Tag: Movie Reviews

The Good, The Bad, and the Enjoyable: a review of ‘The Bad Guys’

First off, I wasn’t impressed by the trailer of Dreamworks’ new animated full-length, ‘The Bad Guys.’ There was something so literal about it. A bunch of villains pretending to be good and, I’m guessing, they become good in the process. It came across as quite one-dimensional.

When I got to see the film, I was completely blown away. First off, the animation is splendid. It has the sheen and gloss of a painting that moves. The texture and colors of the images are quite beautiful to watch. But even if it is almost painting-like in its execution, it doesn’t stop director Pierre Perifel to do some really frenetic action that will be super enjoyable to both kids and adults alike.

What also drew me into the film is the intricate characterization of the cast. From the lead character, The Wolf, the charismatic leader of the criminal gang called The Bad Guys, to Mr. Snake, Webs, Shark, and Piranha. Each character is distinct, adorable, and unforgettable. It helps that the voice acting is really good. Sam Rockwell is slick and charming as The Wolf and Marc Maron plays off Rockwell extremely well as Mr. Snake. The cast also includes Awkwafina (Webs), Craig Robinson (Shark), Anthony Ramos (Piranha), Zazie Beets (as Governor Foxington), and Richard Ayoade (as the guinea pig narcissistic philanthropist Professor Marmalade).

It’s a straight-up caper film with hilarious gags that are funny and unexpected. Some of the gags include Mr. Shark being so excellent at disguise that it leads to hilarious effects, aside from the fact that he is visually a shark in a disguise. Piranha is a crazy, hot head, and he’s not the smartest fish in the sea. Adding to the hilarity of the film is the idea that some animals can talk and act like humans while some animals are merely animals. And they all live in a world primarily populated by humans. Even the governor is a literal fox!

The highly unrealistic world creates a space for some amazing visual setups for the rather complicated capers The Bad Guys pull, some energetic car chases, and some cool action sequences. This world is so left-of-center and out-of-the-box that it allows you to empathize with the lead characters despite them being criminals. But the movie is also nuanced enough to take note that The Wolf and Mr. Snake would pay their bill at a diner right before they rob a bank.

But further into the story, the movie pushes its nuances further and explores this idea about second chances and how dangerous stereotypes can be. It’s mentioned quite a few times in the film that you should never judge a book by its cover and the film manages to dramatize this wonderfully through its narrative and even choice of characters.

The Bad Guys – a wolf, a snake, a shark, a tarantula, and a piranha – all have bad reputations (as carnivores) but this is all a metaphor for something even bigger. The distorted reality of the setting allows for an interesting space to discuss the dangers of stereotyping and how we could easily force people into doing “bad things” just because that’s how the world perceives them.

What’s great about ‘The Bad Guys’ is that it manages to do this in a series of narrative twists and turns that keep you at your seat and manage to surprise you at every turn without sacrificing any of the enjoyment. It manages to stay fast-paced and funny while still going deep into society’s judgmental attitudes. The added bonus? It works well for both kids and adults alike.

Rumors have it that ‘The Bad Guys,’ based on the books of the same name by Aaron Blabey, will be a franchise IP. That means there will be more stories about these characters (even though the film ends with a clear resolution). I actually love the idea because I’d love to see these characters again and see what else is in store for these ‘bad guys.’

My Rating:

––

‘The Bad Guys‘ opens in Philippine cinemas on April 27, 2022. Buy your tickets here.

ALSO READ:
Dreamworks Animation’s ‘The Bad Guys’ Brings Best-Selling Children’s Book Series to Life
Awkwafina’s Voice Gives Life to Tech-Savvy Spidey in ‘The Bad Guys’

April 26, 2022
Revisiting a classic genre, ‘The Lost City’ is an enjoyable break from superhero movies in the cinema

Back in the 80s, the success of the 1984 film ‘Romancing the Stone’ with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, started a fun genre known as the adventure/romance genre. It was an enjoyable movie that had all the genre conventions of both kinds of movies and appealed to women. It had the thrills and spills of the action genre, a heavy dose of comedy, and a love story grounding the film at the center. That film is also about a romance novelist, who ends up on an adventure much like her own books, and meets a dashing smuggler, who helps her through her quest. I actually saw the movie and its sequel and it was a lot of fun.

‘The Lost City’ takes a generous amount of story elements from the 1984 film but ramps up the comedy for an enjoyable revisit to this classic genre that I didn’t realize was sorely missed. The film exchanges the original film’s dashing bird smuggler for the romance novelist’s cover model and hilarity ensues. While the premise of ‘Romancing the Stone’ is steeped in real danger and real issues (her sister is kidnapped, people are killed), ‘The Lost City’ leans on the hyper-real and is unafraid to be goofy and wacky.

The genre covers a lot of bases – romance, action, and comedy – which makes it perfect for a date or for watching movies with your close friends. It’s the kind of light, feel-good and enjoyable time in the theater that has been lacking in recent years with either films loaded with special effects or award-bait movies that can leave you in a spiral of heavy thoughts.

While the first five or eight minutes of ‘The Lost City’ have some tired and expected jokes – involving Channing Tatum’s cover model being not very bright and Sandra Bullock’s reclusive, grieving author being forced out of her comfort zones to promote her latest book – the film really starts to take flight when Bullock’s Loretta Sage is kidnapped by billionaire Abigail Fairfax (played by Daniel Radcliffe) as her background in archeology and ancient languages may help find the missing resting place of a priestess and her treasure. The same priestess who is written about in Loretta Sage’s books.

Witnessing the kidnapping, Alan, the cover model, insists on trying to save her because he wants her to see him as more than just a pretty face.

‘The Lost City’ is unafraid to be over the top and unrealistic. As seen in the trailer, Fairfax takes her on an airplane landing on the top floor of a building, a fantastic scene that feels a little too much so quickly. But this is the charm of the film. It doesn’t take itself so seriously so you can really just sit back and relax and just have fun with all the hilarious gags.

Because this is exactly in Bullock and Tatum’s wheelhouse. They get to do physical comedy (both have impeccable timing), Bullock gets to show off her wit and eloquence while Tatum gets to make fun of himself but still find the beating heart and warmth of his character that makes him so endearing. There’s also a healthy dose of Tatum showing off his amazing body so that’s always a plus.

Radcliffe is having a ball playing the billionaire with manners who gets more and more unhinged as the film unfolds. It’s the steady build up from elegant and posh to diabolically evil. It’s just so much fun. And the Brad Pitt cameo is as funny in the movie as it is in the trailer.

In a cinematic landscape that is heavily populated by big event movies, comic book fare, or serious, heavy dramas that are gunning for awards, it’s so refreshing to have a film that is just all about having a good time. It hints at some criticism against corporate takeovers of smaller countries – Abigail Fairfax buys half an island in search of the actual lost city of D – and the sort of destruction they do to the natural surroundings but it never hits too hard or makes any real statement against it.

It’s not that kind of film. And after the 112-minute running time of the film, I realized that that was okay too. ‘The Lost City’ is not going to change my life or the way I see the world but for almost two hours, I got lost in the laughs and the fun chemistry between Bullock and Tatum. I forgot that movies can be like this in the cinema too. It’s not just for streaming and I’m glad that it’s doing well at the box office. It’s nice to just have fun again in the theater.

My Rating:

ALSO READ:
Film Facts: 5 Things to Know About ‘The Lost City’
LOOTBOX: Click here for your chance to win limited edition goodies from The Lost City!

––

‘The Lost City‘ is now in cinemas nationwide. Find a cinema near you and book your tickets here.

April 25, 2022
Heavily plot-driven, ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ is an exclusive cinematic experience made just for fans

As I sat in my seat in the special screening of ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’, while surrounded by excited fans in their house robes and carrying wands, I came to the realisation that, while it had only been four years since the release of the previous film ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,’ I didn’t have any recollection about the earlier film at all.

Of course, I remember that Eddie Redmayne played Newt Scamander and that it was a period film in the Harry Potter universe. But none of the plotlines of the previous film had stuck with me except those of Queenie (played by Alison Sudol). Queenie was the only character that had left an imprint on me in the whole series.

I couldn’t remember what the crimes of Grindelwald were and what all of this had to do with the fantastic beasts. I had hoped that the opening of the film would help me catch up to the events of the last film but instead, it opens in medias res with Albus Dumbledore (played by Jude Law) having tea with Grindelwald (played by Mads Mikkelsen) talking about things I wasn’t sure of and a revelation that we were all aware of (though the audience around me still reacted as if it was new information).

And then it goes to the opening credits and a rather dark scene (was the scene just unbelievably dark or does the SM Aura Premiere theater need to clean its lens?) of Newt observing another one of the fantastic beasts.

A lot of plot happens before we shift to Jacob (played by Dan Fogler) and his life without Queenie. We are introduced to a new character, Lally (played by Jessica Hicks), and then we are thrust into the main plot of the film.

The movie plays out like this throughout its 142-minute runtime. Reintroduces us to old characters (Ezra Miller as Credence, Callum Turner as Theseus) while opening a new plotline involving Grindelwald as some rising name in the wizarding world for his populist views of eradicating the non-magical humans (called muggles) as they pose a threat to the wizarding world.

There’s an election that’s happening and in the middle of it, Dumbledore sends Newt and his friends to a quest to stop Grindelwald from swaying the public to take his war seriously.

‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ is a movie that is all plot. Our heroes are sent on a quest and it’s one challenge after the other while Grindelwald gathers his forces and Dumbledore has his own little side adventures to follow. The movie jumps from Newt and Theseus to Jacob, then Grindelwald, and then to Credence, and then to Queenie in such a flurry of story that it doesn’t quite feel cohesive or whole.

There are lots of magical moments in the film that make you wonder why exactly is Grindelwald so afraid of the muggles? When wizards can do such amazing things with a wave of their wand, what chance do ordinary beings have against them? Never does the film ever take the time to impress upon us the danger of Grindelwald’s philosophy. The stakes are made to feel big – Dumbledore and other characters say it all the time – but never does the film ever show us what exactly those stakes are.

And this is my biggest issue with this film. While the fans around me were ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the mention of a character’s name or a mystical effect a character does or an antic made by one of the cute fantastic beasts of Newt, the film never feels grounded in anything tangible or concrete. There’s imagery used to compare Grindelwald to any bigoted populist president in contemporary society – a fantastical Hitler, so to speak – but there’s no danger present in the scenes other than the dangerous rhetoric.

Albus is merely good because he is against Grindelwald, but there’s no real scene that ever shows us his goodness. Newt’s moral center has been established in the earlier films but he undergoes no internal struggle that allows me to invest in his character.

The only real character whose internal struggle feels developed and whole in the movie is of Queenie but she has to share her screen time with all the other characters and the busyness of the plot.

From the way the audience was reacting, ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ comes off to me as an exclusive cinematic event that caters only to fans and those invested in the lore. As someone with no real attachments to the franchise, it was incredibly difficult to feel included in this journey. While it had a lot to say about populist statements that lead to bigotry and war, it never makes any of it feel palpable or real. Instead, it is more dead set on highlighting how magical the wizarding world is.

But they’ve already done that in the Harry Potter series. What else do they have to offer?

My Rating:

––

‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ is now in cinemas nationwide. Find a cinema near you and book your tickets here.

April 19, 2022
Double Trouble: a review of ‘The Adam Project’

Ryan Reynolds has a type. He really shines as a wise-cracking tough guy that’s hiding a fragile, sensitive heart. He’s got a lot of charisma and great comedic timing. I first caught wind of this in 2004’s ‘Blade: Trinity’ where he was the most enjoyable character in the film (along with Parker Posey, another fantastic actor with great charisma and comedic timing). And while it took a long while for him to be fully appreciated for his talents – it wasn’t until 2016’s ‘Deadpool’ where he finally hit it big – he has had a stable career building this character and turning it into his own.

I mention this because a lot of Netflix’s new Shawn Levy-directed sci-fi adventure ‘The Adam Project‘ is centered on Ryan Reynolds and his particular style of performance. The film’s script, written by Jonathan Tropper, T.S. Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett, and Mark Levin has turned this time-traveling family adventure into a vehicle to showcase more of Reynolds’ trademark cinematic allure.

Reynolds’ Adam is a sarcastic, quick to the hip wise-cracking time traveler on a “classified” mission that leads him to meet up with his 12-year-old self, played by Walker Scobell. The 12-year old Adam is just as sarcastic and biting, throwing quips and verbal jabs at every turn.

I suppose the appeal here is that you get two Ryan Reynolds for the price of one. What’s even better? You put a Ryan Reynolds character against his younger self who is written just as funny and just as acerbic.

If this is your jam, then you’re going to have a fun time. Except, for me, it’s gotten old already. I think it would be great for Ryan Reynolds to do more, spread himself, and explore the range of his charisma and comedic timing. I’ve seen all of this in ‘Deadpool’ and this film is really milking this schtick so much. Every time ‘The Adam Project’ gets really thrilling or properly emotional, it is immediately undercut by a one-liner.

And it’s a shame because, with all the enjoyable fight sequences and the novelty of being able to imagine what it would be like to meet your younger self, there’s a rather lovely story here about coming to terms with your past and unresolved feelings.

Personally, I’m tired of Reynolds’ brand of comedy and it doesn’t help that Walker Scobell has Reynold’s timing but none of his charm. Granted he’s a kid but he doesn’t have the same power that Tom Holland (as a kid in ‘The Impossible’) or Haley Joel Osment (from ‘The Sixth Sense’) had as a young actor.

Instead, the ones who really bring this movie to its full potential are Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner. Garner, as Adam’s mother, can really imbue a scene with so much heart and emotion that I really wanted more of her in this film. Mark Ruffalo can juggle both humor, big-budget setups (and not get swallowed), and empathy in one go. In fact, he turns a crucial scene in the film from the beginning as a comic thing and then turning it into something very emotional and touching. It’s a genius move.

Zoe Saldana and Catherine Keener, on the flipside, shine as they synch into the adventure part of the film. Keener is enjoyable as a straight-up villain while Saldana handles the action woman role expertly, bringing humanity in an otherwise extraordinary role.

The film has great action choreography where you can really see the movements and enjoy them. The film doesn’t do quick cuts or tight close-ups so you can fully appreciate the movements of the action. As a sci-fi film, it doesn’t delve too much into the science but it doesn’t disregard it either, giving important explanations to the physics and the “rules” behind time travel. It isn’t bogged down by the science so that it can focus on Adam, the younger and the older, and how they can reconcile their own brokenness.

It has beautiful moments that are unfortunately undercut by the Ryan Reynolds-ness of the script, favoring the witty comebacks over emotional depth. Everything else feels by the book that doesn’t do anything much to really reinvent the genre. If it focused on the family bond, it might have been more impactful.

Is it great? Probably not. Is it enjoyable? Definitely. Especially if you love Ryan Reynolds and his cinematic persona.

My Rating:

––

The Adam Project debuts on Netflix on March 11, 2022.

March 10, 2022
The Caped Detective: a review of ‘The Batman’

We’ve seen so many iterations of Batman from the whimsical reimagining of Tim Burton and Michael Keaton to Joel Schumacher’s campy run with Val Kilmer in ‘Batman Forever’ and George Clooney in ‘Batman and Robin.’ Christopher Nolan then changed the way we approached superhero movies with his grounded take on the character with Christian Bale, which gave us a defining Joker through Heath Ledger and then Ben Affleck put on the mantle in Zack Snyder’s ‘Justice League.’ And that’s not to mention the animated series, the animated movies, and the appearances on television shows.

So, honestly, what more can be said about the orphan who has taken to fighting crime wearing a suit fashioned like a bat after his billionaire parents were killed in the streets of the tough-as-nails city of Gotham?

Matt Reeves, a director whose work on the prequels to the ‘Planet of the Apes’ franchise is quite impressive, decides to venture into one of Batman’s original modes, which was that of a detective.

What Reeves manages to give us is a completely new and original cinematic imagining of Batman. No more origin story – what for? We all know it – but instead of the confident master of vigilante crime-fighting, we see Bruce Wayne, who has only been Batman for two years. He is not infallible. He gets hit. He makes mistakes. He is making things up as he goes along.

His suit is clunky and heavy, built to withstand punches, knife attacks, and even bullets. In fact, there’s a lo-fi quality to technology in this film (except for some very cool contact lenses that play an important part in the story) that makes this film feel almost like a period film for superhero movies. There’s not even a cellphone in sight.

Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures

And with this setting, we are introduced to a broken Bruce Wayne, played with great sensitivity by Robert Pattinson, who also manages to shift to his Batman persona when he wears the mask. But even that shift is tenuous. After all, he’s new at this.

The world is a neo-noir epic, complete with the protagonist’s introspective narration, a femme fatale in the form of Zoe Kravitz’s Selina Kyle/Catwoman, and a grimy, evil city and the monstrous side of human nature that exists there.

Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures

A lot of The Batman reminds me of David Fincher’s ‘Seven,’ where it is about solving a puzzle posed by Paul Dano’s Riddler. Murders are happening and it’s leading towards a great big reveal that positions this film not so much as a hero versus villain story but as a story about society’s deterioration.

Director Matt Reeves and co-scriptwriter Peter Craig do not shy away from the very contemporary discussion about Wayne’s ability to help people more with his money than as a caped crusader. That’s actually touched upon and handled with the character’s internal logic in place. While crime is perpetrated by the criminally insane, evil is found somewhere deeper and systemic.

It’s that aspect of ‘The Batman’ that feels so refreshing and invigorating. The focus is not on the extraordinary feats of Batman to stop an extraordinary crime but the realisation of what is really needed to combat corruption and social ills.

So while the film is dark (both lighting-wise and tonally) and gritty, it also gives us fantastic imagery, some really good character work by Pattinson, Kravitz, Dano, and John Turturro as the mob boss Carmine Falcone, and a completely new approach to the character.

Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures

My only reservation is the big finale that felt much bigger than it needed to be. The last big action setup felt like it’s from a different film altogether. Throughout the film’s 176-minute runtime, it gives us good old fashion noir with a twist, introspective character development, and dynamic relationships, and then it ends with a large battle sequence that felt more like it belonged in a different movie. It appeared like it was put there to please any comic book movie fans, who may have felt that they didn’t get enough comic book action.

But that’s a matter of taste. All in all, it was a thrilling ride that kept me on my toes. Kravitz is phenomenal and her chemistry with Pattinson was electric. I didn’t even notice how much time had passed.

In a world like ours that needs heroes, it’s good to have movies that give us an escapist fantasy at times just to feel light and good about ourselves. But it’s also good to have an alternative: superhero movies that show us that evil is not just one person with a skewed sense of the world. That the evil is systemic and that punching your way out will not get the job done.

My Rating:

––

The Batman will open in Philippine cinemas on Wednesday, March 2 (two days ahead of the US release date of March 4). Book your tickets here.

March 1, 2022
‘Uncharted’ is fun but lacks an emotional core that will make you invested in it

I’ve played the video games ‘Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End’ and ‘Uncharted: The Lost Legacy’ so I am quite familiar with some of the characters and the general vibe of ‘Uncharted.’ A quick look online reveals that the film version directed by Ruben Fleischer and starring Tom Holland will serve as an origin story for the games (as mentioned in several articles from Collider and Movie Web and imdb), though heavily borrows quite a bit of elements from ‘Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End’ and, as some critics have stated, from many other adventure movies with similar themes like the Indiana Jones franchise.

From the trailer alone you can see that the film makes full use of Holland’s incredible physicality and gymnastic skills to a great degree for some pretty hair-raising stunts. It promises all the thrills and spills of an adventure movie. The laws of physics and biology really don’t exist in this film – and so what? It’s a video game movie. There’s no way a person can do some of the things you will see here, especially after suffering so much damage from punches and slamming into walls. But Holland has stated that it was the most demanding work he’s ever had to do for any movie and you can really see him doing his stunts. For that alone, the movie delivers on its promises of thrilling action sequences.

And while the film tries to bring the action from the game into the movie, what it fails to do is to really take its time to invest you in the characters. In a video game, whether you like the character or not, you are controlling the protagonist. Every time he does something amazing or cool, you feel connected to it because you’re holding the controller. The act of actually controlling the character endears the character to you. In a film, we are mere spectators so that investment has to come from a human element that is highlighted in the film.

For this film to truly work on all levels, it has to take time to develop some very important characters and their relationships with each other. The film presents us with Tom Holland as Nathan Drake, a young man who grew up in an orphanage with his brother, who both have the propensity for history, geography, and exploration. After they were separated after getting caught trying to steal a 500-year old map that details Magellan’s circumnavigation of the world, Nathan ended up growing up alone as bartender who engages in petty thievery until he meets Sully (Mark Wahlberg) who invites him to join in a hunt for Magellan’s lost gold. When Nathan finds out that his brother, who he hasn’t heard from in a long time, was Sully’s partner, he joins in on the hunt for the hidden treasure.

The relationship between Nathan and Sam is vital to the film’s narrative. It is the prime motivating factor for Nathan to embark into this story but the film never takes time to truly show us what the relationship of the two was like. We just get the first scene when they were separated and are left to assume that they were close. This is a film. It’s more important to show and not to tell. The film lacks that connection we have to Nathan’s choice of joining the quest. Oftentimes, Sam is brought up to remind us why Nathan’s along for the ride but it doesn’t stick. It’s like the filmmakers just assumed we will want to see our hero risk his life in death-defying stunts that it isn’t important to emphasize on the why.

Similarly, Sully naturally is poised to become a surrogate brother to Nathan (though Sully is never trustworthy) but that relationship isn’t developed either. Instead, we get banter and funny one-liners that hinge entirely on their age gap.

So while we go on this exciting adventure, we are in it just for the ride. We don’t actually get to feel the emotional beats. And while a lot of the action sequences are amazing to watch, there are quite a number of moments that lack clarity. Sometimes the camera is too close or the cut is too quick that we don’t see the full movement of how Nathan gets out of trouble. It’s not often but when it happens, it gets annoying.

Because of the script’s lack of heart and emotion, the film is truly benefitting from Tom Holland’s charm and innocence. He is instantly likable and even if his character is a thief, you’re just naturally drawn to him. His physicality is amazing but he cannot carry the film through his charm and gymnastic skills alone. The script has to help.

Sophia Ali, who plays Chloe Frazer, gives Holland someone to bounce off with and it is their chemistry that grounds the piece but they’re not the centerpiece of this film. Antonio Banderas and Tati Gabrielle are so much fun to watch as the antagonists who will do anything to beat Sully and Nathan from getting the gold. Banderas is going for camp and looks like he’s having fun and Gabrielle just looks amazing in every scene.

The last bit that bothered me is the way the film discusses history and lost treasure. While the whole scenario is similar to Indiana Jones, at least Indiana Jones was an archeologist who wanted to put things in a museum (still imperialistic and West-centric but his goals were for the preservation of culture and heritage, at the least). Nathan and Sully are after the gold for their own self-interest. It doesn’t matter that the gold was taken from the Philippines with the intent of bringing our riches to Spain.

The Philippines is featured but they don’t really delve into our culture or history. It’s not important except where the gold is from – the film feels imperialistic all over again. For all of Nathan’s genius when it comes to history and the stories about explorers, he’s really just a treasure hunter. Without taking the time or the effort to contextualize the adventure, it seems that the film is saying it’s okay to take the riches of another country. It’s all fair game.

So while I enjoyed the film for its inventive action sequences and death-defying stunts, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth and left me wishing they gave Tom Holland more to do as an actor. Because ‘Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End’ left me in tears at the end of it. I didn’t have any of that in this film.

My Rating:

––

Uncharted opens this Wednesday, February 23 in cinemas nationwide. Find a cinema near you.

ALSO READ:
Thrilling Adventure Flick ‘Uncharted’ Opens in PH Cinemas This February 23
WATCH: Tom Holland’s High-Octane Action Film ‘Uncharted’ Drops Final Trailer
WATCH: Tom Holland Talks About the Stunts of ‘Uncharted’

February 21, 2022
‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ breathes fresh new life into a classic

Hollywood always returns to tried and tested formulas with the hopes of bringing the audience to the theaters and scoring a hit in this very unpredictable landscape of movies. With comic book adaptations cornering the theaters – pushing comedies and non-Oscar bait dramas straight to streaming – the old checklists of ensuring a hit in the theaters is completely gone. This has led to some unappealing remakes and reboots of some “classic” IPs. There was Tom Cruise’s ‘The Mummy’ and ‘Men in Black: International,’ who had a great cast but a hollow script, ‘Terminator Genisys,’ and a few others. Appealing to nostalgia is a difficult juggling act as you have to introduce new audiences to the material while trying to satisfy the fans of the original but still delivering something new and refreshing.

It’s why I was wary of ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ because what if this is just another appeal to nostalgia? Another cash grab of a famous IP, especially since ‘Ghostbusters: Answer the Call’ was met with some mixed reviews and was not the big hit it was expected to be.

I shouldn’t have worried. From the very start, ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ felt refreshing and new. Sure, there were rampant Easter Eggs left and right at the beginning but the focus of the film is on the new characters that they bring in. We are introduced to Callie (played by the very versatile Carrie Coon), who is struggling to make ends meet and she has to uproot herself and her whole family – Trevor (played by Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (McKenna Grace) – to Oklahoma to a farm her estranged father had left her. The house is a wreck and they don’t know anyone in town but having no choice, the dysfunctional family has to try and start a new life here.

Director Jason Reitman and screenwriters Reitman and Gil Kenan take their time to really establish the family dynamics. Trevor is rebelling (as all teenagers do) and Phoebe, who displays antisocial tendencies but is truly gifted with science and machines, and both have a tenuous relationship with their mother. Callie is at her wit’s end and she now has to face her unresolved feelings with her father as she deals with the legacy he has left behind.

And this is where the story begins to tether into Ghostbuster lore. Because, as hinted by the opening scene, Callie’s estranged father was a Ghostbuster. Slowly and organically, as Trevor and Phoebe discover who and what the Ghostbusters are (showing clips from the old movies as news footage) the worlds of the original film and this sequel start to collide.

As the trailer shows us, the little town of Sommerville in Oklahoma is about to be run over by ghosts, and Phoebe and new friend Podcast (the hilarious Logan Kim) must take the mantle that was left behind at the old house and stop the ghosts with the help of Trevor, his love interest Lucky (played by Celeste O’Connor) and Phoebe’s science teacher Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd).

The film really takes its time to develop characters, relationships, and then the discovery of who and what the Ghostbusters are, and while all these elements are being brought up, Reitman weaves them into each other so that the film never feels scattered and all over the place. There is heavy use of elements from the first two movies but it’s never self-referential. It’s the story that was chosen to be told and it connects it directly with the first two installments of the franchise and this makes it feel like it’s doing something new with the IP.

The story is fast-paced and there’s quite a great number of funny moments and tense scenes, and at the very heart of it is a sensitive and touching story about a family that needs to embrace – not just their history and legacy – but their weirdness.

‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ is a fun movie that can be enjoyed by people who loved the first films or who’ve never seen it. There’s space in the filmmaking for both audiences. McKenna Grace manages to carry the film with the strength of her performance (and with a lot of help from Logan Kim, whose comic timing is impeccable) and I will always watch any movie with Carrie Coon in it. I shouldn’t have worried. This is how you make a new installment out of a thirty-year-old franchise.

My Rating:

––

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is distributed in the Philippines by Columbia Pictures and now showing in cinemas nationwide. Find a cinema near you.

ALSO READ:
Paul Rudd’s Mr. Grooberson Gets the Call in ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’
Finn Wolfhard Shares Love for ‘Ghostbusters’ Before Being Cast in ‘Afterlife’
WATCH: ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ Reveals Cute but Chaotic Mini-Pufts

February 17, 2022
With Spielberg directing, ‘West Side Story’ shines even brighter than before

‘West Side Story’ first debuted on stage in 1957 and is considered one of the greatest musicals of all time. It takes the Romeo and Juliet star-crossed lovers plotline and gives it a distinctly American flavour by transporting the narrative to then-present New York with the warring families represented by White Americans and Puerto Rican immigrants. It was turned into a film in 1961 and has been revived over and over again, even coming to the Philippines in 2017 courtesy of a British touring cast.

It is that touring production back in 2017 that made me very afraid of this new revival. ‘West Side Story’ has some of the most beautiful music and songs of musical theater. The score of Leonard Bernstein and the lyrics of Stephen Sondheim are legendary and so many of these songs are ingrained into many of us, even if they aren’t musical aficionados.

The 2017 touring production presented the show as is and it failed to capture the depth that the show can reach. After all, it’s a story about racial war and gangs. There’s a scene where a woman is ganged up on by a group of men and the Latin community finds the portrayal of the Puerto Ricans in both the original play and the 1961 movie to be problematic.

What made me still want to see it despite my fears is that it is directed by the great Stephen Spielberg, a master storyteller who is well-versed in the nuances of a story’s humanity. I was later overjoyed to discover that Tony Kushner wrote the screenplay for their adaptation and what a powerhouse these two make.

This new remake manages to keep all of the songs but make significant changes that only serves to really highlight the elements in the story that really make ‘West Side Story’ such a timeless story.

_{Photo: 20th Century Studios Asia}

In this version, Spielberg and Kushner allow the women to be much stronger in their portrayal in this film. It is still set in the 1950s but the women seem to have a stronger voice to make repeated calls for the two gangs – The Sharks, the Puerto Rican group, and the Jets, the American gang – to stop fighting. In this version, the women have hopes and dreams and even the lead character, Maria, who is usually so naive and innocent in the stage and the previous films, has a little more fire. Rachel Zegler’s performance gives her version of Maria a conscious choice to be with Tony (played by Ansel Elgort) while knowing full-well what this could mean. It makes the character, and the love story, so much more poignant.

There is also a backstory that is given to Tony that adds a stronger redemption arc to the character and adds weight to events that unfold in the story. This new backstory makes Tony someone you want to root for because there’s a goal for something that is worthwhile and meaningful for the character other than love.

_{Photo: 20th Century Studios Asia}

The new changes also elevate what was once a love-at-first-sight story into an attraction born out of their surroundings. With Tony’s new backstory, seeing Maria is like seeing the purity and innocence of his new goals (of a more peaceful life) come to life. He is attracted to her because she’s a breath of fresh air. For Maria, Tony is a newcomer. He’s not one of the Jets that she knows of (though she later finds out he is) and he’s not one of the Puerto Ricans her older brother is forcing on her. For Maria, she’s looking to be free of her brother’s oppression and to enjoy the liberation that living in America promises. Tony becomes that for her. And in the process, they fall in love.

Spielberg, ever the master storyteller, expands the world of ‘West Side Story’ and makes the city – the territory that the Jets and the Sharks are fighting over – as a character. Everyone is on the brink of eviction and some buildings have already been demolished in preparation to build the Lincoln Center. This tough neighborhood that is becoming a ruin becomes symbolic of the brokenness of the country. The city is a battleground and the fact that the discrimination is not addressed by the government and the police in any realistic and practical way bears weight to the story.

Because unlike previous revivals, there is no painting of gray areas in this version. The Jets are a gang. The film doesn’t make any excuses for their racism. The song ‘Gee, Officer Krupke,’ which is usually sung and performed with a bit of humor in former performances becomes a scary insight in how some groups use the failure of the system as an excuse for their bad behaviour. Here, the Puerto Ricans have jobs. They’re in a gang to protect the neighborhood. In this film, the Puerto Ricans are in the right.

_{Photo: 20th Century Studios Asia}

And you can see it subtly even in the choreography. A big, wonderful dance number at the gym where Tony and Maria first see themselves is a showcase of fantastic dancing and camera work and editing. But in my perspective, the Americans – as good as they are – are not as impressive as when the Puerto Ricans burn the dance floor. Ariana DeBose (who received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in this movie) is a powerhouse. Her dancing and singing skills is equally matched by her spirited performance of Anita. She kills each number she’s in and like many wonderful actresses who played Anita before, steals the show by juggling the different textures of the character.

It is also a brilliant choice of Stephen Spielberg to not use subtitles in all the Spanish parts of the film. There’s quite a number of long stretches of conversation in Spanish that you understand contextually from the sheer clarity of the filmmaking. It’s a powerful move because it puts the Puerto Ricans as equal to the Americans. Spanish is not second to English.

Boasting some amazing set pieces, great choreography that is pretty to look at but always bursting with violence and rage, and some truly wonderful new renditions of beloved songs, ‘West Side Story’ is a marvel of filmmaking. It has the grandeur and sweep of a classic movie musical but it has all the energy and spirit of a contemporary movie. It’s only drawback is the many allegations that have come out about Ansel Elgort’s offscreen activities. He does a good job as Tony, though he’s not the strongest in the group. He delivers a sincerity that we’ve seen in films like ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ but it’s a heavy burden to see him there knowing what he’s done outside.

But I won’t let that one piece of casting ruin what is otherwise a wonderful remake that corrects a lot of the dated portrayals of the original and the conservative approach to some of the themes. By fully committing to the story and its themes, Spielberg’s and Kushner’s ‘West Side Story’ is truly marvelous.

My Rating:

––

West Side Story is released by 20th Century Studios and opens in Philippine cinemas this Wednesday, February 16.

ALSO READ:
WATCH: The Official Teaser to Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’
WATCH: The Cast of ‘West Side Story’ Performs Songs from the Musical

February 15, 2022