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.
One of the big Oscar possibilities for this year dropped this weekend on HBO Max, as well as select theaters. It is a biopic set in the racially explicit 1960s after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X where the chairman of the Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton, rises to the top of the FBI’s target list and an FBI informant is sent into the world of the militant organization to gather information.
Bill O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) was a small time car thief who would pretend to be an FBI agent to make it easy to rip off the automobiles. Caught by the police, O’Neal was pressured into becoming an informant and sent into the Black Panthers. The film then records the tragic events that followed involving Hampton and the rst.
Daniel Kaluuya is wonderful as Fred Hampton, showing both his dedication to the ideas of the organization as well as his connection to his family. Kaluuya most likely will receive an Oscar nomination for his work here and it would be very deserving.
LaKeith Stanfield is compelling as William “Bill” O’Neal, showing us the conflict he had within himself over what he was being forced to do by the FBI, in particular, Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons). It was obvious that O’Neal did not want to be in this situation, but he found himself stuck and he made a decision that put himself first.
The one actor who stood out like a giant prosthetic nose was Martin Sheen, who had a limited role as FBI head J. Edgar Hoover. I have always enjoyed the work of the former President Jed Bartlett (from West Wing), but as soon as I saw him with that nose, I was completely distracted and it pulled me out of the film. As I said, Hoover had very limited screen time and that was a good thing for me.
Unfortunately, Judas and the Black Messiah continues to feel relevant for the world today, as black people continue to be treated poorly, if not fatally, by police. You can see some of the outright cruelty shown by the police and the FBI of the time and the use of the black revolution as an excuse to attempt to keep them down and maintain the white privilege that has, sadly, remained active to this day. There are some shocking moments in this film and it is an important story to tell.
Some of the quieter moments of the film were less intriguing as the conflict within, but the film is elevated by some top line performances from both Kaluuya and Stanfield.
WandaVision has become what I look forward to the whole week. When I get home from work on Thursday, I know that the next thing I am going to be able to do is watch WandaVision.
Spoilers for WandaVision Episode 6
Where to start?
There are so many places that I could start. Maybe we start with the big cliffhanger from last week that seemed to break the Internet… the arrival of Pietro, Wanda’s brother, but played not by Aaron Taylor-Johnson as it was in the Age of Ultron, but Evan Peters, who played Quicksilver in the Fox X-Men movies. Theories abounded about what this meant for the MCU, for mutants, for Evan Peters himself. We still do not know what exactly this guy’s deal was, but he absolutely rocked the comic accurate costume with the unbelievable hair.
We see Pietro using his powers all throughout episode six, but is he truly Pietro? The show addresses the fact that he looked different, explicitly from Wanda herself and Pietro says he does not know. He does seem to know a lot about what his sister has done here, going as far as saying he was impressed with what she did. There were times that he felt like he was the MCU Pietro (like the time that he referred to their childhood or when he talked about getting gunned down in the street), but there were also a bunch of times where he felt as if he were pumping Wanda for info and doing things intended to gain a reaction from her.
Either way, Evan Peters was absolutely fantastic here and played the part of the fun-uncle in the 1990s/early 2000 sitcom perfectly. There were several times when Pietro himself commented on the tropes of the fun uncle within the dialogue of the show as if he knew what was happening. It is a brilliant piece of writing that continues to tie the show into the world of sitcoms.
Which, by the way, this week’s episode is honoring Malcolm in the Middle, from the theme song through to the changes in the camera work that was brought into by that show. We also had the twins, Billy and Tommy, both turning to the camera and talking about what was happening, just like Malcolm (Frankie Muniz) would on Malcolm in the Middle.
Speaking of the twins, Billy & Tommy gain their powers this episode as comic fans know will lead to them being Wiccan (Billy) and Speed (Tommy) in the Young Avengers. I’m not saying that these kids will be in those plans, but there is certainly a possibilities. Both of the young boys do an amazing job of acting in this episode. Julian Hilliard played Billy and Jett Klyne played Tommy and they have a couple of tough scenes and they bring the goods, which is important since Elizabeth Olson and Paul Bettany are consistently exceptional in WandaVision.
That brings us to one of the darkest moments in MCU history. An animated commercial for Yo-Magic yogurt. Yes, the commercial this week takes a bit of a turn and features a young boy stranded on a deserted island. The boy says he is hungry, and things look bad for him. However, a shark swims up to the island and offers the boy some Yo-Magic in a container. The boy tries to open it, but he cannot get his fingers to open the foil on the top of the container. We see a progression of time as the boy continues to try to get to the Yo-Magic, until he dies of starvation and is left behind as a skeleton, still grasping the yogurt container.
It was shocking watching the commercial. There a a ton of theories about what this commercial represents. As the previous commercials all pointed to trauma and bad experiences in Wanda’s life, this could represent the people of Westview, or Vision or Wanda herself. The magic can not be reached and the kid dies slowly because of it. Could this be a reference to the “big bad” that helped give Wanda the power to take over Westview, a power level that she had never displayed before? Is the shark a specific metaphor for something else in the story (I would say for sure)? No matter what, the commercial is quite sinister and devastating.
This week is the first week that I believed that SWORD Director Hayward had some ulterior motives in the story. I still do not believe that he is any sort of a maestro of what has happened to Wanda, but he is definitely looking to track Vision. I have seen a cool theory about Hayward being the person to create Sentinels in the MCU and that he was using the technology of Vision to do it. Hayward clearly had a grudge against super powered people, which he let slip in an argument with Monica Rambeau. There is something hidden behind his final firewall that Marcy had not breached yet. What is Project Cataract?
More points of interest this week:
What is going on with Agnes? Is she more than what we think or not? The meeting with Vision in her car seems to have thrown the theories of her being connected to the big bad into chaos.
Monica’s cells are being re-written? Is this how mutants are coming?
Vision being ripped apart by the Hex was horrifying
So was the image of zombie Pietro with bullet holes.
Jimmy Woo is good for more than just getting coffee!
Darcy gets swallowed by the Hex. What will happen to her?
Monica’s “guy” is still coming. Who is this aero engineer? Blue Marvel? Reed Richards? Her skrull friend? etc.
The Hex turned SWORD agents into clowns. Ha Ha Ha. Wanda throwing shade.
There are kids everywhere now. Where did they come from? Did Wanda have them “tucked in their beds until she needed them”?
The single tear of the woman frozen in place was heart wrenching.
As Vision is getting torn apart, he thinks of the people trapped in Westview.
People on the outskirts of town seem to be nearly frozen. Could it be that the farther you are away from Wanda, the less you are able to do?
Last week, I went to my comic shop for the Wednesday releases. I am still a huge Marvel fan, but I have been picking up more independent comics over the last few years because I have found so many great stories. I generally look at new #1s of independents just to see. I looked at Specter Inspectors and it looked like a kids book so I let it stay on the stand.
However, as I was sitting there reading some of the books that I had purchased, the owner Ben arrived. Ben was the one who practically forced me try Somebody is Killing the Children #1 and he asked me if I had picked up Specter Inspector #1. Before I knew what had happened, it was in my box to buy the next week.
This week I purchased it but I read some of the other books first. As I was getting ready to leave ComicWorld, Ben asked me again about Specter Inspector so I figured I better read it.
Wouldn’t you know it… I really loved it.
Specter Inspectors was like Scooby Doo meets The Ghost Hunters meets Rumpelstiltskin and maybe with a splash of a G-rated Evil Dead.
I have to say that I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. There was a creepy haunted town, a group of young kids out to film the paranormal and make a name for themselves. There was a cool twist to set up the story and the interactions between the characters are great.
It is simply a lot of fun.
It is a five issue series, and, I can’t believe it, I’m looking forward to the rest of the Boom! Box series.
John David Washington and Zendaya are the only actors in this film from Sam Levinson that arrived on Netflix this past weekend. It is shot in beautiful black and white, and both actors are strong. Unfortunately, the film is chock full of anger and resentment that it is simply an uncomfortable watch,
Malcolm (John David Washington) and Marie (Zendaya) are a couple, returning from Malcolm’s movie premiere, a “tour de force” that was certain to be a rave review from critics. However, as they return to their home, deep seeded issues come to the surface, threatening their relationship.
Both of these characters then proceed to rip into each other with a viciousness and a cruelty that made me really want to shut it off. It was brutal and off-putting. Malcolm was so verbally out of control that you could not help but wonder why Marie would stay with him. It made me think about the abusive relationships out there that are toxic and do damage to people’s self-image. However, Marie had her moments of destructive tendencies as well.
The film also had some strange obsession with a “white woman writer from the L.A. Times” as well as a couple of other critics. She is apparently based on a real person at the LA Times. They spent a lot of time in this movie slamming this writer for her opinions and her criticism. It was really ugly and truly petty. There was so much time donated to the attack on this critic that it feels as if it was nearly as important of a plot point as anything that came out of these two people’s mouths.
Malcolm & Marie is supposed to be a romantic film, but I did not find anything here romantic. Not even in the least. In fact, this had more moments of me felling dirty and disgusted that someone believed that this is what a relationship had to be. While Zendaya and Washington are really passionate and powerful while delivering their monologues (and oh, there are lots of monologues), there is little character development and I felt nothing in chemistry. In fact, it feels as if the film used some sexual situations and titillating imagery to force the chemistry between them. I never felt it. The anger and vitriol overcame any sensuality. It was an unhealthy relationship and I wanted Marie to just leave the house.
Whatever positives I get from Malcolm & Marie come directly from (to a lesser extent) John David Washington, whose Malcolm is an unlikable, verbally-abusive dick, and (to a greatest extent) Zendaya, whose Marie felt as if she was trying to defend herself more than just be cruel. Zendaya embodied Marie with a lot of sadness and her pain comes across considerably more than any professed love does.
There is just too much bile in this film for me. Bile between the characters and bile towards the “white woman from the LA Times.” It was not an enjoyable experience. Sorry if my criticism offends anyone.
This past Friday, for a fun Friday assignment, I had my 7th grade literacy students make their own original memes. Here are a selection of them. Don’t mind the capitalization. It is a meme after all.
I got a message from a friend asking about my review of Bliss. He said he was desperate for new sci-fi. Then he asked if I had ever seen Synchronic. I had never even heard of it before so I watched the trailer and it was definitely intriguing. I went over to Vudu and rented the film so give it a try.
I am really glad Chris mentioned this to me.
Synchronic started Anthony Mackie as Steve and Jamie Dornan as Dennis, two paramedics in New Orleans who respond to all sorts of troubles. There is seemingly a ton of drug related issues in the area. Close friends, Steve and Dennis have a great comradery with each other which is pushed by their individual drama within their lives.
Steve and Dennis come across a series of deaths that have been connected with a new designer drug called Synchronic. Steve, who has received some terrible news, took it upon himself to target the removal of the designer drug from New Orleans. Along the way, he discovered a surprising side effect.
As Steve is pursuing this mystery, Dennis’s family is starting to fall apart as his 18-year old daughter Brianna (Ally Ioannides) disappeared.
This was a gripping story that took elements from a family drama and a buddy movie and engaged it with this science fiction story. While the third act does stretch it a bit too far, the plot here was filled with tension and anxiousness.
I love Anthony Mackie, but to be honest, outside of the Falcon and the MCU, I have not been a huge fan of the movies that he has appeared in. His IMDB page shows him as a solid secondary character, but his lead work lacking despite his clear charm and acting ability. Synchronic is perhaps his best performance outside of the MCU to date. He has great chemistry with Jamie Dornan, who also gives a very strong performance here as the husband struggling with his family. The pairing of Mackie and Dornan is the strength of the film.
There are several disturbing images at play in Synchronic too. There is an element of horror that finds its way into the imagery, building the feeling of uneasiness that is pervasive throughout the film.
Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, successful independent film directors of The Endless and Resolution (and Benson has been tapped as the director for the upcoming MCU Disney + series Moon Knight), have received probably their highest profile film to date. It certainly has the two biggest stars that they have worked with as well. There inclusion of the character aspects of the film brought it to a much higher level than many other directors may have taken it.
It is a shame that this movie did not receive as much attention as it deserved. Synchronic is a definite challenging watch and provides some creative ideas with a strong character piece.
There was a new original science fiction film on Amazon Prime this weekend starring Owen Wilson called Bliss. I was unimpressed.
It had been a bad stretch for Greg (Owen Wilson). He had gotten divorced and then fired from his job. After making a huge mistake, he found himself in a bar looking to drown his sorrows. There he came across a mysterious woman named Isabel (Salma Hayek), who tells him that the world that is falling apart around him is not real, that he is trapped in a computer simulation.
I have to say that I think Owen Wilson does an admirable job here. Despite the silliness of the film, he is giving his very best performance and effort. The problem is there is just not enough here to justify it.
I have always enjoyed Salma Hayek too, but this character of Isabel is just not one that I can connect to. She seems to be all over the place and I am just not certain what she is meant to be. That maybe is done for a purpose, but it made her unlikeable and she was hardly written in a manner that made her someone I wanted to root for.
The story itself was was messy and lost my attention several times. Much of what happened felt coincidental and unearned while the movie spent more time explaining the rules of the film and then breaking them as it went. Some of the dialogue was unintentionally funny and really gave a disservice to Wilson and Hayek.
The third act just took the entire setup and just flushed it down the toilet. The ridiculousness of the third act took any of the possible good will from earlier in the movie or the potential of the premise and tossed it aside.
Bliss’ core premise has some possibilities, but the execution of this film does not come anywhere near those. Despite the likeable actors involved, Bliss is just not worth the time.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 