Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken - Review: A Gorgeous Film That's Just Staying Afloat

 

Mixing together classic awkward teen movie tropes from the likes of “Easy A,” “Lady Bird,” and the trove of John Hughes films and sea-creature monster movie shenanigans, Dreamworks has brought their latest film “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken” to the surface for an adventure of a shy high school girl who just happens to be an underwater creature in hiding.

The film follows Ruby Gillman, played by Lana Condor (“X-Men: Apocalypse,” “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”), as she tries to navigate typical high school frustrations, like a crush on skater boy Connor, voiced by Jaboukie Young-White (“Strange World,” “Someone Great”), or ridicule from the new popular girl Chelsea, voiced by Annie Murphy (“Schitt’s Creek,” “Russian Doll”). This is on top of the fact that her family is hiding their true identity as krakens from the humans of the seaside town of Oceanside. Things become even more complicated when Ruby learns that her mother Agatha, voiced by Toni Collette (“Hereditary,” “Muriel's Wedding”), and father Arthur, voiced by Coleman Domingo (“@Zola,” “Fear the Walking Dead”), have hidden the fact that Ruby is actually kraken royalty and is the granddaughter of the Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas, voiced by Jane Fonda (“Grace and Frankie,” “They Shoot Horses, Don't They?”).

Visually, Ruby’s world is quite appealing and fantastically lush. The underwater sequences burst with a dayglo appearance, shining throughout the murky depths. Oceanside is a great-looking town, with big forests of thick trees contrasting against the ocean waves lapping against the sides of the high school or local library. Everything has a slightly damp feeling that almost gives way to a livable water park, and there are lots of nice touches to flesh things out. The characters have a lively squishiness to them, even the humans. This helps make the exaggerated movements of Ruby and her family stand out even more, and the rubber-hose style is quite fun. There are even some characters that seem to resemble old-school Popeye designs, making it all feel like a throwback to the Fleischer studios era of cartoons.

Condor brings Ruby to life and is tremendously fun as our heroine. Murphy is a particular standout as well, channeling the mean girl persona in a unique way that doubles back in the film’s conclusion. Collette and Domingo are great parental figures, both playing their parts well and helping to bring Ruby’s family to life. Fonda isn’t doing much here beyond just speaking with an empowering voice, but she does it well and it works. White also isn’t given the most to work with, but he makes for a cute skater crush for Ruby. Rounding out the cast are two comedic standouts: Will Forte (“The Last Man on Earth,” “The Willoughbys”) as Captain Gordon Lighthouse, a crazed sailor bent on capturing a live kraken and Sam Richardson (“The Afterparty,” “Werewolves Within”) as Brill, the goofy brother to Agatha who’s practically a living stress ball as he bounces around the screen.

Despite the voice cast and the great visuals, there’s one area where “Teenage Kraken” unfortunately falls flat. While director Kirk DeMicco (“The Croods,” “Vivo”) and writers Pam Brady (“Hot Rod,” “Team America: World Police”), Brian C. Brown (“Lucy in the Sky”), and Elliott DiGuiseppi (“Lucy in the Sky”) clearly had goals of creating a fun mashup of sea creature action and teenage girl angst, the film’s script and overall plot are choked full of clichés and archetypes rather than much new. It’s a combination of everything you’ve seen before with teen girl high school movies and animated action flicks. It’s short and well-paced, but nothing here feels fresh or particularly interesting. Even if you like the characters, by the time the big third-act action finale happens, it’s hard to really feel invested because it plays out exactly like every other animated action movie’s third act finale.

While this is easily a fun mashup on paper, “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken” just isn’t that memorable, despite a good voice cast and some fantastic animation and visual designs. It’s hardly a bad film, but there’s nothing here that jumps out and makes this a must-see movie. It’ll still likely provide an entertaining enough evening with the pre-teens, but it’s hard to see anyone rushing out to see this adventure. 3/5

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Review: Riding Off Into the Sunset

 

Making a sequel to any beloved movie is an uphill battle. But making the fourth sequel in a series as revered as “Indiana Jones” is practically impossible, especially after the divisive reception to “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” Not only that, but this fifth film, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” is the first movie to not be directed by Spielberg, instead passing that baton to James Mangold (“Logan,” “Ford v. Ferrari”), nor to be written by Lucas. It’s certainly a tall order; so how do Mangold and his co-writers Jez Butterworth (“Edge of Tomorrow,” “Ford v. Ferrari”), John-Henry Butterworth (“Edge of Tomorrow,” “Ford v. Ferrari”), and David Koepp (“Mission: Impossible (1996),” “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”) fair?

Set in 1969, an aging Indiana Jones, played by Harrison Ford (“Blade Runner,” “Patriot Games”), is finally retiring from his teaching job and is visited by his god-daughter Helena Shaw, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag,” “Solo: A Star Wars Story”), who’s searching for Archimedes’’ dial, an artifact that is said to potentially allow someone to travel through time. Shortly after their meeting, the pair find themselves in a race against Jürgen Voller, played by Mads Mikkelsen (“Casino Royale (2006),” “Another Round”), a Nazi scientist who seeks to use the dial to correct Hitler’s mistakes in World War II, and his right-hand man Klaber, played by Boyd Holbrook (“Logan,” “Vengeance”).

The film has all the elements necessary for a typical Indiana adventure, and to its credit, the film does manage to be a fun adventure. Ford is clearing in love with his role and is a fantastic presence here, taking it all as serious as gospel. Bridge is a great addition, keeping the sleazy, snarky attitude alive throughout this adventure and holding her own as a scoundrel against Ford’s gruff attitude. Mikkelsen is doing some fun work here, leaning into his typical “European bad guy” persona, but the character of Voller isn’t really anything special beyond “mad Nazi scientist.” Holbrook is completely wasted here, as Klaber fails to add anything of note to the film besides being a generic, trigger happy, right-hand man to the villain.

This is a tough film to judge, especially without Spielberg at the helm. It feels like death by a thousand cuts a lot of the time. For example, while it doesn’t have the deft hand of Spielberg or cinematographers Janusz Kamiński or Douglas Slocombe, the film is shot far better than most other big-budget blockbusters nowadays. Phedon Papamichael (“Ford v. Ferrari,” “The Trial of the Chicago 7”) is no slouch and brings a lot of fantastic camerawork to the adventure, framing the action well and making it all flow in a satisfying way. 

The writing is also pretty good, with Mangold and his team trying to not only continue to embellish the themes of the previous movies but also set Indy up for a true finale that will leave fans satisfied. It’s a tall order, and while it does feature cameos from a handful of past characters, crucially the film doesn’t rely on them. For better or worse, it’s a film that clearly is meant to stand above the typical nostalgia bait of these kinds of legacy sequels. But there are also a handful of characters introduced and simply abandoned. Shaunette Renée Wilson (“Billions,” “The Resident”) and Antonio Banderas (“Puss in Boots,” “The Mask of Zorro (1998)”) both get fun and memorable introductions and then the film just tosses them aside. It’s possible this is the result of rewrites or reshoots, but it ends up just leaving the film with a few too many excess characters that just feel like dead weight.

It’s in the technical aspects where things falter more than they should. For a film with a budget of $300 million, there’s far too many wonky elements throughout. While the practical chases and action sequences are excellent, such as the tuk-tuk chase and a chaotic battle in a nightclub, other moments fall flat. The much-publicized de-aging for the film’s prologue actually works quite well, but it’s the green screen and other effects surrounding it during that prologue that fare worse. Likewise, numerous small moments of characters just standing against a backdrop look terrible. Someone standing against a night sky or brightly lit countryside shouldn’t have the hazy glow of early 2000s green screen cutouts to them, especially when your budget is $300 million. Yes, there are many fantastic combinations of CGI, green screen, and practical effects. But when they don’t work, they stick out far worse than they otherwise might.

There’s also the film’s length. While its paced fine enough and doesn’t feel like things ever drag on, it certainly doesn’t feel any shorter than it is. At two-hours-and-thirty-four-minutes, it’s the longest “Indiana” film by a wide margin, and there are times where it doesn’t feel like it’s justifying that length. The shot-to-shot editing can also feel weird, with the camera lingering on characters and moments for far too long that it just seems out of place.

At the end of the day, the only question that really remains is if this movie, this much publicized final adventure of Ford as Indiana Jones, manages to be a worthwhile send-off to the character he and we love so much. And the answer is… kind of. While the worst aspects of the film are mostly technical merits, there’s a weird lack of specialness to the adventure despite what we’re seeing on screen. It’s a fun enough time, and certainly isn’t a bad film. But it ends up being a bittersweet farewell because it doesn’t perfectly stick the landing. This is still a fun tale and will make a lot of fans happy, but it’s not hard to imagine Doctor Jones having a better, more solid, ending than this. 3.5/5

Nimona - Review: A Fantastic and Fantastical Queer Fantasy Adventure

 

In 2012, writer/illustrator ND Stevenson (“She-Ra and the Princesses of Power,” “Wander Over Yonder”) began publishing “Nimona”, a web-comic about a shapeshifter that was soon published as a graphic novel and began lapping up awards left and right. Eventually, it was picked up to be adapted into an animated film by Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox. However, after Disney purchased Fox and due to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Blue Sky was shut down with supposedly just a year of work left on the film. Yet, much like the titular character, “Nimona” the movie refused to die and was soon picked up by Annapurna to finish the work with Netflix distributing the film.

The film follows Ballister Boldheart, voiced by Riz Ahmed (“Rogue One,” “Sound of Metal”), a knight accused of killing Queen Valerin, voiced by Lorraine Toussaint (“Any Day Now,” “Middle of Nowhere”), and now a fugitive of the Institute, hunted by his former boyfriend and fellow knight Ambrosius Goldenloin, voiced by Eugene Lee Yang (“Behind the Try”) and The Director of the Institute, voiced by Frances Conroy (“Six Feet Under,” “American Horror Story”). Ballister finds himself reluctantly assisted by a young shapeshifter named Nimona, voiced by Chloë Grace Moretz (“Kick-Ass,” “Hugo”), an anarchist who believes him to be a villain who wants to get revenge on the Institute and on the people accusing him of murder.

While there are some light jabs throughout the film at fairy tales and fantasy stories, “Shrek” this is not. Co-writers/directors Nick Bruno (“Spies in Disguise” and Troy Quane (“Spies in Disguise,” “The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol”) and their co-writers Robert L. Baird (“Big Hero 6,” “Monsters University”), Lloyd Taylor (“Spies in Disguise”), Pamela Ribon (“My Year of Dicks,” “Ralph Breaks the Internet”), Marc Haimes (“Kubo and the Two Strings,” “Lost Ollie”), and Keith Bunin (“Onward (2020),” “Horns (2013)”) put a lot of effort into making sure these characters and their world are fleshed out beyond just bucking fairy tale stereotypes.

Nimona is a fantastic anarchic kind of hero. She rides the line between being extremely lovable and easy to identify with while also pushing Ballister outside of his comfort zone. She also is the source of the film’s biggest messages; the Institute’s propaganda-like ruling over the city, the potential brainwashing of Ballister’s knighthood, and the bigotry she faces from the Institute and the citizens of the city. Moretz breathes such wonderful life into Nimona and is absolutely the highlight of the movie, effortlessly flowing between the comedic, punk aspects of her character and the gravitas the film’s serious moments require.

Ahmed is also fantastic, giving Ballister a reluctant edge to his heroism and villainy that makes him more interesting than he otherwise might be. As he slowly ends up caring for Nimona, so do we, and Ahmed’s calm performance helps to facilitate that. Yet, you can still feel his pain and care, even as the rest of the world shuns him. Yang and Conroy are also excellent; Yang is a great goody-two-shoes kind of Knight not without his own struggles and Conroy embodies the kind of fantasy villain that is too perfect to not hate.

The film’s animation is incredibly beautiful with tons of smooth edges and flawless motion and flow. Nimona’s shapeshifting is really fun to watch and makes for some frenetic action sequences. The cel-shaded look of everything helps the primary colors, particularly the films heavy use of green and pink, really pop. There’s so much detail on display while also maintaining an appealing simplicity. Lighting plays a huge role here as well, and the way it reflects off the simpler colors and smooth surfaces makes everything pop in a satisfying way. It’s a truly beautiful looking movie in every respect. Those visuals are also helped by a fantastic score from Christophe Beck (“Ant-Man,” “The Peanuts Movie”) that blends string guitars and medieval influences with a futuristic bend, much like the kingdom itself.

Now, while we do, against all odds, have the finished project, it’s not just the pandemic that’s to blame for Disney cancelling the film. “Nimona” the graphic novel is a fiercely queer work in every facet, and rumors persist that Disney was apparently unhappy with how blatantly those elements were brought into the film, including a gay kiss between two male characters.

This is unfortunate given the queerness inherent to the original graphic novel, and thankfully, that queerness shines through in the finished product. Not only is that kiss and the romance entirely intact, its fleshed out from what existed in the original work. The film also has plenty of cameos from popular queer celebrities, such as RuPaul, Indya Moore, and Julio Torres. The entire character of Nimona is a fantastic queer and trans allegory as well. Beyond the fact that Stevenson (a producer on the film as well) has mentioned how Nimona helped him come to realize his own gender identity, its hard not to see her struggles and shapeshifting as something for any queer youth to identify with. It’s all portrayed simply enough for any family to watch and enjoy, but it also doesn’t hold back or sugarcoat the clear anti-authoritarian and anti-fascist themes at play. As Nimona herself would say “Let's break stuff.”

“Nimona” is a bold and beautiful film that, like its titular character, is completely unafraid to be itself. The fact that a film like this survived a studio closure would already be remarkable, but the fact that it manages to do so while still being fiercely independent is something else entirely. It’s fantastic on virtually every front, a wonderful adventure led by a dynamic duo you can’t help but fall in love with. 5/5

No Hard Feelings - Review: Nerd Meets Girl in R-Rated Rom-Com

 

In the age of wonky box office returns and post-pandemic audiences, the question of whether or not the title of “movie star” still exists has been on the entertainment industry’s mind quite a bit. Sure, there are still some stars who’ll get butts into seats, but it’s not nearly as guaranteed as in the past. Sony clearly hopes that Jennifer Lawrence (“The Hunger Games,” “Silver Linings Playbook”) still has at least a bit of her name recognition left, putting her front and center on the marketing for her latest comedy romp “No Hard Feelings.”

The film stars Lawrence as Maddie, a 32-year-old semi-slacker who skates by on life as an Uber driver and bartending in her hometown of Montauk, NY. After her car is towed due to impending bankruptcy, she accepts a craigslist ad from a pair of helicopter parents, Laird and Allison Becker, played by Matthew Broderick (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “The Cable Guy”) and Laura Benanti (“tick, tick… BOOM!,” “Younger”), respectively. They want her to pretend to date their awkward 19-year-old son Percy, played by Andrew Barth Feldman (“High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”) in his film debut, so that he can become less socially awkward before he goes to college. She accepts, and hilarity ensues.

There’s a lot of classic comedy tropes and shenanigans at play here, and the film overall works best when writer/director Gene Stupnitsky (“Good Boys,” “Jury Duty”) and his co-writer John Phillips (“Dirty Grandpa”) don’t try to reinvent the formula. Maddie is an attractive older woman clearly out of Percy’s league and the best aspects of the comedy come from their misadventures; the awkward first meeting, trying to get to know him later, the silly sex jokes. There’s a heart at the center of the movie that eventually develops, but it feels more like a byproduct of the two charming leads rather than an intentional part of the film.

Lawrence is fantastic here, leaning fully into the wacky comedy of her role. There’s a clear tightrope for her to walk here; she has to be a slacker just enough that you’d believe she’d accept this situation but also play the character confidently enough to have her swagger come across. The film’s marketing plays up the R-rating, and it’s a joy to watch Lawrence be so undeniably crude and crass the entire time. Feldman is arguably the star of the show here, stealing every scene he’s in and setting himself apart from other shy, awkward, nerdy guy types that he could easily get pegged as. He has fantastic comedic chops and the pair work great together.

When it’s big and silly, the film is at its best. It does eventually find itself wadding into a sweet and heartfelt ending by the time things are done, but it’s certainly not the direction most would have expected. There’s a real arc of growth for both Maddie and Percy, and Lawrence and Feldman really sell that arc in a satisfying way. It doesn’t result in a life-changing movie, but it does at least set this apart from being “just another raunchy R-rated comedy.” There’s also a great use of Montauk, showcasing the richer side of the town where Percy’s family lives and the working-class side where Maddie lives. It’s not exactly a travel commercial for the area, but it feels genuine.

“No Hard Feelings” is silly and fun, thanks to the two extremely charming leads and their great comedic timing. The film isn’t anything remarkable by any means, but it’s a well-made, funny, and heartfelt comedy that definitely justifies spending 103-minutes in Montauk with these two awkward leads. Sometimes, that’s enough. 3.5/5

Asteroid City - Review: A Melancholic Trip to Midwest Sci-Fi

 

Given his rabid fanbase and the relatively gentle nature of his films, it’s no surprise that Wes Anderson (“Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel”) has become the household name for film auteurs. Ask your mother, grandfather, cousin, or sister and they’re all likely to have heard of him in some respect, whether they know him by name or simply know one of his movies. This well-known status keeps excitement for each of his subsequent films high, and coupled with the reveal that his latest will feature his first touches of science-fiction, “Asteroid City” is set up to be a new direction for the director.

The film, set in the 1950s, follows a group of people forced to remain in Asteroid City, a small desert town in America, after a junior stargazer conference was interrupted by an alien sighting. This group includes war photographer Augie Steenbeck, played by Jason Schwartzman (“Scott Pilgrim vs. The World,” “Rushmore”), his son Woodrow, a junior stargazer played by Jake Ryan (“Eighth Grade,” “Chad”), famous actress Midge Campbell, played by Scarlett Johansson (“Black Widow,” “Ghost World”), her daughter Dinah, a junior stargazer played by Grace Edwards (“Call Jane”), the father of Augie deceased wife Stanley Zak, played by Tom Hanks (“Forrest Gump,” “Saving Mr. Banks”), General Grif Gibson, the general in charge of keeping the town on lockdown, played by Jeffery Wright (“Angels in America,” “The Batman”), a scientist monitoring the Asteroid City crater, Dr. Hickenlooper, played by Tilda Swinton (“Okja,” “Three Thousand Years of Longing”), and many many more.

The rest of the ensemble cast consists of the likes of Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad,” “Malcolm in the Middle”), Edward Norton (“Fight Club,” “Birdman”), Adrien Brody (“The Thin Red Line,” “The Pianist”), Live Schreiber (“Scream (1996),” “Ray Donovan”), Hope Davis (“About Schmidt,” “Synecdoche, New York”), Stephen Park (“In Living Color,” “Fargo (1996)”), Maya Hawke (“Stranger Things,” “Do Revenge”), Steve Carell (“The Office,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”), Matt Dillon (“Drugstore Cowboy,” “Wild Things”), Hong Chau (“The Whale,” “The Menu”), Willem Dafoe (“The Lighthouse,” “Antichrist”), Margot Robbie (“Birds of Prey,” “I, Tonya”), Tony Revolori (“Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel”), Sophia Lillis (“It (2017),” “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves”), and Jeff Goldblum (“Jurassic Park,” “The Fly (1986)”). But not all of them are in Asteroid City, and not just geographically.

You see, “Asteroid City” the film is about Asteroid City, the play. The film is actually a broadcast of the making of the fictional play set in the 1950s, interspliced with scenes from the play performed as if they’re reality. No, this doesn’t mean there are any cardboard sets or fake backdrops, but it adds an additional layer to the work. Before, when Anderson’s films have chosen to jump back and forth between their frame narrative and their main narrative, it was for brief moments and only a handful of times. “Asteroid City” hops back and forth at multiple moments, to focus on multiple different emotional ideas.

“City” is easily the melancholiest film Anderson has made in years, and it lends an interesting air to everything. Given the fact that numerous “indie” films tend to have the criticism of “what does it all mean” thrown at them, it’s fascinating that Anderson seems to have crafted a film entirely around that exact question and the idea of asking it. No, this isn’t some commentary about audiences not appreciating films. Rather, it feels like a director reaching out and trying to find out why he’s still doing this.

The entire cast is fantastic and manages to balance everything quite well, as every person is used in both narratives. Schwartzman in particular is outstanding, and quite possibly the best he has ever been. Norton, while used minimally, is also absolutely fantastic, giving one of the best performances in the film. Cranston is also a delight as the narrator keeping everything moving along, and Johansson seems to be using her movie-star status as a punching bag here. Hanks is also great, clearly game to come and play in the sandbox of such a specific auteur, and the rest of Anderson’s staples are all quite fantastic. There’s nary a weak performance amongst the cast, and yet the size of the cast, even by Anderson’s standards, is one of the film’s biggest flaws.

This isn’t a long film by any means, but given how much of it focuses on Steenbeck, Campbell, and their families, it makes the moments when things do break away to focus on other characters feel superfluous. Yes, Hawke, Davis, Park, and Schrieber, for example, are all great, but the film’s narrative is trying to give them miniature arcs that don’t add anything to the more interesting and central ideas of the movie. At best, they’re fine moments that distract from the center of the movie, and at worst they’re comedic fluff that feels focus tested and pointless, like Carell’s hotel owner and his plan to sell land stakes to the tourists of Asteroid City.

The most interesting elements are outside of the play, in the frame narrative that showcases a playwright and a director both trying to make something new and surrounded by a cast all looking to them for meaning. At one pivotal point, a person seeks comfort in another as he seems to have lost his way, not being able to understand the point of what he's doing anymore. And instead of an answer, he's told to just keep going and that he'll find that meaning along the way.

To have a director as obsessed with strict uniformness as Anderson craft a film where that uniformness seems to be created by someone using it to hide from their emotions is a bold choice to be certain. It rides the line of being both pleasing to look at in the moment and also being a stark reminder of the film’s central emotional ideas, with fantastic work overall from cinematographer Robert Yeoman (“The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Drugstore Cowboy”). Here is, like “The French Dispatch”, a film where Anderson is using all of the techniques he’s learned over the years to craft a film that’s technically impressive as well as visually pleasing.

It's interesting to have Anderson’s message for “Asteroid City” be that you’ll find the meaning eventually. So much of this film revolves around pain, crisis, and melancholy, but only after the fact. It isn’t about living through those traumatic moments, but instead about dealing with them later. It’s hard to dig into exactly what makes everything work without spoiling it all but suffice to say this is easily Anderson’s most interesting work in years, with plenty of layers to chew on over subsequent viewings. It helps that Schwartzman is the lynchpin of it all and is giving a career best performance here, but if only it had a bit of the fat trimmed away from this trip to “Asteroid City.” 4/5

Elemental - Review: A Love Story That Burns Bright

 

For their first original theatrical release since “Onward,” Pixar is attempting to step out of their element, so to speak, with “Elemental.” Billed as the studio’s first romance story and mixing in aspects of writer/director Peter Sohn’s (“The Good Dinosaur,” “Partly Cloudy”) immigrant upbringing in New York City, the latest from the studio manages to be another heartwarming (pun entirely intended) tale.

The film follows Ember Lumen, voiced by Leah Lewis (“The Half of It,” “Nancy Drew (2019)”), living in Element City, a city where the four elements, air, water, fire, and earth, all live together. She works to help keep her family’s shop in Firetown opening, with dreams of one day taking it over from her father, Bernie, voiced by Ronnie del Carmen (“Inside Out,” “Soul”), and her mother Cinder, voiced by Shila Ommi (“Tehran,” “The Illegal (2019)”). Things become complicated when she meets Wade Ripple, voiced by Mamoudou Athie (“Jurassic World Dominion,” “Sorry for Your Loss”), and the two slowly become closer, despite her parents’ distrust of water elements.

Sohn and co-writers John Hoberg (“The Amanda Show,” “My Name is Earl”), Kat Likkel (“My Name is Earl,” “Sabrina: The Animated Series”), and Brenda Hsueh (“Disjointed,” “How I Met Your Mother”) have crafted a world as visually rich and splendid to spend time in as any other out there. From the differences between the different districts within Element City and on its outskirts, to the minute differences in how the various elements travel and experience life. Seeing Wade’s home filled with water, curved architecture and featuring inflatable furniture like pool toys contrasts with Ember’s, filled with baked clay bricks, metal, and orange and brown tones.

Yes, Pixar’s films always have a level of visual fidelity that makes them a joy to look at, but this time it isn’t just the raw detail. The design and layout of everything is truly remarkable to watch. It feels like one of those movies made to showcase a particular city, like “Lost in Translation” or “Taxi Driver”, but for this fictional place. It helps that all of this is set against one of the best scores Thomas Newman (“Wall-E,” “Finding Nemo”) has ever composed, completely captivating your senses whilst exploring this new place with Ember and Wade.

Thankfully, Wade and Ember themselves are also delightful and so much fun to spend time with. Lewis imbues Ember with a fiery (haha) spirit that doesn’t feel one note. It’s a conflicted aspect of her character, and her evolution throughout the film as Wade helps her come out of her shell is really compelling to watch. Likewise, while not as drastic of a character shift, Wade is a really fun male lead, with Athie balancing his emotions with legitimate passion and love for the city. Their chemistry is great, and it ends up being a really fun and heartwarming romance that feels real and lovely. Ommi and Carmen are also great, and Ember’s parents really steal the show from the jump. Their story is emotionally compelling and it feels like a natural extension of Ember’s.

The specific character animations are also just jaw droppingly gorgeous, and not only are they well animated and detailed, but that beauty finds its way into the story as well. It helps to flesh out both the technical and romantic sides of the movie, as they compliment each other as opposed to being pretty and detailed without really adding to the story.

Yet, there is a level of sameness that permeates “Elemental.” It’s a handful of things that come together and prevent the film from feeling like more than a good time. Yes, just a few years ago Disney did the same “racial allegory with non-human characters” with “Zootopia,” but thankfully here the story isn’t about the allegory itself. It’s an aspect of the story, but Ember isn’t trying to fight back against the oppression of fire people by water people. It also feels at times like its being forced into a typical family adventure movie structure, rather than its more natural fit as a romance.

That romance is still the central focus and shines through every aspect, even if it too can feel cliched for anyone who’s seen their fair share of the genre. But that last complaint is the least of them all because, again, Wade and Ember are a really charming and lovable pair. It does mean that if you dislike one or both of them, the film simply isn’t going to work nearly as well for you, if at all. But that comes with the genre.

“Elemental” is a very charming movie that manages to blend its gorgeous world, in both detail and design, with its story in a satisfying way. Featuring a great romance with two very lovable leads, backed up by a terrific voice cast and phenomenal musical score, it’s a shame that its sameness can prevent it from flying as high as it could. But make no mistake, this is still a fun and great romance that, if nothing else, proves that the studio should try dipping its toes into love stories more often. 4/5

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - Review: A Perfectly Acceptable Robot Alien Animal Movie

 

After over a decade of some of the worst blockbusters released by Hollywood courtesy of Michael Bay, the Transformers series finally had a bit of a reprieve in 2018 with “Bumblebee,” a prequel/reboot that became known as “the one legitimately good live-action Transformers movie.” Now, five years later, Paramount has enlisted in director Steven Caple Jr. (“The Land (2016),” “Creed 2”) and writers Joby Harold (“King Arthur: Legend of the Sword,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi”), Darnell Metayer (“BMF”), Josh Peters (“BMF), Erich Hoeber (“The Meg,” “Red”), and Jon Hoeber (“The Meg,” “Red”) to deliver “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”, a film that not only soft-reboots the Transformers world and acts as a sort-of-sequel to “Bumblebee,” but also as a film that introduces one of the biggest pieces of the original franchise not yet seen in live-action before: the Maximals.

Set in 1994, the film follows Noah Diaz, played by Anthony Ramos (“In the Heights,” “She’s Gotta Have It (2017)”), who, alongside Elena Wallace, played by Dominque Fishback (“Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Swarm”), helps the Autobots, consisting of Optimus Prime, voiced by Peter Cullen (“The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh,” “Predator”), Bumblebee, Arcee, voiced by Liza Koshy (“Freakish,” “Hamster & Gretel”), and Mirage, voiced by Pete Davidson (“Bupkis,” “Bodies Bodies Bodies”), find an alien key that can help send them home. All the while, they’re pursued by Scourge, voiced by Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones,” “The Station Agent”), a servant of Unicron, voiced by Colman Domingo (“@Zola,” “Selma”), while having to work with the Maximals, a group of animal-based Transformers consisting of Optimus Primal, voiced by Ron Perlman (“Hellboy (2004),” “Sons of Anarchy”), Airazor, voiced by Michelle Yeoh (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Everything Everywhere All At Once”), and Rhinox, voiced by David Sobolov (“Guardians of the Galaxy (2015),” “The Flash (2015)”).

If that sounds like a lot, it really isn’t. There’s an abundance of characters but thankfully the film keeps things fairly simple in terms of its overall plotting. There aren’t any weird alien metals or government conspiracies here, simply good guys and bad guys who both want the same mystical artifact. It’s generic for sure, but the simplicity of it at least means that there’s time for the characters and relationships to be established and grow. Ramos and Fishback have great chemistry and are fun to watch banter back and forth with each other. Prime continues to serve as a stoic leader figure, learning from his human companions and teaching them as well. It’s a well-worn formula, but it works well enough here. Koshy is fine, and Davidson is delivering his high-energy comedic relief well. The Maximals meanwhile feel fairly forgettable, and, besides Cullen, only Dinklage seems to be putting in a lot of effort with his performance.

Meanwhile, despite advertising itself as a fun 90s throwback adventure, “Rise of the Beasts” only really exists in the 90s for the first thirty minutes, taking the rest of the runtime to run away to Peru to trot around ruins and jungles. For all their faults (and there were a lot of them) the Bay films at least looked and felt like they were worth their budget. So much of Rise of the Beasts consists of watching CGI robots stand in forests and green backgrounds to fight. The third act in particular is a slog of gray, bland environments and cloudy skies. It almost seems like a shock to say this film costs the same as the rest of the films, sans “Bumblebee.”

Thankfully, it isn’t very long. The simpler nature of the story means that things are wrapped up much faster than before, resulting in a film that’s a little over two-hours compared to the near three-hour behemoths these films used to be. The problem with the overall package though is one that seems to be almost paradoxical.

“Rise of the Beasts” is, emphatically, better than every previous “Transformers” film besides “Bumblebee.” Maybe you can make an argument for the first film, but regardless, it’s a movie that is simple, to the point, moves quickly, and doesn’t get lost in so many of the other movie’s vices. However, its also the most generic movie the series has made yet. Yes, it’s objectively better than Bay’s, but it doesn’t have anything nearly as weirdly fascinating as Transformers helping out Harriet Tubman or King Arthur or learning a sun-destroying machine was hidden in the Great Pyramid of Giza. Are those things good? No, but they’re bizarrely captivating in a weird kind of car-crash way, pun intended.

“Rise of the Beasts” is a film that is unequivocally better than each Bay film. While that isn’t a high bar, it does manage to be the most generic film in the franchise yet. It’s also kind of a wonder where the budget seems to have gone, even when not compared to Bay’s previous orgies of destruction. It’s hard not to compare this movie to those; after all, it’s the first movie with “Transformers” in the title he hasn’t directed in the series. And while its much better, its just less interesting overall. 3/5

Past Lives - Review: An Intimate Look at Life and Love

 

In the realm of indie films, there is no type more “indie” than the quiet, contemplative movie that is mostly talking, thinking, and warm glows of incandescent lightbulbs and city streetlights. Which is to say that everything about writer/director Celine Song’s (“The Wheel of Time”) “Past Lives” makes it seem like the ultra-typical indie movie but calling it that would be doing a disservice to the enthralling, emotionally rich, enrapturing romantic drama on display. 

The film follows a chunk of the lives of Nora, played by Greta Lee (“The Morning Show,” “Russian Doll”), and Hae Sung, played by Tee Yoo (“Leto”), as they grow up together in South Korea, before Nora's family moves to Toronto. Years later, the pair reconnect over the internet, and 24 years after their initial meeting as teens, Hae Sung comes to New York City to visit Nora, who now lives there with her husband Arthur, played by John Magaro (“First Cow,” “The Many Saints of Newark”). 

Song’s directorial debut has a warmth and a lightness to it that not only makes its brisk 106-minute runtime feel like nothing at all, but it also makes it a joy to sit in. There’s a sense of voyeurism that’s established with the opening scene that persists throughout the entire film. The underlying idea of looking at and being looked at persists through the main plot, reinforced by numerous shots expertly constructed by cinematographer Shabier Kirchner (“Small Axe,” “Bull”). 

But all of these moments feel incredibly subtle all the while. Nothing feels tricky or flashy, and Song keeps it all extremely intimate and tight. Her actors carry this feeling as well, Lee, Yoo, and Magaro are all exceptional. They enter the sort of canon of film performances where it doesn’t even feel like performing, they just feel like real people. It’s difficult to describe and a wonder to see. 

It’s easy to see a way in which Song could have crafted this as some kind of love triangle film, and while those elements are there, that’s not the film she’s crafted. It’s far more heartbreaking than that and as it continues, you start to see the pieces fall into place. Much like its main trio, it's an extremely complex and emotionally rich tale that refuses to be put into some kind of genre box yet doesn’t betray its small-scale nature either. It’s a hat trick of a film: big emotions and displays, yet without ever seeming like a “movie.” 

“Past Lives” deals with a lot through all of this. It is a kind of romance movie at its core, but at the same time its dealing with the immigrant experience within its romantic elements. Nora’s relationship to Sung and their shared Korean heritage versus her relationship with Arthur which lacks that. It keeps digging further and further into more layered material, but it never becomes overwhelming due to how Song filters it all through Nora, Sung, and Arthur. No one at any point feels as though they’re reciting a mission statement or looking at the camera and delivering a monologue. It feels, again, voyeuristic, like you’re watching it play out from afar, cameras nonexistent. If there was an emotion that “Past Lives” feels like when it concludes, it's a good, deserved, long cry, like a pent-up release of emotions and heartache. 

Celine Song’s “Past Lives” is a gorgeous film on a visual and emotional level. One of the few small-scale dramas that really works nowadays, her actors take the material and run with it, fully enveloping themselves in the world. It's the sort of film you can disappear into, not because it has an expansive universe of impressive lore or production design. But because it feels so achingly, painfully real that you forget you’re watching a film, and you just lose yourself. 4.5/5

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Review: Changing The Animation Medium... Again

In 2018, “Into the Spider-Verse” blew the doors off theatres everywhere and fundamentally changed the animation industry. For once, a statement like that isn’t hyperbole; just look at the past few years of Hollywood animation and it’s clear that “Spider-Verse” sent a clear message that hyper-realism and detail isn’t the end-all-be-all of an animation studio. Films like “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” “The Bad Guys,” and “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” had art styles clearly inspired by the first “Spider-Verse” and numerous other studios seemed to have loosened their animation styles shortly after Miles’s first animated adventure. Even without the shift in the zeitgeist thanks to its visuals, the first film still won acclaim and awards from critics and audiences alike, the likes of which arguably hasn’t been seen since the likes of “The LEGO Movie,” “Wall-E,” “Up,” or “Howl’s Moving Castle.”

Suffice it to say then, the sequel “Across the Spider-Verse” has quite the bar to clear, doubly so when it was announced that this would be part one of a two-part story, the “Empire Strikes Back” of this trilogy, if you will. Which is why its so incredible to say that “Across the Spider-Verse” is, without hyperbole, better that the first film in virtually every way.

This sequel follows Miles Morales, voiced again by Shameik Moore (“The Get Down,” “Wu-Tang: An American Saga”), as he takes on the newly minted villain The Spot, voiced by Jason Schwartzman (“Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”), as well as finding himself reunited with Gwen Stacey, voiced again by Hailee Steinfeld (“Bumblebee,” “Arcane”), and introduced to a society of dimension hopping Spider-People, including Spider-Woman, voiced by Issa Rae (“The Lovebirds,” “Insecure”), Spider-Man India, voiced by Karan Soni (“Deadpool 2,” “Miracle Workers”), Spider-Punk, voiced by Daniel Kaluuya (“Nope,” “Get Out”), and Peter B. Parker, voiced again by Jake Johnson (“New Girl,” “Minx”), led by Spider-Man 2099, voiced by Oscar Isaac (“Inside Llewyn Davis,” “Moon Knight”).

Not going into further detail with the summary here isn’t just to avoid spoiling anything, it’s also because the film has a lot going on all at once. There are no simple questions or answers to everything going on, and instead of simply splitting one film into two, writers Phil Lord (“The LEGO Movie,” “21 Jump Street (2012)”), Chris Miller (“The LEGO Movie,” “21 Jump Street (2012)”), and David Callaham (“Zombieland: Double Tap,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”) craft a tale that simply too big to tell in just one film. And yes, while its big in the literal sense, there are far more multiverses and the film is thirty minutes longer than the first, its big in its complexity as well.

There are numerous different emotional arcs and themes all swinging around, but each gets the chance to grow and shine. For how much incredibly frenetic action and swinging there is, its genuinely incredible how many slow, calm moments of simple emotional reflection there are. Directors Joaquim Dos Santos (“Justice League Unlimited,” “The Legend of Korra”), Kemp Powers (“Soul,” “One Night in Miami…”), and Justin K. Thompson (“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” “Sackboy: A Big Adventure”) craft an incredibly mature film, one that has grown as Miles has. There are no easy answers in this new Spider-Man story and the filmmakers don’t pretend like there are either.

Yet, that emotional maturity is balanced brilliantly with the film’s incredible action and spectacle. The animation, like the first film, is simply breathtaking, and there are too many moments of pure beauty and wonder to ever hope to summarize here. It’s the kind of movie that, simply put, uses animation as a medium to its fullest potential. Whether to craft a unique world, character, or perspective, or to simply forgo realism to instead nail home an emotional beat, the artistic wizards at Sony Pictures Animation have frankly outdone themselves in a way no other studio could possibly hope to match.

“Across” doesn’t just excel visually either. Like the first film, the vocal performances and music are simply stellar. Given the increased emotion and gravitas of this larger story, the vocal performances from the entire cast are profoundly excellent. Moore and Steinfeld have incredible chemistry, and the new Spider-People are an absolute joy. It’s hard to give even one or two specific shout outs, as they’re all so supremely excellent. Schwartzman in particular does a fantastic job at paralleling The Spot’s absurdity and haunting villainy. Daniel Pemberton (“Steve Jobs,” “The Trial of the Chicago 7”) somehow exceeds his score from the first film to deliver a wave of music that manages to balance the different Spider-People’s themes while also blending it all together seamlessly.

There’s a lot to take in here, visually and emotionally, and it can all be a bit overwhelming. At two-hours-and-twenty-minutes, this is the longest American animated film ever, and it covers a lot of ground over that length. Given that the film was originally announced with the subtitle “Part 1”, which was later dropped, there will likely be plenty of audience members who are slightly miffed at the “To Be Continued” at the film’s end. However, like the best middle chapters of the best trilogies, there is still a full arc here. It doesn’t feel like someone has hit the pause button or things are arbitrarily cut off. It’s more cliffhanger-y of an ending than, say, “The Dark Knight”, but it feels just as earned as “The Two Towers” or “Back to the Future Part 2.”

Simply put, there is no other animated film out there like “Across the Spider-Verse” a rare work of cinematic art that manages to overwhelm and overdeliver, taking viewers on an emotional ride that simply must be felt to be believed. Somehow even surpassing the first film’s already high bar, this is a film that simply should not be missed by anyone who simply like good cinema or good storytelling. Forget about whether you know a Spider-Man from an actual spider, there hasn’t been a work of pure maximalist filmmaking this worth your time yet this year. 5/5