Tag: movie review

Movie Review: Deus Ex Machina: A review of ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’

One amazing thing about the Mission Impossible franchise is that it always leaned in towards its fictional world so while it can mirror real world events, it never really feels overtly political. It’s enemies were all vague and opaque so as to not upset anyone in politically. If it ever did, I don’t remember it but it doesn’t bother me. You could enjoy it for what it is: a straight-up, fun, action spy adventure. It was good versus evil and always executed in the most amazing ways possible in cinema.

So when you consider the fact that ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ began filming in 2020 and wrapped up filming in 2021, then you will understand how prescient the filmmakers were in the crafting of this movie. This time, Ethan Hunt and the rest of the Impossible Mission Force (the IMF) are battling advanced technology – one that carries no allegiances and has no recognizable agenda. The enemy is an advanced AI that has global internet access and can disrupt, distort, and disable any of our digital devices. When you consider that the IMF and all the spies and governments in the world use digital technology for everything, you can understand the power this AI holds.

Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie on the set of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.

If this film gets political, it’s basically within the context that instead of stopping it, all governments and institutions are after its control. It seems only Ethan Hunt has the moral fortitude, and the experience and skill sets to put this AI down and ensure that no one gets it. This puts the IMF as the biggest enemy of the nations of the world; not to mention that AI itself is out to protect its own best interest. Interestingly enough, this premise is so believable, how it hinges upon our belief that governments and people with power do not fear the dangers of such an AI existing. In this current age of AI art and AI written materials, director and writer Christopher McQuarrie and co-writer Erik Jendressen somehow predicted how AI would be received by a general public. They seem to have made a film, unlike the message of ‘Terminator’ or ‘The Matrix’ with regards to sentient machines. Here, the enemy, once again, is us and the people in power who would rather try and take control of a powerful tool regardless of the dangers and the cost than err in the side of caution.

Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie on the set of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.

The premise is so strong that it highlights the heroism of a character like Ethan Hunt. Here is a man who is so capable and the world of Mission Impossible is so lucky to have him because he is so morally constant. It’s such a fictional approach and the film indulges in this mode. There’s even a scene where members of the American security council are trying to understand the whole purpose of the IMF – even to the point of making fun of its name – that amplifies the ridiculousness of the whole concept. That one scene underlines the absurdity, but it also impresses upon us that it takes a person of Ethan’s inherent, unmoving goodness to survive the temptations of this sort of work. It’s idealistic and completely unrealistic but it’s also fun to watch onscreen.

Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie on the set of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.

McQuarrie knows how to keep all of this interesting. The story is straightforward and simple – like most of the films in the franchise – and he keeps the plot moving. In the first hour alone, we have a submarine fight, a foot chase in an airport, a battle in the desert during a sandstorm, and a car chase in the streets of Rome – the pace is relentless, it only stops to contextualize the mission and what is at stake and even that is done in a way that is exciting. The tensions are high, the urgency is always evident, and the characters are always on the move.

When there are quiet or still moments, McQuarrie is only using it as a build up for a bigger, more explosive scene later on. And he never lingers. The relationships between Hunt and his crew are so ingrained in previous installments that the film confidently just shows us enough to remind us but keeps the narrative in motion.

Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Vanessa Kirby and Christopher McQuarrie on the set of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.

So, while the film is filled to the brim with exciting action pieces whether they are car chases, shoot outs, hand-to-hand combat, and whatnot, McQuarrie and his amazing actors deliver all of this with such speed and brutality that it is just enjoyable to see on screen. They are not even above taking a moment to have a visual, slapstick gag about a pumped-up fiat in the streets of Rome. It had everyone laughing for the sheer silliness of the scene.

Tom Cruise on the set of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.

Tom Cruise has really made Ethan Hunt his own. They are almost completely interchangeable at this point. You either like it or you don’t but he knows this character in and out and still manages to find new places to bring him. Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are back as Luther and Benji and are always such capable support teams. But say what you will about Cruise, he has populated the later installments of the Mission Impossible franchise with a lot of interesting and capable women and while Haley Atwell and Pom Klementieff is a new addition to the franchise, we see the return of Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby, both are excellent in their respective roles of Ilsa Faust and White Widow.

Pom Klementieff in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.

While Klementieff gets to show a different side of her this time round (and a lot more of her athletic skills), it is Haley Atwell who gets the biggest role here. Atwell’s Grace is an interesting character because her story is an origin story, so to speak, and somehow we will discover that it parallels that of Ethan, Luther, and Benji. Her introduction sort of gives us an insight into the backstories of the three veteran IMF members. It feels like a full circle even if we never saw how it began (though the film touches upon Ethan’s origin, teases us with it in this installment).

Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.

In a cinematic landscape that is overfilled with franchises and sequels, I’m actually always eager for another Mission Impossible story. There’s something about the Tom Cruise stamp that what we’re going to get will always set a new bar in what we can see in terms of action sequences and explosive thrills. Unlike other action stars who try to put socially relevant story points in their franchises to justify its continued existence or overstuff later installments with too much CGI and big-name cameos, ‘Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One’ proves that all you need is to just constantly be serving up simple stories told extremely well. Mcquarrie and Cruise, as a partners, just have that magical touch to deliver the goods.

The fact that they turned this story into one about AI and the danger of advanced technology seems so timely but, really, it’s just prophetic. Another testament that these two filmmakers are still at the top of their game and have their hands on the pulse of the world.

My Rating:

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Buy your tickets here.

July 13, 2023
MOVIE REVIEW: Subtle as a sledgehammer, ‘The Little Mermaid’ loses its innocence when turned real

When ‘The Little Mermaid’ came out in 1989, I was just a ten-year old kid, who grew up on cartoons and musical theater. Watching the original ‘The Little Mermaid’ in the cinemas back when it first came out was a core memory for me: the lush and fluid (for its time) animation, the catchy music and songs of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, the visual romance of the underwater world they crafted and the playful tonal grace that they worked on the first of many new animated series that were based on fairy tales and legends. We hadn’t seen one since ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘Cinderella.’

Halle Bailey as Ariel in Disney’s live-action THE LITTLE MERMAID. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

‘The Little Mermaid’ is just so iconic and I really thought hard about why anyone would want to turn it into a live action remake. What would a live-action remake of the-already perfect cartoon (in my memory) add to the story? There was an innocence that tempered the shades of teen angst and rebellion that came with the original animated feature film. Yes, Ariel fell in love with a boy she’s only seen from a distance and turned her world upside down to be “a part of his world,” which was acceptable in the 90s and in a cartoon character. In a live action remake, my fears came true: the living, breathing portrayal of these characters wouldn’t be able to survive the same scrutiny as its animated counterpart.

(L-R): Scuttle (voiced by Awkwafina), Flounder (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), and Halle Bailey as Ariel in Disney’s live-action THE LITTLE MERMAID. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The sequences underwater – probably a mix of live footage and a lot of CGI (so how “live-action” is this film?) – are lush and vibrant with a moving fluid tapestry of sea flora and fauna that tries to recreate the romanticism of the underwater world. Director Rob Marshall, not the most subtle of directors, has a tendency of overdoing every image and showing off his massive budget. When we first see Ariel and later, Flounder, and then Sebastian, we are forced to accept these CGI heavy personas as real.

(L-R): Halle Bailey as Ariel and Javier Bardem as King Triton in Disney’s live-action THE LITTLE MERMAID. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Sure, Hallee Bailey is really there but there is an effect that their hair underwater takes that makes everything look so unflattering (this most obvious with Javier Bardem’s King Triton). In order to approximate being in the water, Bailey, Bardem, Melissa McCarthy (who plays Ursula) must move in very specific ways to simulate being in the water. It isn’t most graceful look and along with the heavy special effects, it’s more distracting than anything else.

In fact, all the actors who have to perform and act under the water are at their worst. It seems they can’t focus on their scene and the emotions because they are involved in the physicality of their movements. McCarthy has the unenviable task of working with Ursula’s relentless blocking – constantly changing positions, mimicking the movements of Ursula in the cartoon – that she can’t really have a moment to just be in character.

And now that Ariel is a living, breathing person – flesh and blood and not literally drawn up – she is now judged for the lengths that she will go to so that she can be part of Eric’s world. She’s a daughter of Triton, a teen with responsibilities over one of the seven seas, and yet she will bring her friend Flounder to forbidden waters where sharks are (and being told that he can’t swim as fast she can) and endanger his life for her fascination with anything above world.

Halle Bailey as Ariel in Disney’s live-action THE LITTLE MERMAID, directed by Rob Marshall. Photo by Giles Keyte. © 2021 Disney Enterprises Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In the cartoon, all these actions – the hoarding of items found in shipwrecks, breaking the rules – take a form of innocence; but in the live action, they feel real, and dangerous, and foolish and hard to root for.

With Bailey, struggling to keep Ariel life-like and in sync with the physics of being under the sea, she isn’t able to give us her all. It is when she makes her deal with Ursula, and she goes above water that you can see the actress at work. Bailey can act and gives Ariel more passion, more fire. She’s a teen at the cusp of womanhood and ready to break loose. It’s a dangerous thing to see, as the film excuses her rebellion as a romantic ideal – of fighting for allowing children to forge their own path – but not realizing that she’s still a teen and her choices have endangered her best friend, she falls in love with a person she watched from afar and makes a deal with a witch.

In a cartoon, it’s excusable. Live action, with Hailee Bailey right there making these decisions, she comes across as spoiled and entitled and deserves all the trouble that comes her way (except other suffer in the wake of her decisions).

(L-R): Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric and Halle Bailey as Ariel in Disney’s live-action THE LITTLE MERMAID. Photo by Giles Keyte. © 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Narratively, this version of ‘The Little Mermaid’ takes all the same beats as the original cartoon – except Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) is given more of a backstory and his own song, and they added new songs as well – so they don’t really say anything new about the story. The arc is the same, the ending is the same, nothing has changed but that it’s bigger, that it’s not a cartoon but played out by actual people and what it has done is show how superficial and shallow Ariel’s choices may have been.

There is a parallelism created between Ariel and Eric, two royals whose lives are dictated upon by a parent, and they want something different from what has been planned for them. The film wants the young people to question the paths set upon them by their parents and for parents to listen to their children.

Unfortunately, the film shows us the dangers of allowing teenagers to make grown-up decisions. Sure, everything ended up happily ever after but that’s the Disney touch at work. Even when Ariel gives up her voice to get what she wants, the film gives her two songs that she sings (in her head, to maximize Bailey’s beautiful voice) but what it ends up doing is discrediting the sacrifice that she makes. I actually like one of the new songs, ‘For the First Time,’ but I can’t stand that it invalidates the price that she pays for legs.

Marshall went all out for spectacle and commercial appeal. As subtle as a sledgehammer, he hits all the original beats at their exact spots to appeal to the nostalgia of those who loved the original film and hope the same magic that struck over thirty years ago will happen again with a new generation of viewers.

But judging from the applause and oohs and ahhs of the audience I was with at the cinema, the crowd ate it all up anyway.

My Rating:

THE LITTLE MERMAID is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Buy your tickets here

May 26, 2023
MOVIE REVIEW: It’s All About the Money: a review of ‘Air’

For all the great filmmaking in Ben Affleck-directed ‘Air’ – from the exquisite tight shots and the deep dive into the zeitgeist of the 80s, as well as fantastic performances by Viola Davis and Chris Messina – there is something that is completely empty in the film that dramatizes probably one of the greatest sports deal in history. The movie is about the deal that partners up Nike with the basketball legend Michael Jordan. The 112-minute film is really just a pitch that a talent scout in the sports brand attempts to make with a very promising rookie back in 1984. The film benefits from everyone knowing the legacy of the legendary basketball player – even someone like me who is not familiar with basketball, even I know who Michael Jordan is – and are all aware of how much the sneaker industry makes a year.

Basically, we all come in knowing this is going to be a happy ending. So all the film has to do is to create the stakes and try to make it all fun to watch. Affleck goes full-on with his depiction of the 80s – the fashion, the production design, even the picture quality has that saturated 80s look – and it helps create that world. We are so steeped into it.

The story follows Matt Damon, who plays Sonny Vaccaro, who has to help Nike find an athlete to endorse their show, or they’ll have to close down their basketball division and focus just on their running shoes. In 1984, Nike was not the powerhouse that it was then and was only third to Adidas and Converse. They don’t have prime picks and Sonny must make magic or the whole division gets shut down.

Instead of spending their small budget on three mid-level players, Sonny insists on spending the whole budget on just one player: a rookie called Michael Jordan. And this is where the film fails to truly capture the imagination of the audience and proves that the film might be nothing more than an expensive, star-studded Nike commercial: the story, with a screenplay by Alex Convery, only creates one scene that shows us that Vaccaro has found THE player to endorse.

After watching one short clip from one of his games, Vaccaro is sure that Michael Jordan is going to be the greatest player ever. We know it. We saw it happen and it’s truly the stuff of legend. But the film relies on this and leaves the rest to our stock knowledge.

Sonny then spends the rest of the movie convincing everyone at Nike to put everything on this one rookie and then, later on, spends the second half convincing Jordan’s mother (played by a fantastic Viola Davis) that they should sign up with Nike. That’s it. That’s the whole movie – it’s a movie about a pitch, and a successful one at that – and while the movie tries to show us the stakes that was at play and the risk that so many people took – expressed beautifully in a scene between Damon’s Sonny Vaccaro and his co-worker Rob Strasser played by Jason Bateman – at the end of the day it’s a movie about a big million-dollar company making even more millions.

There is an attempt to put the importance in Michael Jordan’s legacy – that the deal Deloris Jordan, Michael Jordan’s mother, insists upon giving her son a huge amount of benefits that was unheard of at that period of time – but this doesn’t ring true because never once the film take the time to show us what a great player he is. We know it. The film knows we know it but by not giving any screen time to Jordan on the court everything becomes hearsay. Millions and millions of dollars and the jobs of so many people are at stake because this athlete is supposed to be worth it, and they never bother to show us this.

In fact, they never even show us Michael Jordan’s face. They get an actor, Damian Delano Young, to play the young Michael Jordan but they never show his face, shooting always at an off angle favoring Davis or Damon, and never letting him speak. If this story is about his greatness as an athlete, if the push was to show us that the skill and the promise of this young basketball player was enough to cause this much trouble, how come we never get to see him play or see his face?

No, what is given emphasis here is the money: how much were they willing to risk, and how much they were going to make. There’s no real character development here – Sonny Vaccaro, Rob Strasser, Deloris Jordan – they are exactly the same people when this movie started but they just ended up much richer. At the end of the film, they put down some facts about how much Air Jordans, the shoe that is at the center of the film, sold that year and the years to follow and how much Michael Jordan makes every year because of this deal – and it’s a lot – and, sure, it talks about how Deloris Jordan has opened up charities and gives back.

But it is a whole lot to do about money. They put so much emphasis on the possible loss of the basketball division but also mention that the company was already making so much in running shoes. They weren’t going to go bankrupt at all.

Yes, great performances – Viola Davis, Chris Messina, and even a wonderful cameo turn by Marlon Wayans – and some snappy dialogue and great camera work (though the music is so intrusive and overselling the 80s vibe way too much) but at the end of the day, it feels like a commercial or a product placement.

My Rating:

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Air is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Buy your tickets here

Photo Credit: “Warner Bros. Pictures”

April 27, 2023
The Surprising Tender Heart of ‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’

Based on the trailer, ‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’ looks like a crazy, out-of-the-box fantasy tale involving two incredible actors – Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba – and the out of this world imagination of director George Miller.

Miller, who has shown great depth and versatility having directed both ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ and the penguin musical ‘Happy Feet’ as well as directing the delightful 80s women-centric supernatural comedy ‘The Witches of Eastwick’ and then dramatic biopic ‘Lorenzon’s Oil.’ His filmography is such that it can bring a rush of excitement over whatever project he conjures up next and what aspect of the human condition he plans to turn into some cinematic spectacle.

Photo courtesy of Go Asia Entertainment

Tilda Swinton plays Alithea Binnie, a narratologist, who discovers a djinn (genie) in a bottle during an academic conference in Turkey. As a narratologist, Alithea is vastly knowledgeable about stories of all kinds, and is an expert in mythology and ancient lore. During her conference, she exhibits hallucinations of mystical beings that engage with her but no one else can see. Are they all in her mind or are they really happening?

So when the djinn (played by Idris Elba) is freed, it doesn’t take much for Alithea to understand what is happening and what is at stake when the djinn tells her that he is obliged to grant her three wishes. But as someone who is well-versed in the stories of man, of different cultures and different eras of human civilization, Alithea is not one to be so hasty and what unravels is a story within a story, akin to The Tales of the Arabian Nights and the story of Scheherezade.

Photo courtesy of Go Asia Entertainment

What begins in a hotel room in Turkey, with Alithea in a bathrobe and the djinn eventually following suit, discussing the parameters of their arrangement, the story shifts into the many tales of both Alithea and the djinn and the scenes shift to the stories they weave.

Each story is set in a lush, extravagantly production designed wonder of that era. A story about the Queen of Sheba or a story about a prince of the Ottoman empire brings us to these moments with a casting that befits these characters and while a lot of the story is told through the narration of Elba or Swinton, when the characters do speak, it is of the language of that land and of that era. On paper, the narrative is a lonely narratologist and djinn talking in a hotel room exchanging stories but what you see are foreign lands in a different time. Miller’s playful use of the camera allows us to go into the heart of these stories, and as the title of the film suggests, they are stories about longing and love and desire.

Photo courtesy of Go Asia Entertainment

I was expecting a riotous, frenetic film filled with bombastic visuals as the trailer suggests but instead, I found myself marveling at the tender heart that is beating at the center of this film. It is visually stunning but it was unexpectedly warm and poignant. The film doesn’t only highlight the power of stories in our lives – how we use it everyday in the way with which we see ourselves and the world – but it also explores the various nature of our wishes and desires.

Swinton and Elba take this eccentric, whimsical little fairy tale and manage to infuse their characters with so much humanity, Swinton playing a caricature of the intelligent, introverted master of stories with such precision that when her character makes a sudden realisation later in the film about what it is she truly desires, the caricature almosts fades immediately and she suddenly becomes human in an instant. It’s something that happens without a cut, a sudden epiphany that happens in a sparkle of her eyes. Playing off of this is Elba, who is at home playing an otherworldly being, who possesses great power but also a sad history. It’s there in his posture, in the way he plays with his voice.

Photo courtesy of Go Asia Entertainment

‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’ is an unexpected visual feast that is more a love story than it is a supernatural, mythical adventure. It’s a modern fairytale about love and desire and the cost of such an emotion in this world, whether human or djinn. It is not afraid to be unconventional or weird. It is not afraid to be steeped into the world of its own stories and then to push back into the modernity of the narrative framework of its own film. It’s refreshing, surprising in how bold and daring it is and, as he always does, George Miller has surprised me once again.

My Rating:

–

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Distributed by Go Asia Entertainment, Three Thousand Years of Longing is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Buy your tickets here.

September 14, 2022
Take a Ride on the Crazy Train: a review of ‘Bullet Train’

I’m not exactly sure what I just saw but I sure as hell had a good time watching it. ‘Bullet Train’ is a flippant action comedy that works on a very stylized, hyper-real world of assassins and very self-aware filmmaking. Director David Leitch throws away character development for a zany, ultra-violent madcap caper of five (or was it six? There are so many in this movie!) assassins with different missions aboard one bullet train in Japan, who discover that their missions are all interconnected.

Taking the lead is Brad Pitt as Ladybug, who has just come out of hiatus to do a “simple job” and is trying to find a new approach to life through the help of a therapist. He discusses all of this with his handler, Maria (voiced by Sandra Bullock). It’s interesting that the lead is a mercenary who has come back to the field as he tries to philosophize and rationalize his actions, whether it’s stealing, assaulting, or even killing the various occupants in the train.

Brad Pitt is in fine form here, oozing with charisma and a dazzling display of physical strength and agility (online, it says he did 95% of his own stunts). He gives the audience someone to root for as each new assassin that is introduced just seems crazier than the last one.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry are a pair who has to deliver the son of a Russian gangster and some stolen cash to the final destination of the train in Kyoto. They are a verbose duo, who are as ruthless as they are unintentionally funny. Their dialogue can get a bit much and slow things down at the start but as the action begins to build momentum, everything gets used in the end.

Photo: Columbia Pictures

Andrew Koji is a forlorn father, who takes the train to find and kill the man who pushed his son off a building but gets entangled with Joey King’s The Prince, a schoolgirl with a dark past of her own. Koji is an arresting actor and feels under-utilised here, considering the film opens with his story. His character’s struggle would seem one that is likely to bring audiences in but it’s too heavy for the light and comedic tone of the film so it takes a step back as Leitch and screenwriter Zak Olkewicz opts to take the gags and the action.

Also in the film are Bad Bunny, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Logan Lerman, Zazie Beetz, and some surprising cameos that are fun and just add to the formalist aesthetic of the film. Everyone seems to be having fun here and it makes the whole thing enjoyable even if the film doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Photo: Columbia Pictures

There’s no real character arc that’s happening in the movie. Much like Ladybug’s musings, ruminating about fate and coincidence, the film plays out like a farce with no real-world associations. It’s not a satire or a social commentary. It’s not a battle between good and bad. It’s just bad people doing bad things and in what could be a really fun way depending on what you consider fun in movies.

It’s clever both visually and in its scripting. The film jumps into flashbacks to deepen the history of these characters but only when needed and not set up methodically so as to create a sense of build-up. The scenes cut to the next moment where the tension can rise or when we can get the most laughs.

There are 16 cars in the bullet train but the only way for these characters to move is forward or backward, which means there are no places to run or hide. In this way, all the five groups of killers are going to collide at some point and it just gets crazier and crazier as it goes along; all the way to a grand finish that feels like they threw everything and the kitchen sink at us for full effect.

Photo: Columbia Pictures

And while ‘Bullet Train’ is narratively thin, it’s a hell of a fun ride. At some point, you realise no one is safe, you can’t take anything seriously, pleasantly surprised by the sudden cameos, and so forth. It’s a kind of irreverence that feels at home in a crazy world where nothing really matters. Maybe five years ago it would have been disappointing as I search for some sort of meaning but now, I’m very much welcome to this sort of insanity on screen.

Now I’m really curious about the novel that the film is based on by Kotaro Isaka.

My Rating:

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Bullet Train opens in cinemas nationwide on August 10, Wednesday.

ALSO READ:
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry are the Twin Assassins in “Bullet Train”
Former Stunt Double of Brad Pitt Now Directs “Bullet Train”

August 8, 2022
‘The Black Phone’ keeps it simple and puts the tension front-and-center

One of the best things about ‘The Black Phone’ is how it keeps the narrative down to its essentials. There are a lot of backstories implied or referred to but it never digresses from the main storyline to explore them. It stays focused on the main plot, about a young kid who is kidnapped and trapped in a basement, and keeps the camera on them and the kid’s sister, who is trying to find him. Another interesting point is that ‘The Black Telephone,’ based on the short story by Joe Hill, is a supernatural tale but the danger doesn’t come from the ghosts that you see in the trailer. That real danger here is another human being. And for some reason, that makes the film even scarier.

Directed by Scott Derrickson, with a screenplay by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, ‘The Black Phone’ is not your typical horror film. The source of fear comes from the anticipation that something bad is going to happen. From the trailer, you can tell that the ghosts are actually all the former victims of the kidnapper. While they do appear in gruesome forms, they are actually helping Finney, the latest victim, to try and get out alive. Instead of shocking you with images of violence, it is implied; that it is coming but not yet and that is what creates the tension that pervades throughout the film.

It’s a nice subversion of the genre, extending the suspense, building the anticipation, and creating moments of hope that Finney can get out in one piece. The film, then, isn’t so much as scary as it is thrilling, capitalizing on our hope that this story will end well for the protagonist and that’s what drives the film’s momentum forward.

Another interesting subversion, shared by one of the critics I got to see this with during the special screening, is how the voices of the victims are amplified in this movie and not the villain’s. There is no glorification or humanization of this kidnapper and after this was pointed out to me, I thought that was a welcome and necessary change.

_{Photo: The Black Phone Trailer}

Derrickson builds a very distinct world in this film. ‘The Black Phone’ is set in the late 70s so the lack of technology creates even more obstacles for our characters. Before Finney is kidnapped, we see the world he inhabits: a close relationship with his sister, their abusive alcoholic father, and the bullies at his school that have made life very challenging for him. The stronger one amongst the siblings is his sister Gwen, who might’ve been smart enough to not get kidnapped, but knowing Finney’s vulnerabilities makes us feel more attached to him as the victim.

Compounded by the narrative elements is the wonderful acting amongst all the kids. Mason Thames, who plays Finney, and Madeleine McGraw, who plays Gwen, do a great job at bringing their characters to life. For Thames, he instills so much fragility within his Finney but also shows his sparks and moments of cleverness, while McGraw makes tough and foul-mouthed Gwen such a spirited character. She juggles multiple emotions including a surprisingly genuine laugh-out-loud moment in the middle of the film that completely endears you to the character. While the adults like Ethan Hawke, as the kidnapper, and Jeremy Davies, as the alcoholic father, play a great role, this movie is really a showcase for all the child actors involved.

_{Photo: Universal Pictures PH Facebook}

There are minimal jump scares in this film and that’s perfectly alright because what ‘The Black Phone’ does is to put you right smack dab in the center of a very tense situation and then plays with your emotions and gives you characters and a goal to root and cheer for. You’ll find yourself tapping your feet anxiously hoping that things don’t turn out the way the film manages to illustrate through the presence and stories of these ghosts.

Derrickson does an amazing job at managing and playing with expectations and suspense and I’m excited to see what he’s up to next.

My Rating:

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The Black Phone opens in cinemas nationwide on Wednesday, July 20. Buy your tickets here.

ALSO READ:
Rings of Horror in “The Black Phone” Starts July 20 with Sneak Previews on July 11 and 12
WATCH: Voices of the Dead Assist the Abducted in ‘The Black Phone’ Trailer

July 19, 2022
‘Ngayon Kaya’ is a moody romance drama that dwells in the feelings and revels in the nostalgia

There is a nostalgic appeal to Prime Cruz’s latest film ‘Ngayon Kaya’ starring Paulo Avelino and Janine Gutierrez. From its moody cinematography to its soundtrack of familiar OPM songs, from the way the story delves into the past to the vibrancy of pre-pandemic Philippines (the film was shot before the pandemic), ‘Ngayon Kaya’ is a film that is rich in its sentimentality. It reminds me of romantic films from five years ago.

It’s a story of what-ifs and how two friends, Harold and AM (played by Avelino and Gutierrez, respectively), reconnect at a mutual friend’s wedding and the weight of past choices weigh heavily on them. Both have arrived late to the church wedding and it’s the first time they have seen each other since Harold has moved to Canada and so they decide to head to the reception together. The awkwardness triggers memories of the past and the tight bonds of friendship that they once had unfolded before us through these flashbacks.

The story plays out in two timelines – the past and the present – and we see two friends who bond over trivial things like being late to the same class at the start but as they get closer, they become each other’s anchors. They share similar interests, after all, both are into music, but they come from different worlds.

Harold and his family are struggling financially and his goal is to move to Canada to earn a lot of money to help support his mother, his two younger siblings, and their struggling fish pond. AM is an only child of parents, who are both doctors, and while she’s on a pre-med course, her dream is to make music and sing in a band. AM immediately latches on to Harold and brings him with her in her dreams of making it big in the music industry but as the story unfolds, it seems that their priorities and their intentions were not aligned.

Reality kicks in and kicks them hard and we see and understand why the present-day relationship between the two reunited friends is so strained.

But this is also a love story but one that is bogged down by the hesitation of its principal characters.

Screenwriter Jen Chuaunsu infuses Harold’s and AM’s conversations as youths with the realistic unconscious meanderings of that age, of dreams and ideals, and then shifts it to this awkward mess in the present day as the two are unable to connect, their past serving as a wall to rebuild their relationship. This is another way in which the film feels like a throwback, it has the same verbose dialogue as films like ‘Meet Me in St. Gallen’ and ‘Mr. and Mrs. Reyes.’ The first half of this film is centered around these conversations and the contrast between the past and the present.

What’s amazing about these contrasts is that the problem is still present, it persists: Harold and AM talk a lot, but they aren’t saying what it is they really want to say, which is how they feel about each other.

This is the magic of the second half when the slow, languid pace of the film picks up as the present-day Harold and AM find an opportunity to reclaim the energy and vibrancy of their youth and the possibilities open up for these two.

‘Ngayon Kaya’ is a delicate film that is built carefully around the nuances of the characters. While Paulo Avelino takes a completely understated approach to Harold, which diminishes the character’s strength (oftentimes, I want him to do more, give more as he does at the end of the film), it is Janine Gutierrez who really steals the show. Gutierrez’s AM is so un-self-conscious, so naive of her effect on people, and breathes life into the film. It is her dreams and passion that push the story forward and Gutierrez manages to make this film hers.

‘Ngayon Kaya’ is more reserved and withdrawn as a romance film, focusing more on the mood and the nostalgia than it does on the drama of an unrealised relationship. The pace and energy is unlike director Prime Cruz’s other works like ‘Isa Pa With Feelings’ and ‘Can We Still Be Friends.’ He takes his time, sometimes even dwelling on a feeling, which is a brave move for a Filipino romance movie but it feels apt for this film.

I wish that the dialogue was more conversational, instead of the dialogue-pause-dialogue delivery that happens between Avelino and Gutierrez. That staccato works in the present day but didn’t in the flashback scenes. It’s as if the couple can’t seem to fully connect because of the things not said, while the world behind them is so rich and full of life. But everything comes together in the final act, an extended scene set to the music of the band Mayonnaise is the catharsis that the film is pushing towards. I just hope the audience has the patience for it.

My Rating:

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‘Ngayon Kaya‘ is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Buy your tickets here.

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June 23, 2022
The bombastic Baz Luhrmann turns ‘Elvis’ into an epic rock musical that’s nothing short of explosive

From the director that brought us ‘Moulin Rouge!’ and ‘Gatsby’, Baz Luhrmann lends his unmistakable genius of cinematic spectacle to the life of American rock and roll legend Elvis Presley in the musical biopic ‘Elvis.’

Luhrmann (with a screenplay by Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner) takes broad strokes and focuses on the phenomenon of Elvis – how his persona and music changed the fabric of America – and his relationship with his manager Colonel Tom Parker. Told in the point-of-view of Parker, as he is recalling the rise and fall of Elvis in a delirious state of a morphine high near his death, Parker narrates the story completely aware of the audience, with Tom Hanks (playing Parker) looking straight at the camera at some point and even referring to us as ‘you.’

The self-awareness of the film’s approach creates a space for Luhrmann to go all-out with his filmmaking techniques. He splices live footage with his film, uses multiple frames, jumps back and forth through time in a dazzling fury, and even infuses contemporary music production techniques when Elvis sings to seamlessly jump from scene to scene on a song number while amplifying what it was in Elvis Presley’s music that was so charged and moving.

Told from the villain’s point-of-view (because Colonel Tom Parker was revealed to be as such) it pushes Elvis into the space of a mythical being. His rags to riches story and how his life is the quintessential American dream (including the reality of being consumed by the same industry he found his mark in due to his naivete) is rendered like a fable or a fairytale except all this really happened.

More than Hanks, who delivers a rather unsurprising villain (complete with full prosthetics and a fat suit), it is Austin Butler who truly grounds this movie with an embodiment of a character that is full of charisma and passion and sexual energy.

While I’m familiar with a lot of Elvis Presley’s songs (more than I realised after watching this film) I’m not that familiar with the singer himself nor his actual career so I don’t feel comfortable talking about Butler’s portrayal of Presley. But what he does accomplish is to imbue Elvis with so much energy that when the women start screaming at his onstage gyrations and primal stage presence, I feel like I understand what the whole phenomenon of Elvis is about.

And while the film, even at 159 minutes, only really scratches the surface of Elvis’ life and career, what I do enjoy about the movie is how it really manages to show his connection to black music – gospel and rhythm and blues – and really amps up how Elvis Presley found his roots in these genres of music.

His connection to the black community of Memphis and Beale Street, with legends like B. B. King and Mahalia Jackson in tow, really brings to light why people like Al Green and Little Richard credit Presley for “opening the doors to black music.” This is well-executed through Luhrmann’s editing where he splices three timelines in one song, allowing us to see how Presley’s youth and listening to gospel choir influences his music in his early years until the later part of his career. The effect is dazzling.

With the intercutting of the scenes and sounds, it even appears that the primarily white audience of Elvis are applauding and cheering for the black singers and musicians of Elvis Presley’s past. The effect is spell-binding.

Baz Luhrmann is a director of grand spectacle. He barely has any quiet moments in his film and his character’s most introspective moments are amped up by a soaring musical score and high drama. Subtlety is not Luhrmann’s strength and we don’t go and watch a Baz Luhrmann film for that. What he delivers in turn is a high-energy rock musical, sometimes even playing contemporary rap music in selected scenes, to underscore how timeless this story is and how relevant Elvis Presley’s legacy to American (and global) music is.

While the film really explores the villainy of Colonel Tom Parker and his hand at both the rise and fall of the rock and roll legend, at over two hours, I would’ve wanted just a little bit more of his life with Priscilla, his wife. Played by Olivia DeJonge, Priscilla is set up as a counterpoint for Parker’s manipulations but she hardly gets to do anything much in the narrative.

What we get instead are some amazing performances by Butler, singing some songs I’ve forgotten and some songs I love that I didn’t even realize were Presley’s that truly showcased the power of his stage presence and his voice. Butler sings the songs in his early years but they interpolated recordings of Presley in his later years into Butler’s voice to mark the lowering of his tonal register. The music of this film, like any Baz Luhrmann film, is absolutely fantastic and I can’t wait for the album to be out on streaming (it isn’t out yet on Spotify as I’m writing this).

‘Elvis’ is a big, grand rock and roll musical with high energy and a brilliant performance by Austin Butler. And while it never really manages to get to a genuinely soft and tender moment due to its scale, it manages to contextualize the legend that is Elvis Presley. It’s definitely something to watch in a cinema with really good sound.

My Rating:

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‘Elvis‘ is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Buy your tickets here.

ALSO READ:
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June 21, 2022
With nothing really new to say, ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ just feels like a theme park ride

The first three installments of the ‘Jurassic Park’ franchise took to the heart of the Michael Crichton book it was adapted from and really focused on two things: the majesty and wonder of dinosaurs and the hubris of man in using science to play god (and all the destructive consequences that followed).

It wasn’t until I saw ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ that I finally understood what I didn’t like about the last three installments. It takes the central premise predicated by the first three and turns it around. The dinosaurs were no longer these mysterious and majestic creatures. They can be trained and their presence in the films was more like monsters in a creature feature than the products of man’s arrogance.

Steven Spielberg and Joe Johnston (who directed the first two films and the third film, respectively) treated the dinosaurs with child-like wonder when covering them. They took the time to really marvel at the imagery of a dinosaur walking side-by-side with human beings. And when the predatory dinosaurs attacked, it was frightening because they were like animals in the wild, who were just doing things in their nature. When the T-Rex was brought to America in ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park,’ Spielberg made sure that he was highlighting the mistake of man playing god and the destruction this causes.

But when ‘Jurassic World’ came out, and its succeeding films afterward, the majesty and grandeur of the dinosaurs were taken away when Chris Pratts’ Owen Grady began training the velociraptors and even gave one a name. The dinosaurs were valued more for their potential for action sequences and horror sequences. I suppose this is an evolution (pun intended) of where the series would go, but something gets lost in the process: the magic of it all.

Director Colin Trevorrow, who directed ‘Jurassic World’ and ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ is more inclined to create spectacles than to imbue grand imagery with profound meaning. At least J.A. Bayona, who directed ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ just mined the premise for all its horror possibilities but even that script couldn’t bring back the magic.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment

The lesson was already learned in the first three. There’s nothing that feels new to the whole series to keep it exciting or relevant.

And all this culminates in ‘Jurassic World Dominion,’ which feels like an excuse to just bring back as many characters from the different installments as possible and mix the old and new in new sequences to show dinosaurs being frightening.

At first, the narrative is split into two – that of the old guard, Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Alan Grant (Sam Neill), and Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), and the new characters like Owen, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), and Maisie (Isabella Sermon) – and while that of the older characters feel more familiar in tone and feel, the one of Owen and Claire feels a little disconnected and personal.

The personal tone of Owen and Claire’s story feels off, as there’s this attempt at envisioning a world now where dinosaurs have now encroached into human life. Pteranodons are now nesting on the rooftops of buildings and giant long-necked apatosauruses are getting in the way of industry work. It’s these moments, few as they are, where the film holds some magic. But these moments don’t last.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment

Instead, we are once again brought into a story about an evil corporation run by Dr. Lewis Dodgson (played wonderfully by Campbell Scott), who is using the genetic material now available to wreak new havoc on the world, albeit accidentally. And to make things worse, Maisie is instrumental in all of these machinations and she’s abducted.

In the 146-minute running time, there’s less about the ramifications of all this (it’s said a lot but it is never really felt) and more about complex high-octane chase sequences with trained killer velociraptors in the streets of Malta, a battle of three different giant predators in a valley in Italy, and several more attacks from various dinosaurs in different situations.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment

‘Jurassic World Dominion’ barely stops to take a breath and keeps throwing us one action sequence after another (and often time, they aren’t covered properly: the scenes are too dark, editing is off that you don’t understand what’s going on) that it barely has time to breathe and when it does, it’s just so that the old and new characters can mix and trade platitudes and witty barbs.

I think I now know what Martin Scorsese meant when he called MCU films a “theme park ride.” At least Laura Dern was there. She’s great in everything.

My Rating:

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Jurassic World Dominion is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Buy your tickets here.

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June 8, 2022
Sam Raimi and the Endless Cinematic Possibilities: A review of ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’

After seeing ‘WandaVision,’ I was so very stoked to watch ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.’ It’s no secret that Wanda Maximoff is my favorite character in the MCU and her appearance in the film made it a must-see movie for me. The MCU has been quite successful, in my opinion, in translating the joy of reading comics and graphic novels into the film medium. It satisfies my childhood need to see superheroes in action, facing insurmountable odds, and (more often than not) dealing with the gray areas of the good versus bad/right versus wrong dynamics in the world in a bombastic cinematic experience.

But the MCU has a particular type. There’s a certain look and feel to each MCU despite its variety of directors and scriptwriters. The only two films in the MCU that feel different and have the mark of its individual directors were Taika Waititi’s ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ and Chloe Zhao’s ‘Eternals.’

But now Sam Raimi’s ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ joins the ranks.

As much as this is an MCU movie, ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ is a Sam Raimi film. As much as Benedict Cumberbatch is the star as Doctor Strange, the spotlight of this film has to be Sam Raimi and his pitch perfect direction. He’s turned this story into a playground for his indelible style.

Under Sam Raimi’s exceptional and out-of-the-box vision, the movie is playful and unexpected. It has twists and turns – some you see coming, others surprise you along the way and keeps you on your toes – and it’s done with such stylistic flair that makes it feel so new and refreshing and, as a cinematic product, makes full use of the medium.

Raimi’s transitions between scenes are clever and visually arresting. He peppers the film with jump scares and hauntingly loud horror music by Danny Elfman. It has a lot of trademark Sam Raimi (who is famous for the first three ‘Spider-man’ films with Tobey Maguire, ‘Drag Me to Hell,’ and the cult series ‘The Evil Dead’ and ‘Army of Darkness’). There are surprising extreme close-ups, camera angles in the point-of-view of either the object or a hidden character, the aforementioned jump scares, and so on.

Photo: Marvel.com

The story of ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ involves the titular character facing a powerful enemy to protect a young girl, America Chavez (played with great confidence by Xochitl Gomez), whose powers has made her a target for the said-powerful adversary. Her ability – to be able to traverse the different universes – would be too powerful and damaging in the wrong hands. In an effort to save her, he is thrown into various universes, alternate realities that are similar to the one we’ve been following in the MCU but with variations.

So Sam Raimi’s direction even gives the feeling that we are watching an alternate type of MCU movie. The effect is dazzling. What also makes it enjoyable is that scriptwriter Michael Waldron manages to forego traditional narrative forms to really put Dr. Strange, America Chavez, and Wanda as the leads without taking away from Doctor Strange that this is his movie. Each character has something to face within themselves but since we’ve really explored so much of Doctor Strange and Wanda in previous MCU installments whether on TV or film, he doesn’t bow down to too much character development.

Photo: Marvel.com

He doesn’t have to. Instead, the film really gives us endless possibilities by exploring the many different worlds and realities in the MCU. This gives the film a lot of chances to do fan service moments without major repercussions to the main reality while giving its main characters a big enough impetus to change.

I’m a little short on details because, in an effort to keep this review spoiler-free, I have to paint this critique in generalizations and broad strokes. This film is centered on the cinematic experience – any spoilers may ruin the audience’s involvement – but there’s also a lot happening that I am inclined to watch again; and in 3D, if possible, because the visuals are just amazing.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen must have had an enjoyable time being able to play with these characters and their different iterations in the realities offered. As actors, this must have been fun for them and you can see it in their performances. Benedict Wong manages to keep Wong as a solid character that can ground Doctor Strange, and Rachel McAdams is not relegated as an accessory to the cast. There’s enough meat for her character to play within this film.

Photo: Marvel.com

This is a perfect MCU movie, up there with ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and ‘Avengers: End Game,’ wherein the film is aware of the audience’s expectations and plays with them in fun and surprising ways. And with the added touch of Sam Raimi’s direction, it is elevated into a wonderfully delightful experience that is surprising, refreshing, and makes you want more. While I was completely satisfied with the two hours and six-minute run time of the film, I wanted more of it.

So, I guess, I’ll just have to go to the cinema again to take it all in. But this time, I want to see it in 3D.

My Rating:

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Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness is now showing in Philippine cinemas. Buy your tickets here.

ALSO READ:
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May 5, 2022