri many years ago, Toomes and his cohorts have been stealing technology left over from the Avengers' battles to build extremely dangerous weapons and sell them to criminals. One such gang of criminals tries to use the tech to rob several ATMs...right in Peter's neighborhood. Spider-Man stops the robbery, but when he tries to track down the people selling the weapons, he finds that his desire to play superhero comes into direct conflict with his life as a high school student, the latter of which, to a kid who is both as smart and as marginalized as Peter, is not particularly fulfilling. To get off the very short leash on which Stark keeps him, Peter has Ned, who accidentally discovers his identity, hack into the Stark-built Spider-man costume and he sets off on his self-appointed mission to unlock its many high-tech goodies, which he feels he will need to stop Toomes. Peter will soon discover, however, that it's not the suit and powers that matter but the hero that wields them.
Much has been written about how Peter Parker's youth is the single biggest asset of the film, and I definitely agree with that assessment. None of the previous films focused much on Peter's life as a high school student. The first film had him graduating halfway through the film, and the first reboot, while it featured a Peter who was still in high school, noticeably treated it more like an incidental fact of his life rather than a defining aspect of it. Previous filmmakers seemed eager to get it out of the way, but in conceiving this movie, director Jon Watts and his army of writers, no doubt under the watchful eye of Kevin Feige, wisely used the high school setting to establish the key lesson that defines Peter Parker's journey as Spider-Man: with great power comes great responsibility. Peter's got both brain and, thanks to his spider bite, the brawn to do all of the super stuff, but he learns the hard way that there's quite a bit more to being a hero than just having super powers and knowing how to use them. He's the avatar for every kid who's ever felt trapped by the constraints of school, especially the gifted kids, and it's gratifying to see the filmmakers reaching out to what is undoubtedly this film's core audience with something heartfelt to say about being young and all of the awkwardness and frustration that entails. It's funny, exciting and compassionate, and a film that's easily one of the best that Marvel Studios has ever produced.
I'd go as far as to say it stands on par with Spider-Man 2, still regarded by many as one of the very best films the superhero genre has to offer, and in many ways it even exceeds it. After all, this is a movie that features a wisecracking Spider-Man, a genius who can make his own web fluid, and a kid who is every bit as shy out of the costume as he is cocky in it. It also helps that this film, unlike any that came before it, pays homage to one of the most iconic moments in the character's published history, one which dyed-in-the-wool comic book Spidey fans will recognize instantly.
The visual pyrotechnics are all topnotch, of course, with Sony Pictures Imageworks and Digital Domain churning out state-of-the-art effects, but that's to be expected from this kind of movie. I was personally glad that the film didn't degenerate into a generic CGI orgy in the last act. While there are clearly visual effects involved; it plays out a lot better than, say, the ultra-generic battle at the end of Wonder Woman. Still, whatever artistry the VFX wizards would have brought to the table would have been all for naught had the writers left their brains at home. Just ask the guys who worked on the Transformers movies.
The good news is that, despite having six writers, often a recipe for creative disaster, the film's script feels solid and mostly coherent. Watts, who was apparently chosen to direct this film because of a little independent film called Cop Car which featured pre-teen boys as protagonists, coaxes exemplary performances from his cast. Carrying the movie on his slight shoulders, however, is white-hot British actor Tom Holland, who snagged this role two years ago in what was apparently a very competitive auditioning process, and who turns in a note-perfect performance as one of the most beloved superhero characters of all time. Holland's youthfulness helps him portray Peter as eager and callow, but it's Holland's earnestness and commitment to his portrayal that really enables him to nail a rather tricky performance. Tobey Maguire, in the first iteration of the character, went a bit too broad, and Andrew Garfield, while his love for the character was fairly clear, just couldn't quite nail the awkwardness of Peter. Holland gets the balance just right, and helping him along are a talented, if sometimes low-key supporting cast in Batalon, Zendaya and Laura Harrier. Batalon is a real scene-stealer here, and I'm not just saying that because he's of Filipino descent.
Also, it's worth noting that for once, the hero faces off against a villain who is not only formidable but very well-developed, courtesy of a smashing performance by Michael Keaton. In breaking away from recent tradition, Keaton's Vulture is the very best MCU since Tom Hiddleston charmed moviegoers' pants off as Loki, the god of mischief five years ago. Keaton brings his considerable acting chops (and comic book street cred) to bear as he renders a performance that is all at once terrifying and surprisingly sympathetic, even right up to the end. Keaton's is actually the first face the audience sees as the film opens, and he leaves a heck of an impression. I'm not actually shocked; I've been a fan of this guy since 1988's Beetlejuice, and I know that, even without Batman on his resume, he's got some serious acting mojo, but I was pleasantly surprised that he turned in a wonderfully nuanced performance rather than just sail on through for an easy paycheck. People like Paul Giamatti and Jamie Foxx may have gone all Jim Carrey on their Spidey villains but Keaton not only dials the menace up to 11 with his character, but manages to keep him human at the same time, which makes him even scarier.
There's not much to say about Robert Downey, Jr. and Jon Favreau as Tony Stark and Happy Hogan, respectively, other than that they were the necessary glue between this iteration of Spidey and the bigger Marvel Cinematic Universe, but unlike the awkwardly shoehorned Falcon scene in Ant-Man, Stark and Happy are reasonably well-integrated into the narrative, with Stark standing as a welcome substitute for Peter's late Uncle Ben, whose death, I am glad to report, is no longer depicted and who, in fact, is only mentioned very obliquely. In case I missed that point, I'm happy to point out this isn't an origin story, and the film is all the better for it.
It's got its flaws; Spider-Man's "spider sense" or the preternatural ability to sense danger is conspicuously absent from this film, though to be fair it also winked out at somewhat inconvenient moments in past films as well. My son pointed out his weak chemistry with his romantic lead, Liz, which was a little disappointing after Wonder Woman got the superhero love story down pat. A direct reference to Ferris Bueller's Day Off was a little on the nose, considering the film does an effective homage all on its own, with Peter spending most of it playing hooky. These, are however, but minor quibbles; I really enjoyed this film. Also, while he doesn't quite match his wonderfully quirky work on Doctor Strange, composer Michael Giacchino comes up with a pretty strong theme for Spidey, even though I'm sure this film will be better-remembered for the orchestral version of the old 1960s TV show that ushers in the "Marvel Studios" logo in the beginning.
And so, Sony has restored some luster to the crown jewel of Marvel's cinematic characters, and I take great encouragement from Kevin Feige's pronouncement that this version of Spidey will soon usher in a new era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following the cataclysmic events of the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War. The MCU could not ask for a better standard-bearer.
8.5/10
written by Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers
For the third time in fifteen years, Sony Pictures unleashes a new big screen iteration of Marvel Comics' single most beloved superhero, the amazing Spider-Man. This time, however, they've got the might of Marvel in their creative (and marketing) corner, and the results are exactly what millions of fans the world over have been hoping for since it was announced that Sony was finally allowing Spidey into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including this longtime fanboy.
Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is a fifteen-year-old high school sophomore with typical high school problems; he has a hard time talking to girls, particularly his dream girl Liz (Laura Harrier). He has to deal with school bully Flash (Tony Revolori), and apart from his best bud Ned (Jacob Batalon), he doesn't really have that many friends. He also has the proportionate strength, speed and agility of a spider, and a super-hero secret identity, that of Spider-Man. As the film begins he has just taken part in an attempt to capture Captain America. Having quietly flown him to Germany for the aforementioned mission, Peter's mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), quietly drops Peter off at home back in Queens where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and leaves his driver/bodyguard Happy (Jon Favreau) in charge of making sure he stays out of trouble.
Unbeknownst to Stark, however, since one of his companies, Damage Control, booted out contractor Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) from a clean-up job he and his crew had gotten from the City Government of New York to clean up after the Avengers' battle with the Chitauri many years ago, Toomes and his cohorts have been stealing technology left over from the Avengers' battles to build extremely dangerous weapons and sell them to criminals. One such gang of criminals tries to use the tech to rob several ATMs...right in Peter's neighborhood. Spider-Man stops the robbery, but when he tries to track down the people selling the weapons, he finds that his desire to play superhero comes into direct conflict with his life as a high school student, the latter of which, to a kid who is both as smart and as marginalized as Peter, is not particularly fulfilling. To get off the very short leash on which Stark keeps him, Peter has Ned, who accidentally discovers his identity, hack into the Stark-built Spider-man costume and he sets off on his self-appointed mission to unlock its many high-tech goodies, which he feels he will need to stop Toomes. Peter will soon discover, however, that it's not the suit and powers that matter but the hero that wields them.
Much has been written about how Peter Parker's youth is the single biggest asset of the film, and I definitely agree with that assessment. None of the previous films focused much on Peter's life as a high school student. The first film had him graduating halfway through the film, and the first reboot, while it featured a Peter who was still in high school, noticeably treated it more like an incidental fact of his life rather than a defining aspect of it. Previous filmmakers seemed eager to get it out of the way, but in conceiving this movie, director Jon Watts and his army of writers, no doubt under the watchful eye of Kevin Feige, wisely used the high school setting to establish the key lesson that defines Peter Parker's journey as Spider-Man: with great power comes great responsibility. Peter's got both brain and, thanks to his spider bite, the brawn to do all of the super stuff, but he learns the hard way that there's quite a bit more to being a hero than just having super powers and knowing how to use them. He's the avatar for every kid who's ever felt trapped by the constraints of school, especially the gifted kids, and it's gratifying to see the filmmakers reaching out to what is undoubtedly this film's core audience with something heartfelt to say about being young and all of the awkwardness and frustration that entails. It's funny, exciting and compassionate, and a film that's easily one of the best that Marvel Studios has ever produced.
I'd go as far as to say it stands on par with Spider-Man 2, still regarded by many as one of the very best films the superhero genre has to offer, and in many ways it even exceeds it. After all, this is a movie that features a wisecracking Spider-Man, a genius who can make his own web fluid, and a kid who is every bit as shy out of the costume as he is cocky in it. It also helps that this film, unlike any that came before it, pays homage to one of the most iconic moments in the character's published history, one which dyed-in-the-wool comic book Spidey fans will recognize instantly.
The visual pyrotechnics are all topnotch, of course, with Sony Pictures Imageworks and Digital Domain churning out state-of-the-art effects, but that's to be expected from this kind of movie. I was personally glad that the film didn't degenerate into a generic CGI orgy in the last act. While there are clearly visual effects involved; it plays out a lot better than, say, the ultra-generic battle at the end of Wonder Woman. Still, whatever artistry the VFX wizards would have brought to the table would have been all for naught had the writers left their brains at home. Just ask the guys who worked on the Transformers movies.
The good news is that, despite having six writers, often a recipe for creative disaster, the film's script feels solid and mostly coherent. Watts, who was apparently chosen to direct this film because of a little independent film called Cop Car which featured pre-teen boys as protagonists, coaxes exemplary performances from his cast. Carrying the movie on his slight shoulders, however, is white-hot British actor Tom Holland, who snagged this role two years ago in what was apparently a very competitive auditioning process, and who turns in a note-perfect performance as one of the most beloved superhero characters of all time. Holland's youthfulness helps him portray Peter as eager and callow, but it's Holland's earnestness and commitment to his portrayal that really enables him to nail a rather tricky performance. Tobey Maguire, in the first iteration of the character, went a bit too broad, and Andrew Garfield, while his love for the character was fairly clear, just couldn't quite nail the awkwardness of Peter. Holland gets the balance just right, and helping him along are a talented, if sometimes low-key supporting cast in Batalon, Zendaya and Laura Harrier. Batalon is a real scene-stealer here, and I'm not just saying that because he's of Filipino descent.
Also, it's worth noting that for once, the hero faces off against a villain who is not only formidable but very well-developed, courtesy of a smashing performance by Michael Keaton. In breaking away from recent tradition, Keaton's Vulture is the very best MCU since Tom Hiddleston charmed moviegoers' pants off as Loki, the god of mischief five years ago. Keaton brings his considerable acting chops (and comic book street cred) to bear as he renders a performance that is all at once terrifying and surprisingly sympathetic, even right up to the end. Keaton's is actually the first face the audience sees as the film opens, and he leaves a heck of an impression. I'm not actually shocked; I've been a fan of this guy since 1988's Beetlejuice, and I know that, even without Batman on his resume, he's got some serious acting mojo, but I was pleasantly surprised that he turned in a wonderfully nuanced performance rather than just sail on through for an easy paycheck. People like Paul Giamatti and Jamie Foxx may have gone all Jim Carrey on their Spidey villains but Keaton not only dials the menace up to 11 with his character, but manages to keep him human at the same time, which makes him even scarier.
There's not much to say about Robert Downey, Jr. and Jon Favreau as Tony Stark and Happy Hogan, respectively, other than that they were the necessary glue between this iteration of Spidey and the bigger Marvel Cinematic Universe, but unlike the awkwardly shoehorned Falcon scene in Ant-Man, Stark and Happy are reasonably well-integrated into the narrative, with Stark standing as a welcome substitute for Peter's late Uncle Ben, whose death, I am glad to report, is no longer depicted and who, in fact, is only mentioned very obliquely. In case I missed that point, I'm happy to point out this isn't an origin story, and the film is all the better for it.
It's got its flaws; Spider-Man's "spider sense" or the preternatural ability to sense danger is conspicuously absent from this film, though to be fair it also winked out at somewhat inconvenient moments in past films as well. My son pointed out his weak chemistry with his romantic lead, Liz, which was a little disappointing after Wonder Woman got the superhero love story down pat. A direct reference to Ferris Bueller's Day Off was a little on the nose, considering the film does an effective homage all on its own, with Peter spending most of it playing hooky. These, are however, but minor quibbles; I really enjoyed this film. Also, while he doesn't quite match his wonderfully quirky work on Doctor Strange, composer Michael Giacchino comes up with a pretty strong theme for Spidey, even though I'm sure this film will be better-remembered for the orchestral version of the old 1960s TV show that ushers in the "Marvel Studios" logo in the beginning.
And so, Sony has restored some luster to the crown jewel of Marvel's cinematic characters, and I take great encouragement from Kevin Feige's pronouncement that this version of Spidey will soon usher in a new era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following the cataclysmic events of the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War. The MCU could not ask for a better standard-bearer.
8.5/10
Thursday, July 6, 2017
An Almost Obligatory Cash Grab: A Review of Despicable Me 3
directed by Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin, and Eric Guillon
written by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul
When I first saw the posters for the animated sequel Despicable Me 3, the premise of which is that the protagonist, ex-supervillain Gru (Steve Carell) has a twin brother, also played by Carell, I snickered at the tag-line printed in big, black letters: "Oh, Brother" and thought to myself, how very apt.
As much as I enjoyed the very first Despicable Me film seven years ago, and, to a lesser extent, its sequel four years ago, I knew, after that second film, and especially after the trashy, unabashedly commercial Minions spin-off/prequel, that creatively, this team pretty much had nowhere else to go with their conceit of a supervillain gone straight. I also knew that, considering the gargantuan grosses of both the latter two movies (with Minions racking up over a billion dollars at the global box office), making a DM3 movie was pretty much a no-brainer. I just didn't figure on it being a no-brainer storywise, as well.
The premise is so lazy one wonders how much thought even went into it. When Gru, working for the Anti-Villain League that was introduced in the second film, is unable, yet again, to capture 80's themed supervillain Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker, playing an over-the-hill child star in a bit of "meta" casting given his own, long-gone fame), he loses his job, as does his wife, Lucy (Kristen Wiig) when she tries to stick up for him. At the same time, Gru's minions (Pierre Coffin) who have been egging him on to resume his life of villainy, are fed up when he refuses, and quit working for him, with the exception of two of them. Also at the same time, Gru is invited to meet his long lost twin brother Dru, whose very existence his mother (Julie Andrews) had concealed from him because of an acrimonious divorce. Dru apparently lives in opulence as the number one pig farmer in the (fictional) country of Freedonia, but he has a secret that Gru, still smarting from losing his job, will soon learn to his chagrin.
The gang's all back from the last movie, with the exception of Agnes and Edith, who have both been recast presumably due to the voice actors having grown up, and to be truthful the film feels as stale as a sequel to a franchise that's run out of ideas would feel. Parker, best known for the bawdy humor of his South Park series, seems pretty lost when placed in a family-friendly film, and in any case his "Balthazar Bratt" is nowhere near as entertaining as Jason Segel's Vector and Benjamin Bratt's El Macho from the previous films were. I'll admit to being entertained by the 80s-themed dance battle, though really, I wonder if anyone not of my generation is even going to appreciate the reference.
The worst part was seeing (or more appropriately hearing) Carell and the other voice-actor mainstays phoning in their roles, which, for all I know, is literally what they were doing. Carell brought so much life to Gru when the character debuted the better part of a decade ago, with his zany, vaguely Russian accent and just the right mix of malevolence and vulnerability. Now he genuinely feels like he just doesn't give two s**ts about his character or his belatedly-introduced brother. And the less said about Julie Andrews' revisiting the character of Gru's mom, the better. Suffice it so say her sole purpose here is basically as an exposition device, and she can't even be bothered to put on a specific accent this time around.
The Minions, the official avatars of Illumination Studios, have an insufferable subplot that's not even worth describing other than that it gives the filmmakers an excuse to crack tired, old prison jokes.
About the only notable thing about this movie is how the writers sort of manage to address the issue of how to have more adventures with Gru and the Minions without having Gru revert to being a bad guy (mild spoiler alert there). This issue is addressed, after a fashion, and the results are mildly entertaining. The film even looks good, which is an area in which Illumination continues to impress, considering they spend considerably less on their films than their rivals at Disney and Dreamworks. They'll probably be able to rake in several hundred million dollars (at least) from a few more films of this series.
But really, as a creative endeavor, this film franchise has really run its course.
5.5/10
written by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul
When I first saw the posters for the animated sequel Despicable Me 3, the premise of which is that the protagonist, ex-supervillain Gru (Steve Carell) has a twin brother, also played by Carell, I snickered at the tag-line printed in big, black letters: "Oh, Brother" and thought to myself, how very apt.
As much as I enjoyed the very first Despicable Me film seven years ago, and, to a lesser extent, its sequel four years ago, I knew, after that second film, and especially after the trashy, unabashedly commercial Minions spin-off/prequel, that creatively, this team pretty much had nowhere else to go with their conceit of a supervillain gone straight. I also knew that, considering the gargantuan grosses of both the latter two movies (with Minions racking up over a billion dollars at the global box office), making a DM3 movie was pretty much a no-brainer. I just didn't figure on it being a no-brainer storywise, as well.
The premise is so lazy one wonders how much thought even went into it. When Gru, working for the Anti-Villain League that was introduced in the second film, is unable, yet again, to capture 80's themed supervillain Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker, playing an over-the-hill child star in a bit of "meta" casting given his own, long-gone fame), he loses his job, as does his wife, Lucy (Kristen Wiig) when she tries to stick up for him. At the same time, Gru's minions (Pierre Coffin) who have been egging him on to resume his life of villainy, are fed up when he refuses, and quit working for him, with the exception of two of them. Also at the same time, Gru is invited to meet his long lost twin brother Dru, whose very existence his mother (Julie Andrews) had concealed from him because of an acrimonious divorce. Dru apparently lives in opulence as the number one pig farmer in the (fictional) country of Freedonia, but he has a secret that Gru, still smarting from losing his job, will soon learn to his chagrin.
The gang's all back from the last movie, with the exception of Agnes and Edith, who have both been recast presumably due to the voice actors having grown up, and to be truthful the film feels as stale as a sequel to a franchise that's run out of ideas would feel. Parker, best known for the bawdy humor of his South Park series, seems pretty lost when placed in a family-friendly film, and in any case his "Balthazar Bratt" is nowhere near as entertaining as Jason Segel's Vector and Benjamin Bratt's El Macho from the previous films were. I'll admit to being entertained by the 80s-themed dance battle, though really, I wonder if anyone not of my generation is even going to appreciate the reference.
The worst part was seeing (or more appropriately hearing) Carell and the other voice-actor mainstays phoning in their roles, which, for all I know, is literally what they were doing. Carell brought so much life to Gru when the character debuted the better part of a decade ago, with his zany, vaguely Russian accent and just the right mix of malevolence and vulnerability. Now he genuinely feels like he just doesn't give two s**ts about his character or his belatedly-introduced brother. And the less said about Julie Andrews' revisiting the character of Gru's mom, the better. Suffice it so say her sole purpose here is basically as an exposition device, and she can't even be bothered to put on a specific accent this time around.
The Minions, the official avatars of Illumination Studios, have an insufferable subplot that's not even worth describing other than that it gives the filmmakers an excuse to crack tired, old prison jokes.
About the only notable thing about this movie is how the writers sort of manage to address the issue of how to have more adventures with Gru and the Minions without having Gru revert to being a bad guy (mild spoiler alert there). This issue is addressed, after a fashion, and the results are mildly entertaining. The film even looks good, which is an area in which Illumination continues to impress, considering they spend considerably less on their films than their rivals at Disney and Dreamworks. They'll probably be able to rake in several hundred million dollars (at least) from a few more films of this series.
But really, as a creative endeavor, this film franchise has really run its course.
5.5/10
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