Smallfoot - Review

 

Warner Animation Group’s latest CGI family feature is here, arriving amongst a storm of memes featuring Zendaya and a much-maligned advertising campaign. With a star-studded cast and animation veteran Karey Kirkpatrick (“Madagascar”, “James and the Giant Peach”) directing, does “Smallfoot” make a big splash?

W.A.G.’s fifth animated film continues its streak of creating gorgeously animated worlds to play in. While mostly restricted to mountains and snow, “Smallfoot” is nevertheless break taking to behold. Sweeping vistas grant a sense of scale only comparable to W.A.G.’s previous film “Storks” and the intricacies of the Yeti civilization are detailed and creative.

These creative and beautiful environments help to set the scene for the film’s numerous musical sequences. That’s right, while the trailer may have avoided this fact, “Smallfoot” is a musical. Not a full-on songfest like “Moana” or “Beauty and the Beast,” it has closer to five or six songs, rounding out the world nicely with catchy pop beats that are well crafted and infectious.

That is, except for one song, and that song, the only one sung by humans, shares a lot in common with the film’s biggest problem. While Migo, voiced with goofy charm by Channing Tatum (“21 Jump Street,” “Magic Mike”), and his cast of celebrity voiced abominable friends are all entertaining, featuring Zendaya (“Spider-Man Homecoming,” “euphoria”), Common (“Selma,” “John Wick: Chapter 2”), Lebron James, Gina Rodriguez (“Jane the Virgin,” “Deepwater Horizon”), and a stand-out Danny DeVito (“The Lorax,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”). However, the same cannot be said for the movie’s human characters.

It’s easy to see a version of this film that’s about 20-30 minutes shorter with the human subplot completely cut out. It would undoubtedly be an improvement, as that subplot is the film’s biggest flaw. The main humans, Percy, voiced by James Cordon (“Ocean’s 8,” “The Emoji Movie”) and Brenda, voiced by Yara Shahidi (“Black-ish,” “Imagine That”), just fall flat and fail to be nearly as interesting or creative as the Yetis and their plot. It’s just boring compared to the Yeti’s tale, dealing with television ratings and viral hits. It seems completely at odds with the film its in and serves to extend the runtime.

This, in turn, drags down a story that is otherwise surprisingly deep. At its core, “Smallfoot” is a film about questioning your beliefs, even if its scary. Karey and his team pulls this off, not only with grace but with menace. There are some hard questions the film asks and even delving into topics like blissful ignorance and breaking societies pre-established rules. Most notably though, the movie doesn’t encourage completely throwing those themes out.

Funnily enough, it can best be compared to “Sausage Party” in that regard, as both films tackled the ideas of questioning beliefs instead of blindly following the tradition, without completely disrespecting those old ideals. It’s nothing life-changing, but its surprisingly smart and shows effort.

“Smallfoot” can easily be summed up in such a way. Nothing about the film is exceptional, and it may have one glaring flaw in its human subplot, but it’s still well intentioned. Mixing interesting subject material with gorgeous animation, catchy songs and a celebrity voice cast that pulls their weight, “Smallfoot” isn’t amazing. But it is nice and cool. 3/5

Night School (2018) - Review

“Night School” is a film about someone who covers up their less than favorable past in order to put the focus on their more successful present, before being exposed to the world. Funny then that, while the film is being marketed as the follow up from Malcolm D. Lee, the director of “Girl’s Trip,” a very well-made comedy, the director’s previous films, duds like “Undercover Brother,” “Soul Men” and “Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins” are much closer to “Night School” than it is to “Girl’s Trip.”

The film follows a high school dropout played by Kevin Hart (“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” “Ride Along”) coming back to get his GED to get a fancy new job to impress his out of his league fiancé. Despite a robust ensemble cast consisting of Rob Riggle (“Talladega Nights,” “The Hangover”), Keith David (“The Thing,” “The Nice Guys”), Ben Schwartz (“Parks and Recreation,” “House of Lies”), and Taran Killam (“Killing Gunther,” “Brother Nature”), no one manages to stand out even remotely. Tiffany Haddish (“Keanu,” “The Carmichael Show”) is the most memorable, but that’s mainly due to her getting the most screen time.

Some of the film’s concepts even manage to be pretty genius, in theory. Killam plays a former nerd who’s become antagonistic as a principal in his quest to educate, and most of that class of GED seekers seem amusing, but most are reduced to idiotic stereotypes out of the gate.

However, despite being stereotypes, the film spends an extended introductory scene trying to give them all backstories and developments. Nothing matters as the film progresses though, as none of the grow by the end. One of the characters, a young teen named Mila, is given more backstory in a more understandable way on the film’s Wikipedia page.

This lack of any stand out characters is surprising given the film’s six credited writers. Even with that many cook’s in the kitchen, “Night School” ends up being indistinguishable from other comedian led comedies that release over the years. This doesn’t mean the film is bad. It just means its bland.

Nothing in the film stands out. The plot is routine, the characters are standard, even the arcs of the background characters are bland. Most of this could be forgiven if the film was funny. But virtually none of the jokes land, getting only a chuckle here and there and nothing more.

Most bizarrely though, there are minor elements within the film that speak to the best of intentions. Hart’s character has learning disabilities, including dyslexia, dyscalculia and a processing disorder, and while he often is, they’re never the butt of the joke. His classmates and teacher then help him to learn in the way that best suits him.

Not only that, but the film’s last twenty minutes are a large jump in quality, moving away from trying to be a flat comedy and towards the territory of a cheesy underdog story. These last twenty minutes are easily better than the 100 minutes that come prior. This and the fact that Haddish’s character is a lesbian, feel like sweet and well-intentioned additions that end up doing very little to improve the actual quality of the film.

“Night School” is boring and bland, but nothing about it is objectively bad. It’s merely routine and unfunny. A few decent minor details and a sweet third act help a bit, but in the end Hart and Haddish are left stranded in a film that’s as cookie cutter and uninteresting as they come. It’s not a flunk. It’s just painfully average. 2/5

The House with a Clock In It's Walls - Review

 

Quite a few famous directors have made their way into more family friendly fare after making a name for themselves in more mature genres. Danny Boyle, Sam Raimi, Martin Scorsese, and Robert Rodriguez all starting in the hard R department before venturing into kiddy fare. Now horror director Eli Roth (“Knock Knock,” “Hostel”) has followed in their footsteps with “The House with A Clock in Its Walls”.

Roth’s horror roots show throughout the film, thanks to strong art direction and cinematograph throughout. Orange light and dark atmospheric touches abound in every scene, and the musical score from composer Nathan Barr (“Hostel,” “Hemlock Grove”) is effectively creepy and sinister exactly when it needs to be.

Everything about the film is solid production wise, creating a wonderful sense of nostalgic atmosphere, like that of films like “E.T.” or “Super 8”. It evokes the kind of feeling associated with walking into an old library. Roth and his crew have built a house and established a feeling of history and wonder.

All of these production achievements are great, but they mean nothing if the film they’re backing up isn’t solid in the other departments. The rest of the film is mostly good. Its biggest issue is the first act, wherein the film’s tone lands squarely in the goofy, family friendly arena that previous Jack Black vehicles like “Gulliver’s Travels” and “Goosebumps” have occupied. It’s fine enough, and it doesn’t ruin the film, but it manages to be the least interesting part of the story.

However, once things pick up in the last two-thirds of things, they really pick up! This is also the part of the film where Roth’s horror sensibilities are able to come out and play, as the film manages to successfully distance itself from the faux creep family genre, and travels into the realm of legitimate scares.

Demons, blood rituals, instruments made of bone, satanic symbols and more pepper throughout the rest of the film, adding tension and creating a legitimately creepy tone that helps the film stand out and capitalize on its source material. Some moments even cross into the realm of downright geniusly unsettling, like a certain camouflaged reveal sequence.

Jack Black (“School of Rock,” “Kung Fu Panda”) gleefully prances around the scenery, finally being allowed to rely on his comedic timing only, without having writers who fall back on his portly stereotype. He’s electric and his smile and cockeyed charm help sell his character’s persona.

Owen Vaccaro (“Daddy’s Home,” “Mother’s Day”) is just fine as the young Lewis, nephew of Black’s Jonathan. He’s the typical child actor, who’s weaknesses show during the more emotional scenes, but manages to be solid and reliable throughout. Cate Blanchett (“Elizabeth,” “The Aviator”) steals the show, providing the most push behind her badass witch Florence. It helps that she’s given the most emotional heft to work with, and she knock it out of the house.

The supporting cast is fine as well. Vanessa Anne Williams is poorly underutilized as Lewis’s bug loving friend Rose, Sunny Suljic (“The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” “mid90s”) delivers an easily hate-able greaser bully as Tarby, and the evil duo of Izard and Selena are played to devilish perfection by Kyle MacLachlan (“Twin Peaks,” “Dune (1984)”) and Renée Elise Goldsberry (“One Life to Live,” “Rent (2008)”), respectively.

The film’s best aspect is not only its tone, but its themes. Its focus on family and platonic friendship over romances, the importance of knowledge, the ability to see things from new and different perspectives and the focus on unconventional family all land right in the sweet spot of kind messaging, without ever being shoved down audience’s throats.

“House with a Clock” proves that not only can director Eli Roth successfully transition from horror to family film territory, but also help bridge the gap between the two genres in a satisfying way. It may have a weak first act that struggles with its tone, but once things get moving, everything is nailed down to a deliciously creepy degree. It isn’t perfect, but it’s just as unsettling and fantastical as it needs to be. 3.5/5

White Boy Rick - Review

 

Somber and coated in shades of white and brown, “White Boy Rick” is the latest in the based on a true story genre to cover the life of a drug kingpin. The angle of this story however, is the fact that Rick was sentenced to life in prison after running a cocaine ring in Detroit in excess of eight kilograms, at the age of just seventeen. It’s a story ripe for film, and it mostly succeeds.

Color is used extremely well throughout the film, be it deep blacks or muddy browns. There always seems to be a contrast happening on screen, which in turn helps to strengthen the film’s overall aesthetic, but also works as an allegory to Rick’s life. He’s a white man dealing drugs in Detroit in the 80’s. he’s the only white man doing so in his neighborhood, and he knows that this sets him apart. As one of the characters tells him early on, “If we get sent down, we’re doing black time. If you do, you’re doing white time.”

This dynamic is examined throughout the film, with Rick’s friends, business partners, and love interests all being used to play with the idea of privilege and power in crime. It doesn’t always communicate its points smoothly, but the attempt is worth acknowledging and appreciating.

Matthew McConaughey (“The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Magic Mike”) continues to show off his southern draw and excellent acting, with virtually the entire cast performing their roles excellently. No one is more noteworthy than Richie Merritt, as the young man completely steals the show in his first ever film role as Rick. He manages to hold his own and then some against the film’s heavy hitters, and succeeds in bringing warmth and humor to the young kingpin.

For most of the film, though, these actors are given a script that tries its best. It isn’t bad, and there are quite a few times where lines and metaphors are reused to great effect. But some of the dialogue and scenes showing Rick and his friends as they grow up feel weightless.

It’s a shame because in the third act, the filmmakers manage to build a wonderful sense of tension, with the pacing and script coming together flawlessly. It’s a shame it couldn’t have happened earlier in the film.

On that note, the film’s pacing is also affected negatively for most of the film, as it drags a majority of the film. It doesn’t make it unwatchable or even bad, but it does turn a two-hour film into one that feels closer to two-and-a-half-hours.

The ending leaves the most to be desired. It’s impossible to tell what exactly the filmmakers wanted it to achieve. It isn’t bad, but its merely confusing, ending on a somber note before seemingly trying to cheer the audience up with end credits “where are they now” styled details.

In the end, “White Boy Rick” is a flawed film that is, at the very least, engaging. It’s wonky pacing and uneven script are carried through to the end thanks to powerful performances from the entire cast. Richie Merritt especially proves that he is one to watch in the future, and he is the reason “White Boy Rick” remains a good time. 3.5/5

The Predator - Review

 

In 1987, audiences were wowed by the original “Predator” film. Not because it was anything truly groundbreaking, more so because it seemed like something could actually kill Schwarzenegger. Now, the original film is remembered fondly as a big, brash, and gory action blockbuster. But as the years went on and Predators kept returning to the cinema, the quality of their escapades began to drop. Now Shane Black’s (“The Nice Guys,” “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”) “The Predator” is here to, hopefully, show these killers can still…kill.

“The Predator” starts and the blood flows almost immediately. While its protagonist Quinn McKenna is routine and cookie cutter, he’s performed well by Boyd Holbrook (“Narcos,” “Logan”), with a southern charm and steel eyed gaze that’s enjoyable to watch. The same goes for the rest of his crew of mentally unstable soldiers, with particular credit to Trevante Rhodes (“Moonlight,” “If Loving You Is Wrong”) who manages to out charm and outshine Boyd in every scene they’re in.

The same cannot be said for the film’s females. Olivia Munn (“The Newsroom,” “X-Men: Apocalypse”) fairs the best, as she manages to be the closest thing the film has to a character who experiences growth and change. McKenna’s ex-wife, played by Yvonne Strahovski (“Chuck,” “The Handmaid's Tale”), gets the short end of the stick in both screen time and development.

Sterling K. Brown’s (“This is Us,” “The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story”) antagonistic Will Traeger is easily the film’s goofiest character. Brown carries the character with a self-important cheesiness that makes him the movie’s most entertaining piece. Jacob Trembley however, fresh off his acclaimed performances in “Room” and “Wonder”, fairs worse than anyone else in the film. His character is boiled down to a pre-teen deus-ex machina, utilized to translate alien tech thanks to his autism and as bait in the hunts, and whine the rest of the time.

Trembley’s poor characterization also speaks to the film’s general laziness. Need a kid who’s super smart? Easy, give them autism. Need a crew of soldiers? Easy, make them the rag tag bunch. The only clever spin “The Predator” tries to put on its tired clichés is that, instead of smoking, the human villain chews Nicorette gum. An amusing detail, nonetheless.

Every good intention the film has seems misplaced though. It mistakes the hardened fighting spirit in the first film for a douchey frat boy sense of humor here. It doesn’t mean that none of the jokes land, but for the most part the only thing they induce is eye rolling. By the time the movie passes into its second half though, everything seems to get better.

The humor becomes smarter, the action is more satisfying, and the overall pacing improves drastically. It becomes the kind of mindless action movie it clearly wants to be. And while its debatable if the entire product is a “Predator” movie, since it mainly favors big loud action over sneaking stealth moments, it nonetheless becomes enjoyable in its second half.

It still suffers from a general addiction to cheese and the ending is just awful, but at least it becomes bearable. What doesn’t improve though, is the editing. In fact, it only gets worse as the film progresses, as do the visual effects. What starts as a decently edited film with cool practical effects becomes a CGI mess with green screen seams popping up everywhere. It’s also very clear in the second half that the film generally suffers from a lot of studio meddling, as most of the editing mistakes seem amateurish at best.

“The Predator” isn’t the best the series has to offer, nor is it the worst. It’s first half is more visually engaging than the seconds, but the second half has superior writing, action, and humor. It becomes a film that is, ultimately, despite its cheese and adherence to the worst of the 80’s clichés. As McKenna himself says, “Nobody’s gonna remember them when the day is over.” As passable as it may be, the same can probably be said for this movie. 2.5/5

Peppermint - Review

 

If your film contains cursing, blood, explosions, gunfights, screaming, and all about every ten minutes, then it says a lot that it still manages to be so boring and monotonous that it could put audiences to sleep. That’s the reality for “Peppermint”, a new revenge thriller with all the style and substance of a sticky, lint covered candy.

Jennifer Garner (“13 Going on 30,” “Daredevil”) growls her way through most of the scenes as Riley North, a mother whose husband and daughter were killed in a drive-by shooting on the night of her daughter’s birthday. The reasoning behind the shooting is quickly and unconvincingly coughed up by a few side characters, and quickly forgotten. Plain and simple, Garner is an actor whose talents are completely wasted on a borderline one-dimensional revenge seeking mother.

After all, why put any obstacles in the way of Garner kicking ass? Her badassery may be cool to watch at first, but eventually the film’s shoddy editing style and overuse of slow motion become too grating to ignore. Every scene transition seems to feature a weird blur effect and if its meant to be a representation on Riley’s deteriorating psyche, then it doesn’t work, since it feels like the editors simply used it whenever they felt like it.

However, her character is so cliched and thin that any semblance of depth that an editing trick like that could provide quickly evaporates. The first scene in the film where she isn’t kicking ass involves a stuck-up suburban mom yelling at her about moving in on her daughter’s cookie selling territory. No less than twenty minutes later, she’s become a completely changed person, with no reasoning given.

Yes, her family was killed, and the men got away with it, and yes this is a revenge fantasy film, but that doesn’t explain how she goes from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, kick boxing and stealing drug product from the Cartel along the way, only to end up smuggling herself back into the U.S. on time. It’s bizarrely convoluted and is mentioned once and then never again.

The supporting cast doesn’t fare much better, in performances or characterizations. Everyone is a poorly written, cliched character with no hope of depth. Annie Ilonzeh (“All Eyez on Me,” “Til Death Do Us Part”) and John Gallagher Jr. (“The Newsroom,” “10 Cloverfield Lane”) try to hold it together as an FBI agent and local detective, respectively, but both are as cliched as possible. The only bright spot comes from John Ortiz (“Fast & Furious,” “Jack Goes Boating”) as the elder cop Moises, but that’s less to do with the quality of his characterization, and more to do with the fact that he seems to be the only person in the movie who isn’t angry all the time.

Everything apart from the writing and acting isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just overly familiar. Every set, every gunfight, every explosion brings to mind other films that have done it better. At best it’s makes the film simply forgettable or bland. At worst, it harms the film’s sense of space and structure, by setting it in a series of corridors and warehouses instead of memorable locations.

Cliched is the perfect way to describe “Peppermint” but it doesn’t just go as far as the characters. Every story-beat and detail feels rehashed and reused. Every cop constantly drinks coffee with alcohol in it, the grizzled cops are the young reckless one and the aged wise one. The FBI eventually becomes involved, the public thinks she’s a vigilante, every bad guy is from the Mexican cartel and the two major cartel locations are painfully racist: a piñata warehouse and a drug warehouse filled with statues of Mary, mother of Jesus.

A handful of moments are amusing at best: at one point in the movie, Carly, Riley’s daughter, tells her mother that she should’ve punched the uptight suburban mother. That line is called back to quite effectively later on, and the scene afterwards is probably the best in the film. It allows Riley to slow down and for a moment, we see her pain and anguish. She feels like, even just for a moment, a real person. Less than five minutes later, though, she’s back to her old, boring self.

More disturbing than the film’s disregard for Garner’s acting talents is the blatant emotional manipulation it employs for most of the film, especially during the drive-by. The musical cues and flashbacks are utilized in such a razor-sharp way, it feels like the filmmakers didn’t stop until they chemically produced a product more emotionally manipulative than the SPCA’s “In the Arms of an Angel” ad campaign.

It’s the overall lack of sincerity that leads to this film failing to be any form of entertaining. Films like “John Wick” succeed because, for all the gore and badassery within, they aren’t afraid to show their characters affected by their actions. “Peppermint” robs audiences of what could have been a wonderful performance from Garner by failing to provide her with a character who is anything more than a caricature: a figure, not a person, crafted to elect an emotional response and then be immediately forgotten about.

“Peppermint” could at best be described as a throwback to the pulpy grindhouse revenge films of the seventies, but even by that measure it still wouldn’t be any good. Bland action and cinematography combined with flat performances across the board leave “Peppermint” at the mercy of its poor characterizations and bad writing. Needless to save, that doesn’t save it. One could describe it as a “turn off your brain” movie, but even then, it just ends up being boring. “Peppermint” isn’t sweet like its namesake; its more comparable to a different small round edible object: Ambien. Because all this vengeful mother is going to do is put her audience to sleep. 1/5