Movie Review: Like A Boss (R – 83 minutes)

I feel like I say the same thing regarding most January comedy releases – that they struggle with wasted potential. 

Like a Boss tells the story or Mia and Mel, best friends since Mia and her family took in Mel as a child. Her mother was apparently a drug addict, so she moved in with Mia and her mother. Years later, Mia’s mother passed away and Mel helped Mia through that situation. They are best friends and bonded for life. Together, they started their own cosmetics line and opened their own store with the idea of enhancing the beauty a woman already has, rather than covering ‘imperfections’ like other companies.  Mel handles the business portion and Mia handles the creative portion. They have two employees and are struggling financially.  Okay, not just struggling, they are almost a half million dollars in debt, probably because they seem to be terrible at working, barely showing up to the office. In general, they seem like not great people - they ruin a friend's baby shower when they sneak into a room to get high.

Along comes Claire Luna, a cosmetics billionaire whose company reinforces the stereotype that women are ugly and need tons of makeup to make them beautiful. Claire offers to eliminate their debt for 49% of their company. With a deal in place to take 51% if the two are unable to work together, she then instigates several situations to drive a wedge between the friends.

The movie is directed by Miguel Arteta who also did Beatriz at Dinner and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  The simple story is predictable, which is never a problem in a highly executed comedy.  Here, it is only moderately executed.  The cast is excellent, so I did have higher expectations.

• Tiffany Haddish plays Mia as loud and creative. She takes nothing from anyone and is only focused on her own interests and desires.  One of the things I liked about the Kitchen was that it gave her the opportunity to stretch a bit. Here, she is doing the same character she’s done before – which is fine if that works for you. Typically, it does work for me, I am a fan of hers and I find her hilarious, but it just felt a little too much here. This woman owns a business with her best friend, would she really have no idea about the finances and barely spend any time in the store, preferring to ditch work and get high?

• Rose Byrne plays Mel the one who is paying attention to the business.  Except, she’s too afraid to bring up the finances to Mia and now they are $500,000 in debt.  Byrne is great in comedies and this character is slightly different than what I had seen her do before. As per comedy usual, she’s so willing to close the deal with Claire that she ends up compromising her ideals and ending up in a huge fight with Mia.

• Salma Hayek plays Claire Luna. Hayek is actually my favorite when she is in broad comedies, I think she’s really good at it. Here, she gets a crazy wig, tan, and teeth to match an over-the-top attitude. She’s great as a comedic villain, but in a weird way, I feel like she wasn’t allowed to go quite far enough. There are moments when you can’t quite tell if she’s the villain or if she’s secretly rooting for the girls. I would have liked to see her go even further to pure villain mode.

• Billy Porter and Jennifer Coolidge play the two employees at the girls’ store.  Porter is magnetic and incredibly watchable and Coolidge is always a scene stealer. At one point, Claire demands they fire Porter and his reaction to the news is epic as he demands everyone witness his MOMENT as he dramatically reacts all the way out of the restaurant, out the door, and down the street. I may have to adopt that for some situations. 

• Karan Soni continues to appear in almost everything you see as Claire’s assistant.

• Ryan Hansen and Jimmy O. Yang play partners in a competing cosmetics company – the characters are awful and both do a great job of being hilariously clueless. 

• Ari Graynor, Jessica St. Clair, and Natasha Rothwell play Mia and Mel’s three friends.

• Jacob Latimore plays Harry, Mia’s understanding booty call.

Overall, I enjoyed most of it, I loved the fact that it was structured like a rom com, but that the friendship between the two leads was the point of the story. It was nice to see that the focus was their friendship as the relationship. I also enjoyed that the point of their company was to enhance natural beauty -it’s a little thing, but it’s nice.  With this much power in the cast, it should have been non-stop hilarious. Plus, it’s rated R, so there was no reason to hold back. A little more cutting loose, a little less structured, and a little further into the zany may have done it some good. But hey, as January comedies go, it’s just fine.

5 out of 10 – middle of the road, serviceable January comedy!

Movie Review: Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (PG13 – 142 minutes)

I’ve been waiting to post this for a bit, just to avoid any spoiler issues.  So, yes, big Spoiler Warning here at the top – This is going to be long - I’m talking about all of it!  Also – did you like the movie? Great! Did you not like the movie? Great!  Below is just my opinion - we're all entitled to our own!

Short version – I really enjoyed this movie. Star Wars has always meant a lot to me and I am beyond grateful that we are getting new Star Wars movies. This movie is supposed to be the final entry in the ‘Skywalker Saga’ numbered episodes.  That included the original trilogy of episodes 4 through 6 that covered twins Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, their discovery, growth, and triumph over the Galactic Empire lead by Emperor Palpatine and his apprentice Darth Vader.  It also includes the prequel trilogy of episodes 1 through 3 in which we grow with Anakin Skywalker as he becomes a Jedi Padawan (student), Jedi Apprentice, and finally a Jedi Knight while studying with QuiGon Jinn and Obi Wan Kenobi. Over the course of the movies, he falls in love with Padme Amidala and what with one thing or another falls into the dark side and becomes Darth Vader, the apprentice of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious – who is Emperor Palpatine in disguise - barely.

This new trilogy picks up years later and follows the adventures of Rey, Finn, and Poe as they lead the Resistance in battle against the First Order.  In prepping for this movie, I plotted out a flowchart to cover the high points of the previous 8 movies, and realized that most of it is Palpatine as he starts as a senator from Naboo then uses Sith wiles, apprentices, evil genius, and good old-fashioned politics to go from senator to chancellor, orchestrate the clone wars, promote himself to emperor and change the Republic to the Empire.  He legally works through the system to totally and completely rule the galaxy. Yikes. And his first name is Sheev.

So here we are at Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.  A broadcast of Palpatine has been heard across the galaxy – according to the opening crawl. This is odd, considering Vader threw him down a pit in the Death Star II about 40 years ago. Rey is continuing her Jedi training under General Leia Organa as Finn and Poe are working with the resistance to build additional forces to hopefully defeat the First Order.  Meanwhile, Kylo Ren has become Supreme Leader of the First Order and is throwing evil temper tantrums all over the place attempting to find a way to whoever is pretending to be the emperor.  He finds a Sith Wayfinder (apparently not a holocron, even though it looks a lot like a holocron) on Mustafar which leads him to a planet called Exegol.  In a large upside-down pyramid thing he does find the Emperor, or what’s left of him, claiming to have created Snoke and been guiding Ren from afar. He demands that Ren kill Rey and in return he’ll give him the ‘Final Order’ – which seems to be a giant fleet of Star Destroyers that are all controlled with one antenna tower. Hey – he’s not a tech guy, he’s a politician.

Rey, Finn, and Poe take C3P0, BB8, and Chewbacca to head off after the other Sith Wayfinder (because there are only two!) to get to the Emperor and stop him before Ren helps him succeed.  On one planet they run into Lando Calrissian who is just hanging out being awesome and on another some old friends of Poe’s.  Ren and Rey keep up their mind to mind combat while the group meets some other former stormtroopers like Finn, who begins to realize he’s force-sensitive.  Leia does what she can to save Ren, and eventually, everybody meets up on Exegol, for a final showdown.

This movie, like Episode VII, was directed by J.J. Abrams. I am happy to acknowledge that there are no unnecessary lens flares, so he is making progress.  I loved the pacing of the movie – it starts fast and does not slow down.  I enjoyed the framing, VII was Han’s movie, VIII was Luke’s movie, and this one would have been Leia’s if not for Carrie Fisher’s untimely passing. Even as such, she’s still a focal point, but I do wish it could have even more finally been Leia’s showcase. The new characters were fun but with the movie setting out to tie up as many storylines as possible, not everybody got enough time. That’s unfortunate but we are in a time where those characters can get spin-offs or Disney+ shows, so I’m okay with that too.  The core cast was great and seemed to enjoy their last outing.

• Carrie Fisher finally gets top billing, and they did a great job using leftover footage to make sure she still had a part in this.  I love the idea of Leia training Rey, and I was thrilled we got a bit of a flashback to Luke training Leia just after episode 6. That bit was wonderful and I wanted so much more of it.  I’m not all that thrilled with her end in the movie but I don’t think they could have done it any other way.  Chances are had Fisher still been here, Leia would have lived through the movie and been the one to have the bridge-talk with her son.  But here, she gives herself to save/redeem her son, and that’s certainly a noble end.

• Mark Hamill returns as Force Ghost Luke who shows up to give Rey some advice and catch the lightsaber he previously threw away.  He helps her find focus, and, in a moment that brought me to tears, lifts his X-wing out of the water and gives the most perfect little smile.  He’s finally learned to do the impossible.  Hamill was the heart and soul of the original trilogy and I have enjoyed his growth in these new movies. Also bonus fun that he does the voice of the guy who give the message to Finn and Poe at the beginning – who then gets his head cut off by Ren.

• Daisey Ridley plays Rey, who finally learns why she’s so inherently powerful.  She’s Palpatine’s granddaughter. Quite honestly, this makes a ton of sense to me. That dude was so obsessed with power and progeny that it wouldn’t surprised me if he has random offspring all over the galaxy.  Ridley manages to give Rey panic about her power, but never-wavering dedication to doing the right thing at the right time. Old Palps may try to get her to slide to the dark side, but she never wavers.  Also –  she does better at her ‘cave’ test than Luke did.

• John Boyega’s Finn has started to realize the Force is stronger in him that in your average person.  Back in the prequel days, the Jedi would have snatched him away and raised him in their temple.  I love the genuine friendship between he and Rey, as well as between he and Poe. He continues to give Finn a dedication to helping others and is thrilled when he finally meets someone who stepped away from the First Order like he did. Yes, I wish he could have had a little more to do, but hey, we’re trying to get a lot in this flick.

• Oscar Isaac plays Poe, and he’s been my least favorite of the new characters. I did like him better in this movie than in the previous two. He’s suddenly in charge of the Resistance and realizes (with Lando’s help) that it’s the strength of their friendship and cohesive group-work that will get things done.

• Adam Driver plays Kylo Ren and/or Ben Solo, depending on when you start watching.  This movie gave me a better appreciation of what he’s been bringing to the table as Ren. I found him to be a weak and whiny villain for the other two movies.  Here he manages to slide between horrific evil and terrified child, and there is something really compelling about that performance.  I did not think he deserved to be redeemed, but the way they pulled it off was great. His final fight with the knights of Ren was epic. Now, the end – I would have hated that he and Rey kissed if he had lived. Because he died, I am fine with it.  It acknowledges the bond between them, the fact that they saved each other, and the love they share, but doesn’t leave them in a romantic relationship. Also – I’m fine with him being redeemed because he died. Had he lived, I’m not sure I would have accepted his ‘redemption’. 

• Domhnall Gleeson’s General Hux returns to continue to be the absolute worst, in the best possible way.  He's been demoted but that won't stop him from being petty.

• Richard E. Grant steps in as the military leader of the First Order while Kylo and the Knights of Ren are off searching for wayfinders and Rey.  He looks like he is having the time of his life and I enjoyed every minute of him on screen.

• Lupita Nyong’o returns as Maz Kanata who was important here to essentially fill in exposition between scenes they had of Leia leftover from other movies. It’s a little awkward but does a decent job of smoothing out gaps.

• I really enjoyed Keri Russell’s Zorii Bliss and would happily watch a Disney+ show in which she does random jobs across the galaxy. She’s tough and interesting, and I’d like to learn more.  I mean, the Americans is over now, right?

• Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico gets almost nothing to do. Now, whether that’s a cop out based on earlier backlash or not, it’s a shame. I love Rose’s character as a beacon of hope and I would have liked her to have a bigger role here, but again – would love a Disney+ Rose the galactic mechanic show.

• I adored the addition of Naomi Ackie as Jannah – a former stormtrooper like Finn who suddenly ‘had a feeling’ and walked away from the First Order.  She was great in a fight and I would love a spin-off movie for her where she collects former stormtroopers and finds where they came from while dismantling any system that steals children to raise as weapons.

• Anthony Daniels has always been annoying as C3P0 – but that was the point of that character. This is the best he has ever been, so funny, so entertaining, and a plot point. 

• Joonas Suotamo played Chewbacca and I loved so much of what he did. Peter Mayhew was fantastic, but his knees were never good even when he was young. Watching Chewie run, jump, and really get into action sequences is very satisfying.  His performance when he learns of Leia’s death brought me to full out tears, which returned when he finally – finally!! – was handed the medal that he should have gotten in episode IV.

• Billy Dee Williams returns as Lando and honestly, feels exactly like he used to.  He acknowledges that he is the past, but that the strength of the friendship between he and Han, Luke, and Leia is what helped them defeat the Empire the first go-round. I loved seeing him fly the Falcon with Chewie, and I would love even more to see that spin-off with he and Jannah searching the galaxy for her family.

• Ian McDiarmid is the best part of this movie for me. He’s been playing Palpatine since 1983, and honestly, he’s perfection in the role.  As the guy who orchestrated the legal takeover of the galaxy, he giddily oozed evil through the prequels. He joyfully shot lightning at Luke for far too long (take your time, Vader, seriously) in episode VI.  Here, he chortles his way through dangling at the end of a robot arm while demanding both Ren and Rey do what he wants. No one has more fun in these movies than McDiarmid and I loved watching him exert his UNLIMITED POOOOWWWEEERRRRR again.  Also – outfit upgrade when he got those fancy read robes!

Overall, I loved it. I didn’t expect to, and I certainly had to let go of some things I had been holding on to from previous Star Wars movies.  Yes, there are bits that are nonsense, and things that don’t make sense, but it’s a fun movie, it has some great action, and it does a good job of tying a lot of things together.  For me, the central theme is about the destiny that is written for us versus the destiny we choose for ourselves.  The movie ends with Rey visiting Tatooine to bury Luke and Leia’s lightsabers because she has built her own.  A local asks her name, and she responds that her name is Rey Skywalker. I love this – she chose the name of those who trained her and helped her become the woman she is in order to honor their legacy as opposed to the evil master who created her and attempted to hold her to a predestined path.  She creates her own future and prepares to write her own story. 

9 out of 10.  Babu Frik is fantastic, that colorful celebration is fantastic, that weird alien on the Falcon is fun, and I love the voices of the past Jedis that Rey hears (someone please give me some live-action Ahsoka Tano). 

A side note on lightsabers – as we all know, the final step in a Jedi’s training (or a Sith’s for that matter) is building their own lightsaber.  Jedi find a natural kyber crystal that calls to them and assemble it into the hilt that fits them best.  The color depends on the crystal and the Jedi, which is why Rey’s is yellow and they can end up being any color (ANY COLOR, GEORGE).  Sith tend to create the crystals artificially which is why theirs are most often red.  In any case, building your saber is your final step of training and beginning of the next phase of life. This scene in the movie really hit me in the heart because in 2011, I moved on from a position I had that was a job and began a career that I love, I bought a condo, got contacts, and slowly began to heal from my youngest brother’s suicide in 2007.  As such, I designed my own lightsaber hilt to have tattooed on my back (the blade is purple).  It’s a reminder of who I was, who I am, and who I continue to be.  So that scene of Rey igniting her own saber, made from bits of her staff, really got to me and I love that it was included as one of the final sequences in the movie.

Movie Review: Jumanji: The Next Level (PG13 – 123 minutes)

The original Jumanji Robin Williams movie was released in 1995. The sort-of sequel was released two years ago in 2017.  All the movies were based on the book Jumanji which was written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg in 1981.  They all center around a game that blurs the lines between reality and the game, often trapping the players in a dangerous environment and refusing to release them until the objective is released.  The 2017 version updated the game to a video game, transporting players into a dangerous jungle as opposed to terrifying elements from the game coming into the real world.

In this follow-up, the kids from the previous movie are all off to college, but planning to meet up when they return home for break.  Spencer has been having a hard time, missing his girlfriend Martha and not sure he fits in. He arrives home prior to the others and just after agreeing to meet them at a local café has a conversation with his grandfather that increases his doubts.  His grandfather, Eddie, is staying with he and his mother while recovering from hip surgery. While Eddie’s old friend Milo comes over to give him some news, Spencer goes back into the Jumanji game.  When Spencer doesn’t show at the café, the other three head to the house looking for him. Realizing that he jumped back into the game, they head back in to rescue him.  Hijinks ensue.

If you enjoyed the first one, you’ll like this one. Once again directed by Jake Kasdan, the movie is fun and fast paced.  As with the previous edition, the plot is less about what they have to do inside the story and more about what they learn on the way. The cast is once again brilliant at playing various other people who are embodying the avatars inside the game. 

• The kids in the real world are once again played by Madison Iseman (Bethany), Morgan Turner (Martha), Alex Wolff (Spencer), and Ser’Darius Blain (Fridge).  They are given an assist by Colin Hanks as Alex Vreeke. 

• Dannys Devito and Glover play Eddie and Milo, two old friends who had a falling out and get to use the game as a framework for reconciliation.  They were both excellent and it was really fun to see them together briefly.

• Awkwafina joins the in-game cast as Ming Fleetfoot, a skilled thief and lockpick.

• Rory McCann appears as the in-game new villain, Jurgen the Brutal.  He may be stuck in these types of characters for a while.

• Nick Jonas plays Seaplane McDonough, the avatar that Alex chooses.

• Karen Gillan returns as Ruby Roundhouse, Martha’s avatar. She gets to carry Martha’s concern for Spencer through the game.

• Jack Black plays Dr. Sheldon Oberon, who was Bethany last time around and gets to be Fridge for some of this version.

• Kevin Hart plays Franklin Finbar, the zoologist, and gets to be Danny Glover for an extended period of time. 

• Dwayne Johnson plays Dr. Smolder Bravestone and is Danny DeVito for most of the movie.

Honestly, if you liked the previous entry, you'll like this one. The best bits of this movie are watching the four actors playing the game characters shifting between who they are being played by. You can tell the actors enjoyed shifting between players and it really makes it enjoyable to watch. This movie is definitely less about the actual plot are more about the fun to be had watching those it in have fun. 

7 out of 10 – over all, fun, charming, and entertaining.