Movie review: Plane (R – 107 minutes)

 

I have said it before and I am sure I will say it again. I love a movie that delivers exactly what it promises and knows its role.  This movie could not be more clear about exactly what it is planning to give you.

Plane centers around Captain Brodie Torrance – who gives us all the character development we need about him while on a video call with his daughter on New Year’s Eve. He has one last flight to do with only 14 passengers and then he will join her in Hawaii for New Year’s.  As he touches base with his flight crew, an unexpected criminal is added to his flight to be transported back to where ever after being caught somewhere (details are not important).  He and the crew agree to just go with it because they all want to get home.  The airport tower sends them on a fuel-saving shorter route through a bad storm, despite their misgivings. 

After getting hit by lightning (they shouldn't have gone through that storm!), the plane goes down on a remote island near the Philippines.  Unfortunately, this island is run by local bad guys (revolutionaries? Smugglers? Criminals?). They are so bad, the government will not come to that island any more, so Captain Torrance, his crew, the criminal, and the passengers are on their own.  While the airline calls in help to reach them, Brodie has to keep them alive long enough to be rescued.

Simple and straightforward, this delightful little action flick is directed by Jean-Francois Richet and goes from the first word. It is a bit of a chastisement of the airlines who look to cut corners where possible, but really it’s a Gerard Butler action movie in which he actually gets to use his own accent.  He’s great in these types of flicks, but I never buy a fake American accent on him (sorry, Geostorm), but here, he’s perfect as the pilot who will get his passengers home no matter what. 

Mike Colter is great as the transported criminal who while guilty, still seems like a good dude. The two of them make great instant partners as they collaborate to rescue the passengers once they become hostages. 

Yoson An as the Samuel the co-pilot and Daniella Pineada as Bonnie the leader of the flight crew both understand the assignment and are perfect in their supporting roles.  Each get just enough character development to give you concern about their well-being throughout the course of the movie. 

Overall - The story is clear, the goals are understandable, and the action is fun and at just over an hour and a half – it is the perfect length for a movie like this.  Also, bonus points for surprise Tony Goldwyn as the airline fixer who gets called in to start the process of finding and recovering the plane once it is lost.  Grab your popcorn and settle in.

8 out of 10

Movie review: Glass Onion (PG13 – 139 minutes)

 

In this follow up to 2019’s Knives Out, Rian Johnson brings us another murder mystery with his ambiguously Southern detective, Benoit Blanc. 

In this story, Blanc is invited to join billionaire Miles Bron and his collection of terrible friends on his Greek island during the pandemic for his annual weekend big-fun get together. This year, he has decided to throw a murder mystery party.  While on the island an actual murder occurs, and Blanc must weed out each of the guests to determine the guilty party. Hijinks ensue.

I did not enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed Knives Out, but it is certainly entertaining and twisty.  Because the movie is set during the height of the pandemic, certain moments already feel a bit dated, but it does provide some interesting fun moments and character development.  The locations are amazingly beautiful and certainly make you think about a long weekend somewhere in the Greek islands. Johnson does a great job with a twisty story that appears one way the first time you watch it, then actually insists you go back and watch it again to see if you missed something or if a character is misleading you when recounting what just happened. The cast is all wonderful, but the characters are so terrible that it is hard to find someone to root for amongst the guests.  How are all these odd lunatics the very best of friends?  Sometimes, you do not need a reason!

Daniel Craig once again does an inexplicable accent. What I found interesting is that we get a small peek at Blanc’s home life at the beginning of the story. I wish in those moments, he had not been using the accent – just speaking normally. Then, once on the job, he puts on that horrible southern accent as a tool to appear less threatening to whoever he is investigating. 

Edward Norton feels like he is playing a version of several notable tech-billionaires and his smarmy arrogance fits this role perfectly. As all his friends/guests, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Jessica Henwick, and Madelyn Cline are all just over-the-top enough to keep the audience guessing as guilt shifts between them. They each have a plausible motive, and each are absolutely terrible, so it could be any of them!

The scene-stealer in this for me was Janelle Monaé. She had the most heavy lifting to do, the best story arc, and the most wide range of comedy and drama to cover. She was wonderful and definitely stood out from the others.

There were also piles and piles of cameos – so much so that it was nearly distracting. I didn’t need to know that Blanc is so famous he just zooms with other super famous people while in the bathtub.  Again, shot during the pandemic allowed that to play into the story and into the shooting, but I found it unnecessary.

Overall, the movie is smart and silly, fun and interesting, and while most of the characters are terrible, the cast was doing a great job of making them easy to dislike. I am happy I saw this on Netflix, I think I would have liked it less had I saw it in the theater.

6 out of 10

 

Movie Review: Violent Night (R – 112 minutes)

 

There’s always something to be said for a movie that delivers exactly what it promises.

Violent Night begins with the real Santa Claus in a bar, tired, worn out, drunk and depressed at the general lack of Christmas spirit in the world.  He is feeling unappreciated and thinking about a way out because not even his own Christmas magic (that he doesn’t really understand) is helping him cope.  Meanwhile, we meet Jason Lightstone, being picked up by his wife, Linda, and daughter, Trudy, to head to his wealthy mother’s for Christmas. We gather fairly quickly from context that they have recently split, and Trudy is not handling the separation well.  Once they arrive at the house, we also gather from context that mother Lightstone, Gertrude, is very wealthy, and between Jason and his sister Alva, they gather every holiday to attempt to get some of her money.  Jason seems to be putting a plan in place to end this nonsense and hopefully win back Linda.

As the family are proving how terrible they are, Santa is going house to house and enters the Lightstone residence just as it is infiltrated by criminals looking to steal the three million dollars in the Lightstone safe. Trudy manages to contact Santa via walkie talkie, and her faith in him and Christmas restores a bit of his as he takes steps to save her – by whatever means necessary.

The movie is fast paced and violent as hell.  Directed by Tommy Wirkola, who did Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters (a movie I really enjoyed for almost no reason), it is tongue-in-cheek and definitely funny while somehow also managing to have some genuine Christmas touching moments and magic. The Lightstones are all terrible people, but the criminals are even worse and the things that are done to them, both by Trudy and Santa are hilariously over the top. 

The cast is fine in their roles, but really, this movie centers around David Harbour and thank goodness it does. I am not sure who else could have pulled off a depressed and bewildered Santa who is also a former Viking warlord. Harbour does it with such glee that you cannot wait for him to eliminate the next bad guy.

Alex Hassell as Jason, Alexis Louder as Linda, and Leah Brady as Trudy are the few LIghtstones you root for, but even they have some questionable moments. Edi Patterson as Alva, Cam Gigandet as her husband, action movie star Morgan Steel, and Alexander Elliot as their influencer son, Bert are the absolute worst in truly hilarious ways.

John Leguizamo leads the crew of baddies which includes Brendan Fletcher as Krampus, Andre Eriksen as Gingerbread, Mitra Suri as Candy Cane, and Stephanie Sy as Sugarplum. I love all their code names.

The surprise for me was Beverly D’Angelo as the truly hateful Gertrude Lightstone. What a treat to see her playing something completely opposite of what she is generally known for this time of year.

Overall, the movie is fun and silly and very gory. I enjoyed the way it has some callbacks to classic Christmas-adjacent flicks like Die Hard and Home Alone. It especially points out that perhaps Home Alone is not great for kids to watch as all those booby traps could kill people – which of course, works perfectly here. I strongly recommend watching this in as full a theater as possible – the audience reacting to each of the various over-the-top kills together made it even more entertaining!

7 out of 10

Movie Review: Black Panther Wakanda Forever (PG13 – 161 minutes)

Be sure to listen to the Wakanda Forever LAMBCast where I joined fellow LAMB members to discuss the movie! https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/lambcast/episodes/2022-11-14T14_48_39-08_00 

It has been four years since the astounding release of Black Panther and in that time, we have finished up an entire MCU multi-phase movie collection, collectively endured a global pandemic, and lost Chadwick Boseman.  With all that in place, Wakanda Forever had a nearly impossible task of just existing, much less being an entertaining superhero movie. 

There were many who felt that the character of T’Challa was too important to lose and even with Boseman’s passing, should have been recast so that he could continue to exist in the movies. I understood that point, but those who made the movie had an intense familial bond and it would have been impossible for them to continue their work with a new person in that role.  What Ryan Coogler and team have managed to do is create a beautiful tribute that honors Boseman, and T’Challa, incorporates that loss into the story, but does not make it the entire story.  Again – a nearly impossible task.

The story picks up after the events of Endgame and abruptly begins with Shuri praying to Bast for assistance in saving her brother. She’s the smartest person in the smartest country on the planet but is unable to save him. Heartbreaking for her, and for the audience. The Marvel credits kick in featuring exclusively Chadwick content (get the tissues ready early on this one) and then the movie time jumps to a year later as Queen Ramonda has been reinstated and Wakanda is dealing with the repercussions of T’Challa’s decision to partially open the country and its resources to the world. Now everyone knows about vibranium, and while T’Challa vowed to open outreach centers and scientific connections, everyone else really just wants vibranium. As Ramonda dresses down the UN for their demands, we see a strike team attempting to steal vibranium weapons from an outreach center in Mali – a French strike team (oh, how I love the super strong anti-colonialism not-so-subtle messaging in this movie).  The Dora Milaje deposit the team in front of the French representative in the UN and Ramonda reminds everyone that while the Black Panther may be gone, Wakanda is not weak or unable to defend itself.

Meanwhile, an American research team seems to have found some vibranium under the ocean, but is mysteriously attacked while attempting to drill it.  Shuri has been working in her lab on various defense tools and Ramonda wants her to come process her grief. While out, they encounter a man who emerges from the water, introduces himself as Namor – and tells them Wakanda’s decision to go public about vibranium has put his underwater people at risk. He then demands they bring him the American scientist who created the vibranium-detecting machine so he can kill them.  From that point on, Wakanda has to decide if they agree with and side with Namor and his kingdom Talocan, or if they are on opposing sides of this issue.

There are some incredible fight sequences, amazing music, flawless costumes and set design. The movie is a visual feast and stunningly sumptuous. It is about 30 or 40 minutes too long in my opinion, but that’s a minor complaint. Coogler’s work to repurpose Namor’s comic backstory (the more traditional ancient Greek Atlantis vibes) to a MesoAmerican based Talocan culture is not only wonderful for representations’ sake, but beautiful to see and fits the story perfectly, especially when paired with Wakanda: Two cultures that know the danger of colonialism and the generational pain it can cause to people. The returning cast is spectacular and the new cast is fantastic.

Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, and Florence Kasumba all return to their Wakandan roles. Even with a cast this big, each get some amazing moments to shine. Lupita’s war-dog spy Nakia has to go on a rescue mission, Danai’s Okoye has to chase down the scientist, Winston’s M’Baku has to provide counsel, and Florence’s Ayo gets to step a little more to the forefront – fitting, since she was the first Dora Milaje we ever saw, all the way back in Captain America Civil War. 

Angela Basset crushes every single scene she is in as Queen Ramonda. Lots of people are mentioning she should be nominated for all the awards for this, and whether or not that happens, she is a cyclone of power at the center of this piece that makes everyone around her better.

Spoiler alert from here down – I tried to keep it spoiler free, but I have to dip in a little.

Letitia Wright had a nearly impossible task in this movie. The question of who would be the new Black Panther was not really a question in my mind because Shuri had already been the Black Panther in the comics. Wright had a lot of off-screen nonsense happening, but she really put the work in on screen. She centers this movie and you feel every moment of her grief and anger.  I love how Grief has been the big bad of the most recent MCU phase because it is so relatable.  And when grief gets layered with guilt, the rage and demand for vengeance or (as she puts it in the movie) retribution that results is terrifying. She was excellent across the board here.

Michaela Coel enters as Aneka, a Dora who has been Ayo’s partner in the comics and in this movie as well. She was great in what she was given and I am not sure it needed to be more or less, but it did feel forced here and there. Dominque Thorne debuts as RiRi – who will have her own Disney Plus show shortly. She is fun and engaging and the show should be entertaining.

Alex Livinalli as Attuma and Mabel Cadena as Namora were wonderful and powerful and I really hope we get a Sub-Mariner stand alone where they really get to shine. Livinalli has some fantastic fight sequences with Danai Guirira and Cadena gets to question Namor on several of his decisions – which could lead to the plot of the stand-alone.

Which brings us to Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor. Marvel once again proves they hire the right people for the job. The Mexican actor had already been an anti-racism activist for years who understood the importance of representation this movie offered. He joins the ranks of Marvel ‘villains’ or anti-heroes who have points you agree with, even if their methods are a little questionable. In this movie in particular, he is just looking out for his people, even if he has to burn the entire surface world to accomplish that. Huerta gives Namor a gentle and seductive believability that is layered with a truly dangerous brutality. And my goodness, how they managed to make those little wings on his ankles actually useful and cool-looking is beyond me. 

Overall, yes, I thought it was too long, and there were a couple of questionable plot moments. I did see it twice opening weekend and I am really glad I did. The first time I had the weight of my expectations on it, and the second time I was able to just let go and watch it. I love it more and more each time I see it. It’s a beautiful tribute to Chadwick Boseman and I think it is the perfect way to continue the character.

9 out of 10, cannot wait for more!

Movie Reviews: Black Adam (PG13 – 124 minutes)

 One thing for sure, the Rock is always going to give you everything he’s got.

Black Adam seems to begin in ancient Kahndaq – a fictional mid-eastern country thousands of years ago. The people are enslaved by a cruel king who seems to want to summon a demon? He’s having the people mine rocks to make a demon-summoning crown.  A young man decides this is not right and unifies the slaves, becoming empowered by the ancient gods to be the champion of the people.  He fights the king and ends up buried for a long time.  In present day, a woman and her son, their friend, and their business partner (?) are living in Kahndaq which seems to be under the control of foreign mercenaries.  They find the tomb of the champion and set out to release him using the ancient king’s crown.  Teth Adam awakens, but has an issue with everyone and begins taking out everyone in his way.

Concerned with the awakening of this super powerful ancient begin the ultra-shady Amanda Waller contacts Carter Hall and strongly suggests he pull together a squad to go handle it. Hall seems to be running the Justice Society, the B team to the Justice League.  From what I could tell, it has rotating members and he calls up whoever will be best suited to the current mission - or whoever is not busy?  He sets out to Kahndaq with Dr. Fate, Cyclone, and the Atom Smasher. Chaos ensues.

The movie is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who also did Jungle Cruise. It is over the top, loud, and driving with some great costumes and fun action set pieces.  The score felt non-stop.  A good score should be unnoticeable and an exceptional score should be one that you notice at the appropriate time.  A bad score is one that is too loud and happening all the time with no moments of silence to appreciate what is happening.  There does not seem to be a lot of character development, but to be fair – you do not really need it.  The story is confusing at best and convoluted at worst.  I still could not tell you the name of the villain. Black Adam began as a villain in the comics for Shazam (why their powers are so similar – he even has to say “Shazam” to activate), so I can’t help but think a stronger move would have been to introduce him as a sympathetic villain in Shazam 2, and then give him a spin-off anti-hero movie. 

As I said, Dwayne Johnson does not disappoint and certainly is wonderful as Black Adam. With such a large real-life personality, it can be hard to see him as anything other than “THE ROCK”, but he does a great job here and is believable as an ancient dude just fed up with everything and everyone, including himself and his past failures.

Sarah Shahi, Bodhi Sabongui, and Mo Amer play the crew awakening him and both needing him and helping him in his new crusade. Unfortunately, both they and their struggle are a little forgettable. 

Aldis Hodge plays Hawkman as wrangler and babysitter to Pierce Brosnan’s Dr. Fate, Noah Centineo’s Atom Smasher, and Quintessa Swindell’s Cyclone. They were all cool, with wonderful outfits, banter, and action – Brosnan and Hodge especially.  The problem is that they were thrown together so quickly and so rapidly explained, it was difficult to care about any of them enough to get engaged in the battles. Perhaps that makes sense since this is a Black Adam movie and none of these heroes are the center focus.

Overall, the movie was plenty fun and the crowd I saw it with really enjoyed it. As long as you don’t think too much about it, you’ll have a great time – but it may be better off waiting to stream it rather than paying to see it in the theater.  I am looking forward to either the second Black Adam movie or him teaming up with whoever else he can find. And if this is the promise of a new DC direction, that's a great idea - put the work ethic and the enthusiasm of the Rock in the lead, let him inspire everyone else involved.

5 out of 10

Sabbac – the big bad’s name was Sabbac.  I had to look it up.

Movie Reviews: Bros (R – 115 minutes)

 I have said it before and I will say it again, the Romantic Comedy is the one genre of movie that I prefer to be predictable. It suits the style – person 1 meets person 2, they seem at odds, they fall in love, there’s some insurmountable conflict and they fall apart, then they realize they do belong together and through some over-the-top large gesture by one if not both of them, they reunite and live happily ever after.  It’s standard, and expected, and exactly what you want in a rom-com.  The very best rom-coms add something extra or elevate the formula through fantastic performances, great ensembles, or truly hilarious circumstances. 

Bros prides itself on being a run-of-the-mill rom-com and it plays out the formula perfectly.  Bobby is a perfectly happy single guy working hard on the launch of New York City’s LGBTQ museum. He is using dating apps for hookups and hanging out with friends when he unexpectedly meets up with Aaron, a more typical “guy’s guy” who is not into one-on-one encounters or relationships.  The unlikely couple hit it off and begin dating much to the surprise of those around them. Each of them has to overcome their insecurities of being ‘not enough’ in many ways for the other and eventually, they click and agree to mutually enter a three month relationship and reevaluate after that deadline.

The movie is directed by Nicholas Stoller who co-wrote it with star Billy Eichner. It is charming and fun, could have been a little shorter, and is a little heavy handed in parts.  It does earn the R rating on some racy sex scenes, but most are played for comedy and definitely enhance the hilarity.

The cast is wonderful – and if (like me) you enjoyed Billy on the Street, know that Billy is a little restrained here. Probably for the best, I am not sure anyone could handle him at full volume for two hours.  There is one sequence where his character Bobby ‘roid rages’ and that sequence is classic Eichner and definitely hilarious.  Luke Macfarlane as a quiet and still Aaron is the perfect counter-part and makes for pure rom-com compatibility in the couple.

The surrounding cast provides plenty of laughs with Guy Branum as Bobby’s friend, Monica Raymund and Guillermo Diaz as his best couple friends, Jai Rodriguez as his brother, and Miss Lawrence, TS Madison, Dot-Marie Jones, Jim Rash, and Eve Lindley as the council that Bobby is working with to get the museum open. 

Overall, the movie is charming and fun and a near textbook-perfect rom-com.  It is just fine – exactly what it promises. It does not elevate the material and as such, underperformed at the box office. Honestly, it perhaps would have been better to have a streaming debut as well.  The marketing pushed hard on the ‘first major studio gay rom-com theater release’.  That may have been unnecessary. Ceiling breakers do well when you don’t have to be reminded of the ceiling they are breaking. If the movie had been allowed to stand on its own rather than attempting to live up to a fairly heavy promise, it may have been more successful. I enjoyed it, but I would have enjoyed it streaming at home just as much.

5 out of 10

Movie Review: The Gray Man (PG13 – 122 minutes)

 

While this did release briefly in theaters, I watched it on Netflix, and found it to be a perfectly entertaining streaming action flick. 

Based on the book by Mark Greaney, The Gray Man begins by introducing us to the man who will be known as Six moving forward. Recruited in prison by Fitzroy, he goes to work for the CIA – a nameless assassin.  On one particular mission, he is instructed to take out a target despite several kids and innocents in the way. He declines and becomes the next target of the CIA’s hit squads. When he evades them, head of the unit Carmichael is worried that he knows too much and resorts to some off-the-books assistance from standard psychopathic-hitman-with-unlimited-resources-and-connections Lloyd Hansen.  Despite Carmichael’s number 2, Suzanne, having some issues with the way he is doing business, the CIA continues to pursue Six as he continues to evade Hansen and protect Fitzroy’s niece in the process.  Action hijinks ensue. 

Directed by the Russo brothers, this feels a bit like an action throwback – something I appreciate.  Guy one chases guy two because he did the right thing in a difficult situation. Throw in a couple of good fight scenes and some big action set pieces – a fun way to kill a couple of hours.  The Russos do a great job with making the movie feel big as it criss-crosses the globe by using their signature giant location title cards. The movie stays in its box, and the action scenes are good. The cast is surprisingly big in small parts, but I feel like that contributed to the enjoyment.

I cannot put my finger on what irritates me about Ryan Gosling, but something sure does. I didn’t buy him in this because I don’t usually buy him in action roles.  I think Glen Powell or Jordan Calloway would have been a more interesting choice.  Gosling plays it very small and contained – appropriate for the character, and certainly does a good job with the action. In fact, I think he is good in the movie, the issue is entirely mine.  Will that affect me watching the planned sequel? We will see.

I do feel that Chris Evans stole this movie by going big and crazy with Lloyd.  He’s over the top and playing with no conscious and with Six meant to be more stoic, it goes without saying that he steals the majority of the movie, especially scenes with Gosling. 

Ana de Armas plays another agent who sides with Six and becomes his ally as he goes off-mission and then runs for his life. She is proving to be a good action star herself, and certainly holds her own here.

Billy Bob Thornton brings his patented guy-who-has-had-enough-of-your-sass-so-will-respond-with-his-own-sass to the role of Six’s mentor and friend while Julia Butters plays his niece.  I enjoyed his performance as he attempts to not be surprised by anything that happens. Alfre Woodard plays Six’s other mentor, and both of them go out in explosions of their own making – so clearly, being Six’s mentor is not worth it.

Jessica Henwick plays Suzanne Brewer and Rege-Jean Page plays Carmichael. I really enjoyed the bit about how they and Lloyd all went to Harvard together, which is why they are all connected.  Knowing how skilled she is at action, it was a little disappointing to see Henwick standing around in a suit becoming more and more distressed at Carmichael’s slide into villainy. Maybe she’ll get more to do in the sequel?

As Lloyd puts out the word to all squads of scary hitmen across the world (I would have liked to see a little more one squad at a time action – and each squad having distinctive characteristics as they encounter Six), Indian superstar Dhanush plays the Lone Wolf hitman who comes in to take down Six and then have a change of heart when he sees Lloyd put a kid in danger. He is incredibly charismatic and steals all his scenes.

Overall, the movie is fun and action-packed, just the right run time, and certainly entertaining enough for an evening stream. This is another one where I don’t know if I would have liked it as much if I had seen it in the theater, so I’m grateful it was a Netflix option.

6 out of 10 – extra point for random Shea Whigham and America’s Ass – even when Evans tries really hard to be someone else, his ass still looks amazing in those khakis.