Director Lee Daniels has taken a section of the life of a jazz legend, Billie Holiday, and brought to life a new biopic on the singer. Originally scheduled to be released in December, the movie wound up being sold to Hulu, where it was released this weekend.
The film follows Billie Holiday during a period of her life that she was being pursued by the Federal Department of Narcotics. The feds claimed they were looking at Holiday because of her heroin use (Billie Holiday did spend a year in prison because of this), but the movie and book this was based on, claimed that another of the fed’s purposes for their dogged pursuit of Holiday was to prevent her from singing a song called “Strange Fruit.” “Strange Fruit” was a controversial song that dealt with the topic of lynching and helped lead into the era of civil rights.
However, the fed’s had some inner issues as Agent Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), who had been assigned to keep track of Holiday, ended up in an affair with her.
Andra Day played Billie Holiday and she was tremendous. Day was easily the best part of the movie. While much of the movie was slower and a bit muddled, Day’s performance elevated the film to a much higher level. This is an especially impressive trick as Day has not had any major movie acting experience. She also did much of the singing in the film as well and she was wonderful. The music of the movie was another strength.
Many of the scenes felt disjointed as the complexity of Billie Holiday’s life did not seem to come together here well. There were sections of the movie that dragged along, but any time Day was there, there was a new life to the scenes. The inclusion of “Strange Fruit” is one of those examples as it did not seem to be woven into the story arc effectively. They leave it and come back at other moments and it did not blend well with the drug abuse of her life.
In the end, the reason to see this movie is Andra Day in the lead role. She does an admirable job both as a singer and an actor.
A24 has been a bastion of light among the world of independent cinema for several years now. They have consistently released some of the best films of the year, while not losing focus on the ideals of the independent theater. Minari is another triumphant success for the movie company.
Minari follows the life experiences of a Korean family that has moved to a small farm in Arkansas. Steven Yeun played Jacob Yi, a highly successful chick sexer who decided that a change of lifestyle was necessary for his family. His wife, Monica (Yeri Han) was not enthused with the move and this caused some friction among the couple. Adding to the worries was the health of their youngest of two children David (Alan S. Kim), whose heart flutter was a concern for the family.
In order to help out with the family, Monica’s mother, Soonja (Yuh-Jung Youn) comes from Korea, but she was not quite the grandmotherly-type. Soonja clashed with David’s expectations of what a grandmother was supposed to be like.
As with many independent movies, the film is more of a series of scenes from the characters’ lives than a structured story narrative. In this case, the performances from this group of actors really standout from the calm and quiet storytelling. Steven Yeun, best known for his role as Glenn from the Walking Dead, carries his character with such a pride and determination despite the struggles and the problems facing him from his choice for his family. The relationship between Jacob and Monica was strained seriously, but there was always the feeling of love with them.
The standout performance though is clearly that of Yuh-Jung Youn. When she arrived as Grandma, a foul-mouthed, brash woman, everyone, especially David, are on their toes. Yuh-Jung Youn is amazing and you can not take your eyes off of her. You are never sure what she was going to do next and she brought a humor and a passion to the story. Her developing relationship with David is a strength of the film, and the results are human as can be.
Directed beautifully by Lee Isaac Chung, Minari is one of the leading candidates for Oscar glory this year. It was a film that I enjoyed very much. It provided a glance at the immigrant life and the attempt at the American dream.
We have an early leader for worst movie of the year.
Tom & Jerry, the classic cartoon cat and mouse, debuted this weekend in some open theaters and on HBO Max and jumped to the lead in terribleness. Honestly, I would not feel right even saying the line, “This is a film that kids will like, but parents will not” because the fact of the matter is this… kids should not be exposed to stupidity of this caliber.
There is a plot, sort of, but it revolves around the human characters. Tom & Jerry are cartoon animals living in a real world with humans around. They find themselves in a hotel to cause shenanigans after our heroine Kayla (Chloë Grace Moretz) sabotaged another person’s job interview at the hotel, stole her resume and took the interview herself. Nice message to the little children watching.
There was a great cast in Tom & Jerry reduced to slapstick and a brain damaged script. Not only was there Moretz, but there was Michael Pena, Ken Jeong, Rob Delany (Peter from Deadpool 2), Colin Jost (of SNL fame) and Jordan Bolger. The cast was wasted, and yet seemed to take up a lot of screen time. Perhaps that is because Tom and Jerry do not speak and someone had to carry the narrative.
There was rapping pigeons too. In the first scene of the movie with the rapping pigeons, one of them let off a pigeon poop at the other. I knew what kind of movie this one would be. There was also a scene where poor Michael Pena had to stop to clean up the poop that the dog Spike (Bobby Cannavale, no really) took in the middle of the crosswalk. High brow comedy, for sure.
The poop jokes could be excused if they were actually funny, but they were only cringy. I was looking at the time after only a half hour (which felt like triple that time). This movie was long too. Over a hundred minutes is way longer than this movie had any right to be.
The plot surrounding a wedding of a rich couple was the main driving force of the film, but it made little to no sense and depended upon a bunch of stereotypes. There was no need for it.
Characters bounced around, changing characteristics depending on what the plot required them to have. No one in the film was smart or elevated the film above the words on the page. It was a painful watch, but I was proud of myself for finishing it because, since I was viewing it at home on HBO Max, it would have been very easy to shut it off and turn to something else. Minari is available on Vudu this weekend.
Tom & Jerry is an utter waste. Go watch some of the classic Tom & Jerry shorts instead. They’re much better.
WandaVision episode 8, titled “Previously On”, breaks from the sitcom style to provide a flashback episode, looking at the past of Wanda Maximoff and all of her tragic events of her life. This included the quote above, which was stated by Vision in one of my absolutely favorite scenes of the series. It was a quiet moment between two characters and it showed how great they are together.
Speaking of that scene, it took place at Avengers Compound in Wanda’s room, probably sometime around Civil War. Wanda was alone and watching The Brady Bunch when Vision came in to speak with her. Their dialogue within the scene was beautiful, intimate and dealt with loss and grief. We got to see Wanda grieving for the loss of Pietro, which is something that we had not gotten to see before. The quote about grief above nearly broke me. It is such a deep and lovely thought and it showed how human the character of Vision truly was.
This scene was one of the flashback scenes that Agatha Harkness was forcing Wanda to relive in an attempt to get her to provide Agatha with the answers of how Wanda has been doing what she has with the Hex.
With this flashback episode, WandaVision hits some of the best emotional beats of the series. Another major emotional moment was when we see Wanda head to SWORD HQ to get Vision’s body. She wanted a funeral, but Hayward was not going to give the body away. $3 billion dollars worth of vibranium, he said. So, of course, this is where Wanda steals Vision’s body as he said she did several episodes ago, right?
Nope. She leaves after touching his head and saying that she “…can’t feel him.” We find out that Hayward lied about Wanda stealing Vision’s body. He still had it and he’s been trying to manipulate this situation. And in the mid-credit scene, we see the white Vision from West Coast Avengers, all because of Hayward and his machinations.
Of course, last episode revealed that it was “Agatha All Along” and we are confirmed that Kathryn Hahn is truly playing Agatha Harkness. This episode begins with a flashback to 1693 in Salem, Massachusetts where Agatha Harkness is being led to a stake by a group of women. We all believed that this was the Salem Witch Trials, but the show swerved us by making this Agatha’s coven. Her coven was ready to destroy her because she had done some dark magic, but Agatha drained the magic and the lifeforce from them (including her own mother) instead… much like a certain shark that was feeding on Yo Magic.
Back to Wanda, another flashback finds Wanda’s first exposure to the Mind Stone where we thought she got her powers… or did she? We got another flashback to the Stark Missile scene originally told by Pietro in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but the show hints at little Wanda using a probability hex to stop the bomb from exploding instead of it being a dud. So when the Mind Stone is in contact with Wanda, it amplifies her magic instead of giving it to her. Oh.. and by the way… we see a female form in the Mind Stone that sure looks like someone in a comic version of the Scarlet Witch costume.
At the episode’s end we get Agatha stating that Wanda is using chaos magic. She also claims that Wanda is a creature that was supposed to be a myth, but who had powers of creation, and she called her The Scarlet Witch. It was a jaw-dropping moment and absolutely sets the stage for where Wanda is heading in the MCU. It sounded as if The Scarlet Witch was a title given to a being of immense power within the chaos magic and Agatha was really jealous of Wanda’s capabilities.
I feel as if I have jumped all around this episode, but it is also how I felt when I was done watching the show. And, I swear, the episode was 40+ minutes, but it felt like 15. When it was over, I screamed out thinking that there was no way it was over yet. However, it was actually the longest of the series so far. WandaVision has done an amazing job of leaving us in a situation every week that makes us want more. It flies by and those end credits are like a punch to the gut. I sat on my couch this morning wondering how I was going to be able to wait until next Friday for the finale. Marvel has done a fantastic job at keeping us on the hook and getting us talking about WandaVision.
It seems that I say this every week, but Elizabeth Olson, Paul Bettany and Kathryn Hahn all deserve Emmy Awards for their work in this series. No excuses, Academy. Don’t pull that “it’s a super hero show” crap. This is next level work and they deserve everything.
What else did I miss?
Hayward is a dick. I mentioned it earlier, but I am not sure I made enough of a comment.
“Fietro?” : Fake Pietro… Agatha made a comment about him.
And where is Fietro and Monica? After their appearance in the mid credit scene last week, we do not see them this week. They’ll be back next week.
Agatha has a bird-eating rabbit.
Oh, and that bird? It was the cicada from last week transmutated into a bird by Agatha. Was that meant to squash the “Mephisto first appeared as a fly” bit?
The show confirmed that Wanda has been a life long fan of sitcoms, watching them back in Sokovia not only for entertainment and escapism, but to learn English.
The deed that seemed to appear in Wanda’s car seat was another heartbreaker. The deed appeared to be from Vision and was the plot of land in Westview where they could “grow old in” and signed by V.
Not sure when this deed came into play but it was what triggered Wanda to create the Hex. And she did it on her own.
We see the pre-Hex people of Westview, and they do not look happy. Maybe Wanda helped them after all?
They do not mention the magical book in Agatha’s basement this week.
The bomb that killed Wanda’s parents was shown and it was a horrible moment of shock for me. Did not expect it.
Agatha’s mother has a certain magical crown…hm.
This is the end of the penultimate episode of WandaVision. I am not sure how they can wrap it all up in one more episode. I am not sure how I am expected to do anything this next week until the finale arrives next week.
I was thumbing through the Previews edition a few months ago and I came across a new Image Comic called Stray Dogs. It was weird. A comic book about stray dogs? Who wants that? Then I read a quote from Brian Michael Bendis (which also appears on the back of the issue #1) that says, “My favorite thing about comics is when someone shows you something you didn’t know you needed. The Secret Life of Pets meets Seven? Yes, please! Welcome to STRAY DOGS. I was blown away!”
Now I do not love Brian Michael Bendis. He’s fine, but there are a bunch of writers that I prefer. There was just something about that description that tweaked my interest.
Now, Stray Dogs #1 has been released and it is even more than I expected.
The story follows a nervous little dog named Sophie, who has apparently been separated from her master and wound up with a group of other dogs in a house. Sophie could not remember anything that had happened and the other dogs were both welcoming and cliquey.
Then the story took a sinister turn and it was excellent. I am not sure how this is going to progress, but I am here to find out.
The art makes me think of old Disney animation such as Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmatians or All Dogs Go to Heaven. That is… until the tone of the book takes a distinctly dark turn, and the work of Trish Forstner reflects that. I mean, Forstner has been involved with IDW’s My Little Pony series and now has an opportunity to show what she can do.
Will this book go darker than it hints at? I have to say… I am anxious to see where it goes.
Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine, died just a few weeks ago. I remember following his “career” when I was in high school. I was always fascinated by the eccentric behavior displayed by the publisher.
With his death, I decided to revisit the biopic from 1996, The People vs. Larry Flynt starring Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love and Edward Norton.
This role was one of the earliest efforts of Woody Harrelson to break away from the Cheers sitcom world. Coming off the Natural Born Killers, this movie placed Harrelson into a new stratosphere of his career. Harrelson was nominated for his first Academy Award for this biopic.
The controversial publisher’s life is examined in this biopic, focusing on his rise to the top of the nudie magazine world and his constant court battles against those looking to bring him down. It is odd to buy, but Larry Flynt was always a proponent of the First Amendment of the Constitution. Wrapping himself in the Constitution, Flynt acted the fool to bring the contempt for his opposition.
Not only is Harrelson tremendous, so was Courtney Love. Courtney Love, playing Flynt’s wife Althea, transformed herself from stripper to eventual victim of AIDS. Althea and Flynt had a complicated relationship but the film does a great job of presenting how much they loved each other. The chemistry between Harrelson and Love was obvious every second they shared the screen.
It was weird to see James Carville, well known Democratic political strategist, appearing as the prosecutor Simon Leis who worked on Flynt’s first trial. Looking at his list of credits on IMDB, he has spent the most of his acting career playing James Carville (he was also in the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford).
The People vs. Larry Flynt was an impressive biopic and truly does have something to say.
I Care a Lot is the first movie ever that has made me want to root for the Russian drug dealing gangster.
Released this weekend on Netflix. I Care a Lot is a black comedy featuring a group of characters that are, simply put, the worst people around. It’s like Ruthless People and Horrible Bosses without the cartoonish moments.
Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) is a legal guardian who uses her court appointed position to drain the bank accounts of elderly people who are court-determined to be unable to take care of themselves. Her manipulation of the court system made me feel bad for the other lawyer. When her doctor friend sends her an older woman without family, friends, but a tone of money, Marla realizes that she has found a “cherry,” an absolute easy mark. Easy money.
However, the woman, Jennifer Peterson (Dianne West) was more than what she appeared. Turns out that Jennifer Peterson had her own dark secret that was coming into conflict with Marla’s plans. SPOILERS We discover that Jennifer Peterson was not her real name and the woman was the mother of the presumed dead Russian gangster Roma Lunyov (Peter Dinklage). END OF SPOILER.
Marla, along with her partner and lover Fran (Eliza Gonzalez), are such rotten people that I found myself openly rooting against them and hoping that they would pay to karma. Rosamund Pike does a fantastic job of making me hate her. Her performance was great as I never once thought of her as Rosamund Pike. Instead, she was the selfish manipulator of these helpless elderly people.
She was very much like a cockroach too since everything that happened to her would never get rid of her. Peter Dinklage was a frightening presence in the film and these two characters had some powerful scenes together.
What was keeping me watching the movie was the hope of seeing Marla get her comeuppance. Even when the film switches gears and wants you to support Marla and Fran, I did not want to do it. I wanted this character to face justice for her ill-gotten gains, and when it started to look as if she was not going to pay the price, I was getting upset with the film.
SPOILER Yet, when the ending arrived, I was very satisfied on the fate of Marla with a call back from the beginning of the movie. END OF SPOILER.
I can see where some audience members may be split by this movie. Still, I found it to be very entertaining and I was pleased with the result of the movie. Rosamund Pike was exceptional as this horrendous woman and she easily matched the presence of the counter-balance of the film.
You know a movie that starts out with animated clips of the Silver Surfer and Wolverine was going to be right up my alley.
Based on the children’s novel by Kate DiCamillo, Flora & Ulysses dropped on Disney + this weekend and gave us what we never knew we wanted… a super hero squirrel. And I am not talking about Squirrel Girl, either.
Flora (Matilda Lawler) was a ten-year old cynic, who loved comic books, especially those drawn by her father George (Ben Schwartz). Unfortunately, George had fallen on hard times in the comic industry and was currently separated from his author wife Phyllis (Alyson Hannigan). Flora was looking for something hopeful and she found it in the form of a squirrel, who after being accidentally sucked up by the neighbor’s runaway rumba-like vacuum, gained super powers.
Flora and Ulysses bond quickly (Flora actually saved Ulysses’s life with mouth to mouth) and she took him home, leading to shenanigans and chaotic events.
I had some doubts heading into this film, but I was entertained thoroughly. I found Flora & Ulysses funnier than I thought it would be, engaging relationship between the characters and silly situations that make this film a decent family movie to share with the entire family.
Matilda Lawler was charming and did a great job as the lead protagonist, wrangling the super squirrel and doing what she could to straighten out her life. There was the arrival of another young character, William (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth), who had been stricken with hysterical blindness. It may not have been a very sensitive representation of blindness, but William was more than his disability. The film gave us some quiet moments with the boy too as there was a nice character moment with him.
The young actors do a great job, and they are anchored by Ben Schwartz and Alyson Hannigan, a pair of experienced actors who carry a heavy load. Anna Deavere Smith appeared in a strong cameo role.
Slapstick humor and a natural cheesiness, Flora & Ulysses provided a energetic film with decent special effects and some positive performances. The film is fun and certainly worth a watch as a family on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Kids should love the misadventures of the super squirrel and the parents can engage with the problems faced by the adult characters. Flora & Ulysses is just the type of film that will find a level of success on Disney +.
Nomadland was one of the films that was at or near the top of many critics for 2020, but it was not one that I was able to see until this weekend, as it just now dropped on Hulu and in selected theaters. Many consider it a leading candidate for a possible Oscar nomination. That raises the question… is Nomadland really that good?
Short answer is… yes, it is really good.
Director Chloé Zhao provides a beautifully looking film as we follow the story of Fern (Frances McDormand), a woman who had lost everything in the Great recession and decided to take to the American roads as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
The movie has that distinct independent cinema feel to it as we do not have a true narrative plot to follow as much as we see a slice of life of Fern and what her days are like. She interacts with the people she meets along her journey and continues to find the little joys in life. Nomadland is a deep character study of Fern and the people that she meets on her trip, and it is compelling to watch.
Frances McDormand is wonderful as she always is, but this is an even more impressive performance considering many of the other people in the movie are real life nomads, including Linda May, Swankie and Bob Wells from the film. Many times the use of untrained actors is a stunt, trying to draw attention to the film and show how “unconventional” it is trying to be. Many times, these stunts backfire because of the untrained actors and their lack of “acting” ability. However, the characters in Nomadland are real and believable, giving the film a natural feel. These non-actors do a really great job here.
The film does have a slow pace to it, but since the plot is an extremely limited aspect of the movie, there is not a really need to go fast. The imagery of the American West is lovely and plays to support the decisions of these nomads to travel the land instead of going into the bustling modern life. There is a theme within the movie of a rejection of putting down roots, despite the draw that it creates. David Strathairn is one of the other career actors involved here as Dave, whose ties to the home become strong and tests his feelings for Fern.
This was a enjoyable, engaging film that has a great central performance and beautiful cinematography. Chloé Zhao does a masterful job on only her second feature film (and it makes me fascinated to see her MCU film late in 2021, The Eternals).
Disney + has a wide variety of entertainment options on the streaming service. And Marvel makes up a huge section of the site. So it only makes sense to do a documentary on the background of the comic titan.
Behind the Mask is the story of Marvel, specifically with their attempted history to increase diversity. The doc is slight, but there are some cool facts featuring many of the breakout characters from Marvel Comics including Spider-Man, Black Panther, The Fantastic Four, Luke Cage, Ms. Marvel, Miles Morales and Captain Marvel.
The idea that Marvel was a leader in pop culture embracing diverse characters of color was part of the hour plus doc. They spoke with some of the greats in the history of Marvel, including some archived footage of Stan Lee that I had never seen before, talking about how these characters are relevant and relatable to the readers they are.
The film talked with such notable creators such as Chris Claremont, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Joe Quesada, Darryl McDaniels, Larry Hama, Gerry Conway, Ann Nocenti, and Christopher Priest.
Though the doc does not shy away from some of the more controversial parts of the time, it does not focus too deftly on it either. It is basically what you would expect from Disney + when talking about it current top cat in way of IEP.
The doc ends with the reading of one of the more famous Stan’s Soapbox columns that would appear in the Marvel Bullpen Bulletins every month. Stan would write about all sorts of relevant material and civil rights was one of Stan’s deepest held beliefs.
The documentary was enjoyable and a comic fan, especially a fan of the Marvel style of comics, can’t go wrong with this film. It is not a giant time commitment and it gives voice to some of the most powerful comic creators available today.
This week’s WandaVision had two major disappointments, one that was built up by the fans and one that was a misunderstanding. The first disappointment was the fact that this was not an hour long. There were comments online that the last three episodes of WandaVision were going to be an hour in length. That was an amazing announcement so when it ended after about 30 + minutes, I was shocked. I should have known not to trust the internet.
The second disappointment was the reveal of the aeronautic engineer. Online speculation ranged from Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four to Hank McCoy of the X-Men to Blue Marvel. When it turned out to be Mayor Goodner, I couldn’t help but be disappointed. That is my own fault. I allowed the speculation to become out of hand. I never believed that it would be Reed, but the no name major was surprising. My belief is that she will be revealed as Skrull Talos’ daughter from Captain Marvel all grown up. That may not be as sexy of a pick as Reed and Sue, but it makes a lot of sense.
Starting the episode off, it was clear that episode 7 was going to be the homage to Modern Family, The Office and Parks & Recs. The episode was entitled “Breaking the 4th Wall” and it featured these characters talking to the camera in the documentary style. Wanda seems to be feeling down and depressed. The use of the talking head style works really well here with Wanda, Agnes, Vision talking directly to the camera.
Monica has a big week this week. She is such an awesome character and WandaVision has done a magnificent job of creating her and giving us a strong woman to follow. Her dedication to find her way into Westview to help save Wanda was the height of a hero. Watching her force her way through the Hex field and gaining her new powers was dramatic and epic. The character of Monica, whether she winds up being Spectrum or Photon, has a bright (no pun intended) future ahead for her.
And how about that super hero landing? No practice needed!
The other major reveal this week was the fact that it was “Agatha All Along.” Agnes was shown to be who we all thought she would be…Agatha Harkness, and that she was behind everything that had happened, from the arrival of Pietro to the death (now murder) of Sparky. The show gave us a fun and catchy theme song at the very end of the episode to show us how she has been manipulating Wanda and all of us. Last week when it looked like she was scared of Wanda and trying to escape in the car, we know now that it was all an act to mess with Vision. We see her basement, which is decked out as a frightening witch’s lair, including a book that sure made me think about the Darkhold, last seen in Agents of Shield (or was it the Runaways?). Agatha has done something with the twins, Billy and Tommy as well- some of the online speculation being massively traumatic (ate them?). We knew she was Agnes was Agatha, but the reveal was so well done that it still felt like a gigantic shock.
Now will we find out that Agatha is working for someone else? *Cough* Mephisto *Cough*
The commercial this week was huge. It was for a depression medication called Nexus. In Marvel Comics, The Nexus of All Realities is a cross-dimensional gateway which provides a pathway to any and all possible realities. In the comics Man-Thing is the guardian of the Nexus. I don’t think we’ll get Man-Thing (I think…) This is huge! My immediate thought was that it was possible (I have learned that any sort of theory about this show could be wrong) that Pietro was actually the Quicksilver from the FOX universe after all. I was convinced he was not, but now..
And, after the appearance of the first ever mid-credit scene in WandaVision, and the return of Pietro to speak to Monica… “Snoopers gonna snoop.”
Although the purple eyes on Monica at this point may indicate that Pietro is actually involved in the magic, which could mean he is Mephisto or Nightmare or whomever.
Other Moments
The twins have trouble with their game.
Vision frees Darcy from the Hex’s spell and they team up. These two are great together.
Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olson are brilliant.
Dottie made a return appearance for a second. Why? Is she important? The mailman too seems to have more of a role than what it seems.
#JusticeforSparky
Director Hayward preparing to make an assault. We find out his motive is to get his hands on a weaponized Vision.
The cicada on the window of Agatha’s house… Mephisto first appeared in the comics as a fly. Coincidence or is Marvel just messing with us?
Wanda’s power seems to be glitching more. Is the Hex too big?
Willy’s Wonderland is a strangely odd horror/comedy with Nic Cage playing a character who does not speak and is only known as “The Janitor.” He is fighting monstrous animatronic possessed by the demon spirits of some of the worst serial killer of all time. These animatronics are in the form of Chunk E. Cheese-like mascots.
Yes, that is what I said.
These animatronic monsters are kept inside a rundown restaurant called Willy’s Wonderland and the people of the town are feeding them by tricking strangers and visitors to stay at the restaurant and be killed by the monsters.
Nic Cage’s car has tire troubles and he makes a deal to clean the interior of the restaurant in exchange for his tires being fixed. Little did he know that he was being set up.
There was a group of kids here too, who had been trying to burn the restaurant to the ground. These kids are as disposable as possible. None of them were given much anything of a character and are the typical victims arriving in a slasher movie.
Cage’s character had all kinds of quirks, masquerading as character development. He did not speak at all in the movie and there was no indication as to why. That was not the only thing that was never explained. Cage had an alarm on his watch that went off on a regular basis, and, no matter what he was doing at the time, he would stop and go drink a soda that he had brought with him. He would break until his alarm went off again. There was no explanation for this either (outside of the guy who set up Nic telling him to take breaks, although I believe he had done this before that comment anyway).
Once inside, Cage was locked in, and the animatronics would come to life and try to kill him. Unfortunately for them, Cage seemed to be the real slasher in this slasher movie, and he went about systematically killing these creatures.
And this is the key to this movie. It is silly, B-level film (at best) but, if you watch this with the expectation that this film is just Nicolas Cage out killing weird monsters, then you’ll probably enjoy it. There is zero character depth or development. The story is silly. The local residents are horrific and caricatures. There were no surprises.
And yet, Willy’s Wonderland was fun. It was stupid, but engaging. The special effects fit the type of movie we had. I’d be lying if I said that I did not enjoy watching this. So, while this movie can not be considered good, it can be considered amusing. It is lively and entertaining. It might fall into that cult classic category eventually.
This past Friday’s episode of WandaVision had a scene where Wanda and Pietro made a reference to Kick Ass. It was funny because both the actor who played Pietro in the episode, Evan Peters, and the actor who originated the role of Pietro in the MCU, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, appeared in the movie Kick Ass. It had been quite awhile since I saw the Mark Millar inspired comic book movie.
Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. originated the characters of Kick Ass and Hit Girl in a Marvel Comics book (under the company’s Icon Comics imprint), which was reprinted in Image Comics.
Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) was a comic book geek who always wanted to be a superhero. One day, Dave decided to order himself a green wet suit and become Kick Ass, posting his adventures online. Since Dave had no specific super powers, his fights as Kick Ass were less than impressive, though the exploits did create an online sensation.
Kick Ass’s efforts drew the attention of vigilante Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and his daughter Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz), whose revenge campaign against drug kingpin Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong) was just beginning. Dave finds himself deep in a violent world of vengeance.
Kick Ass is a remarkably violent and bloody film, anchored by the fun and charismatic characters of Kick Ass and Hit Girl. I have never been a huge fan of the bloody murdering super hero (Punisher type). Growing up with Spider-Man, I have always been of the mind that super heroes do not kill. However, there is no denying the charm of the film and the heroic aspects of the characters, especially Kick Ass, who lacked any measurable skills or abilities for the role. His desire to do good outweighed his own personal danger and that is absolutely what a hero is.
Nicolas Cage was fantastic here. Kick Ass marked a bit of a resurgence for Nic Cage, moving into a different stage of his career. Big Daddy loved his daughter above all else…except perhaps for his vengeance. He is the type of character that could have been fascinating to go into a deeper dive with considering the argument that he is totally off-kilter would not be incorrect. Cage dresses Big Daddy in a Batman-like outfit and the connection to Batman, using his young ward in his fight against crime, is unmistakable. The film touches on, but does not go into great detail, about the moral implications of this partnership.
There are some gay moments and uses in the movie that may not play as well in 2021 as they did in 2010.
Kick Ass does a great job of combining the world of four-color comic books with the brutal world of vigilante heroes. The violence, at times, borders on comical, but there are other times (for example the internet streaming of the torture of Big Daddy and Kick Ass) where the violence was all too real.
Director Matthew Vaughn brings his typical level of style and visual acumen to Kick Ass, overcoming, perhaps, the slightness of the plot. The film was a huge success in the early days of the current renaissance of the comic book movie genre.
In March, there is a film releasing on Amazon Prime that is a sequel of a movie that came out 33 years ago, which makes me feel really old. Next month see the release of Coming 2 America, the sequel to Coming to America which starred Eddie Murphy as a prince of the African country of Zamunda who comes to New York to find a bride, became something to revisit and remind me of its goodness.
Prince Akeem wanted to find a woman who he loved, who was more than just a subservient, who had a mind of her own. His father, King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl Jones) had an arranged marriage waiting for his son, but Akeem wanted. Accompanied with his loyal servant Semmi (Arsenio Hall), Akeem headed to Queens, New York to find his own potential queen.
To avoid any gold-diggers, Akeem decided to pretend to be destitute, a decision that did not sit well with Semmi. Eventually, Akeem met a woman named Lisa (Shari Headley), who works with her father Cleo McDowell (John Amos) at his fast food restaurant, McDowell’s, not to be confused with McDonald’s. Lisa was already dating a selfish and arrogant jerk, Darryl (Eriq La Salle). Lisa quickly is attracted to the kind and regal nature of Akeem, who takes a job mopping the floor at the restaurant.
Coming to America had always been a favorite of Eddie Murphy’s oeuvre for me, however, watching this film today, I saw some of the drawbacks to it. It did feel long, and I thought there could have been some scenes early in the film that were droppable. It did take Akeem quite a chunk of time to get to New York and he did not find Lisa for awhile. While that makes sense, some of the scenes that were included felt unnecessary.
Still, this movie is very funny and tells a sweet story with Akeem and Lisa. Their relationship felt real and they were very much worth rooting for. I might have liked a little bit more with them, since it seemed as they wound up together pretty quickly. Maybe some of the other scenes could have been edited out to include more of the interactions with Akeem and Lisa.
Eddie Murphy is fantastic here, truly embracing the sweetness of the character of Akeem. He is the most likable character Eddie has ever played, and his sweet attitude bordering on nativity. However, the film does an excellent job of showing Akeem as the fish out of water without letting him cross over into parody.
Murphy and Hall played multiple characters here, including people at the barber shop, and I am not sure that does much for the film. It certainly showed off the skills of these two actors, but it may have taken away from the narrative.
The trailers for Coming 2 America have not looked promising to me, and most times when a sequel comes this long after the original, the results are iffy. Still, Coming to America continues to be a classic and a great film to enjoy.
The time loop/repeating day film has started to become its own genre as there have been a bunch of these films over the years. Groundhog Day is what everyone always goes to at first, but there has also been Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt’s action adventure Edge of Tomorrow and last year’s surprise hit on Hulu, Palm Springs. If done correctly, these can be very compelling films.
We have reached the next installment in this type of movie with Amazon Prime’s new movie, The Map of Tiny Perfect Things.
Mark (Kyle Allen) is a high school teen who appears to have everything in control. We then discover the secret. Mark is repeating the same day over and over on a loop. Becoming complacent with his life, Mark’s world was suddenly rocked when a blonde girl walked through his sight. changing what he knew. He became fascinated in who she was and started trying to find her. When he finds Margaret (Kathryn Newton), he discovers that she is in the same situation as he is.
The two of them began spending time together and started looking for those tiny perfect things that fills out the time in life between the major events.
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things is a charming, fun and entertaining and uses the familiar idea of the repeating day in a new and creative manner. One of the key aspect of the success of the movie is the wonderful leads, Kathryn Newton and Kyle Allen. They carry much of the film with their chemistry and their allure. You enjoy watching these young actors whether they were together or alone.
There are some strong moments as we follow the pair along, adapting to their new regular circumstance. Both have internal struggles with their lives and facing them are developing their characters. They approach the idea that maybe they did not want to escape the time loop, which is something that we have not seen yet.
This is a enjoyable movie that is romantic and funny, with some very good performances from young and charming lead characters. The Map of Tiny Perfect Things makes for a good time.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 