Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (03.03.23)

 

One thing I have to do as a reviewer is avoid reading the opinions of others before I’ve had a chance to view the work for myself, as such knowledge has the potential to subconsciously influence my own feelings about the movie when I actually see it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to a well-regarded movie and hated it because I was expecting something more or watched a supposed dumpster fire that I ended up greatly enjoying because my expectations were pre-tempered. I did not do my due diligence and avoid reviews for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania for two reasons: One, I’m a big Marvel fan and was curious as to what others were saying, and two, I was not expecting to review it anyway. But here we are, and here I am telling you that I have no idea why this latest film in the juggernaut that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe was so poorly received.  

A good deal of this reaction is, of course, due to the lowering of expectations that I unwisely subjected myself to beforehand, but I am sure it is not the only cause of this disconnect I feel between myself and the Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb scores, the other being audience fatigue. The first two Ant-Man films are light fun that owe a lot to the charisma and likeability of their casts, and Quantumania is mostly more of the same, albeit with much higher stakes and a dramatic moment or two. Paul Rudd is perfect because Paul Rudd is always perfect, and this third Ant-Man movie gets a huge shot in the arm thanks to Michelle Pfeiffer’s expanded role as well as the addition of Jonathan Majors as the villainous Kang the Conqueror (Evangeline Lilly, despite being the Wasp in Ant-Man and the Wasp, unfortunately doesn’t have much to do this time around and is just kind of there).  

This more-of-the-sameness is why quite a few viewers were left dissatisfied, and it’s not a problem that is limited just to Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man trilogy: Quantumania does, in a lot of ways, feel like the latest clone in its very long parent series, the MCU itself, which some argue is getting quite formulaic and stale at this point. It doesn’t matter which superhero is the focus—the latest movie will have quips, occasionally questionable CGI, quips, the introduction of a new character for a future film or TV series, and even more quips. Quantumania is not an exception to this formula. I get this opinion and in a lot of ways I agree with it as well, but taken on its own in a vacuum Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was exactly what I was looking for: Comic book fun with that gosh-darned talented Paul Rudd. It doesn’t seek to reinvent the wheel and could have been better in a lot of ways (why should I care about these boring Quantum Realm characters and where is Michael Pena??) but overall I think it belongs solidly in the middle of the pack when it comes to MCU films. Whether that is good news or bad, as always that is up to you. 

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now available in theaters. 

 

This article was first published in The Keizertimes on March 3^rd, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com/  

Emancipation (02.24.23)

 

Even the darkest periods of human history can teach us important lessons that we can apply to our daily lives. They are, in fact, uniquely good at it. The abominable institution of slavery in the United States and its eventual eradication teaches us that not only is man capable of great evil, but that there is also a resilience of the spirit that is sometimes impossible to snuff out, no matter how bleak the circumstances. Film is just one medium that helps us make sense of the troubled past, and Emancipation is the latest in such attempts; however, it falls short despite its admirable acting and interesting cinematography, as it doesn’t really offer anything new to say and the message is often lost in its Hollywood excesses.  

Will Smith is exceptional as the main character, a runaway slave who history knows as “Whipped Peter,” the subject (or subjects... there is some debate over whether or not “Peter” was actually a press-created amalgamation of two different people) of the iconic and disturbing photographs that helped spur on the abolition movement during the Civil War. Smith is in top dramatic form here, as are his costars. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, a man who is primarily known as an action director, Emancipation often looks interesting as well, with its dynamic shots, unflinching grit, and boldly un-bold color palette. Emancipation opts for a bleak, desaturated look that is so muted it often appears black and white, a choice that underlines the brutality of the situation at some points and leads to distraction at others. Colors randomly choose to present themselves throughout the film, which leant me to believe more than once that my TV was on the fritz (fire, for instance, will sometimes be muted orange and other times will be as gray as everything around it).  

Even without this color palette, Emancipation is bleak, violent, and often disturbing. The script is not particularly good, full of cliches and surface-level observations as it is, nor are the characters at all fleshed out. Peter is a man of faith who loves his family and his god, and that is about all we ever learn of him, other than the fact that he is a crack shot who can easily take on a gator hand-to-hand (hand-to-mouth?) and come out on top. This latter bit is where the movie falters the most: Directed by an action maestro, Emancipation frequently seems more concerned with exciting set pieces than it is with making a salient point about the horrors of slavery, and when it does settle down to say something it is a basic statement like “we are not slaves, we are people.” True and important, but far from groundbreaking or particularly thoughtful. This can also apply to the violence itself, which is dialed up to eleven and comes across as wanting to shock rather than to teach. 

There are much worse films than Emancipation out there, but there are also much better ones that not only focus on the messed up parts of history, but also the things we can learn from them. 

Emancipation is now available on Apple TV+. 

 

This review was first published in the Keizertimes on February 24^th, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com/

Thirteen Lives (02.17.23)

 

I don’t remember what I was up to in 2018, but I do know that I wasn’t paying particular attention to things that were going on in the news. As someone who majored in history I have a great passion for the subject, but I often find myself woefully inattentive to big events when they are actually unfolding. I was vaguely aware of some kids being trapped in a cave in Thailand at that time and I certainly wished them well, but it was not until later that I realized just how scary and desperate things had gotten for the junior soccer team in question. Luckily for me, filmmakers, documentarians, and authors never let a good story go to waste, so just a few years later I would learn all about the struggle, heroism, and fear involved via Thirteen Lives, a tightly scripted, finely crafted film that will undoubtedly be the authority on the event for years to come.  

              The second movie by director Ron Howard about a real-life event where a large amount of people go to great lengths to save a small group of people with the number thirteen in the title, Thirteen Lives owes a lot to its director and cinematographer, as cool shots and harrowingly claustrophobic moments abound. The film, which mostly focuses on the British cave divers John Volanthen (played by Colin Farrell) and Rick Stanton (played by Viggo Mortensen), is surprisingly accurate, as Stanton himself was hired as a consultant and has said that the only unrealistic thing about the movie is the clarity of the cave water, which is, of course, a necessary change. Thirteen Lives is also fairly thorough in its recapturing, but rarely drags despite its 180 minute runtime. Things move along at a fine pace, keeping the audience engaged as the depicted days flash by and the anxiety mounts.  

              Another way the filmmakers bring authenticity to the retelling is through the casting and language, which I greatly appreciated. The ill-fated soccer team is played by actual Taiwanese children from the area, and people speak Taiwanese when it makes sense and English when it doesn’t. There’s never that awkward moment where people stop speaking their native language and permanently switch over to English for the sake of the audience, a wise omission that makes you feel like you are actually witnessing real events (I did miss out on some dialogue, as my cat chose to jump up in front of the TV and blocked the subtitles once or twice). And the kids are good; everyone is.  

One of the things I wish this movie would have done is spent more time with said children. We mostly see their struggles through the lens of their saviors, rarely dwelling on the fear and struggles they went through in the dark by themselves. The aforementioned good pacing also stumbles a bit near the end, which is overlong and could have definitely been streamlined to reduce viewer fatigue. But overall Thirteen Lives is the definitive retelling of a small piece of natural disaster history that just may make you never want to step foot in a cave again.  

              Thirteen Lives is now available on Amazon Prime.

 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on February 17^th, 2023. Visit at the usual place (I’m too lazy to look up the hyperlink)

Cunk on Earth (02.10.23)

 

“A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals.” A great line from Men in Black that has always been true, no matter how far back we reach in our history. When we view those who came before us as flawed, reactionary dummies, some historical events suddenly start to make more sense, and there is no better way to view stupid than through the lens of stupid. Luckily for us Philomena Cunk, Britain’s foremost dimwitted documentarian, is here to provide that lens in the hilarious, clever, and somewhat exhausting BBC/Netflix miniseries Cunk on Earth.

Created by Charlie Brooker and Diane Morgan for Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe, a satirical British news program in the same tradition as The Daily Show, Philomena Cunk may not be the most informed character. Or the brightest. But she is undoubtedly the most present, at least in this particular case, and that will have to do. Wonderfully brought to life by comedian Diane Morgan in past productions such as Cunk on Christmas and Cunk on Britain, Philomena is back once more, this time to tackle all of human history in five easy-to-digest 30 minute episodes. Like previous mockumentaries featuring the character, Cunk on Earth strikes a near perfect balance of stupidity and cleverness as well as low brow and high brow humor; in between simple yet effective gags such as Cunk accidentally combining Vladimir Lenin with John Lennon there are some genuinely salient historical observations, albeit heavily disguised in humor and satire (“The North asked the South what kind of America it wanted to live in: One where white people leeched off other races while treating them as inferior, or one where they pretended they didn’t?”)

I watched all five episodes of Cunk on Earth in one sitting, and despite the brilliance of the show I would not recommend doing this. It can be quite easy to do, as each episode is a quick and breezy 30 minutes, but back-to-back viewings can lead to some fatigue of the funny bone. I could not stop chuckling in the first installment, but by the fifth I was starting to appreciate the still well-written and equally well-delivered jokes less and less. When a punchline does occasionally arrive DOA in Cunk on Earth, which is inevitable in any comedy, there are usually a few right around the corner that more than make up for things, but there are also one or two gags in the show that don’t work and stick around for way too long. But if you pace it right and shake off the few stinkers in what is otherwise a meadow of sweet-smelling laughs, Cunk on Earth is a satire on par with some of the greatest that our modern day has to offer, from This is Spinal Tap to the golden age of The Colbert Report.

It won’t change your life and it won’t win any hoity-toity awards, but if you’re looking for some perspective and some laughs then Cunk is more than happy to take you there.

Cunk on Earth is now available on Netflix.

 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on February 10^th, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com/

Andor Season 1 (02.03.23)

 

Whenever I get into a heated debate over whether or not the benefits of Kylo Ren’s lightsaber crossguard outweigh the many impracticalities of the thing, I have to remind myself that Star Wars was, and mostly still is, primarily made for kids. This reminder is a soothing balm for whenever the Jar Jar Binkses of the Star Wars galaxy stumble onto the screen, but it is also one that I sometimes forget to apply because I, like many others, grew up with the franchise. Shouldn’t we older fans be catered to now and then as well as kids? As they did with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Mandalorian before it, Disney actually obliged this last year by giving us Andor, possibly the most “grown up” Star Wars project to date.

The prequel to the prequel to the original, which is itself the fourth film in a nine-part saga, Andor explores the early days of the Rebellion from the eyes of Diego Luna’s character Cassian Andor from 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (mostly from his eyes, anyway... the cast is enormous). Unlike Disney+’s other Star Wars offerings, the story of Andor starts slow. Like, really slow. Nothing much happens in the first couple of episodes, and even after things hit the fan the events unfold on their own sweet time. I did not mind this at all. I found it refreshing, in fact, that Andor goes the more character-driven route rather than feeling the need for a spectacle every few minutes. A first for a franchise not known for having particularly good dialogue, the writing of Andor is engaging and believable, although I definitely recommend watching the show with subtitles—characters have a tendency to talk quietly and mumble at times, and when you factor in made up space-words it can be quite easy to miss an important nuance or two as plans, politics, and even philosophy are discussed.

These mumbly characters are, perhaps, the strongest asset that Andor enjoys. I said that the cast is enormous, and it is true, but every character, from the bad guys to the rebel foot soldiers to Andor himself are interesting to watch, proving once and for all that you don’t need a Skywalker or a Solo or a Kenobi to make a moving entry into the Star Wars canon. Despite this large ensemble Andor solidly remains the main character, a tough juggling act to pull off when you have as many irons in the fire as his show does.

And it is not all talking, of course... Andor still takes the time to inject some war into its Star Wars. When action does happen it is grounded and highly cathartic, a result of showrunner Tony Gilroy’s ability to ramp up expectations and let things breathe. The pacing of Andor is very well done, although I admit that I would have been frustrated if I had watched the show as each episode aired week after week instead of watching them all back-to-back like I did. I’m finding it hard to say anything bad about Andor; not only is it Star Wars for grownups, but it is Star Wars at its best.

Andor season 1 is now available on Disney+.

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on February 3rd, 2023. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

Wednesday Season 1 (01.27.23)

You know the song and you know the schtick, even if you’re like me and haven’t actually seen them in anything before now. The Addams Family, iconic devotees of the macabre and morbid, have been staples of American pop culture for a shocking eighty-five years, inspiring generations of goths and many a zany fictional family in their ghastly wake. After being together for so long it is only natural for one to step away from their creepy clan now and then, which is what Wednesday Addams reluctantly does when she is forced to attend Nevermore Academy in the aptly titled Wednesday. As I said, I am no afficionado of the menacing ménage, but I am pretty certain that the quality and, more importantly, the tone of Netflix’s new show is more than worthy of its hellish heritage.

Jenna Ortega steps into the pigtails of Wednesday, and her performance is simply dreadful. I mean this, of course, in the way that Wednesday would use the word: To describe something exceptional and wonderful. She is fun to watch in a way that very few characters and actors are in any type of medium, consistently outshining (far from literally, of course) everyone and everything in her orbit (with the possible exception of Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia, who is not in the show much, but is equally as fantastic in every scene she is in). And who better to direct proceedings than Tim Burton, a man who has consistently proven to be the closest thing we have to an actual member of the Addams Family in this realm? Burton’s dour demeanor fits the world of Wednesday like a snug noose on a witch’s neck, and his deft directing elevates the tale beyond what it would have been otherwise. As equally as important to the show’s success is Danny Elfman, Burton’s joined-at-the-hip blood brother, who provides a predictably delicious soundtrack.

Incredible performances of the Addamses aside, the story of Wednesday isn’t really all that special. Without its leads, director and soundtrack the show would feel more akin to one of those dime-a-dozen made-for-teens dramas that the CW airs, albeit one of the better ones. The supporting characters are fine and the actors who portray them are good, but I couldn’t care less about any of them when they were doing things independently of Wednesday, and my mind would consistently wander whenever the show got into love-triangle territory. I could also never figure out just what the actual world of Wednesday was supposed to be; at first I thought the Addams Family was truly an anomaly in a relatively normal version of reality, but then some people appear claiming to be werewolves. Later I realize they really are werewolves, but they exist under the radar of regular humans. Oh wait, nope, regular humans are fully aware of them and distrust them. Trying to figure out the basic setting of Wednesday was really quite distracting.

But these things don’t matter much to me whenever Ortega as Wednesday was on screen. Everything else about the show could have been complete trash and I would still come back to watch her for another season. The Addams Family is in good hands, if Thing will forgive the turn of phrase.  

Wednesday season 1 is now available on Netflix.

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on January 27^th, 2023. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

 

Wildcat (01.13.23)

 

This Christmas my nephews bought me Minecraft so I could play it with them, and one of the first things I did in it was create my own ocelot. I’ve always wanted one, but unfortunately they are wild animals and are thus inadvisable to keep as pets (unless you are Salvador Dali—look up Babou if you don’t know Babou). Minecraft, zoos and documentaries such as Wildcat will have to suffice for my ocelot fix, as I am not a famous surrealist artist, but Amazon Prime’s Wildcat is much more than an excuse to watch a big cat do little cat things: Capable of switching from heartbreaking to uplifting on a dime, the story of Harry, Sam and Keanu is a worthy emotional ordeal that is beautifully done despite a couple of moments that seem a little performative as well as exploitative.

Harry is a twenty-something veteran of the war in Afghanistan who suffers from acute depression and PTSD. Looking for purpose, he finds himself in the Amazon, and there meets a conservationist named Sam. From there the couple takes it upon themselves to raise an abandoned ocelot kitten named Keanu with the end goal of eventually reintroducing him into the wild. Triumphant moments and heartbreak ensue because, as it turns out, raising an ocelot can be tough, especially when one of the adopted parents in question is often suicidal and almost always deeply depressed.

It’s a frighteningly candid look at mental illness, and one that can be quite uncomfortable at times, but it’s also one that is important to understand and impossible not to be sympathetic towards. In Keanu Harry finds redemption and purpose, but the road getting there is as bumpy as life can make it. I greatly enjoyed the real-life story of Wildcat, but there were also points where it seemed as if the camera people should have just put their stuff down and helped rather than letting Harry have largely unedited and unfiltered mental breakdowns for our “entertainment,” for lack of a better word. The film then goes on to suggest that our melancholy protagonist will be all right solely because of his experiences in the Amazon when years of therapy are undoubtedly still ahead of him. Harry and Sam are also either much more eloquent than I am or a couple of the things they said were previously written (or at least very well thought out) long beforehand, as a line or two can come off as slightly manufactured and rehearsed. But the vast majority of Wildcat is boldly genuine and heartfelt, and you will feel every moment of it.

A word to the wise—Wildcat is not an easy journey, nor is this R-rated film one that you should watch with kids or people sensitive to thematic elements. Self-harm and suicide is often discussed in frank terms, and let’s just say that Keanu was not the first baby ocelot that Harry tried to raise. A fun time solely devoted to feline shenanigans this is not, although the heavy moments are wonderfully balanced out by refreshingly joyful ones as well.

Wildcat is now available on Amazon Prime.

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on January 13^th, 2023. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/