I WANT YOU BACK

 Charlie Day     Jenny Slate     Scott Eastwood     Gina Rodriguez     

Manny Jacinto     Clark Backo     Luke David Blumm

            This is a smart comedy—laugh-out-loud funny in places—well written (Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger) and suspenseful because it’s unclear just how everything will be worked out.  In some ways, it’s a series of funny disasters, but it’s more than that in its touching on the difficulties in long-term relationships and the hazards of scheming to achieve an aim.

            Much of the credit for its spontaneity and set-ups goes to an excellent cast of actors experienced in the art of comedy.  Peter (Day) has a serious relationship with Anne (Rodriguez), and Noah (Eastwood) and Emma (Slate) have been together (happily from her point of view) long enough to consider taking the next step.  The two couples’ break-ups take Peter and Emma totally by surprise, and they feel the stings of being dumped.

            It turns out, they work in the same multi-story building, and when they meet unexpectedly in a stairway after individual meltdowns in meetings, they commiserate with one another, and decide to get together after work.  While trying to work through their grief by drinking and singing about their troubles at a karaoke bar, they come up with an ill-conceived plan to break up their former mates’ new relationships.

            This leads to sometimes hilarious situations in all kinds of settings with additional characters thrown in, the most touching of which is Emma coming across 12 year-old Trevor in her work as a “volunteer” for a middle-school drama, directed by Logan (Jacinto), Anne’s new love.  Trevor is filled with rage about his home situation, and Emma is able to do some amateur (but helpful) counseling to steer him onto a better track.

            Other funny scenes come up with paunchy Peter attempting to befriend Noah, a physical trainer.  Noah trains Peter in physical activities he never dreamed of doing, much less mastering.  In the process—exhausting as it is—Peter discovers a new side of himself.  

            Jason Orly directs I Want You Back admirably.  The timing of the scenes in telling a story and balancing out the comedic and “truthy” elements skillfully sustain interest and engagement of the viewer.

 

A comedy that will make you laugh out loud while making some insightful statements about people and relationships.

 

Grade:  B                              By Donna R. Copeland

HOTEL ARTEMIS

Jodie Foster     Sterling K. Brown    Sofia Boutella     Jeff Goldblum

Jenny Slate     Dave Bautista     Charlie Day     Brian Tyree Henry

     There is no honor among thieves—true most of the time.  But that adage is disproven now and again in Hotel Artemis.  The hotel was created as a gesture of honor years before 2028 when this story takes place, one among many interesting twists in the narrative about a kind of hospital for wounded criminals, administered by The Nurse (Foster). Riots about the shortages of water are flaming in Los Angeles, which makes the hospital very busy.  But a few clear-cut rules have been designed to establish order, e.g., only paid members admitted, no cops admitted, no weapons allowed, no serial killers or pedophiles admitted, no real names used, etc.  Each person is called by the name of his/her room, e.g., Waikiki, Honolulu, Acapulco, Nice. (One of the clever little features that elicits a smile from us.)  Nurse runs a tight ship aided by her trusted Everest (Bautista), who towers above everyone else, is completely devoted to his job and to Nurse, and is handy in managing the electrical generators and being a bouncer when called upon.    

     On a particular Wednesday night during the riots, only one room is vacant when Nurse is handed a dilemma that will cause her to break one of her own rules, and coincidentally, other infractions happen for various reasons, and then suddenly a call comes from the owner of the establishment needing to be admitted. This happens to be Wolf King (Goldblum), crime boss of the city.  Beyond the main events, sub-plots are interwoven involving activist Waikiki (Brown) and his brother Honolulu (Henry), the assassin Nice (Boutella) and her fluctuating relationships with Waikiki and Acapulco (Day), a loud-mouth American full of bluster and entitlement, and a mysterious patient (Morgan) with a significant past connection to Nurse.

     Drew Pearce, writer/director, and his team have produced an unusual take on a crime story with elements of mystery, suspense, and intrigue; colorful but entirely believable, complicated characters (the most complex being Foster’s “Nurse”); Cliff Martinez’s expressive score; Chung-Hoon Chung’s guiding cinematography; and all the others involved in making the film a work of art.  And we must not omit the many, many modes of humor and plain laugh-out-loud moments sprinkled in here and there. Quotable quotes run rife. “You work with what you got; not what you hoped for.”  [My dad] lives in Florida; life took him out already.”  “They bought your death; don’t give them your dignity for free.”  And finally, “Getting out is always tougher than getting in.”

     This is likely to be another star in Jodie Foster’s star-studded acting crown, easily measuring up to a host of award-winning performances in Silence of the Lambs, The Accused, Taxi Driver, and Contact—just to name a few.  It was personally gratifying to see her physical appearance reflecting her life of grief and servitude rather than her being “prettied up.”  Gray-haired and wrinkled, and relying on inspirational tapes to manage her anxiety, asthma, and other maladies, Foster delivers on-point perfection in giving us an in-depth look at her character with a significant past.

     Also notable are Sofia Boutella (always mesmerizing), Sterling K. Brown as an honorable “criminal” loyal to his brother to a fault, Dave Bautista as a bouncer with a heart, Charlie Day as an American stereotype who talks too loudly and too much, and Jeff Goldblum as an astute crime boss who’s disappointed in his youngest son for being too soft.

Hotel Artemis:  A place like you’ve never seen before, with goings on that thrill, chill, pull the strings of your heart, and make you chuckle.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland

PACIFIC RIM

John Boyega     Scott Eastwood     Tian Jing     Cailee Spaeny    

Rinko Kikuchi     Burn Gorman     Adria Arjona     Charlie Day

     At first, I thought that the only reason to watch this film is for the special effects, which are spectacular, but I wished for more dramatic impact, which is so minimal.  Then later, I was intrigued with its treatment of the Amara Namani (Spaeny) character, a young sassy girl who had done amazing things on her own (such as assembling a Jaeger from scraps), failed at first at cadet school, then managed to become a central element in saving the earth.  That redeemed this film to some extent in terms of dramatic import and being more than the usual fight-game.

     Another interesting twist is one of the characters’ going rogue after some of his vital fluids got mixed with that of a Kaiju in the first Pacific Rim film, making him eventually a traitor to the Pan Pacific Defense Force.

     In Pacific Rim Uprising, several story lines play out.  There is the one about Jake (Boyega) trying to live up to his father’s heroic brilliance, his competitiveness with his fellow pilot, Nate (Eastwood), his argumentative relationship with Amara, and the competition among scientists (Gorman, Arjona, Day) to produce the most effective force, drones versus Jaegers.  If these stories had been fleshed out and the incessant, senseless robot fighting reduced, this would have been a lot better film.

     To complicate matters, the music and sound effects often drown out dialog, and some subtitles flash by so quickly they’re missed. 

     John Boyega, the recipient of a number of rising star awards for his work in Star Wars:  The Force Awakens and Attack the Block, is good in the starring role, which is very similar to his past roles, so it was not much of a stretch.  The new up-and-coming star here is Cailee Spaeny in her first feature film.  She is a natural in her range of expressions and her ability to capture the spotlight.  Tian Jing as head of the Chinese Shao Corporation’s drone project is icily attractive and clearly shows command of those under her purview.  Eastwood playing rival to Boyega’s character is very effective, although his resemblance to his father both in appearance and mannerism is a bit distracting.  (Not his fault, of course.)  I missed not seeing more of Rinko Kikuchi, who had a major role in the first Pacific Rim; her role here is minor.

     This is a film for special effects fans who are less interested in drama and more enthusiastic about seeing robots engaged in physical combat.

Meager in story; incessant in fighting.

Grade:  D                                    By Donna R. Copeland

FIST FIGHT

Charlie Day     Ice Cube     Christina Hendricks     Tracy Morgan     Jillian Bell     Dean Norris

     This is one of the most pathetic, obnoxious films I’ve ever seen.  It’s hard to know where to start.  It pains me to learn that it is supposed to be a comedy.  Mr. Campbell (Day) is an English teacher in a high school completely out of control where students are able to put porn on TVs, use their cell phones to disrupt a video on the Civil War, write obscene remarks on a teacher’s blackboard (which are not erasable), spray the hallway floor with oil, and so on.  (Hopefully, you don’t know of any school in the world like this, and that it’s completely a product of the filmmakers’ minds.)  Campbell is a nice guy, but on the wimpy side, who is not averse to being sneaky—both of which he is accused of by everyone.  He gets framed right and left, but often because he simply doesn’t stand up for himself.

     He is a perfect foil for the teacher-bully at the school, Mr. Strickland (Ice Cube), who is able to maintain authority simply with a loud, commanding voice and penetrating stare.  Strickland is a good example of how this kind of authoritarianism is ineffective at best and abusive at worst.  He is also primed to single people out with pointed finger to blame for his troubles.  He’s still a (very) big kid with poor impulse control.

     The basic scenario of the film is that these two characters get cross-wires with each other, abetted by the students, but aided by their own poor problem-solving skills.  They have regressed to the point that the bully insists on the wimp coming outside after school for a fistfight (Fist Fight; get it?).  “We’re gonna handle this like real men”, says Strickland.  Real men?  Not!

     To add “spice” to the drama, the script calls for the school counselor to be the hopeless counselor who does drugs and flirts with a student, and another (Hendricks), who whips out a knife, wanting Strickland to use it on Campbell. 

     I always dread films that have school or psychology as subjects because Hollywood is notorious for mishandling and miscasting them.  Here, most of the students look like they’re at least in their twenties (making the action even more absurd), and the adults behave like children with poor impulse control who resort to outright lying when confronted.  Fist Fight models such a bad school environment it becomes absurd. 

     But the most disturbing experience of the screening is that a significant number of people in the audience, laughed throughout and applauded at the end.  I wonder, “Who are these people?  Do they not grasp the importance of modeling in films?  Do they think it’s hilarious when mobs egg on two people to fight one another, even when there’s a mismatch?”

Fist Fight is not recommended for anybody anywhere anytime.

Grade:  F                                               By Donna R. Copeland