Lady Dynamite season 1 review

Netflix's Lady Dynamite is a delight. Pilot's a bit rough, second ep is better, third is when it hits Maria Bamford-Mitchell Hurwitz/Arrested Development gold. It may occasionally get too meta and Hollywood-focused, with the last few episodes losing a little steam and the timeline being very, very strange, but the word play, visual gags and incorporation of mental disorders are pretty great. I hope it's the beginning of something great.

There's some great acting, too, particularly Mary Kay Place and Ana Gasteyer, with a bunch of great cameos. Bamford herself is particularly entertaining, as is Fred Melamed.

Also, the ending musical cue of every episode has the potential to be up there with Curb Your Enthusiasm's end cue.

Very much RECOMMENDED, though it may not be everyone's cup of tea.

Under the Shadow movie review

Quick review:
A middle-eastern supernatural horror movie set in the 1980s and in the same vein as The Babadook? Having greatly enjoyed The Babadook, color me intrigued.

When a friend first referred me to Under the Shadow, I was instantly captivated by the premise, even going so far as watching it the same day (thanks, Netflix). There were many intriguing elements in the film, despite coming up a bit short by the end. However, on the whole, I enjoyed the film, despite leaving the experience with more questions than answers, and would RECOMMEND it to someone who's interesting in the subject matter. At the very least, there's some great insight into the Iranian culture at the time.

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Warning: More in-depth SPOILER-filled thoughts below

First things first, I greatly enjoyed The Babadook. It was different enough as a horror film to merit intrigue (e.g. the story direction changing halfway through), encapsulating a terror-ific overall experience, despite an arguably good or bad ending. Under the Shadow has a fairly similar premise of a mother trying to take care of her problematic child, but there are some key differences:

1. The father is still in play, even though he's transferred to another city
2. The story is much more linear, per se (follows one character)
3. The story tries to play with reality, to mixed results

To continue with the listing format, here are two things Under the Shadow does well:

1. Shideh (Nargas Rashidi) - She's a compelling character, with an intriguing backstory: she wants to assert her independence, but is stuck in a culture that limits her freedoms, not to mention leaving open the question of to what extent she's pursuing her own goals or those of her mother.
2. The cinematography - Shadow is a gorgeous movie. It's crisp and vibrant, yet still colored in a way that works for both the Iranian, 1980s and horror settings.
3. The depiction of war-torn Tehran - As someone who's has limited exposure to that experience and perspective, it was great to see it told on the screen, even in a fantastical way. Despite living among the horrors of war, it was still a fairly human story, at least until the supernatural elements kicked in.

Here's one thing I'm neutral on:

1. The pacing - Shadow is on the slower side, but building up nicely towards the end. I would have enjoyed a bit more supernatural teasing earlier, but the film was focusing more on character, relationships and other elements

Here are a few things I thought could have been better:

1. The playing with reality - The film could have delved much more with the idea of whether what Shideh was experiencing was real or not. As the film progresses, it clearly delves more into the supernatural, which is fine, but the earlier portions feel like a red herring and/or missed opportunity for the viewer (or to me, at least), even if it's meant for the character to disbelieve; yet her belief never really played a factor in the film.
2. Dangling character direction - As great as the setup for Shideh is, it's never really paid off. She's still stuck in the same directionless situation at the end as during the beginning, she doesn't become a better parent (per se) or pick a new career. As such...
3. It's anti-climactic - Even though there's a fairly elaborate ending sequence, it feels rushed, with the film rather abruptly ending, leaving me wanting more in a bad way.
4. The focus on Shideh and Dorsa - Something about the amount of time spent on these two, particularly Shideh trying to find the tell, felt like it took away time better spent elsewhere, whether getting to the horror faster or focusing on other ideas.

And finally, here are a couple more positive final thoughts:

1. I love the idea raised in the film of using supernaturally-tainted weapons for war, such as the implication of the missile in the apartment. It's such a fantastic concept, though would have been a different story than the one told
2. Will there be a sequel? - The film leaves a pretty open end to their fate, with both Shideh's mother's medical book and Dorsa's doll's head remaining in the apartment. Will the jinn follow them to her step-parents house? If the story continues, the Shadow has the potential to become an AMAZING start to an ongoing horror series, ideally a trilogy. Even if I was a bit underwhelmed, I would still like to see another chapter in this story.

Sky High movie review

Spoiler-free review for the top portion, while some more spoilery-comments below*...

For YEARS I have wanted to see Sky High and, thankfully, it was worth the wait. I had grown a bit skeptical due to the relatively low IMDb rating (currently at 6.2, the equivalent of "fun-but-flawed" leaning more towards flawed), but it turns out this is closer to the live action Josie and the Pussycats movie (itself a rather delicious satire of both pop culture and consumerism, among others) where people may just not have been in on the joke.

Suffice to say, Sky High is pure camp fun that almost perfectly blends superheroes and teenage Disney (Channel) sensibilities, complete with elements of coming-of-age, family dynamics, comedy, action and the right amount of commentary on both class and gender power dynamics. There's even some brilliant material on ageism. It touches on lots of topics, yet handles each of them deftly to the point of leaving very few, if any, dangling threads. I would have loved to see more material on certain elements, but I view it more as a positive of wanting more of the world, rather than a critique.

I fully am of the mind that, had Disney continued the trend of Sky High and Enchanted, they could have had a nice renaissance of building tongue-in-cheek worlds to appeal to slightly older audiences, instead of spending BILLIONS on acquiring Marvel (though it's netted well for them).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED if you're looking for a fun, campy Saturday afternoon (or any time) movie. In a way, it's a genuine classic, if not cult classic.

*Some more SPOILERY comments below.....

Things I liked:

• Kurt Russell may have been perfect in this, with Kelly Preston doing an admirable job, as well
• Mary Elizabeth Winstead - Pretty much everything about her in this was fantastic: the casting, the music that plays when Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano) sees her, her general villainous storyline ESPECIALLY her backstory
• Bruce Campbell, 'nuff said
• The cheesy dynamic between Magenta and Zach, complete with the "happy ending" 
• Every contrived plot moment to allow the "sidekicks" to use their powers
• Steven Strait going from villain to thoughtful stranger-turned-friend
• All the many nods and Easter Eggs to comics/superheroes
• Michael Giacchino's cheesy musical score - it's not really memorable, but works perfectly 

Things that could have been better or are odd, but rolling with anyway:

• Will Stronghold - Angarano was serviceable, but his storyline was rather par for the course. It was both interesting and nice that he developed one of his powers part way through, particularly to advance the story, though there could have been more emotional weight to the idea of never gaining powers building to a reveal at the end (but would have been a different story). As well, while some of the relationship elements were fun, others were a tad too cheesy; or at least, the ending of him and Layla kissing at the end (remember: they're 14ish years old)
• The dynamic between Royal Pain and her "dad" was very strange/didn't make much sense

Despite any flaws, Sky High was such a fun time that I wish we had more of the world and voice. Although apparently as of November 2016 a sequel may be in the works!

The Wailing movie review

I'll preface that I'm not familiar with every Korean horror movie of the past 10-15 years, but I will say two things from the ones I have seen of the past 10+ years: 1) they are interesting, and 2) they are not afraid to go to dark places.

The Wailing is another great entry along those two lines. With beautiful cinematography (and some gorgeous shots), the film starts practically as a comedy before steadily progressing into darker and darker territories, raising new questions and doubts on the path towards a beautiful crescendo of an ending. It's a type of horror I don't often see in American horror films, which, in my experience, are typically either shock scares or a steady sense of dread.

The movie does a great job of blending the practical with the supernatural/religious, providing enough treats and morsels of hints that fully roped me in, anxious to see what would happen next and how everything would be resolved. Maybe one of the greatest parts of the film is how this is pretty much all unveiled through the knowledge/perspective of the lead character, which is why the film is able to take such great twists and turns. There is also some very interesting race commentary, though that's all I'll say on that.

It may not have had the ending I wanted, but it had the ending I needed, overall earning a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED status from me. One of the nicest compliments I can say about The Wailing is that, for 2.5 hours, it flew by and left me wanting more.

The Lobster movie review

I rather enjoyed The Lobster - it is fun and quirky in many of the right ways. I thoroughly enjoyed the discordant dystopia presented in the film, particularly in the first act. Featuring/hiding animals throughout the rest of the movie was a wonderful touch. On the whole, the acting was also fantastic, with almost everyone having very dry, awkward personalities that fit the tone of the movie brilliantly. Colin Farrell continues his renaissance with another great choice (everyone does really well).

The movie is far from perfect, though, as I hav two gripes with the film (SPOILERS if you haven't seen it):

1. It's a bit long in the tooth - As the film is rather unique, it became challenging to stay with the voice towards the end. Had the pacing improved, it may have remedied the issue and helped with rewatchability. Then again...

2. The final act - While the very end of the movie is executed excellently, I would have loved if the third act went in a different direction: do more commentary on romance and societies by having a minor twist where the loners are an additional layer of the society controlling people's love lives, with Léa Seydoux's character actually working for a company trying to control society (same one that owns the hotel). The current dark revenge ending was fine, but it felt like a missed opportunity. It would have also been great to see some of the fallout from the loner's mission to the hotel, but what was done (to expose the lies relationships are built on) was nice.

In either case, The Lobster gets a solid RECOMMENDATION for its originality, ideas and humor.

Midnight Special movie review

If I ever needed an example of a movie that's a giant fart, I now have it: Midnight Special

I actually liked that the film had realistic dialogue and rather than heavy exposition, the actors actually got to act/emote to show their implied history, relations and emotions. The music was also nice.

However, the characters were much closer to bland than interesting. The boy, Michael Shannon and Kirsten Dunst were kinda interesting, but mostly it was the mystery surrounding them.

The film is a parental character movie masquerading as sci-fi. I personally don't enjoy movies that feature specific genres and don't actually use them; they rarely work for me (Looper is another one that missed the mark).

There were lots of great elements and ideas that ultimately amounted to a limp chase movie. As for the ending? Ugh...

Batman: The Killing Joke movie review

Batman: The Killing Joke was disappointingly mediocre...

The new opening was interesting, telling a nice story fleshing out Batgirl and her relationship (both figurative and literal) with Batman. I didn't even mind the implied sex between the two. However, the overt sexualization of Barbara left a bit to be desired...

Some of my main issues with the movie:

1. Who's story is this? Batman is the third most important character behind both Batgirl and The Joker, with no character receiving a proper arc/throughline, so the story feels disconnected. As they had decided to mess with source material by adding a new prologue, I would have loved if they embraced it more to modify the structure overall and taken some more risks (e.g. start with the Batman confronting Joker scene at the beginning, then flesh out relationships and characters more). While some may complain that Batgirl lacks agency (both in this and the source material, which is a topic for discussion), if anything, Gordon is the afterthought plot device in this film

2. The tone - Something about the story wasn't connecting with me/sucking me in, trying so hard to be dark that it took away from the story. I'd argue the film never really has a chance to breathe and live on its own once it starts adhering to the source material. The choice in tone even impacts the voice acting, which also felt disconnected, like it was missing something or just wrong. As legendary as both Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are, their voices felt out of place.

3. The visuals - Brian Bolland has such an iconic take on the Joker, yet the movie wasn't able to properly emulate it. The art styles change throughout the movie in a way that's unfortunately distracting. Sure, there is changing art direction in the source material, but it didn't translate very well.

On a side note, I was very curious how the film would handle the recently "controversial" ending, in which some believe Batman finally kills the Joker. Had the film been adjusted to center more on Batman's experience and how the Joker was actually pushing and testing Batman, or that the events impacted him more than Joker's target of Gordon, especially the new additions with Batman's relationship to Batgirl, it would have been so wonderfully bold if DC had Batman finally break and kill the Joker.

Overall, the new Batgirl prologue is interesting and could be a fun-yet-dark supporting episode for Batman Beyond, but after that you're probably better off reading the source material. I'd rank this on the lower end of the DC animated movies, particularly for Batman stories. For reference, two of the ones I really enjoyed were Under the Red Hood and Dark Knight Returns; I did not like Year One.

My 5 highly recommended wrestling matches

I was fortunate to help be in the pilot episode of a wrestling video series discussing top five favorite matches. The top three will probably long be in my top five, though the bottom two were tough to pick. There are so many great matches to recommend.

Check out the conversation below.

Green Room, Someone Marry Barry and Ghost Town movie reviews

Quick reviews of recently watched movies:

1. Green Room - Fucking intense, one of the best of 2016. A slow build thriller that continues to push the limits of tension up to the very end. Patrick Stewart can be a great villain. Make sure you have audio adjusted so you can hear things clearly. Definitely RECOMMENDED, somewhere between good and great. (Available on Amazon Prime)

2. Someone Marry Barry - A very funny, yet contrived movie about two obnoxious assholes who fall in love. There are actually some nice life lessons to gleam and the characters are fun, if you're willing to let go of questioning things and role with the film tropes. Casually RECOMMENDED. (Available on Netflix)

3. Ghost Town - There are some fun ideas/moments, but other movies do it better. It's difficult when two of the leads (Ricky Gervais and Greg Kinnear) are assholes, not to mention the third, Tea Leoni, falls into the female love interest trap. NOT RECOMMENDED unless you're really intent on seeing the movie. (Available on Netflix, expiring soon)

Star Wars Rogue One, Strike Two

(Note: This review involves SPOILERS)

It could be argued that when George Lucas first started creating Star Wars, he was the indie filmmaker (Rebel Alliance) going up against the big film studios of the day (the Empire). As "Star Wars" became a global franchise, there was a transference of power, with George Lucas eventually becoming that which he despised - the Emperor.

The creation outgrew the creator.

We first saw this with the transitions of the directors of the Original Trilogy. This was further solidified with the prequels, when Lucas himself was out of ideas. This has been firmly established and cemented since the Disney purchase in 2012 and the subsequent releases of both The Force Awakens and now Rogue One.

Some might argue that Star Wars ended in 1983, with everything since being a bastardization of the franchise, losing the heart and soul of the auteur origins which combined serialized space adventures with Japanese aesthetics and operatic themes, replaced slowly by consumerism, nerddom, nostalgia and self-indulgence. It has become its own cult and religion, yet lacks a central creative force to drive home what the brand and big picture are.

Case in point, let's look at the most recent entry in the franchise: Rogue One.

There are many great ideas and a few good moments in Rogue One, but the heart and soul are lacking. It's a dead, hollow movie, The resurrected carcass of Darth Vader is an apt metaphor for what Disney did with Rogue One - a glorious magic act playing off the "oohs" and "aahs" of nostalgia on one hand, meanwhile distracting from the other hand which is an empty frame for an emotionally moving story that's not there.

But I tend to be critical, so let's get some positives out of the way...


The Good
The cinematography may be the best thing the movie has going for it. Each planet had a great look, particularly the last one - Scarif. The action was largely clean and a number of shots were on point.

Donnie Yet as Chirrut Îmwe and Wen Jiang as Baze Malbus. Easily the two best new characters in the film, as they had a wonderful rapport, with a fully implied history and fleshed out characters (actual motivation!). That non-Force users were so trusting in the Force did wonders to re-establish the spiritual element of the Force, that it's not simply about Midi-chlorians....

Going in a different saga/story direction - It was great to see a non-Force, non-Skywalker entry into the franchise. This fleshes out the universe in a powerful way, regardless of the execution

The final act on Scarif - It wasn't perfect, but this is the movie we should have had


The OK
Michael Giacchino's score was simply OK. Listening as a standalone, it riffs reasonably well off John Williams' classic takes, but actually used in the movie is random. There's also a relative lack of memorable themes. This is his second take on Williams' style and while much better than Jurassic World, still falls short of confidence for potentially taking over the main series. There's promise, but he's not there yet; and I'm sadly not sure if he'll get to it. Part of it may be input from director Gareth Edwards, so hard to fully say.

K-2SO - The design of the converted Imperial Droid is nice, but the character is a ripoff of Star Wars: Knight's of the Old Republic's HK-47, among other tropes. Several of the jokes hit, but a good half of them were misses, with the eventual death of the droid also missing any deserved gravitas. It's a fun character, but the obsession by fans is lost on me.

The CGI of certain characters - Tarkin went back and forth between good and bad, but on the whole was surprisingly decent. We're getting closer to surpassing the Uncanny Valley. I didn't mind Leia at all, if only because she was so brief.

James Earl Jones as Vader - While it was nice to hear his voice again, something felt off. I don't believe it was so much Jones' age, so much as the audio engineering on his voice.


The Bad
Honestly, I could be quick and dismiss most of the movie in the "Bad" section, as the first two-thirds could have been significantly recut and shrunk before getting to the main thrust of the film - the final act on Scarif. The film was reminiscent of Man of Steel (easily the worst movie I've seen in theaters in the past decade, if not ever), with it's many conveniences and contrivances, but not yet nearly as bad; it's more like a bad Transformers sequel.

For the sake of time, let's try and fire off some quick ones...

The cold opening - Please don't do this again. It didn't work and wasn't good (particularly the musical cue that was almost Star Wars, but wasn't). Also, no more time jumping within a single movie - stick with moments unless you're REALLY going to follow a character and do a better job of establishing growth, motivation and an arc. Unless you want to go hard into James Bond territory, complete with big new villains and everything, then yes, I'd support that (on the condition of being a good movie).

Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) - She's a weak character with no motivation. Her cold demeanor wasn't cool, it was boring. She had a great look, but stiff dialogue for her drab persona, which only broke when she saw the holographic message from her father (which is bad character direction because she expressed no emotion prior and the relationship wasn't built properly to merit a reaction). That she suddenly tries to become a leader of the rebellion and ambassador for hope came out of left field, or at least a poorly developed relationship (of any variety) with Cassian. She was also robbed of her story arc by not defeating Krennic.

The father-daughter story - This also didn't work. We never saw the bond between them, just that Galen was pulled away. Mads also either didn't have great material or just didn't care, because his acting was stiff. This served no purpose in the movie.

Jyn's mom - You're a terrible mom, abandoning your child. Would have been better if you had died off-screen prior to the film to further establish the father-daughter relationship. You offered absolutely nothing.

Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) - Also a poorly developed character. There were interesting ideas, but the backstory was poorly developed, along with also having no motivation. Your role as an assassin could have been better fleshed out. Even his "fake death" saving Jyn moment was bad. He robbed her of her story arc.

Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) - A fun idea for a villain - a middle-manager wanting more power - but ultimately a weak character. Take's a lesson from MoS' General Zod - yell when in lieu of an actual character. He's nothing more now than another example of Star Wars amazing ability to create great looking, well-cast villains that end up trash/wasted: Boba Fett, Darth Maul, Dooku, Grievous, Phasma, to name a few.

Tarkin - Could have been removed from the movie and not skipped a beat. Completely unnecessary.

Saw Gerrera - Dear god was this character and Forest Whitaker's acting terrible. Absolutely awful and added nothing to the story, besides another bad father figure for Jyn. The idea of him was better than the execution. More on that below...

The dialogue - So much of the dialogue was rough, to say the least (which is sadly a Star Wars tradition). Most of the Rebel Alliance scenes were flat, Jyn and Cassian's chemistry was flat, the aforementioned Vader and Krennic scene was flat, Krennic and Tarkin was flat (and, again, unnecessary). Mads was bads.


The Egregious Errors
Darth Vader - I'll be direct: Darth Vader is a broken character. Absolutely broken. His arc was perfect in the Original Trilogy - from brute enforcer, to big bad, to redeemed father. The prequels were an unnecessary exploration of a whiny child-killer. Rogue One offered nothing worthwhile other than to further highlight how broken Vader is - his scene with Krennic offered nothing but boring dialogue and awkward visuals (the cinematography with the fog and red lighting did not look good, with the devilish "meanings" being cheesy and on-the-nose). Also, Darth Vader should NEVER have said a pun; providing crass, sass and sarcasm, yes, but a pun? Especially over such an iconic action of his? Terrible creative choice only meant to service fans. As for the final end sequence of the film - Darth Vader is a villain, he is not a badass. The sequence was fascinating from a Force and choreography perspective, but when a crowd roots for a child-killing villain because it's "cool" signifies to me there's something wrong with the storytelling (and audience). Basically, Vader's inclusion throughout the film felt like bad video game fan-service and fanfilm territory.

The excess - Sure, budgets and technology and everything are better today than any time prior, but there's such a lack of proper scale with the films now. Just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be done. I loved the "less is more" approach of the Original Trilogy, if partly because of budget and technology restraints for the time. However, it gives the world and stories more life and a better sense of scope. With Rogue One and Disney's coffers, pretty much anything was possible, including the resurrection of the dead.

The lack of "big feel" moments, aka heart and soul - For the first two-thirds of the film, things just happened with the film just on auto-pilot. It wasn't until the arrival on Scarif when the actual story started happening. There were a couple genuinely sad moments (particularly the death of Churrit), but director Gareth Edwards proved his amateur skills by not featuring any "big" moments. For an example of a "big feel" moment, see the lightsaber duel on Bespin in Empire between Vader and Luke. That entire sequence is a master class of direction, choreography, music and writing. Another? The climax of A New Hope when Luke is doing his Death Star trench run - the tension and music were superb. One more? The drama and emotion of the final duel between Vader and Luke on the Death Star bridge. Even the Sarlacc pit has its moments.

Rogue One had zero big moments (the two Death Star attacks were nice visual effects, but lacked dramatic oomph, with the first one being corny/stupid thanks to Saw and second being excessive with no emotional impact. They also take away from the destruction of Alderaan.


The Missed Opportunities 
The trailers set up wonderfully setup Rogue One to be a dark, mysterious spy/thief film a la Ocean's Eleven in the world of Star Wars. Watching a scrappy band of Rebels take on the monolithic and all-encompassing Empire. Were Jyn and others going to go deep undercover to infiltrate the Empire? Was one already a spy? Would have been significantly more interesting than the crappy father-daughter story we had.

The option of the war/conflict highlighting the similarities between the Empire and the Rebellion were lacking, despite being entirely on the table; it was barely hinted. Same with the disparate nature of the Rebel Alliance, where Saw and his guerrillas are opposite sides of the same coin with regards to their tactics (tactics which were barely explored). Saw's design is actually a very intriguing riff on Vader's, complete with the breathing apparatus, but nothing was present in the movie.

Hell, we didn't even get the big, epic, Saving Private Ryan space war film this could have been. Had the final third been stretched out over the course of the film, that would have been something.


Conclusion
So little of the film emotionally resonated. Things just moved and fell flat. Which makes Rogue One an incredible disappointment, though not without a few merits. Sad thing is, I can tell there's a legitimately good movie hidden within the depths of Rogue One.

As someone who grew up after the Original Trilogy was released, I've had the luxury of not having to wait for future installments, with the privilege of being able to see everything at once. It's hard to predict where the Star Wars franchise is going, but if the two most recent entries are any indication, they're derivative and hollow. Or to ape a different franchise, Star Wars is going where every man has already gone before, which means I'm losing reasons to continue watching.

I grew up loving the franchise, so I hold it to high standards, not simply as a "Star Wars" entry, but as a potentially magical movie experience. The worlds, the music, the visuals, the action, the characters, the sweeping drama, the tense action, the magic and spirituality - that's what Star Wars is to me. TFA had elements of it, but nothing that wasn't already in the Original Trilogy; one could say TFA is a condensed rehash, for which I'm guessing is a "holdover"/"setup" movie until Episode 8 kicks things into actual gear. However, I'm not sure I have the patience to give Disney much more of a chance.

It's hard to give Rogue One a recommendation, even as a spectacle film (the derivative and contrived Avatar was a better example of an event movie). Sadly, Disney's Star Wars is currently sitting at two strikes. I sincerely hope Rian Johnson can deliver a hit, otherwise I'm contempt with the idea that Star Wars did truly die back in 1983.

4/10