Review – Page 11 – L&D Report

Shaft

I think the Taco Bell by the movie theater has finally closed down. Maybe there aren’t enough people to work there anymore? — We are winning, America! — And so it was prophesied that L & D sat in an essentially empty and quite large multiplex theater to see Samuel L. Jackson star in Shaft. The film started off on shaky ground with some intensely stiff acting and dialogue. But luckily for everyone involved it loosened up once Mr. Jackson arrived on scene.

If you’ve ever watched any Blaxploitation films, say on the Bounce network, (which I get on TV airwaves here in Northeastern Wisconsin — though if that’s not enough for you, Bounce owns Brown Sugar, a 1970’s era Blaxploitation on demand service) there’s one common denominator, namely low production value. Bad, I mean bad! lighting, awkward, I mean distractingly awkward! editing and poor, piss poor! composition people. Is there a reason for this? I’m sure there is. The reason has to do with low budgets. Those days are gone, as the new Shaft has the production value of a James Bond film. The lighting, camera movement, wardrobe, art direction and sound are of the highest caliber. The film has enough confidence in itself to make light of the genre. For example, when Shaft is about to enter a shady nightclub, there is a blatant smoke machine hidden behind a trash can spewing way too much non-motivated smoke. It’s confusing at first until you get the joke. Then, in a most excellent scene, Shaft is in the apartment hallway of his ex-wife. He is at her door, pleading to be let in, when he is interrupted by a neighbor who gives him the stink eye. Suddenly the groovy music winds down like someone pulled the plug on the Rev. Al Green 33 that was spinning on your record player. As soon as the neighbor gets a look at Shaft’s gun, he is terrified and slams his door — the song cranks up to speed again. It’s a great breaking the fourth wall moment.

I would be remiss in writing about Shaft without mentioning the great African-American writer of hardboiled novels and social narratives, Mr. Chester Himes. If you’ve never heard of Chester Himes, click on that link already. He delighted many readers and inspired many writers and filmmakers with his series of nine Harlem Detective novels. It’s safe to say what Raymond Chandler is to Hollywood, Chester Himes is to Harlem. And with this in mind, I really enjoyed Shaft. I have no idea if I was laughing at the appropriate places but I was definitely laughing. Even D, who was not impressed with the wobbly opening, started laughing. There is just something about Samuel L. Jackson, he really is like a funky Mr. Miyagi. After all, he has already portrayed a Jedi Master. Also, in one scene he reminds us that he is tired of the Laurence Fishburne comparisons!

At its core, Shaft is a generation-gap-father-son film. It at least acknowledges that times have changed, even if it sticks to stereotypes. However, the stereotypes are with tongue firmly planted in cheek and with the good intention of the audience having a little fun. Of course here, the good guys win through violence, the Dad teaches the kid how to be a proper manly man and the women in the film either step aside, need to be rescued or forgive the unforgivable — or at least the truly shitty. It’s still a Blaxsploitaion genre movie but Shaft does have his heart in the right place even if sometimes his actions and words betray him. His character flaws and redeeming values are identical to Himes’ hardboiled heroes.

Yeah, it’s a family movie if your family eats expletives for breakfast, doesn’t mind people getting shot up with AK-47s and finds glitter all over a bare chest quite amusing. I’m not going to tell you if I found it quite amusing. I’m also not going to tell you where the glitter was on Shaft. In the final analysis, Shaft checked all the kick up your feet and enjoy a summertime movie for 6 bucks boxes but it wasn’t a great movie and certainly something you could enjoy in your La-Z-Boy recliner or loveseat at home. Also, motherfucker. A lot.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

tumblr_nany65LEml1s2jfn0o1_400 — “Wait, that’s not the ending?”

Something unusual is going on at our local Taco Bell restaurants. As L&D reported last week, from all outward appearances the store was closed as we drove past — the interior lights and the giant outdoor Taco Bell signage were dark, yet the driveup line was sprawling into the street. Turning the lights off in Paree still won’t keep them on the farm, evidently.

As it happens, I was at a different Taco Bell on the other side of town earlier in the week, featuring both an extended drive up line and a massive back up in the interior of the store. Indeed, the customers and workers alike shared the sour countenance that you might find at the DMV. At one point, the manager locked the door to prevent further entry and proceeded to hand out coupons to placate those of us who had been patiently waiting for semi-warm tacoesque offerings. You read that correctly: the manager locked the door to keep customers out. This is around 7:30 p.m. on a Sunday. Peak taco?

And it came to pass that L&D headed out to see Godzilla: King of the Monsters Thursday night, once again the lights were out and we were having trouble locating the building (even the outside sign was dark), but we evidently were the only ones who couldn’t find the building because once again the line was epic, and only the illumination of the drive up window gave any indication that the restaurant was open for business. I was driving and L shifted excitedly in his seat to survey the situation. This was easily the highlight of the evening.

Okay, so I was just going to leave the review at that, but Godzilla: King of the Monsters, while terrible, is not entirely bereft of merit. The sound is incredible and the credits are astounding — the army of animators (?) and sheer number of FX companies that worked on this defies credulity. How do they put all of this together so seamlessly?

Well, how did they put all of the effects together so seamlessly?, that is. The plot, the dialog, and the pacing of the movie started poorly and didn’t get much better. The script is weak and the timing seems off by a beat through much of the film, despite boasting a number of A-list actors in the cast (Vera Farmiga, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance).

In fairness, there are a number of potentially interesting aspects of the movie, including:

the overt religiosity;
the few attempts at humor;
whatever the Monarch agency is and its role in tracking and monitoring the beasts;
the various’ beasts effects on the global ecosystem (making the news clips in the end credits a semi-highlight for me).

But even with good potential, some good action, and some amusement, the movie is almost completely inane. On the way to the parking lot, L lamented the fact that there were actually other movie patrons, as this was the best candidate for “L&D Mystery Science Theater” since Kong.

And, speaking of the big guy, evidently he is on a collision course with the big lizard in Godzilla vs. Kong, set for 2020. I have a feeling we will be seeing that one, though I kind of wish we wouldn’t.

Rocketman (D)

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L and D received mixed signals from the Taco Bell Index as we headed out for the opening night of the Elton John biopic / musical, Rocketman. It appeared that the power was completely out in the building, including the usually illuminated signage, yet the driveup line was at least 10 strong, backed up out into the street. What could this possibly mean?

Judging by the sub-tepid crowd in a virtually empty theater, I take it to mean that Rocketman won’t be a hit. If you like Elton John songs (and who doesn’t?), you will probably enjoy the music, but I was personally restless throughout as I waited for the movie to settle into its rhythm. I don’t think it did.

L has already weighed in here and I think he’s right that you will probably find something to like — the sartorial splendor, the dance numbers, the set depictions, the concert scenes. And I have seen some reviews that congratulate Mr. John, who was executive producer on the piece, for not portraying himself in the most flattering light. Sure.

But, I just can’t get past how boilerplate the plot was, and how the character development was basically non-existent. Sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll just *had* to be more fun than this, or why bother at all? Bohemian Rhapsody suffered the same Lifetime Movie Network storyline fate, but the film makers in that case seemed to realize that showing Queen in outlandish costumes bolstered with 15-minute long concert clips was a winning strategy. I think Rocketman followed suit with the suits, but came up short on most other fronts. It’s a better movie, and yet the payoff isn’t as great.

Over the $6.30 bar (the state of Wisconsin added tax to movie tickets!), but you can probably wait to see this on your home screen.

Rocketman

Normally it happens that a film doesn’t live up to the sum of its parts. Yes, it has some good scenes and other things going for it, a great performance say, but it doesn’t quite hit the mark. Rocketman is the total opposite. You could rightly say that there is no character development outside the protagonist, that the musical numbers are unevenly spaced throughout the narrative, that we ourselves L & D could have written a better storyline. These and many other things like the flat ending, you could certainly ding this movie with…and D did, on the car ride after the movie. Though I agree with all the critiques, the sum of all these sideways elements didn’t stop me from liking the film.

First and absolutely foremost is the music. Even as I write this review, the song “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” is going through my head. I’m not even sure if it was in the movie. It most likely was, but the point is that even several days later I’ve been singing all kinds of Elton John songs to myself…and it’s great. Who do I think would like this movie? For any Elton John fan, this is “must see TV”. Though it could be considered an extremely elaborate vanity piece, I was actually surprised that Elton John himself produced the movie. I don’t think it necessarily shows him in some type of perfect spotlight. It’s definitely a warts and all depiction. I didn’t know a lot about Elton John it turned out. For example, his most famous songs were written by his friend Bernie Taupin. It would have been fascinating to know about the inspiration for these songs. This goes back to the supporting character development critique. Rocketman could be read as a “buddy movie” where only the motivations and situations around one of the buddies is explored. But maybe Bernie’s story would be more justly told in a stand alone Bernie Taupin feature? So who else would like it? Anyone interested in a good gay coming out movie. Anyone interested in rock music of the 70s and 80s. — I’m increasingly convinced that no one made it out of the 80s unscathed. Who else? Anyone interested in stories about families and father, son relationships. I thought Rocketman had more in common with Billy Elliot, the story of a boy who wanted to be a dancer, with music by, you guessed it, Elton John, than with say Bohemian Rhapsody. In fact, though I have knee-jerk cringe that comes up when characters start breaking into musical tunes in the middle of scenes, I was thankful that Rocketman really told the story of a 70s/80s British rocker in a different way.

I appreciated that beyond the elaborate camera moves, choreography and stunning production value there really was a story in there about a little kid who wanted a hug from his dad that he was never going to get and about the same guy who had to learn to love that little kid. I thought it was a cool story and the flaws just piled up to make it interesting, different. Kind of how a camera lens with a bunch of aberrations can actually give a soft, warm feeling. — We didn’t like Bohemian Rhapsody anyway.

I’m not exactly sure what makes a great rock biopic. The clichés just kill the genre. I’m a fan of Anvil: The Story of Anvil. Though that is technically a documentary. I love Ladies and Gentleman, the Fabulous Stains, though The Stains are not a real band. I remember liking Last Days, Gus van Sant’s offering about Cobain and 24 Hour Party people about the scene in Manchester in the 80s. Ultimately, I think Rocketman though flawed in many aspects will be remembered as solid statement about who Elton John was, what his songs meant and how he came to be the rock icon that he is.

Booksmart

Booksmart is an intelligent and funny mashup whose ROFL parts don’t necessarily add up to a must see movie night. And even though my job as a high school film teacher was on my mind entering the movie (with the end of the school year upon me, as in the film). And even though the film is ostensibly about high school, it nevertheless did help me laugh. So if you want to kind of get away for a while and have a few good laughs I would recommend this film to you. But if you are looking for a solid all around film on the par of a Lady Bird or Eighth Grade, Booksmart isn’t going to cut it for you.

As a mashup, Booksmart incorporates the awkward feeling of Eighth Grade, almost like a sequel but without the sense of predestined gloomy finality. It’s not the funniest thing you’ve ever seen (The 40 -Year-Old Virgin) or the most exploitive (Assassination Nation) or even one of the funniest things (Office Christmas Party). But like Long Shot, it certainly has its moments. There is also a feeling here reminiscent of the classic Scorsese comedy After Hours and Blockers with the primary action taking place over the course of one twisting crazy night.

Many of the characters in Booksmart do seem familiar in spite of their one dimensionality. And the film does to its credit try to go into a little more depth with some of the characters. There is also a shout out to Gilmore Girls, which is apropos. If you’ve ever seen His Girl Friday or any screwball comedy, the lines come fast and furious, the banter withering, the re parteeing. So it’s unrealistic in that sense but some will find the style engaging. There are also just absurd moments that I loved like having fencers in the background of a scene in the high school courtyard. But this is followed up with grounded conversations about real world dilemmas. Falling off the edge of high school, like The Graduate. As I mentioned in my Eighth Grade review, it’s not easy being a kid and that certainly comes through in Booksmart as well. I found that though the film pulled from many sources and familiar storylines it also seemed to create an original synthesis. The pool scene and airport scenes were beautifually shot, the graduation scene, reminiscent of Stripes was also well done.

There are some great cameos here by Jason Sudeikis, Lisa Kudrow and Will Forte. But I think the film is stolen by the eccentric and totally out there frenemy Billie Lourd as Gigi.

Booksmart certainly hit the 6 dollar Thursday bar, kept me laughing and thinking and covered some original cinematic ground with a strong mashup style. Do I think that you could also happily wait for it to stream on your favorite platform. Yes, I do.

John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum

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Let’s just start by saying that when John Wick: Chapter 4 — Tempus Bellum hits the theaters, we doubt you will need too much background from the first three chapters to follow along with the plot. And just hazarding a guess here, that plot will involve John Wick (Keanu Reeves) plodding along at a syncopated cadence in a dark suit engaging in hand-to-hand combat and shooting lots of people point blank in the face.

But enough about the future of the series and let’s focus on Chapter 3, which involves John Wick (Keanu Reeves) plodding along at a syncopated cadence in a dark suit engaging in hand-to-hand combat and shooting lots of people point blank in the face. We have seen this all before, of course, but the movie is surprisingly innovative in its delivery of gratuitous comic-book violence. The first major encounter, for example, takes place in the New York Public Library, where knowledge may be power, but a good sturdy book comes in handy if you want to beat someone’s face in. The action proceeds to an antique weapon shop (which I believe is right next to the NYPL) with extraordinary results. After a few more stops, including John Wick galloping on horseback through Manhattan, the movie finally slows down to catch its breath, at which point I think I fell asleep for a little bit. But when I woke up, they were back at it, moving from location to location, piling up the bodies all along the way.

The verdict? If you have been desensitized to this type of first-person gamer violence, this movie is a clear winner. L&D laughed out loud throughout — probably for a good two or three minutes straight in the antique shop scene — as a number of scenes were so patently absurd that the filmmakers must have intended them as comedy. Though I believe we were in the minority of the audience that viewed this as such, I’d like to think our laughter was infectious, and I heard some guffawing across the theater as the film proceeded.

But, wow, this is a violent film. I would wager that at least 100 people get shot point-blank in the face, many of them wearing some sort of head gear so the damage was not always immediately apparent, and that’s just the people who got shot. The movie also features more than its fair share of people getting shot in places other than the head, stabbed in and through the head, stabbed elsewhere, hit with a thrown knife, thrown off a building, etc, etc… Indeed, the variety in which people get killed will certainly overwhelm the uninitiated. The movie also features extremely innovative canine violence, including multiple dog-on-unit chomping incidents. Although the body count is probably in the high three digits, the movie also delivers on its fair share of maiming, branding, and cauterizing of the villains and principals alike as part of the parabellum. Some of it is camp, some of it for shock value, but you are bound to find something unsettling herein.

If you can handle the violence, you will probably like the visual aesthetic. The rainy city at night is fabulous, we head to the desert at one point, and finish off in some sort of glass museum where the violence takes place with the backdrop of some groovy, flowy lights and what appears to be a psychedelic Rolex commercial looping in the back. Although some of the big budget was spent on the talent (Reeves, Halle Berry, Laurence Fishburne, Anjelica Huston, Ian MacShane, as well as the knavish Mark Dacascos), most of it seems to have been spent making this the ultraviolent spectacle that it is.

I certainly won’t recommend this movie to everyone, but if this is your type of thing, this is your type of thing. You’ll laugh, you’ll wince, you’ll jump from your seat, and you’ll probably get a little sick to your stomach.

And, if not, well, here’s L’s takeaway:

Not for the faint of heart, weak of heart or even those having a heart…please set your pace makers to silent mode.

Bingo.

The Hustle

The Hustle is odd. L&D tend not to do too much pre-scouting of these movies, so we just knew it fell in the grifter-comedy genre. But within a few minutes of sitting down it became apparent that this is a remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (which itself I believe was a remake), with female leads Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson replacing Michael Caine and Steve Martin (mostly respectively). Among one of the many reasons it is odd is that Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, while funny in spots, just wasn’t that strong of a story, relying on Caine and Martin’s gravitas to carry enough laughs to make it worth your while.

And that’s my review of this one: Wilson and Hathaway are pretty funny and we both laughed out loud here and there, but the story was quaggy and we left the theater thinking maybe we should have seen Tolkien instead. The big downside is that attempts to remake some of the stronger scenes from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels — Caine unwittingly racking up winnings at the tables and Martin’s portrayal of Ruprecht — just didn’t stack up. Hathaway and Wilson have their moments, sure, just not enough of them. But we did laugh. Comedy is still hard.

Another potential plus for our readers in the tundra, the movie is set along the French Riviera, wherever that is, and it is gorgeously shot. As we labor through the 32nd week of winter here in east central Wisconsin, even movie screen sunshine is welcome at this point. But our guess is that you will get a much bigger payoff from Long Shot.

Long Shot

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Long Shot is the triple-entendre title of the new comedy featuring Charlize Theron and Seth Rogan. In short, some of the parts are greater than the whole, with laugh-out-loud material throughout. The movie itself is somewhat unpredictable and yet still I felt underwhelmed. Perhaps that is because the would-be protagonist is so unlikable? I’ll have to think about that one.

The title of the film has two immediate and obvious possibilities. Rogan stars as a bigoted ideologue / idealistic journalist, who quits his job when a Rupert Murdock-esque character buys the newspaper where he is a star investigative reporter. Following his sacking, he runs into Secretary of State Charlotte Field (Theron), who grew up next door to Rogan and babysat him through his pubescent years. She’s clearly out of his league, so that’s the first long shot. The Secretary learns that the incumbent President (Bob Odenkirk) is not planning to run for reelection, setting her off on a world tour brokering an environmental deal that will launch her own presidential campaign. And a woman angling for a presidential bid provides the second long shot. This sets up nicely as a boy-girl buddy roadtrip platform for the Rogan-Theron romance to blossom (or not).

The movie has more than its fair share of political humor and it is less skewed than you might expect. Rogan is an off-the-shelf knee-jerk liberal who comes to realize that maybe the world is not as black-hat, white-hat as he thinks it is. Of course, as Secretary of State the Theron character is used to realpolitik, and it is the clash of their two worlds that the movie will eventually resolve. It is more nuanced than an SNL sketch, but doesn’t take itself anywhere near as seriously as Vice. Comedy is hard. And we recommend this movie for the laughs alone.

Subject to caveats, of course. The movie earns its R rating with more than its fair share of blue humor, including a third possibility for the film’s title that further pushes the boundaries for Hollywood comedy reasonableness. If sex and drugs jokes aren’t your thing, you should sit this one out. Otherwise, give it a shot. Theron is great. Rogan isn’t too bad. And there is enough other stuff along the way that will keep you laughing and keep this off TNT.

Avengers: Endgame

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You know it is the movie event of the year when the Thursday night parking is overflowing out of the lot and into the street, when the theater is filled to capacity, when a group of students mobs us before the event, and when L is so startled by a remark from one of the Marcus concessions employees that he staggers backwards and dumps his complementary popcorn. This is the Endgame, baby.

At three hours, there is certainly a lot going on in this movie, and L&D walked away less disgruntled than how we felt following Infinity War. Yet, our verdict is still lukewarm — not enough violence for the kids, not enough sex for the adults. I was somewhat apologetic after the show because I nodded off for a couple of brief stints, to which L provided a comforting word: “Of course you fell asleep: it was boring.”

So, there it is.

It’s possible that this was a little better than my first impressions, and snooze-it-and-lose it was the cause of my confusion as the film’s final 310 minutes ticked away — I often wasn’t sure whether some unusual plot reveal had been set up while I was napping. I think in most cases it was just a garbling of the narrative, which naturally stems from trying to fit together plots from 20+ movies all over the Marvel Universe (all of which I have seen, I think). But it’s also possible that I missed something. My son also saw this last night, and I was reassured because he didn’t know the answers to the questions I had, either (!).

The principal innovation in this movie is the introduction of blood relatives and the tension between duty to community and duty to immediate family. This is foreshadowed immediately, as the opening scene shows Hawkeye working with his daughter on junior hawking techniques, just as the great villain Thanos executes his purge from the climax of Infinity War. Ouch. The movie then somewhat ironically revisits the Tony Stark – Captain America spat from Civil War before exploring the aftermath of a worldwide genocide (irony might not be the best word choice here, but I’m happy to discuss the choice after you see the film). These two topics are potentially interesting, but are ultimately glossed over and underdone (I have since learned that they are chocked-full of insider jokes, so maybe the film makers were simply being cute). Whatever the reason, the movie had a lot of ground to cover, so the real movie begins when the gang hops into its Audi and heads out to what appears to be northern Wisconsin, where evidently Tony and Pepper are living dream. And away we go.

This is an epic undertaking and I think Marvel did a reasonable job getting all of the monkeys back in the barrel by the end. There is some very good humor in spots — look for Thor teaming up with the Guardians in a future blockbuster — and some surprises as we move through the plot, but ultimately we’ve seen this Thanos show before and so the whole villain element is just not that engaging. I found the action mostly dramaless and often tedious, in accordance with L’s adage, “If anything can happen, there is no suspense.” This doesn’t quite hold in an endgame situation, because some of these story arcs wrap up in their entirety, so there’s that. Endgame or no endgame, we counted at least three obvious next steps for this story arc, including some involving some of the loose ends they just didn’t get around to tying off.

L&D saw this in 3-D and I was very happy that it looked good and was not distracting. I forget how much of a premium we paid for the privilege.

Overall, this is the movie event of the year, so we’re happy we saw it. If you follow the MCU, I’m sure you don’t need our recommendation to see this. If you don’t follow the MCU, you might need to read one of those online “How to enjoy Endgame if you are otherwise oblivious to the Marvel Universe” primers. Those guides are also available for those who want to jump into the Game of Thrones final season, as well. I’m sure there is something to be said about that, though I’m not sure quite what. Perhaps you will be treated to one of L’s essays on the matter.

UPDATE: And, congrats to L on his good news. If you see him, give him a punch in the arm and a hug.

Us

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Us is a bad LSD trip the inner mind of Jordan Peele is having that we, the audience, communally share. As a former Banana Slug, I can attest to the utter appropriateness of Santa Cruz as the location. It’s a proudly weird place, a vortex of time and space, a living breathing acid test in motion. The film draws inspiration from and pays homage to some pretty varied sources, most notably Dante’s Inferno (but also Dante’s Purgatorio), Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, the Bible, The Shining, The Lost Boys, Stranger Things, Hot Tub Time Machine, Zombieland, Thriller, Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights, Jaws, Black Flag, Bernard Herrmann’s iconic scores for Alfred Hitchcock, Childish Gambino’s This is America music video etc. etc. etc. And it’s all tastefully and often humorously done.

Our clerk at the concession stand did an amazingly good job summing up the movie, even though his tag said his favorite film was La La Land. His 1 minute critique was concise, precise and didn’t include any spoilers. He said it was not a horror film but more of a slasher, suspense film that was very entertaining and had a great ending. We replied — Yes, we would like butter. We would always like butter.

The density of the film in terms of references and symbols made D and I both come to the conclusion that we could watch this film many more times and still not be able to get everything Jordan Peele was trying to express. And at least for me, that’s okay. Us made my heart beat fast for its entire 2 hour and 1 minute run time. When I was using the restroom after the film, absolutely everything was freaking me out. The sound of the paper dispenser, the feel of the water faucet…my senses were certainly heightened in a way I hadn’t felt since Besson’s Lucy had me freaking out, sweating and staring at all the surveillance cameras on the traffic lights in L.A.

In the sense that Us has a profound ability to move you, Us wins. The plot is most certainly flawed, the density of references and meanings may turn off some people but ultimately, it is a thought provoking allegory and entertaining film. If some gore, violence and blood don’t turn you off, I’m sure you will heartily enjoy Us. In Slug parlance…doood, the flick is a total trip.