SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME

 Tom Holland     Zendaya     Benedict Cumberbatch     Jon Favreau     Marisa Tomei

Jacob Batalon     Alfred Molina     Willem Dafoe     J. K. Simmons     Jamie Foxx

This edition is most remarkable for cleverly integrating past Spider-Man movies and their characters into Spider-Man:  No Way Home.  If a viewer has not seen or can’t remember the past versions, it is easy enough to follow the plot.  However, a much richer experience will be had by those who have kept up with all the versions through the years and recognize all the past characters referenced and the actors who play them.  

The story opens with the chaos caused when Spider-Man’s identity is revealed to be Peter Parker (Holland).  The star broadcaster J. Jonah James (Simmons) at the Daily Fix has seen to that.  The item surfaced when the criminal illusionist Mysterio in his dying breath revealed the identity of Spider-Man, who had just killed him in the previous Spider-Man:  Far From Home (2019).  But now, Mysterio is being made a hero, and Spider-Man  as the presumed villain has to deal with the public rancor that ensues, along with monsters that are suddenly showing up mysteriously on earth.

Peter has sought the help of Dr. Strange (Cumberbatch), who condescendingly agrees to help, but is super-annoyed when Peter keeps interrupting the spell with conditions he thinks of while the spell is being produced.  This has consequences, the extent of which Peter only realizes later, making this something of a coming-of-age story.  It’s going to come home to Peter that gifts he has received come with responsibilities, and the process of learning that is repeated throughout this story line. 

Production of this version of Spider-Man directed by John Watts is engaging in its special effects and script by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, based on the Marvel comic by Stan Lee and Steve Ditka.  The cast realizes the action by numerous talented actors:  Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Marisa Tomei, Alfred Molina, Willem Dafoe, Jamie Foxx, J. K. Simmons, and others.  All are top-notch.  

Like many films nowadays, judicious editing could have improved the production and reduced it a half-hour to a two-hour limit.  The story bogs down in the middle when one super-human sequence follows another, with technological aspects of filming taking precedence over story and characters.  I’m compelled to reiterate my usual irritation with these movies inevitably ending with a fist fight between two characters followed by tender, emotional scenes meant to pull on the heartstrings.  I like the latter, but why the fist fights when the characters have access to all kinds of technological tools?

 

With such a clever script, this is probably a true gem for Spider-Man and Marvel Comics fans.  For others, it can be mostly entertaining, except for the length.

 

Grade:  B                              By Donna R. Copeland

BEING THE RICARDOS

 Nicole Kidman     Javier Bardem     J. K. Simmons     Jake Lacey

Nina Arianda     Alia Shawkat     Tony Hale

            I was not a big fan of the Lucy/Desi shows, so I didn’t see Being the Ricardos with much nostalgia.  But for those who did love them, the film is likely to be a big hit.  A few viewers in the screening audience laughed out loud on cue with the radio audience, suggesting they were having fond looks down memory lane.

            I will say that the film is informative in that I was not aware of the significant roles Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had had in their productions, from the script to the sets to the executive decisions.  I had read about Arnaz’ revolutionary role in the creation of television as it’s seen today, but the film shows the painstaking efforts of the couple—each with different ideas—in executive decisions.  The stunned looks on the named executives’ faces foretell the significance and revolutionary nature of Desi’s and Lucy’s contributions.

            It’s also educational for the viewer to be given a peek behind the scenes and witness the haggling and sometimes brutal struggles that take place among writers, producers, actors, and sponsors in putting on a show.  When we see the finished product, usually little of the blood, sweat, and tears that went into the project are apparent.

            Something is puzzling to me, though.  It’s not uncommon for actors to disappear into their characters so much so that the viewer becomes unaware of the actor.  Recent case in point is Jared Leto as a Gucci son in House of Gucci and Benedict Cumberbatch as an American rancher in The Power of the Dog.   And there are countless examples of such through time, with Meryl Streep being one of the paragons of this kind of shape shifting.  However, I did not see that convincing transformation in Nicole Kidman as Lucy and Javier Bardem as Desi.  I was always aware of the actors and had difficulty putting the characters in their place.  The reason this is puzzling is that both Kidman and Bardem are top-notch actors.  It wasn’t as if they weren’t portraying their characters accurately, it was that that “something” that makes the actor disappear was not evident.

            One explanation could lie at the writer/director Aaron Sorkin’s feet.  This is his “creation” in a sense, so perhaps he was not as attuned to subtleties and nuances that he could have exploited.  His scripts can sometimes border on the glib, where the writing is more about the craft than about human drama, especially when it is delivered rapid-fire like stand-up comedy.  Other times, I wondered why some dialog was even inserted, such as when writer Frawley (Simmons) asks Desi whether he was scared when the Cuban militia came for his family, which constitutes a “Duh!” moment.

            Another somewhat minor—although annoying--issue with the film is sound production.  So often, music and sound effects drown out the dialog, even when sound effects are not necessarily needed (for example, the rain at one point).  Javier Bardem’s English is excellent, and I have never had difficulty understanding him in a movie, but apparently here, he was advised to affect a stronger Spanish accent than even Desi actually had, resulting in my not comprehending all of what he said.  (I never had trouble understanding Desi in sound clips.)

            Being the Ricardos will be primarily for die-hard fans who are nostalgic and for those who like to watch behind-the-scenes filmmakers hash out the fine points of scenes, plots, and characters. 

 

Being the Ricardos is for the fans of Lucy and Desi primarily and for a look at the influence two actors had on television production.  

 

Grade:  C+                            By Donna R. Copeland

THE SNOWMAN

Michael Fassbender     Rebecca Ferguson     Charlotte Gainsbourg     J. K. Simmons

     The best thing this film does is illustrate how important good direction is to movies, because this seems to be the main flaw in The Snowman.  No matter how fine the actors are (e.g., Fassbender, Gainsbourg, Simmons, Ferguson) nor how artistic the cinematography (Dion Beebe), editing (Thelma Schoonmaker), and writing (Peter Straughan, Hossein Amini), a film can still be so deficient in the key function of directing (Tomas Alfredson), the other arts simply cannot make up for it.  It’s puzzling in this case, because Alfredson has had two successes in English language films (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Let the Right One In), and it’s surprising that he had such a lapse in this case.  He has responded to criticisms by explaining that when they got the go-ahead to begin filming, they did not have enough time to shoot all the scenes in the script, and when they started editing, this was all too apparent.  This helps explain some of the gaps, but doesn’t account for the lack of coherence or the apparently significant departure from the successful novel on which the story was based (by Jo Nesbo).

     This partially explains why there are so many scenes, especially in the beginning, where one has no idea who the characters are or, later, how they fit in with the story.  At any rate, it’s difficult for the viewer to piece together the sequence of events.  Part of the problem is that extraneous scenes are included, serving only to confuse, such as the scenes where Fassbender’s character Harry Hole is stone drunk.  This has nothing to do with what transpires; later another detective has the same problem, but we are not told how they are related to one another. 

     As much as I could glean, the story is about a series of murders across many years in which a snowman appears just before the murder of a mother with a young child.  Hole, the leader of the crime squad, and Katrina (Ferguson), his assistant, are charged with finding the serial killer.  There are a number of false leads, and when we learn who the killer actually is and what happens to him, it lacks the “Oh, I see” moment of a good detective story when the reader/viewer realizes there were clues that he/she missed.  In this film, there appear to be few if any logical connections with which to give the plot coherence.

     I don’t recall a time when a film that has this much potential falters so badly.

Sadly, The Snowman is not worth the price of a ticket to see it.

Grade:  F                                    By Donna R. Copeland

ROCK DOG

Voices of:  Luke Wilson   Eddie Izzard   J. K. Simmons   Lewis Black   Matt Dillon   Sam Elliott

     Rock Dog is a Chinese-American 3D computer-animated film, based on a popular Chinese graphic novel, Tibetan Rock Dog by Zheng Jun, a Chinese rock star.  The film originated in China and has Chinese backers, but is directed by American Ash Bannon and animated by an American studio, Reel FX.  It’s a great movie for children, with its simple but heartwarming story and thoughtful treatment of stealing, fear mongering, mistrust and hatred of strangers, honesty, and pomposity.  The characters and sets are well drawn, with sharp lines and bold colors. 

      Bodi (Wilson) is a mastiff living on Snow Mountain with his father who wants him to follow in his own footsteps and become a guard against wolves in a community where sheep production and products is its main industry.  Wolves haven’t attacked in years, but Khampa (Simmons) wants to be prepared just in case.  Actually, the wolves have stayed away from Snow Mountain because they heard that Khampa had recruited and trained a huge army of dogs for protection.  In fact, Khampa has simply dressed up sheep to look like ferocious guard dogs—a twist on the admonition, “Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing”—a clever joke for adults in the audience.

     The thrust of the story is about Bodi’s wanting to pursue his own dream of being a musician and “finding my band.”  Khampa is disdainful of this idea and uses all kinds of ruses to make Bodi change his mind.  But Bodi has an advocate in his father’s friend, Fleetwood Yak (Elliott), who counsels the father to allow his son to go to the city and chase his dream.

     Bodi has been further encouraged by his listening to a radio that was accidentally dropped from the sky out of an airplane, landing right in front of him in a meadow.  He turns it on and is thrilled that it has rock stations playing music all the time, as well as interviews with stars.  One of these is Angus Scattergood (Izzard), a current rock idol.  Bodi is sure Angus is talking directly to him in his encouragement to play, play, play his guitar, and success will surely come, just as it did for Angus.

     When Khampa finally gives his permission for his son to go to the city, Bodi goes and looks for Rock Park where musicians hang out.  He meets a trio, and one teases him by advising him to go to Scattergood’s house and be extremely persistent in getting the star to give him music lessons.  The naïve Bodi takes off immediately.  Of course, this is dangerous, because the star has rigged his house with electrical wires and booby traps to keep visitors away.  But through complicated events, persistence, luck, and his good nature, Bodi gets through the door. 

     This is not enough, however, because proud, pretentious Angus is horrified at the thought of mentoring anyone so humble.  To make matters worse, Bodi is being chased by urban wolves led by ruthless, unscrupulous Linnux (Black), who wants to use him to blackmail Khampa and gain entrance to Snow Mountain.  Fortunately, Bodi’s good nature wins him friends and support from two of the rock musicians he met in the park and even Angus’ robot butler, Oz, so he still has a chance to fulfill his dream.

     Rock Dog, directed by Ash Bannon, is well paced for children, is the right length, and uses mixtures of adventure, thrills, and emotional elements to tell a good story.  Music by Rolfe Kent is effective, especially the song, “Glorious” (composed, produced, and performed by Adam Friedman).

An engaging and well crafted cross-cultural animated film.

Grade:  B+                                    By Donna R. Copeland

PATRIOTS DAY

Mark Wahlberg     J. K. Simmons     Kevin Bacon     John Goodman     Michelle Monaghan     

Jimmy O. Yang     Alex Wolff     Themo Melikidze

       A dramatic account of the 2013 bombings at the Boston Marathon refreshes our memory of what happened that day and the investigations to find the perpetrators that followed.  It’s fascinating and informative to see how the rescue and investigation proceeded, and how quickly the suspects were identified with security cameras.  With that information in hand, a police officer knowledgeable about the area knew where to look for them.  There was disagreement initially among the FBI and city/county/state officials about when to release the names, but as soon as they did, they began to get leads.  (The FBI preferred to withhold the names so as not to tip off the bombers and allow them to escape.)

        The film gives us glimpses of some people’s lives beforehand, such as Sgt. Tommy Saunders (Wahlberg) who had been temporarily suspended from the force, some of the victims, and the Tsarnaev brothers, the bombers.  This helps make the shock more real and important to us, and gives us a glimpse into how private lives are affected (tragically, sometimes) by civic duties.  The most dramatic of these is when the Tsarnaevs on the run hijack a car driven by a student (Yang) whom we’ve been introduced to earlier as a son talking to his family in China and to his friends.  Dzhokhar (Wolff) and Tamerian (Melikidze) Tsarnaev are shown to be bumbling and argumentative in their execution of the terror and their attempts to get away.  In the aftermath of the explosions, it’s eerie to see them at home watching TV reports of their work, and Tamerian sending Dzhokhar to the store on an errand.

       Peter Berg, the director, moves the story along, with frequent cuts—sometimes so frequent it makes you dizzy—but covering the scope of the massive event well, including preparations for the race and some of the back stories, law enforcement during the race, the bombings and chaos that followed, the rescue, and finally the investigation and pursuit of the criminals.  There is an especially interesting interrogation of the older Tsarnaev’s wife by the FBI.  It did not produce much information, but showed the FBI’s expertise in connecting with someone to elicit information.

          No one character really stands out, although Sgt. Saunders seems to turn up at every important event.  Wahlberg’s performance is not as outstanding as in some of his previous work, although it is adequate, and it could be that the writers/director wanted a lower key persona for this role.  Experienced actors in supportive roles that measure up to their reputations include J. K. Simmons, Kevin Bacon, John Goodman, Alex Wolff, and Michelle Monaghan.  Relative newcomer Themo Melikidze playing the older Tsarnaev is entirely convincing.

A reminder of the fateful day in 2013 when two brothers wreaked havoc in Boston during the marathon.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE ACCOUNTANT

Ben Affleck   Anna Kendrick   J. K. Simmons   Jeffrey Tambor   John Lithgow   Cynthia Addai-Robinson   Jon Bernthal

          Don’t let the title mislead you; this is a crafty, entertaining thriller with rapid plot twists and shifting identities.  Not what you ever imagined an accountant’s life to be like.  But Christian Wolff (Affleck), the accountant in this story, grew up “different” (Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism) with a military father who pushed him to overcome weakness and deal with taunts and bullying he was encountering.  Training included fostering his innate talent for numbers, family loyalty, martial arts and target practice.  So Christian (take note of the name’s associations) then becomes a fairly unique individual with Robinhood values, which makes this film a character study as well as an action thriller, showing the influence of early family relationships and events on adulthood in this and other characters.

          Director Gavin O’Connor enhances the mystery quotient by jumping back and forth in time [which I normally detest, but it works here], showing events in Christian’s life and an FBI investigation.  Mystery is inserted by withholding reasons why, for instance, FBI Director Raymond King (Simmons) is pursuing a perp he calls “The Accountant”, and charges one of his supervisees, Marybeth Medina (Addai-Robinson), to smoke this guy out.  (We’re given satisfaction later as to its importance to him.)

          It’s an amazing—although still plausible—story involving a savant mathematician, big corporations, underworld crime, FBI investigations, and a young well-meaning accountant (Kendrick) who unwittingly blows the whistle at a prominent company, thereby setting off a chain of events no one expects.

          O’Connor has done extremely well in putting Bill Dubuque’s screenplay on film, using their combined knowledge of cinema, human psychology and families to create a compelling tale that is more than a simple thriller.  This film would not have worked nearly as well without the personal histories of Christian, Ray, and Marybeth; they fit together exquisitely with—something I loved—a kind of tenderness running through.  On top of all this, there is a “coming together” at the end, which is priceless. 

         The actors are well cast, with the ever-talented Ben Affleck taking the lead, but with strong support from Anna Kendrick, J. K. Simmons, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Jeffrey Tambor, and John Lithgow.  Each one of these actors has stellar performances in showing their vulnerabilities:  Affleck as an autistic, Kendrick as a bright but repressed artist-mathematician, Simmons as an FBI agent with insight and heart, Addai-Robinson as one whose secret is outed but hopes diligence will save her, Tambor as an inmate who’s reformed and has acquired character, and Lithgow who is gobsmacked by just about everything going on around him.

       Mark Isham’s music and Seamus McGarvey’s cinematography are the behind-the-scenes enhancements that help make this film significant. 

This film has all the elements that many of us go to the movies for.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland

ZOOTOPIA

Voices of:  Jason Bateman     Ginnifer Goodwin     Idris Elba     J. K. Simmons     Octavia Spencer

          It’s so refreshing to see a children’s film that has so much going for it.  Zootopia’s palette and visual effects are beautifully dimensional and the picture contains endearing and diverse animal characters that behave so human, some really fine observations about our own species can be drawn from them in terms that children can easily grasp.  The basic point is that viewing and treating others as stereotypes can be misguided and even dangerous, especially when simplistic explanations are used to “understand” them.  Or assumptions are made such as “we may have evolved, but deep down we’re still animals that can go savage.”  On the other hand, it’s demonstrated that kindness and genuine charm can be supremely effective in winning cooperation from others.

          Judy Hopps (Goodwin) is a perky rabbit determined to become a police officer despite everyone from her family to her friends and co-workers openly discouraging her from the notion.  But she is determined (“I don’t know when to quit”), and is “quick as a bunny” and smart as a whip.  She graduates from training first in her class, bids goodbye to Bunny Burrow, and boards the train for Zootopia (which, of course, she regards as utopian).  Her goals have the same utopian quality; she plans to unite the “vicious predator with the meek prey” so that everyone can live in harmony.

          But her anticipations are not met, and sure enough others refer to her as a “stupid carrot farming dumb bunny”, even the police chief, who assigns her to be a meter maid.  She provides valuable modeling for children in coping with such a job situation.  That is, instead of 100 tickets she is supposed to issue, she will issue 200; but, in addition, she keeps her eyes and ears open, and soon sees an opportunity for real police work that she hopes will allow her to “make the world a better place.”

          Judy’s parents have warned her about foxes, and she soon encounters a wily one by the name of Nick Wilde (Bateman).  (All the names of characters relate to the metaphors used in the film’s story.)  They have a contentious, bargaining relationship at first; she is wary and he is cynical, and each has to earn the other’s respect.  It’s rewarding to see their friendship develop across time into a trusting, collaborative partnership.

          The filmmakers include major intrigues to heighten interest and excitement and lend a bit of scariness to the plot; namely that of a serious problem of mammals disappearing.  It will take Judy and Nick some time to figure out what is going on, amidst some misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and mistakes in interpreting the data.  Both will develop valuable insights into themselves and their friendship in the process.

       For fun, the film has clever little jokes sprinkled throughout, such as Lucky Charms cereal labeled “Lucky Chomps” and all the workers in the DMV being sloths maddeningly slow and methodical in their responses.  And it has helpful maxims:  “If the ones in power can make the prey fear the predator, their power is assured.

       Walt Disney Studios and Directors Byron Howard, Rich Moony and Jared Bush have created a highly entertaining but substantive picture that can be enjoyed by all ages of viewers.

Striving for a utopian society by a most unlikely pair.

Grade:  A                                   By Donna R. Copeland

KUNG FU PANDA 3

Voices of:  Jack Black   Bryan Cranston   Dustin Hoffman   Angelina Jolie   J. K. Simmons   Jackie Chan   Seth Rogen   Lucy Liu   James Hong

        Kung Fu Panda 3 has the qualities we hope for in animated children’s movies:  A sense of adventure, good modeling by the adults, fine animation, humor, and a minimum of fart and pee jokes.  Many of the actors and crew have been involved in all three of the Kung Fu Panda films, which contributes to their quality.

         In this adventure, Po the Panda (Black) is being prepared by his guide Shifu (Hoffman) to take over his role as teacher, which seems incredulous to Po who frequently bumbles his action moves.  But the message from Shifu is not to be like him, Shifu, but to find and bring out the Po that is his potential.  In this episode two important events take place; Po encounters his real father (Cranston)—currently filling that role is a goose, Mr. Ping (Hong)—and is charged with saving all the Pandas who are threatened by the evil Kai (Simmons), who has stolen the Chi of most of the past Masters and changed them to be his jade fighters.

     The writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger weave together a story that contains elements of suspense and adventure, Po’s struggles to actualize himself, and warm family elements with Po coming to realize he has two fathers and a role in his extended family of pandas.  Directors Carloni and Yuh keep the action tight but make it easy for very young ones in the audience to follow.

        The gifted cast skillfully transforms the script into fine entertainment for children, helped along by the colorful and entertaining animation, the musical score of Hans Zimmer and the production design of Raymond Zebach.

The latest edition of Kung Fu Panda keeps up the fine pace of the previous two productions.

Grade:  A                               By Donna R. Copeland

TERMINATOR GENISYS

Arnold Schwarzenegger     Jason Clarke     Jai Courtney     Emilia Clarke     J. K. Simmons

Thrills, spills, guns, fistfights, explosions, crashes—Terminator Ginisys has it all—but in addition, it has mind games where the identities of the main characters move back and forth in time and even morph into someone else.  Although of the latter, we’re not always sure; maybe their true identity was disguised all along.  And then there is The Terminator (Schwarzenegger) who is challenged by a younger version of himself.

The plot is relatively straightforward; an evil force named Skynet has almost been successful in doing away with humans altogether and replacing them with machines.  And amazing contraptions these are in their abilities to reconstitute themselves after injuries or at will—sometimes into moving metal beings, sometimes into humans, and they can even make their hands grow into very long swords that are able to cut through steel doors.  But there is a small group of humans and one Terminator who will risk their lives to save humankind.

           The story begins with a rebel group of humans led by John Connor (J. Clarke) whose plan is to destroy the heart of Skynet, a machine built to go back in time and kill Connor’s mother so that he will not be born.  So Connor has a brilliant plan to turn their scheme against them; that is, to send his most loyal follower, Kyle Reese (Courtney), back through time to his mother Sarah (E. Clarke), who could foresee the future and told John all about it.  Kyle is to rescue her and destroy the death machine so that Skynet and “Judgment Day” (i.e., doomsday) will never come to pass. 

           Kyle successfully goes back in time, but the situation he encounters is completely different from what he has expected.  But as expected, it is very dangerous, and Kyle will be lucky to escape with his life.

           The conception of this film by screenwriters Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island) and Patrick Lussier (three Dracula movies) is complex, and they use comic relief from time to time to counter the tension and constant battles and explosions.  For instance, J. K. Simmons has a cameo role as a somewhat bumbling police detective who knows exactly what Kyle and his cohorts are up to; however, no one listens to him.  And The Terminator makes comments about being old but not obsolete, which always brought up a chuckle in the screening.

           Director Alan Taylor, probably best known and awarded for co-directing prime-time television series such as “Mad Men” and “Game of Thrones”, seems well up to the task here in a major feature.  Excitement abounds, and the production design (Neil Spisak) and special effects are noteworthy, especially the morphing actions on all the terminators—unless, of course, you’ve seen earlier versions.

           Schwarzenegger is in his usual fine form, and he, Emilia Clarke, and Courtney fit together mostly, although I would have liked to see less bickering, which was probably supposed to be funny, but I found it grating.  I’ve been a fan of Jason Clarke for a number of years, especially his work in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.  His performance here is just as good.

           This is a film primarily for those who have not seen the previous Terminator versions (1984, 1991, 2003, 2009) or love them so much they never tire of repeat viewings.  This is the fifth film in the series, and whereas the first two were hits, the last three seem to be stuck in time—which is highly ironic.

The Terminator returns…again!

Grade:  C                                    By Donna R. Copeland