Movie Review: Thunder Force (PG13 – 106 minutes)

 

Netflix continues to offer new movies on the regular. A few weeks ago, they released Thunder Force, which the perfect balm while trying to wade through the swamp of depressing Oscar movies.

The movie takes place in a world where an event caused some to be gifted with super powers, but for whatever reason, only enhanced those that were already bad - essentially creating a ton of super villains and no heroes.  Emily Stanton’s parents were scientists killed by one of these ‘miscreants.’  Her best friend, Lydia Berman, takes her in. Lydia becomes obsessed with becoming a genetic scientist herself, intent on finding a way to stop miscreants and find justice for her parents.  Her studiousness clashes with Lydia’s carelessness and the girls have a falling out near the end of high school.

Years later, Emily’s scientific company is growing, and Lydia reaches out to ask her to come to a reunion.  Lydia stops by Emily’s office to see her, and accidentally wanders into one of Lydia’s experiments, ending up with super strength. Emily takes the second half, resulting in invisibility. Together, the two team up to stop evil-doers and bring down The King – a local villain.  Hijinks ensue.

Honestly, regardless of the plot, you are watching this to see Spencer and McCarthy have a good time together in some insane situations.  The two have been friends for more than 20 years, and it lends a genuineness to the friendship in the movie. Even with as irritated as Emily is with Lydia, they know they have each other’s support. Ben Falcone (Mr. McCarthy) has directed this as he has done many of McCarthy’s other movies. He gives her the leeway to slide into the crazy, which is what she does best, but I did want the movie to commit to going a little farther into the silly. At some points, it almost takes itself too seriously.

McCarthy and Spencer are delightful together and again, the real friendship shows in the on-screen friendship. They work really hard, but I did want more full-out belly laugh moments.  Bits about the cool car being impractical and the fact that they could not wash the suits were great. The training sequences were also fun, but the movie could have leaned into a few more scenes of them building their team skills and doing some general around-town hero-ing before they immediately shifty to fighting their big bad.

Bobby Cannvale is dependable as always as the King, and I enjoy him opposite McCarthy. Pom Klementieff gets to ‘twist her mustache’ as relentless miscreant Laser.  

Melissa Leo is completely unused as Emily’s head of security, and Kevin Dunn continues to be reliable as a local businessman.  I really enjoyed Taylor Mosby as Tracy, Emily’s daughter. She was smart, funny, and determined to help even when told to stay out of it.  

The true gem of the movie is Jason Bateman as Jerry the Crab. Bateman in a comedy is typically gold and he absolutely stole each scene he was in. Particularly when he scooted away sideways. Also – he has mastered the mid-sentence wink better than any other actor.

Overall the movie is certainly fun but had the potential to be truly hilarious.  I enjoyed it, and it is a great streaming watch. Again, I found myself wondering if I would have liked it as much if I had paid to see it in a theater, but at home with a big bowl of popcorn, it’s just right.

6 out of 10 - taking away extra points for the raw chicken eating scenes – even if it is specially prepared slices of pear, which I know – it still is really gross.

LAMBs Devour The Oscars 2021: Visual Effects

 

The Academy Award for Visual Effects (VFX) is awarded to the movie and crew the Academy feels have done the best job that year of creating environments and creatures through computer animation (visual effects) and practical effects like puppets and sculptures (special effects).  I enjoy this category because it honors one of the unsung jobs on a film that can have incredible impact on the overall finished product.  These are the folks working behind the scenes to make sure the final movie feels seamless. This year, there are five nominees.  

Love and Monsters (Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt, Brian Cox)

This is the simple story of a young man in a post-apocalyptic world making his way from one compound to another to join his high school girlfriend through fields of monsters. The impressive effects in this movie include creating an apocalypse, world-building, a robot, and lots of monsters.   

In a movie with ‘monsters’ in the title, of course the monsters have to be impressive.  The movie feels inspired by classic Harryhausen effects with giant bugs and creepy crawlers.  The combination of computer and practical effects make the finished product visually stunning.  Currently, you can rent Love and Monsters on Amazon Prime for $4.99.

The Midnight Sky (Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Solomon, David Watkins)

The Midnight Sky is another post-apocalyptic movie that follows Augustine, a scientist, as he tries to stop a group of astronauts from returning to earth.  Augustine is dying of terminal cancer and he sets out to reach a weather station to communicate with the crew of the Aether to warn them that Earth is not habitable.

The effects here are used to create the landscape of a new world that the Aether discovers, the look and feel of the Aether as it travels through space, and various space-travel and decimated earth radioactive-ice storm scenes.  The team created computer facial replacements for scenes of astronauts in space.  Industrial Light & Magic helped by using a smaller version of the “Volume” used for The Mandalorian for Clooney’s Artic observatory and ice storms. You can currently stream The Midnight Sky on Netflix.

Mulan (Sean Fade, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury, Steven Ingram)

Disney was nominated in this category for the Lion King remake last year and this year the Mulan live-action version got a nomination.  The team at Weta Digital helped to create the Imperial City based on actual historical maps and architecture.  Filling in crowd scenes with computer generated people helped add scale to the feature.  

The movie looks amazing, the battle sequences are astounding and the city expansive.  Finding a smooth way to integrate computer enhancements into battle sequences without them looking cartoony is tricky.  Digital extras are one of the best advancements of CGI technology and can really provide scope without hiring hundreds of extras. Weta refined their digital extras for this movie, creating more realistic looking crowds. You can stream Mulan on Disney+.

The One and Only Ivan (Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones, Santiago Colomo Martinez)

The One and Only Ivan brings to life a popular children’s book. It tells the story of a silverback gorilla in captivity who promises to do what he can to help free a baby elephant. Each of the animals in the movie is created with computer effects. Ivan is done through performance capture.  

Photorealistic animals are always impressive, and difficult. They need to look realistic but still be able to convey emotion so that the audience connects with them. The crew from MPC Film was able to create a digital gorilla that can still give an emotional performance to bring the audience with him on his quest for freedom.  You can stream this movie on Disney+.

 

Tenet (Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley, Scott Fisher)

Tenet tells the story of a ‘protagonist’ as he joins a group of international agents who are working to stop an impending global war by inverting time.  Yes, inverting time – not time traveling, as they explain in the movie. But that’s about all the explanation you get. You really do have to turn off your brain and just enjoy the crazy effects.

Director Christopher Nolan used few computer effects, instead shooting most of the effects in reverse and combining the forward and backward action together to create the dizzying action sequences. While the story may be confusing, the fights are fantastic, and the movie almost requires multiple viewings to truly appreciate the high level of artistic crazy at work. The team at DNEG had to invent some new techniques to pull of the execution of the inverted sequences. Also, incredible stunt work across the board. You can currently rent Tenet on Amazon Prime for $5.99.

Who Should Win:

Admittedly, I have not seen many of the nominees this year. This is strange as typically this is the category that features movies I have seen willingly, but last year was strange all around. I did manage to see Tenet in the theater and the effects are fantastic – mainly because the majority are practical and layered together beautifully and the stunt work is absolutely incredible. That is the movie that gets my vote.  JDW balancing that espresso cup with one hand is not an effect, he managed that skill on his own.

Who Will Win:

There does not seem to be a front runner this year and the internet seems to think that The Midnight Sky and Tenet are neck and neck.  The Academy does tend to favor the effects that are the least showy – those that recreate historical locations and events rather than creating new and fantastical situations. None of the movies this year are historical dramas, but Mulan is the closest in that area. But even with the historical touches,  I do not think that will win, I think that Tenet will pull it out this year.

 

Movie Review: Godzilla vs. Kong (PG13 – 113 minutes)

 

We have hit the first big budget summer-type blockbuster of the year – Godzilla vs. Kong dropped on HBOMax the same day it debuted at theaters.  The two first met 58 years ago in King Kong vs. Godzilla from 1963. 

I watched this on HBOMax, but my second vaccine shot is scheduled in a week, so I hope to be able to see it in the theater too as it truly is a big-screen flick.

This is the fourth entry in the recent Monsterverse after Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).  After multiple teases in the previous movies, here we finally see Kong square off with Godzilla. The opening credit sequence summarizes all the previous movies in a literal tournament-style bracket until we are left with the two alpha titans, Kong and Godzilla.

Godzilla has been dominating his movies, emerging as an alpha titan that has defended most of humankind against worse titans, most notably, King Ghidorah and his three heads.  Kong was last seen wandering around his own island in the 70s after squishing Sam Jackson.  It was pointed out in that movie that he was still growing. This movie opens on Kong growing increasingly annoyed with the Monarch crew observing him on Skull Island Truman Show-style.  The observation team is growing increasingly concerned about relocating Kong as a storm has rendered the island nearly inhospitable, wiping out the native humans save one. Meanwhile, Godzilla has been growing increasingly aggressive against various locations of the tech company Apex. Apex has grown increasingly worried about humanity surviving titan attacks.   

The human folks in the movie include some from previous movies and some new ones.  Like the previous movies, there are far too many human characters.  Ilene Andrews has been leading up the Kong observation team with a little girl named Jia, the last of the humans from the island. Ren Serizawa is working at Apex for Walter Simmons on a project to defend against rogue titans and Simmons sends his daughter Maia to gather a new energy source with Dr. Nathan Lind from the 'hollow earth' hidden land in the center of the planet. They team up with Dr. Andrews hoping that Kong can not only lead them to hollow earth, but that he will be safe there instead of his crumbling island.

Conspiracy theory podcast host Bernie Hayes believes Apex is up to no good and has teamed up with Madison Russell and her friend Josh Valentine. Madison checks in briefly with her father Mark, who seems to still be working with Monarch after the whole situation with her mother creating the ‘orca’ in the last movie. All those various storylines culminate in a climax of epic proportions.

The movie is directed by Adam Wingard and comes in just under two hours, which is where it should be. The action is epic and intense, the Hollow Earth scenes are lovely – I particularly enjoyed the bit where Kong goes to the highest mountain point and jumps through the gravity inversion to the land above.  Most importantly, the movie definitely delivers on the Godzilla – Kong fights. There are three major fight sequences, all of which are fantastic.  There are far too many humans, and it is mystifying why so many of them are new that could have been characters from previous films recurring.

Rebecca Hall’s character of Ilene Andrews is one of the unnecessary additions. Why was that not Ziyi Zhang’s character from the previous movie? She apparently was supposed to be in this be was cut. I did enjoy Kaylee Hottle as Jia who is the little girl who humanizes Kong through her connection and communication.

Alexander Skarsgard’s Nathan Lind is equally puzzling as Bradley Whitford’s character from the previous movie was the one who brought up the Hollow Earth theory. 

Millie Bobby Brown and Kyle Chandler as the Russells provide a link to the previous movie, but both have very little to do here. Pairing Brown with Julian Dennison and Brian Tyree Henry does provide some comedy relief, but they storyline for those three is also unnecessary. They learn that Apex is up to no good, but any one of the other multiple characters could have discovered that too.  Dennison is the bright point of the movie and has a natural comedic sense.

In terms of the ‘villains’, Demian Bichir as Simmons is chewing all the scenery and chewing his moustache, which is on tone for this movie, but also could have been Charles Dance from the epilogue of the previous film, since the Ghidorah skull he was shown collecting is a key plot point for Simmons. His daughter Maia played by Eiza Gonzalez has nothing to do but go with the Hollow Earth expedition and be a jerk about everything. 

Shun Oguri playing Ren Serizawa is the son of Ken Watanabe’s character from the two previous Godzilla movies but that was not mentioned at all.  Honestly, you could have removed both Simmons’s and let Oguri’s Serizawa cover all of that ground.

Also – Lance Reddick and Chris Chalk are both in this, just enough to get you excited that they are there, but then disappear so quickly that you almost feel like you hallucinated both. And Jessica Henwick was apparently cast but then cut. 

Despite the disconnect with the majority of the human characters, the true stars are Kong and Godzilla, although I will say this felt like a Kong movie with Godzilla featuring.  Kong would have qualified for Best Actor nominations and Godzilla for Best Supporting, if that clarifies the roles. Appropriate, since Godzilla had two previous films in this franchise and Kong only one. Yes, of course they are both heroes, so they inevitably team up to tackle something worse. And while that is predictable, that is exactly what you want from this movie. Kong gets the most character development of any character – human or titan – in this movie. The animators do an incredible job of illustrating a full range of emotions across his face. His connection and communication with Jia enhances his ‘humanity’. Seeing him in chains is always painful and in this movie, particularly devastating since he could tell Jia how scared and upset he was. 

Godzilla, on the other hand, continues to be doing his best to save humanity from both themselves and everything else.  In this movie, he seems to have a Danny Glover quality – definitely too old for this shit but taking up the fight when needed.  He goes after Kong initially because there can be only one Alpha, and he’s it.  He keeps going after Apex bases because he knows what they are creating is bad news. Once he realizes he is in over his head, he reluctantly teams up with Kong save the day and quietly swims off into the sunset after acknowledging that maybe there can be two alphas at the same time. He is big and beautiful and will always be my favorite titan.

Overall, this movie is exactly what we needed at this point. Big, loud, splashy, and over the top. It delivers what it promises and despite having too many humans (my standard complaint for titan-based Monsterverse movies) it is a swift and enjoyable watch. If you are able to safely see it in a theater – do it.

8 out of 10

#TeamGodzilla

Movie Review: Moxie (PG13 – 111 minutes)

 

Continuing to find movies from home, I watched Moxie, a new Netflix release. 

Moxie is based on the YA book from 2015. The movie tells the story of a high schooler named Vivian who has coasted through high school to date with her best friend Claudia, ignoring the cloud of sexism and misogyny that hangs over the school.  She meets a new student, Lucy, who is determined to not ignore what is happening and instead call attention to it and get it corrected.  Vivian is inspired by her other’s old memorabilia to create a ‘zine’ called Moxie and distributed it in the school. Along the way, she collects a group of new friends, gets friendly with the right guy, and starts a rebellion.

Amy Poehler directed the movie and manages to find a perfect balance between fun entertainment and powerful heart. I certainly can relate to the star of the football team getting away with anything, and I am sure most people in this country have similar high school memories. The group that Vivian accidentally pulls together include a variety of girls, all upset for various justifiable reasons. The movie tackles dress code issues, privilege issues, and the frustration of wanting to change a system that prefers to be ignored.

Hadley Robinson gives Vivian the all-in emotional instability of a high school girl and the friendship between her and Lauren Tsai’s Claudia feels genuine and lasting, even when encountering serious bumps. 

I really appreciated Nico Hiraga as Seth, a kid Vivian has known forever but just recently had the growth spurt into hotness.  His character is important because he completely supports what the girls are doing and the necessity of the message, without any ulterior motive. He is an ally and for some reason that felt pleasantly unusual to see in a movie like this. It would have been easy to portray all the guys as sexist idiots, but this helps point out that the sexists are actually the smaller group, just louder and more privileged.  He also gets to call Vivian out on some of her teen girl angst and misplaced anger. 

Alycia Pascual-Pena plays Lucy and is really key as the girl who will not simply accept the status quo – calling out the injustice when she sees it. She is the actual hero of the story.

Patrick Schwarzenegger plays the head football idiot very well.

The rest of the cast, including Sabrina Haskett, Sydney Park, Joshua Walker, Anjelika Washington, Josie Totah, and Emily Hopper are really well-rounded and provide more depth than your average high-school movie. Each one get just enough development to enhance the story.

Overall, the movie is very good and was definitely a surprise for me. This movie was smarter and funnier than I was expected. It is certainly worth watching and recommending to any high schoolers you know.  Now, I will say that I did find it problematic to have a white lead suddenly become a hero when watching the plight of a woman of color and not making any obvious choices to support that classmate – instead choosing to publish an anonymous zine. Vivian has been quietly ignoring all this behavior for years, and it takes Lucy standing up to it to spur her to action. Lucy does get to be a leader, but because the movie focuses on Vivian, it can feel uncomfortable in some scenes. There is a moment when Claudia points out to Vivian that her white privilege allows her to start this rebellion without having to think about the consequences as much as some of her non-white classmates. That could have been explored a bit more but gets glossed over. I still really enjoyed the movie – but that did add an interesting layer that left a little to be desired.

7 out of 10 – Leaves you feeling hopeful.