Masterpiece!

Miles Morales is back for the follow-up to the Oscar winning animated movie Into the Spider-Verse from 2018 with the brand new, part one, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Miles (Shameik Moore) is trying to balance his life at college with his responsibilities of being Brooklyn’s only Spider-Man, but his continued lying to his parents (Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Valez).

Meanwhile, Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) was having many other problems in her own world with her police captain father, Captain George Stacy (Shea Whigham), who is trying to arrest her Spider-Woman persona. When a different era Vulture arrived in her world, several other spider-people, led by Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaacs) came to try to capture him. Gwen was impressive in aiding Miguel and Jessica Drew (Issa Rae) so she was brought into the multiversal group designed to protect the Spider-Verse.

Miles and Gwen are a great pairing, with a ton of chemistry together. They work so well together because they have so much in common. Both of them are lonely, lacking someone they can rely on, to confide in. The Spider-Gwen costume, which was created in the comics, looks absolutely amazing in this animation. It is one of the best designs of the past decade in comics, which is a huge reason why Spider-Gwen became such a breakout character.

However, there are other awesome breakout characters in this movie. We meet Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya) who steals nearly every scene he is in. There is also Spider-Man India, named Pavitr Prabhakar (Karan Soni) who is a fabulous character design.

Of course, Miguel O’Hara makes a brilliant antagonist (of a sort) as the heroic Spider-Man 2099. Miguel was always trying to do what was best for the Spider-Verse, even if he had to do some things that he did not want to do. His character was not the quippy type as most Spider-men were. There is an anger inside of him spurred on by his own inane responsibility. I have a feeling that we will be diving into more of his story in part two, which comes out next March.

Of course, you cannot have a review of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse without commenting on the animation styles that are so varied and absolutely special. The animation on display in this movie is beyond anything I have ever seen. It is a work of art, with every frame a potential poster to be framed on the wall. Not only is the animation brilliantly conceived, each character has their own, distinct art style. It was said that the film brought artists from these characters’ comic runs in to consult on how the animation should work, and that level of dedication created something truly unique and utterly bombastic to watch. There were several times when I just stared at the screen in complete awe of the artistry on display. The animation of Into the Spider-Verse was Oscar worthy and this animation elevated that even more.

The score of the movie was perfectly placed, with the amazing music amplifying every scene. Composer Daniel Pemberton brought together the eclectic soundtrack for this picture.

There were a ton of cameos and Easter eggs in the movie. In fact, there were just too many to even be able to see. As John Locke, one of my favorite characters from the TV show LOST, said in season two, “We’re gonna need to watch that again.” This movie feels as if it demands a rewatch just to try and see everything that is there.

The story was complex, but it does a great job of laying out the idea of the multiverse and the Spider-Verse proper. You can see the ties to the greater MCU in this movie too, allowing the potential connection to the MCU. The story could have become convoluted, but it did not because it grounded it with Miles and Gwen. At the heart of this story was parents and their children.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is filled with surprises, amazing action, some of the most breath-takingly beautiful and visually unique animation ever on screen and a compelling story that shows just how important Miles Morales is. There is so much awesomeness in this movie, I have not even mentioned the return of Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) and his baby daughter May.

The end of this movie is a HUGE cliffhanger, yet it did not leave me feeling as if the movie shorted me on the story as films such as Fast X did. The end of this, almost 2 hour and 20 minute movie, only left me wanting more. Next March cannot get here soon enough. This is the best movie of the year so far.

5 stars

The latest Stephen King short story adapted into a feature film is the movie The Boogeyman, a horror film directed by Rob Savage.

According to IMSB, “Still reeling from the tragic death of their mother, a teenage girl and her younger sister find themselves plagued by a sadistic presence in their house and struggle to get their grieving father to pay attention before it’s too late.“

Sadie (Sophie Thatcher) is a solid lead character, bring both a competence and a serious troubled backstory. The death of her mother in a car wreck shaped her as a character dramatically, but not as much as it did her father, Will (Chris Messina). Will, a therapist who worked out of his home, had major grief going on with the loss of his wife. So much so that it was affecting how he was parenting. I found myself yelling at Will during the scene where Sadie wanted to talk to him about her feelings of her mother’s death, but he avoided it like crazy. I found that to be just horribly selfish of him.

The film does a really good job of keeping the mystery of what the Boogeyman looked like for most of the movie, allowing the suspense to grow with every shadowy glance. Some horror movies jump right into full screen shots of the monsters and it becomes less frightening. Not so here. The Boogeyman was scary through the entire film and when we finally get a really extended look at it, it makes it more effective.

There were plenty of times where I found myself ready to yell (I was in the theater so I was yelling to myself) about things that the characters were doing or were not doing. I don’t know if it is my geeky background or my knowledge of comic books and roleplaying, but there are things that seem obvious to do instead of some of the things that they tried. However, one of the big things from the third act, I had picked out well before and was yelling (to myself) that they needed to do it. When they actually did what I wanted and it worked, I nearly jumped out of my seat.

Vivien Lyra Blair played Sadie’s little sister Sawyer, and she does a very solid job. She had several facials that showed plenty of the differing emotions that a young girl her age would be thinking during this entire movie. There was also a winning cameo from David Dastmalchian that kicks the film off wonderfully.

The film may not be the best horror film ever made, but it succeeded in keeping me invested and tense with these characters. I was on the edge of my seat for most of the movie so I found it to be a good time.

4 stars

This was the second film I saw today that was based after a stand up comedy routine. The first one was Bert Kreischer in The Machine and this one was Sebastian Maniscalco, co-starring with Robert DeNiro in About My Father.

Sebastian was invited by his girlfriend Ellie (Leslie Bibb) to join her and her family over the Fourth of July weekend which was going to give Sebastian an opportunity that he had been looking for. The perfect place to propose. One problem, Sebastian felt guilt about leaving his father, Salvo (Robert DeNiro) alone on the holiday. Despite his better judgment, Ellie convinced Sebastian to invite Salvo to come along to her parent’s summer home. Hijinks ensue.

Honestly, though this was also not the worst movie I have ever seen, it was not very good. First off, it was not especially funny, which is always a drawback for a comedy. The biggest laugh moments had already been shown in the trailer so they lost any impact that they may have had.

Secondly, there was so much exposition in this movie, trying to set up Ellie’s family members that it really dragged down the film. None of these weird characters were near as creative as the film thought they were.

Next, this film felt very much like Meet the Family, even starring Robert DeNiro, though in a different manner. The story lacked any really creative twists or original thoughts.

In the trailers, they showed the whole peacock debacle, but it played as if it was Salvo’s error. However, the film played it much more nasty and cruel, making me change opinions on Salvo and his motivation.

Sebastian Maniscalco was also not a strong actor, which only stood out even more with the talented cast around him. The cast not only included Robert DeNiro, but also Kim Cattrall, David Rasche, and Anders Holm. Maniscalco did a lot of squinting and not much more.

The biggest problem is the film was just not very funny. I laughed maybe once at a scene and the rest of the time I just sat and watched.

About My Father lacked any really funny moments that we hadn’t already seen in the trailers and the story was just what you would expect. I’ve seen the same ideas in much better films. Not offensively bad, just bad.

2.2 stars

It feels as if I am thoroughly back to normal from the days of not heading to the theater because I went to a couple of movies today that I would not have gone to over the last few years. Neither of the films were on my most anticipated list. However, here they are.

First up is The Machine. This movie is roughly based on the stand-up routine of Bert Kreischer. The routine is Bert telling the story of how he took a trip to Russia and wound up involved with the Russian Mafia. However, Bert’s party ability while he was drunk won over the Russians and Bert wound up helping them rob a train.

Years later, Bert was still having problems with his own family, including his 16-year old daughter, Sasha (Jess Gabor). When Bert’s father (Mark Hamill) came to Sasha’s birthday party, Bert continued to spiral out of control. Even worse, when Russian mafia daughter Irina (Iva Babic) showed up in search of something that Bert had stolen from that train, she and her muscle grabbed Bert and his father to return to Russia to find the object. Lots of stuff happens after that.

This was not the worst film I have ever seen, but it was truly a stupid story. So many stupid things happened that you had to ignore to enjoy the film.

The best part of the film was clearly Mark Hamill. I enjoyed his work throughout. Bert Kreischer was not much of an actor and what he did was basically just be loud and yell.

There were some decent character moments in the film as well, especially with the relationship between Bert and his father. The story was told with flashbacks to the original trip for Bert to Russia, and in these flashbacks, Jimmy Tatro played young Bert.

I did not hate this movie, but it was nothing special. The whole idea that Bert became this mythic type figure “The Machine” in Russia from his days drunk and on the train was ridiculous but I think film makes the most out of the premise. The Russian mobsters were cliched and uninteresting and the arc of Irina felt like it came out of nowhere. Overall, this movie would not be a movie that I would recommend to see in the theater, but if you had a chance to watch it at home, it might be worth a view.

2.5 stars

I watched a movie from 2023 this morning that was streaming for free on Peacock. It was one that I was in the theaters for a short time, but I had not been able to attend. I also saw it on Vudu, but I did not have the time to commit to watching it. This morning, everything worked out and I was able to see A Thousand and One, the new movie from director A.V. Rockwell.

Inez (Teyana Taylor) kidnapped her 6-year old son Terry (Aaron Kingsley Adetola), who was being kept in a foster home in the New York City foster care system. Inez and Terry live together and try to keep their bond through the New York world.

We see three different actors play Terry. First was the young Aaron Kingsley Adetola, who does a solid job as the boy who was desperately trying to escape the foster home he was in. Secondly, there was Aven Courtney, who played Terry as a 13-year old. Courtney was on screen the least amount in the movie. Finally, 17-year old Terry was played by actor Josiah Cross, who had to deal with some serious emotional baggage in the story.

Teyana Taylor is the standout performance in the film as she had to deal with all of the consequences of her choices and the relationship with Terry, as well as her boyfriend/husband Lucky (William Catlett). While all of this drama went on, the film placed these characters in the late 90s, early 200s New York background, including such issues as stop & frisk as well as the crackdown on the minor crimes going on during the Giuliani administration. These impacted the lives of Inez and Terry.

The movie provided a real feel to it. The drama is a slice of what many black families had to go through and gives those of us who is not experienced in this area some idea of what it was like. The constant challenges are compelling and true to life.

This is a engaging and enjoyable film. The ending twist was a surprise, but it made perfect sense. The emotions are real and full. This was a solid film.

3.8 stars

Disney’s continued attempts to remake their classic animated films into live action films has been spotty at best. Some of the films were pretty good, such as Cinderella, The Jungle Book or (kind of) Aladdin. Others were considerably big step downs such as Beauty and the Beast, Mulan and Dumbo and those that were just best forgotten like The Lion King and Pinocchio. This weekend a new film joined this company, the classic The Little Mermaid.

In anticipation of this movie, I rewatched the original animated movie last Saturday. It had been literally decades since I had seen it and I wanted a refresher before the live-action version. It was fine, I liked the music but the relationship with Eric and Ariel in the animated movie felt rushed and I just did not buy it. I also did not like how they dealt with Ursula’s tricking Eric into a wedding ceremony. It made Eric look like nothing truly mattered to him. I know he was meant to be betwixt by Ursula’s magic, but it just rang false to me. I still liked it, but it, as an animated film, was way below the other renaissance Disney films from the late 80s and early 90s for me.

Seeing that the new live-action film was considerably longer than the animated movie (live action was 2 hours and 15 minutes and the animated was barely 90 min.), I hoped that they would address some of the issues I had, especially with the relationship between Ariel and Eric.

Ariel (Halle Bailey) was a mermaid who had her head in the surface world. She was fascinated by everything human being despite the objections of her father, King Triton (Javier Bardem). When she rescued Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) from a shipwreck, Ariel fell for the handsome prince. After an upset Triton destroyed her collection of human artifacts, she was approached by her evil aunt Ursula (Melissa McCarthy), who made Ariel a deal that would see Ariel changed into a human, with legs and feet, and she could stay that way as long as Ariel is able to get a true love kiss from Prince Eric before the sunset of the third day. Otherwise, Ariel would belong to Ursula.

I am happy to say that I really loved this new version, considerably more than I liked the animated one. They added several scenes between Ariel and Eric that really fleshed out the characters and created a pairing that was engaging immediately. I found Eric and Ariel’s connection so much more enjoyable, believable than I ever did in the animated film. I was in on them right away. The chemistry was so much better here than I ever could have guessed.

Part of that is because Halle Bailey, a casting that caused a ton of controversy on the Internet because of the fact that Bailey is a black woman cast in this white mermaid role, was amazing as Ariel. Bailey has a fantastic presence about her, just beaming off the screen. Halle Bailey is a star in the making and this performance will only elevate her ever further. Add to that fact that she had an amazing voice and that her songs as Ariel were powerful and beautifully delivered. Anyone who is upset because this Ariel has the wrong skin color is just not giving this talented actor her due.

Jonah Hauer-King does a great job too. I had never seen him before either (at least he does not jump out of my memory) but he does such a solid job of bringing Prince Eric to life and giving him many more layers than the character got before. I even think the film does an admirable job of showing Eric’s conflict when Ursula shows up with her magic to betwixt him. Here, I believed that he was really in love with Ariel and that he showed the internal struggle against the magic spell cast upon him by the sea witch.

I did have a couple of issues, both on the special effects side. First, I did not feel as if the underwater scenes were very special. None of them felt to me that these characters were underwater. After Aquaman and, more recently, Wakanda Forever, we saw great CGI showing underwater characters where you could tell they were underwater. The fact that The Little Mermaid scenes did not feel as accurate was distracting to me.

Secondly, I was a little put off by the character design of Sebastian the crab. I did not think he was a character that was fully imagined in this live action version. The character design did grow on me as I became more used to it. However, I loved the voice acting of Sebastian, performed by Hamilton actor Daveed Diggs. I found that voice performance to be one of the strongest in the film. I really hope that the rumors of Daveed Diggs being cast as the Thing in the MCU’s Fantastic Four remake turns out to be true.

Other voice actors were decent. Awkwafina as the seagull Scuttle was a standout. I thought her work with Daveed Diggs was exceptional. Jacob Tremblay as Flounder was fine, but Flounder felt like the least important of the main cast.

Javier Bardem did a wonderful job as King Triton. I believed everything he did with that character. Melissa McCarthy was a revelation as the evil Ursula. She brought the right amount of humor mixed with menace. I know McCarthy was another controversial casting jobs for this movie, but she nailed this roll beautifully.

There was one notable scene that was cut from this movie (though referenced during it) and I think that was a wise decision. I did not feel as if this scene fit very well in the animated movie and its omission here worked for me. In fact, every time they made changes in this film, I think it was for the overall betterment of the movie.

The music was still really well done. There were some new songs and a few updated lyrics and I never thought that it was out of place. I wanted to specifically mention how amazing I thought Melissa McCarthy was with the song Poor Unfortunate Souls. I wondered if it was actually her singing and she is listed as the artist on the soundtrack. I had no idea she could sing like that and that number was a standout for me.

These live-action movies have to answer a question… what is the purpose of it existing? Some of these films add to the story and build upon what was there. Some of them are nothing more than a shot-by-shot remake. The Little Mermaid improves upon the original, adding several scenes that highlight characters and enhance the story. In particular when it comes to the relationship between Ariel and Prince Eric. Because of that, I found The Little Mermaid to be a rousing success and thoroughly enjoyable.

4.25 stars

I did not realize that this movie, The Pope’s Exorcist, a supernatural horror film that I rented on Vudu tonight, was based on a real person. The titular character was Father Gabriele Amorth, an Italian Catholic priest and an exorcist for the Diocese of Rome, and he worked as an exorcist from 1986 until his death in 2016. This was revealed in box text at the end of the film, surprising me as the ‘based on a true story’ was not what I expected with this movie.

Father Amorth (Russell Crowe) and his questionable techniques were being looked at by a Church tribunal when he was called to see the Pope (Franco Nero). Amorth is sent to Spain where a young boy, Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney), who along with his mother Julia (Alex Essoe) and his snarly sister Amy (Laurel Marsden) had come to a Spanish abbey left to them by Julia’s late husband, who had died in a car crash. Henry had been in the car with his father and witnessed his grisly death.

Henry had been possessed by a demon and priest Father Esquibel (Daniel Zovatto) had sent for help to the Catholic Church.

While much of this movie was the standard fare for these possession movies, there were a few things that I found interesting. First off, the character of Father Gabriele Amorth was quirky and unlike other priests that we have seen in this genre. Russell Crowe had a distinct presence about him and did a nice job giving these strange character traits to Father Amorth. Admittedly, some of the Italian accent may not have been the strongest, but it was not a distraction for me.

I thought the young actor, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney, gave a solid physical performance as the possessed boy. He did a very good job with the lip synch of the demon voice that was provided by Ralph Ineson. I have to say that there were times that the demon voice was unintentionally funny as the British accent snuck through.

There were some interesting ideas in the plot that the film does not spend too much time truly diving into. Most of them, including the conspiracy, are brushed over at surface level and feel thrown in. None of it felt necessary for the film to have it included.

I did not like the character of Amy, who was written as a growly teenager with quite the attitude, but none of that really was focused on outside of the first ten to fifteen minutes. It was a thing that could have easily been left out because it was simply unimportant to the story.

There were some moments of the film that felt too ridiculous, moments that caused me to laugh out loud where I should not have been laughing. I feel as if there were some really solid ideas in this movie that could have been expanded on by dropping some of the lesser important details that the film seemed to focus in on.

The Pope’s Exorcist is a mixed bag. There are some things I liked about the film, and there were some that I found tedious and, even at times, silly. I was not bored by the movie though and I did enjoy Russell Crowe’s work. This is right on the border between fresh and rotten for me.

2.9 stars