The Book of Boba Fett (02.18.22)

 

If there is one thing that the highly fickle and fragmented Star Wars fandom can agree on, it’s that the only thing good to come out of 1978’s infamous Star Wars Holiday Special was the mysterious bounty hunter known as Boba Fett (and arguably Mark Hamill’s Carol Brady haircut). The cold-blooded killer’s screentime after this coke-fueled and bizarre debut was minimal, having just a few lines in the original Star Wars trilogy before being unceremoniously thrown into a sarlacc pit, but his staying power (and ability to sell toys) was undeniable. It would take over forty years since his introduction to get his own spinoff, however, and that spinoff is the sometimes boring, sometimes awesome, sometimes unfocused Book of Boba Fett, a Disney+ original/spinoff of The Mandalorian.  

            Sixty-one-year-old Temuera Morrison stars as the roughly 41-year-old Boba Fett after previously playing his father/clone template Jango (as well as other clones) in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Along for the ride is Ming-Na Wen, reprising her roll as master assassin Fennec Shand from The Mandalorian, as well as a couple of new characters that you probably won’t care about and a few that will only be familiar if you’re a fan of the Star Wars comics and animated series (one from the latter I was particularly jazzed about, but that would be a spoiler). There’s not too much to the story: After the events of Return of the Jedi Boba slowly gets his groove back, decides he wants to retire from bounty hunting and become a crime boss but comes into conflict with a rival syndicate, and western standoffs and sci-fi explosions ensue. The first four episodes or so are rather boring, relying far too much on flashbacks to pad the barebones “present-day” storyline, which mostly consists of talking and posturing, and the action varies greatly in quality as well. There isn’t really an excuse for this latter complaint because while the lead is 61, he also plays a character that wears a helmet and could therefore be played by a stuntman for a good deal of the time (the same is true of Wen, who is supposedly 58 but must have an aging portrait sitting in her attic ala Dorian Gray or Paul Rudd). To be fair, the action is not all underwhelming, just inconsistent (as the awesome train scene will attest), and in episode five things finally start to pick up instead of merely chugging along.  

            The only problem? The titular character is completely absent in one of those three final episodes, is barely in another, and has to share focus in the third. It is when The Book of Boba Fett is no longer about Boba Fett that the series gets really good, which is a downright shame considering how long he has waited to get his own spinoff. These last episodes are not awesome because they are furthering Boba’s story, but because they are furthering other stories in the Star Wars galaxy. This alone makes The Book of Boba Fett worth watching, but it would have been nice to have these stories told elsewhere to tighten the focus of the show. Boba deserves better.  

            Also, there is no book. The title is a lie.  

            All seven episodes of The Book of Boba Fett are now available on Disney+. 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on February 18th, 2022. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

The Tender Bar (02.04.22)

 

            I like to think that I have lived a fairly interesting life so far, but I am under no illusions that anyone would ever care to read a book or watch a movie about it. It’s a good life and it’s my own, but it just doesn’t have a narrative that would compel or interest anyone with the possible exception of my closest friends and family. Biographies need to have a little something special to them if they are going to entertain, and it certainly doesn’t hurt if the subject is a larger-than-life figure that everyone knows. The Tender Bar is a fairly well made (if not mind-blowing) film about the life of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist J.R. Moehringer that is mildly interesting in the first half, a slog in the second, and ultimately has very little of interest to say.   

            Directed by George Clooney, The Tender Bar (a pretentious and awkward name that I absolutely despise) is, in a word, adequate. The cinematography is fine (with the exception of a goofy-looking zoom-in here or there), the acting is fine (Ben Affleck as Uncle Charlie is the clear standout), and the script is, you guessed it, fine. The first third of the film that focuses on a younger Moehringer (played by Daniel Ranieri) with occasional jumps to Tye Sheridan’s version of the character a few years later is interesting enough with its themes of fatherhood and family, giving the proceedings a nostalgic feel despite the commonplace tropes of the story. But when the narrative moves completely over to Sheridan the pacing slows to a nasty crawl that is not alleviated by anything we as an audience have not seen thousands of times before. Sheridan’s version of Moehringer goes to college, meets a girl, falls in love, experiences heartbreak, doubt, all that fun stuff. He gets a job but doesn’t get the job he wanted, finally confronts his father, blah blah blah. Not helping matters is the fact that Affleck, the best part of the film, is mostly thrust into the background at this point and that Sheridan shows the emotional range of a particularly stoic cardboard box.   

            And somehow, The Tender Bar just kept going and going. I was stunned when I learned that the entire film clocked in at only 104 minutes, as it felt like at least 180. Could this have been improved by tighter editing and more succinct scriptwriting? Perhaps. But honestly I think the true culprit was the fact that Moehringer’s story isn’t that unique. Countless protagonists in literature have daddy issues. Everyone doubts themselves and everyone gets rejected by people they love and jobs they want. And instead of giving the audience the “oh, this guy is just like me, how relatable,” feeling The Tender Bar instead comes off as someone telling a story that they think is fascinating and unique when it just isn’t. When it comes to being a piece of entertainment, The Tender Bar doesn’t really justify its existence, I am sad to say.   

            The Tender Bar (ugh… that name…) is now available on Amazon Prime. 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on February 4th, 2022. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

Encanto (01.21.22)

 

            It might sound a bit oxymoronic, but ask any wizard, witch, or Istar and they will tell you that magic needs to follow a certain set of rules. What these rules are varies from work to work, but the underlying principle should stay the same: perform a certain action, expect a certain reaction. When this doesn’t happen, the illusion of a fictional world being possible is shattered and the real force holding that universe together can be seen behind the cracks—narrative necessity. Disney’s Encanto lacks a “why” for most of its fantastical narrative of events, leaving one to question the internal logic of the magic, but it is a predictably fun animated feature from the House of Mouse despite this lack of clear cause-and-effect. 

            Encanto is the story of a more literal magical house and the spectacularly gifted Madrigal family that lives within. When the magic of the miracle starts to fade, it falls to the only non-superpowered family member, the quirky Mirabel (voiced by Stephanie Beatriz of Brooklyn Nine-Nine fame) to save it. The only problem is that the why of anything is never clearly explained in this movie. Why was the magic fading? What actions cause the resolution of the film to happen? Does Mirabel actually do anything to save it, or is she just along for the ride? Maybe I’m missing something, but this movie left me confused as to what exactly the plot was. You don’t need to explain the magic, but maybe tell me why certain things happen.  

            Perhaps the house and the magic are there to simply act as an allegory for the themes the movie explores, such as acceptance of others as they are, being more than the gifts you’ve been blessed with, etc. These themes were welcome and supplement what might have been an otherwise underwhelming plot. Helping matters are the lively soundtrack written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the beautiful animation, and an endearing cast of characters. It is a large cast, too, with a great number of main characters that are nonetheless expertly juggled so everyone has a chance to shine and maybe even evolve a bit.  

            Less welcome are a couple of elements that made it feel like Disney was sometimes going through a checklist of expectations and dutifully crossing things off. There are a couple of quirky animal sidekicks that really only exist to sell a plushy or two at the Disney Store, for instance, and if you could only see the ending coming a mile away I would call you incredibly nearsighted. But that’s okay. If some of this movie was created by a committee, it’s a committee that clearly knows what it is doing at this point.  

            Despite its flaws, Encanto is another home run by the folks at Walt Disney Studios. Did you expect anything less?  

            Encanto is now available on Disney+.  

 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on January 21^st, 2022. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts (01.14.22)

Though there are still plenty of Harry Potter fans in Gen Z, I fear that most of these kids will never appreciate just how bonkers many of their millennial predecessors went for the famous wizarding series back in the day, myself included. How many of these youths can say that they went to the midnight release of a book, or bought so much Hufflepuff regalia over the years that their bedroom looks like a giant bumblebee exploded? I’m guessing not many. The Harry Potter craze of the 2000s was a uniquely insane era, and it is an insanity that many of us have carried with us well into adulthood. Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is a cheery, nostalgic look back at this mad minute of magic, although Muggles (that is, newcomers to the series) might find this celebratory documentary a bit too mystifying to metabolize.  

            After a cheesy and uncomfortably scripted introduction, Return to Hogwarts gets the quaffle rolling with an examination of the first two films in the series, 2001’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and 2002’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The entire two-hour special follows this general format, tackling two movies per segment via cast discussions and behind-the-scenes clips, mostly relegating the books to the background. Considering the sheer number of thespians that were involved with the eight movie epic, the fact that they were able to get so many famous names to return is quite impressive, even if I inevitably began to wonder who was there just for the paycheck (certainly not Helena Bonham Carter, who seemed to be having a blast and was the undeniable life of the party). The retrospective also had the awkward job of distancing the legacy of the Harry Potter films from author J.K. Rowling after her recent problematic (and well publicized) comments, which I won’t get into here, and in this it mostly succeeds by keeping the focus mostly on the filmmakers. For book purists this might be a bit of a let down, but for fans of the movies (as they are indeed very different beasts) this focus is ideal. 

            As a Potterhead who enjoys both, I did find myself wishing they would have spent more time on each of the movies, as fifteen minutes or so really isn’t enough time to fully explore the process of bringing a single book to the screen. At the same time, two hours felt a bit long for this sort of thing, so I ultimately would have preferred a miniseries that devoted two one-hour episodes to each film, or something to that effect. My only other criticism of Return to Hogwarts was its lack of a master-of-ceremonies-like role, which could have given the documentary a bit more cohesion as it moved from piece to piece. Daniel Radcliffe himself was probably the closest the retrospective had to this, as he sometimes would ask fellow cast members interview questions, but he was still far from ubiquitous.  

            Overall Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is a magical trip down memory lane, but like all retrospectives of its ilk, it is probably a trip that should only be made by those intimately familiar with the subject. Muggles might want to stay away, but for everyone else, welcome home.  

            Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is now available on HBO Max.  

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on January 14th, 2022. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

Love Hard (12.24.21)

 

Remember that one Christmas movie where a woman who is down on her luck (yet is still fiercely independent) falls for a guy who lives in a town that is so small that everyone knows each other’s names? Too vague? You know the one… she has a sassy best friend, the guy has a sassy grandma, and a lie or two causes holiday shenanigans until everything goes sideways and feelings get hurt but not too badly because everyone learns to be better people by the end and our two leads kiss and everything is merry and bright? Oh wait, I am describing every Christmas romcom ever written. This includes Netflix’s new holly-decked Love Hard, a film that does very little to distinguish itself from the competition; although it does indeed offer a few genuine laughs on the way to its predictable ending.  

            If you feel like I spoiled the ending for you just now, then you’ve probably never seen a movie before. Although the set up to Love Hard (a portmanteau of Love Actually and Die Hard, although I think I would have gone with Die Actually, myself) sounds vaguely interesting-- the guy the woman falls in love with was actually catfishing her, which she finds out the hard way when she shows up in his small town to surprise him for Christmas-- it still hits all of the holiday romcom tropes with a feverish gusto in its attempts to reconcile the slightly problematic premise (I don’t think it’s a super great idea to convey the message that if you lie on a dating profile you might still end up with the girl) with the expected happy ending. Remember the sassy, high strung yet likeable boss that I mentioned in the first paragraph? Yeah, I didn’t mention him, but I bet you knew he was in here. Other than the two leads themselves, every character in this movie gives the impression that they just jumped out of a cartoon, and all of them (including the leads) are just as two-dimensional as well.  

            The thing is, I did indeed chuckle a few times while watching Love Hard, and even found it pretty charming. The jokes land admirably when the script isn’t dragging out well-discussed topics and treating them like they are original witty observations (we know, movie, the lyrics to “Baby It’s Cold Outside” are problematic and the idea of Santa can be kind of creepy), which is a credit to the cast and writers. Love Hard may have all of the touchstones of an assembly line made Hallmark Christmas movie, but it touches on them much more competently than it has any right to. The end result? I didn’t want to turn off my TV and throw myself into a furnace, which is more than I can say for most Christmas movies.   

            So maybe I’m being a bit hard on Love Hard. In today’s volatile world, maybe a little predictability with a few laughs sprinkled in is just what the doctor ordered.  

            Love Hard is now available on Netflix.  

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on December 24th, 2021. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/ 

Red Notice (11.19.21)

This one was actually published before my reviews for The Electrical Life of Louis Wain and tick... tick... BOOM!, as you can see. Somehow missed it in the shuffle. 

            There once was a young algorithm named Albert who lived in the magical land of Tinseltown. Albert the algorithm had but one dream in his life, a dream that he held close and cherished even when the other algorithms belittled and mocked him:  To one day write a movie script based on an EW “Top 10 Hottest Stars in Hollywood” list that he had found in the checkout aisle of his local Rite Aid. The studios Albert approached sneered and snickered at him, until one day his worth was seen at last by a benevolent streaming giant who offered him $200 million to make his dream come true at last.  

            This is not the story behind Netflix’s Red Notice, but it very well could have been.  

            Ryan Reynolds stars as an art thief guy who wants to steal some golden egg thing. Dwayne Johnson also stars as an FBI man who wants to stop Ryan Reynolds from stealing the golden egg thing. They eventually have to team up against Gal Gadot, who also stars as a different thief who also wants to steal the golden egg thing. Banter and action ensue.  

            One of the problems is that none of these three actors is particularly well known for their actual acting. Do I like all three of them? Yes. Do they all ooze charisma and charm at obscenely high levels? Also yes. But when the biggest selling point of your movie is “Ryan Reynolds acts like Ryan Reynolds in the direction of Dwayne Johnson who acts like Dwayne Johnson while Gal Gadot looks attractive in a red dress,” you might have a problem. At no point does it ever feel like you are watching actual characters in Red Notice, which in turn reminds you that you are watching what is essentially the brainstorming sessions of cynical Netflix executives who, like Albert, only have one goal: to drum up some extra views and subscribers by utilizing elements that have worked well in the past.  

            Acting isn’t everything, of course, and the other parts of Red Notice are serviceable enough. The plot really is as dumb and silly as I described it above, but it is not really any more so than any other dumb and silly action movies that you watch with your brain turned off and your hand in a popcorn bucket (you know the ones… they are written by Albert’s friends). The action ranges from decent to pretty cool, if nothing special (the climatic underground chase scene is the clear standout), and the Ryan Reynolds-delivered quips land a good seventy percent of the time (although the other thirty percent might make you cringe with their forced crassness and general immaturity). There are certainly worse buddy/action movies out there, but there are also a good deal of better ones. Life being finite and all, you would probably be better off searching for one of the latter.  

            Or you can watch Red Notice on Netflix and support Albert the algorithm’s career. Do it for him. For Albert.  

            Red Notice is now available on Netflix.  

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on November 19th, 2021. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

tick... tick... BOOM! (12.03.21)

As Homer Simpson once said, “Trying is the first step towards failure… the lesson is, never try.” As a flawless human being, I am not personally familiar with the concept of failing, but everyone else in the world would do well to not heed this fatherly bit of advice. I am told that a much healthier way of looking at things was expressed by Thomas Edison when he insisted that he “[had] not failed [to make the lightbulb]. [He] had just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Broadway legend Jonathan Larson did not have to write 10,000 musicals before figuring things out, but he did need at least one failure before he hit the big time. That failure and the story behind it is explored in tick, tick… BOOM!, a Netflix adaptation of the off-Broadway show of the same name that beautifully celebrates the creative process, art, and the people who make it. 

            The structure of tick, tick… BOOM! was a bit confusing to me at first. Originally a stage show, BOOM! is about the failure of another stage show entitled Superbia. This is the film adaptation of BOOM! that includes bits as they would have been seen on stage in the original production (ie. with a three-person cast, band, and no sets to speak of), but the majority of the film dramatizes the story as what you as an audience member of the play are supposed to be imagining while watching the actual minimalistic show. That’s how I as a Broadway neophyte interpreted things, anyway.  

            While initially puzzled, I really grew to appreciate the creativity and authenticity of this approach over time. Those two adjectives are perfect descriptors of the entire experience, in fact. You would never guess that this was Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first time directing a feature film if you didn’t know that fact going in, as he seems to fit as naturally behind a camera as he does composing behind a piano. Buoying Miranda’s freshman outing is a screenplay that cleverly adapts the small and personal play in a way that actually works on screen and still manages to convey the intimacy of the original venue, as well as Andrew Garfield’s stunning performance as Jonathan Larson himself. Who knew that guy could sing? I didn’t.  

            Nowhere is the creativity of tick, tick… BOOM! more apparent than in the musical numbers, however. For those who don’t know (I didn’t), Jonathan Larson would later go on to write the smash-hit Rent and get that one string of numbers stuck in everybody’s heads for all of eternity, and a song or two in BOOM! might have the same result on audiences as well (there are also some “talky” songs that basically amount to people randomly moving their voices up and down while talking, however, which I must admit I am not a fan of). The music, choreography, and camera work of the diner number makes that scene a particular stand out, and if you don’t have the time (or patience) to watch the entire movie you should at least look up that bit on YouTube (the cameos in this scene alone are enough to thrill committed theater goers).  

            If failure is an excellent teacher, then the people behind tick, tick… BOOM! probably didn’t learn much. But that’s what happens when you successfully create the lightbulb on your first try.   

            Tick, tick… BOOM! is now available on Netflix.  

 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on December 3rd, 2021. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/