Saving Sharon

It boils down to cowboys versus hippies in Quentin Tarantino’s ninth directorial feature, ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,’ a dramedy set in 1969 tinseltown that’s simply a delicious slice of cinematic heaven.  Yeah, I know there is no such thing as a bad Tarantino film (even ‘Death Proof’ was pretty good, admit it), but it is no stretch for me to say that OUaTiH may well be my favorite from the video store clerk-turned-filmmaker next to ‘Pulp Fiction.’  That's how good this movie is.

 

OUaTiH once again demonstrates that Tarantino is on top of his game, a tribute to the classic B&W westerns of the 1950’s he grew up watching as well as providing a glimpse of the shifting cultural climate of 1960's Los Angeles.  At its core, it is a bromance between a waning western star (Rick Dalton portrayed by Leo DiCaprio) and his "load carrying" best friend, All-American tough guy stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), but it’s also a bloody humorous revisionist fantasy re-imagining of one of Hollywood’s most notorious crimes, the brutal slaying of actress and model Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) by murderous followers of cult figure Charles Manson.  It would be quite an understatement for me to say that things didn’t end up the way it was supposed to.

 

I try not to bandy the cliché “tour de force” around too much in describing films for fear of diminishing its significance, but Tarantino's latest is sheer brilliance and definitely qualifies as one.  OUaTiH is fascinating, engrossing, funny, masterfully crafted, well-acted and smartly written with the great storytelling and snappy dialogue we’ve come to expect and take for granted from the filmmaker.  About the only thing I didn’t expect was its stupendous and cheer worthy final act.  I'll have to see it again soon. 

Grade: A+

The Lion who would be King

Before I begin, I have a confession to make.  For whatever reason I never saw the original ‘Disney's The Lion King,' the popular and beloved 1994 cartoon musical about Simba (not to be confused with his Japanese anime counterpart “Kimba”), a young lion cub who overcame adversity and reclaimed his birthright as king of his domain.  25 years later, TLK was remade (along with a slew of other Disney cartoon classics such as ‘Aladdin,’ ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Cinderella’ previously) as a computer-animated film incorporating cutting-edge computer-generated imagery (CGI).  And wow, what candy for the eyes it turned out to be!

 

Many of you are undoubtedly familiar with the story of Simba, a young lion cub who was left for dead after his noble and majestic father Mufasa was killed in an act of “Game of Thrones” treachery perpetrated by his usurper of an uncle Scar and his subsequent triumphant return to widespread acclamation.  The story of the usurper king is a tale as familiar as it is timeless, having been told in many guises and variations since time immemorial, but they all end the same way.  So it wouldn’t exactly be spoiler for me to divulge that TLK has a happy ending, would it?

 

TLK 2019 is old-fashioned yet entirely new, a great story retold through ultra-realistic computer animation.  The stunning imagery is so lifelike that it’s like watching Animal Planet or BBC’s ‘Planet Earth’ in ultra 4K high definition, if not for the fact that the animals possess the gift of human speech as if they’re in Doctor Doolittle.  As good as the visual effects are, what I liked the most about this movie is the musical score from famed composer Hans Zimmer and rocketman king-of-pop Elton John, who updated and reworked their compositions for this remake.  And even though I missed watching the original movie, I found all the songs to be instantly recognizable and utterly delightful.

Grade: A
 

The Art of Bullying the Weak

Once every blue moon a movie comes along that raises my eye brows and makes me think that Hollywood isn’t entirely hopeless and bankrupt of imaginative ideas.  These movies tend to be indies boldly defiant of tried-and-true conventions and unafraid of being different.  ‘The Art of Self Defense,’ the quiet and subtle dark comedy from director/writer Riley Stearns (better known as the ex of the lovely Mary Elizabeth Winstead) starring Jesse Eisenberg, Alessandro Nivola and Imogen Poots, is the latest such eye-opener.

 

TAOSD is the story of Casey (Eisenberg), a socially awkward thirty-something loner and auditor by profession whose singularly mundane life is the very definition of boredom (and anything devoid of excitement) itself.  His peaceful and languid existence is turned upside down one fateful night when he was robbed and nearly beaten to death by a marauding gang of motorcyclists while going to the grocery store to buy dog food for his hungry dachshund.  Determined to never be a helpless victim again, Casey resolved to defend himself by purchasing a gun but found a much better alternative when he chanced upon the karate dojo run by the charismatic “Sensei” (Nivola), in which he immediately enrolled.  The less said about the rest of the story the better because, boy oh boy, you will never guess (short of reading the spoilers that is, but what’s the fun in that?) how it unfolds.

 

I love this movie.  It is subversively funny, unexpected in so many ways (from Eisenberg’s dead-pan acting to the many twists and turns in the plot), altogether fresh and surprisingly riveting.  If I didn’t know better, I would almost take TAOSD as a Jim Jarmusch film because it has that certain feel in tone and style.  And that is quite a compliment in itself. 

Grade: A

Reptilian Jaws

Like most people, I first heard of the name Alexandre Aja when I saw his excellent breakthrough stalker-slasher horror film ‘Haute Tension’ (‘High Tension’) back in 2003.  Although the French director went on to helm a few more genre films like ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ (2006 remake of Wes Craven’s 1977 original) and ‘Mirrors’ (2008), both of which were decent if unspectacular, he’s pretty much gone off the radar and I’ve all but forgotten about him.

 

Until now, that is.  Aja’s latest directorial effort, ‘Crawl,’ is an old-school “natural” creature feature in the tradition of ‘Jaws,’ ‘Piranha,’  ‘Anaconda,’ ‘Lake Placid’ and ‘Sharknado’ (okay, maybe not so much that one).  To put it simply, ‘Crawl’ is ‘Jaws’ with alligators in the starring role.  University of Florida (Go “Gators”!) competitive swimmer Haley (Kaya Scodelario) becomes worried about her divorced dad (Barry Pepper of ‘Saving Private Ryan’) when a category 5 hurricane hits her home town of Coral Lake.  Unable to reach him by phone, she decided to brave the storms and go home because she suspects something bad has happened, and sure enough found him gravely injured and trapped underneath the house surrounded by hungry hungry hippos, I mean alligators. With the flood waters rising as the hurricane rages on, Haley will need to draw upon every ounce of all her courage, wits, resourcefulness and well-honed competitive swimming skills to keep herself and dad from becoming alligator lunch.

 

‘Crawl’ is an immensely entertaining, smart and tightly wound thriller in the best traditions of those aforementioned movies.  Its 84 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes was no accident, and its simple father-daughter raw survival tale lends it a sympathetic human touch.  With a strong female heroine, ‘Crawl’ also bears comparison to the excellent 2016 film ‘The Shallows’ starring Blake Lively as a bikini-clad co-ed whose surfing excursion at a secluded beach was rudely interrupted by a great white shark.

Grade: A

 

Uber Diaries

“Dumb and dumber” (to varying degrees) odd-couple buddy road-trip comedies are a time-honored staple in Hollywood, and the latest addition to this grand tinsel-town tradition is ‘Stuber,’ pairing the unlikely duo of Pakistani-American comedian Kumail Nanjiani and hulking He-man and former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista, who’s expanding the comedic repertoire hinted at in his role as Guardian of the Galaxy muscle-man “Drax the Destroyer.”

 

Bautista plays Vic Manning, a tough-as-nails LAPD detective who lost his partner in a bungled raid when their target, drug dealer Oka Teijo (Iko Uwais from ‘The Raid,’ though he was a cop in that movie), escaped from his bumbling grasp.  Half a year later, Vic was given a second chance at revenge and redemption with a small window of opportunity when Oka is back in LA, but the timing couldn’t have been worse because it just so happens that Vic can’t drive because he’s half blind from having had a Lasik procedure that very same day!  Not to be deterred, old-school Vic – at the unwitting behest of his daughter Nicole (Natalie Morales) – utilizes the Uber app to aid him in his crime-fighting quest.  The unlucky driver who picked him up is none other than Stu (Nanjiani), an annoyingly loquacious, fussy and not-very-manly drama queen whose simple goals in life before being hijacked are to: (a) get his first 5-star Uber rating which eluded him so far and (b) become more than  "just friends” with his business partner Becca (hint: he wants to get into her pants).  Hilarity ensues.

 

‘Stuber’ (or ‘Stuber and Stuberer”?) has its funny moments to be sure, but I feel guilty laughing because the humor is often lame and highly juvenile.  It is also evidently violent enough to garner an R rating, which works perfectly fine for me, but overall I would say it’s worth no more than a 3-star review.  Sorry, Stu.

Grade: B-

 

Spidey's European Vacation

The latest tent-pole blockbuster comic book superhero movie to hit megaplexes this year is ‘Spider-Man: Far from Home,’ the follow-up to 2017’s ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ starring Tom Holland as the third Spidey in the last 20 years and the first to be fully incorporated in the MCU.  Being part of the MCU is a big deal; Spider-Man likely would not be quite as commercially successful if it, like the X-Men until now, existed outside of Disney’s money-making machine.  Don’t believe me?  Just ask ‘Dark Phoenix’ and Andrew Garfield.

 

Although not nearly as “far from home” as he was in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ when he was stranded light years away from earth with his mentor (RIP) Tony Stark before becoming part of the unfortunate 50 percent of Thanos' snap, this latest installment is so-named because our young and friendly neighborhood Spider-Man “ghosts” SHIELD head honcho Nick Fury and goes on a much needed whirlwind vacation through Europe with a few of his high school class mates, including Mary Jane Watson (Zendaya) whom he crushes on like the lovelorn schoolboy that he is (aww!).  Of course, trouble has a way of following Spidey wherever he goes, in this case his classic comic book nemesis Mysterio portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal.

 

Technically, story-wise and artistically speaking, ‘Far from Home’ is yet another crowd-pleasing winner from Disney and Sony, as its 90 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes and box office receipts would attest.  Tom Holland imparts his version of the web-slinger with a youthful exuberance and doe-eyed innocence that’s impossible not to like.  Alas, being the fourth Marvel superhero movie to come out this year (following ‘Captain Marvel,’ ‘Avengers: End Game’ and ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’) so far and the seventh if we throw ‘Shazam!’, ‘Hellboy’ and ‘Men in Black’ into the mix, I think I’m suffering from a mild case of comic book movie fatigue.

Grade: B+
 

A Midsommar Day's Nightmare

If you’re a horror-aficionado who’s seen Ari Aster’s deeply disturbing, totally terrifying and utterly unsettling breakthrough bombshell 'Hereditary' (enough wordplay with his name already), you will either be eagerly but anxiously awaiting his follow-up film (I said enough already) or have absolutely no desire to see it.  I am firmly in the former category but, if you’re of the latter persuasion, I can’t say that I blame you because thinking about that movie still makes my skin crawl.

 

The aforementioned “eagerly but anxiously awaited release” from Aster is called ‘Midsommar,’ a “Swedish Horror Story” centered on summer fun, I mean the celebration of summer solstice and the strange but fascinating pagan rituals associated with it.  A group of American college grad students, including the lone girl Dani (played by Florence Pugh whom we’ve last seen in 'Fighting with My Family'), travels to the central Swedish province of Hälsingland to live in a hippie-style commune for a couple of weeks so as to observe the locals' lifestyle and traditions first-hand.  Oh boy, just what could possibly go wrong in such a harmless endeavor?  While ‘Midsommar’ is decidedly brighter, funnier and less depressingly gloomy than ‘Hereditary,’ it is in many ways just as disturbing, unsettling and taboo-shattering.

 

‘Midsommar’ (spelled with an "o" and an “a” because that’s how the Swedes do it) bears obvious comparison to ‘The Wicker Man,’ the classic 1973 Brit flick starring Christopher Lee (later remade terribly in a movie starring Nicholas Cage, may he burn in peace), but it also brings to mind 'The Green Inferno,’ the 2013 Eli Roth film about naïve and well-meaning college students who traveled to the remote Amazon forests only to find themselves a food source of the natives.  We are often blinded to mortal danger by our innate curiosity and end up like cats.

Grade: A-

Jack's Magical Mystery Tour

‘Yesterday’ is the latest feature film from British director/screenwriter/producer Danny Boyle (‘Trainspotting,’ ’28 Days Later,’ ‘Sunshine,’ ‘Slumdog Millionaire’), a musical-fantasy rom-com that dares us to "imagine" (the Lennon song, get it?) a world that never knew the Beatles except for three individuals including its protagonist, a struggling singer-songwriter named Jack Malik played by Himesh Patel.

 

When I saw the trailer of ‘Yesterday,’ I was instantly intrigued by its premise of an unassuming  down‑on‑his‑luck coffeehouse acoustic singer and would-be songwriter who, after surviving being hit by a bus while riding his bike home during a blackout, discovered that nobody else in the world knows who the Beatles are (except for two others as he found out later).  Apparently the Fab Four wasn’t the only thing that never existed in this bizarre parallel universe; Coke (as in Coca-Cola) and Harry Potter are also conspicuously missing in Google searches as Jack found to his consternation. With the Beatles’ extensive catalog to mine from, Jack’s luck unsurprisingly took a turn for the better as he skyrocketed faster than the “Rocketman” to fame overnight.  How will Jack cope with becoming an instant sensation all the while knowing that he’s a fraud?  And more importantly, how will he juggle his newfound success with the yearning desire of his heart in the guise of his best friend and former manager Ellie (Lily James)?

 

While ‘Yesterday’ isn’t as deep or profound as what we’ve come to expect from Danny Boyle, it is nonetheless a fresh and unique crowd-pleaser and homage to the Beatles that’s undeniably entertaining in its own eccentric way, and the best part is that you don’t even have to be a Beatlemaniac to enjoy this delectable slice of musical heaven.

 

Grade: A 

Adventures in Babysitting

The latest movie in ‘The Conjuring’ universe inspired by the spooky but fascinating case files of real-life paranormal investigating celebrities-couple Ed and (RIP) Lorraine Warren, is also the third entry of a spin-off sub-franchise centered on their most popular and interesting artifact: an evil, demonically possessed doll with braided pigtails named Annabelle (take that, Chucky!).  With her creepy rictus grin, Annabelle is made from the stuff of nightmares, much scarier than the cute Raggedy Ann doll she’s based on: The "Real" Annabelle.

 

‘Annabelle Comes Home’ is set in 1972, four years after the Warrens brought Annabelle into their paranormal collection of curiosities and imprisoned her in a glass case so she wouldn’t cause any more spooky trouble.  Despite their unorthodox profession, the Warrens are just a normal “Brady Bunch” family with their young daughter Judy and, due to the fact that they travel all over “ghost-busting,” they regularly employ a babysitter to look after Judy when they’re not around the house for an extended period of time.  ‘Annabelle Comes Home’ is the story of how, on one such occasion, Annabelle “came out to play” when Judy, the babysitter and one of her friends got bored and needed a little more excitement on Judy’s birthday.  JK.

ACH is another solid – if less than frightening – entry in ‘The Conjuring’ universe, earning a respectable $83.6 million worldwide ($36.4 million domestic) on a budget of around $30 million.  What it lacked in genuine scares it made up for in its likeable young protagonists as they attempt to put Annabelle back where she belongs before mom and dad come home.

Grade: B 

Woody's Last Hurrah

Nine years after ‘Toy Story 3’ and nearly a quarter of a century after the original Disney/Pixar favorite from director John Lasseter, Toy Story is back in its fourth and perhaps final installment with ‘Toy Story 4,’ bringing back Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and the rest of the toy gang for yet another fun-filled toy adventure kids from 9 to 99 can enjoy.  Even after all this time, the TS franchise aged well and proved that it’s got legs, having raked in nearly $500 million worldwide to date.

 

Who says toys don’t last forever?  Andy’s gone off to college and donated his toys to Bonnie, a new kindergartener suffering from the usual childhood anxieties during the first day of school.  And like the movie westerns that inspired him, Woody the Cowboy Sheriff is becoming an anachronism and loses favor with Bonnie, who appointed a new sheriff in Jessie as a reflection of our times.  However, Woody is a throwback whose spirit can’t be broken and soon found his new purpose in chaperoning “Forky,” a monstrosity of an art project Bonnie created on her first day in class which helped her deal with her insecurities.  When Bonnie and her family go on vacation and “Forky” is kidnapped by a lonely Shirley Temple-esque doll named “Gabby Gabby” and her ventriloquist dummy minions at an antique shop,  Woody and friends (including his lost-love “Bo Peep”) must find a way to once again save the day.

 

TS4 is another Pixar-animated hit, an immensely fun and entertaining family romp that’s simply irresistible and impossible not to love.  As Woody’s final big adventure, it is also a little melancholy as he’s been the glue that holds the ‘Toy Story’ franchise together through all these years, and it would be interesting to see how the story continues sans Woody if the powers-that-be decide to further the series in the future because it will obviously continue to make a ton of money.

Grade: A
 

La Femme Anna

‘Anna’ is the latest film from French director, writer and producer Luc Besson, famous for his action-packed and stylish (though utterly disposable) action and sci-fi films.  I’m sure many of you know some of his work without introduction, and whether you like him or not we have to admit he’s one of the most prolific and successful genre filmmakers of our time.

 

My first introduction to Luc Besson was his breakthrough (La Femme) ‘Nikita’ way back in 1990 starring Anne Parillaud, about a delinquent teenage girl who’s “reformed” by the system to serve society by becoming a secret agent and assassin for the government.  So interesting was the concept of an easy-on-the-eyes kick-ass femme fatale at the time that the movie was remade for the American audience in Bridget Fonda’s ‘Point of No Return’ and adapted twice on TV (three if we count ‘Alias’).  It is perhaps unsurprising then that Besson returned to his roots in ‘Anna,’ his latest action-packed and twist-filled reboot of LFN starring Russian model-turned-actress Sasha Luss as a sleek and deadly Russian KGB wet work specialist who sought to work her way to freedom.

 

‘Anna’ proves once again that there is perhaps no better filmmaker working today (or ever, period) in objectifying, I mean depicting strong, sexy women who kick ass and look good while doing it.  The way Luss’s Anna swept through a restaurant full of macho men like a Victoria Secret angel (of death) is sheer balletic poetry in motion, even if the logical parts of our brains scream out at how unlikely it is that the willowy Anna can overcome men many times her weight in brutal, no-holds-barred hand-to-hand combat.

Grade: A

 

Evil Toy Story

One of the most enduring horror franchises which somehow managed to sneak under the radar of most horror junkies is ‘Child’s Play,’ centered on a “cute and cuddly” freckled red-haired boy doll that’s the embodiment of pure evil and murderous mayhem.  Since first appearing in 1988, Chucky has terrorized and – intentionally or not – made audiences laugh in equal measure over the course of six follow-on installments, though admittedly most of them were low-rent straight-to-DVD releases.

 

Though I’m not a big Chucky fan, I thought I’d give the new reboot/remake of ‘Child’s Play’ a look anyway to see what new spin or wrinkle the best-and-brightest of Hollywood can put on it, and also because I would watch almost anything with Aubrey Plaza in it for some unfathomable reason.  ‘Child’s Play 2019’ contemporizes Chucky by modernizing the doll with high tech computer chip and AI in our era of “Alexa” and “Siri.” Chucky isn’t supernaturally possessed by the spirit of a condemned executed serial killer this time.  Instead, his non-human harming safeguards (the “I, Robot” rules) were turned off by a disgruntled Vietnamese “sweat shop” employee who snapped and killed himself because he couldn’t put up with his overbearing asshole of a boss anymore.

 

Alas, ‘Chucky 2019’ lacked the novelty and bite of the original 1988 film.  It is perhaps only inevitable after seven films (each one more of a self-parody than the one before) which put Chucky in all sorts of situations including taking on a wife that we’re bound to see diminishing returns, and I’ve seen Chucky ply his homicidal trade with a kitchen knife too many times to count. 

Grade: C