THE ADDAMS FAMILY 2

Voices of:  Oscar Isaac     Charlize Theron     Chloe Grace Moretz     Nick Kroll

Snoop Dogg     Bette Midler     Bill Hader     Javon ‘Wanna’  Walton

            Silly; as it’s meant to be.  This version’s entertainment focuses on Dr. Strange (Hader) who is claiming that there was a mix-up at Wednesday’s (Moretz) birth and that she is actually his daughter.  “Isn’t it obvious?”, he says; she clearly has inherited his scientific talents.  This seems to play into Wednesday’s recent plans where—she being a teenager—is feeling ashamed of her parents and disgusted with her brother and wanting to get away.  The Addams parents try to hide the identity of Strange’s lawyer from Wednesday after the lawyer pays them a visit, but of course it’s only a matter of time before she figures out who he is.

            Sensing his beloved daughter’s distancing, Gomez (Isaac) decides it’s time for a family vacation, a trip across the United States.  His wife Morticia (Theron) agrees, saying, “Of course; we have some of the best dark secrets, as countries go.”  As part of the family, brother Pugsley (Walton), Uncle Fester (Kroll), and Lurch (Carel Struycken) will all board a contraption to be driven by Fester, discovering the wonders of America, all while being tailed by the lawyer and his thug.  

            A trip to Salem gets cancelled because Fester sees a sign to Niagara Falls and immediately veers in that direction.  From there, they will make their way to The Alamo in San Antonio, the Grand Canyon, and finally to Death Valley, which was to be their final destination, except…they must do a detour to Sausalito and the home of Dr. Strange, because Gomez and Morticia are not about to cede their daughter to Strange.

            The story and animations in the 2-version are entertaining, although I imagine that those who have seen previous versions of the Addams Family may find it repetitious.  My favorite character is Wednesday who shows a delightful mixture of insight and acerbity and is almost unerringly logical.  When she wins a science contest along with all the other participants, she declares with a harumph, “How can I be a winner when there are no losers?”  After she gives her father the one hug he has been longing for and is ready for another, she refuses, saying, “I’ve been socially distancing since birth.”  These are subtle comments about our current time that I found amusing.

            I find the cruelty of Wednesday toward her brother hard to take, although I realize that’s the kind of “pratfall humor” many enjoy.  I find the rationalizing of the parents endearing and refreshing, as they use every means they have at their disposal to bring her back to their fold.  I like the movie’s message of tolerance—even admiration—for strangeness; that’s probably a hallmark of the Addams stories.

            

Although Addams Family 2 is not something of a new sensation or profound in its insights, I can easily see how many people will find it enjoyable, endearing, and funny.

 

Grade:  C+                            by Donna R. Copeland 

THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2

Voices of:  Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, Harrison Ford, Patton Oswalt, Eric Stonestreet

Jenny Slate, Lake Bell, Hannibal Buress, Nick Kroll, Dana Carvey, Ellie Kemper

      Whereas in the first rendition of The Secret Life of Pets, a relatively simple story with lots of excitement is told, in Secret Life 2, the filmmakers opted to have three loosely related story plots alternating with one another.  One story is about the main character Max having to adjust to his owner’s new baby and going for a visit to a farm where he encounters an intimidating bigger dog named “Rooster” (Ford), although Rooster isa dog.  Another is about Max’s friend Gidget (Slate) trying to retrieve Max’s favorite toy, “busy bee”—which he entrusts her with while he is out of town—when it bounces away and ends up in a cat-filled apartment.  The third story is about Snowball (Hart) feeling like a super hero when his owner dresses him up in an action figure costume, and his friend Daisy (Haddish) asks him for help in rescuing a circus tiger from its abusive trainer Sergei (Kroll).  

     In my opinion, this structure becomes a near fatal flaw, because it fragments the plot and literally lurches through three very different settings and intrigues. Max is trying to brave it up on the farm; Gidget and her friend Chloe (Bell) are frantically trying to wrest “busy bee” from one huge snarling cat in a house full of cats, and Snowball and Daisy become action figures in outwitting and outfighting the evil Sergei for the tiger. Try as the filmmakers might, the three stories don’t really come together in the end; we just get a sample of endless chases modeled after adult action movies.  Bravery seems to be the element tying all this together, but by the end, we feel like we’ve seen three different movie shorts.

     The actors voicing the animals do a great job highlighting their characters’ personalities (Harrison Ford, Tiffany Haddish, and Nick Kroll are welcome additions to the first team), the animation and special effects are entertaining, and Alexandre Desplat’s music is an apt accompaniment.  

     Children in the screening I attended giggled and laughed at expected times and seemed to enjoy the film overall; I just wonder how well the younger ones especially followed and kept track of the three plots.

Another peek into the pet world, where challenges and intrigues are aplenty.

Grade:  C                                    By Donna R. Copeland

OPERATION FINALE

Oscar Isaac     Ben Kingsley     Melanie Laurent     Nick Kroll    

Lior Raz     Michael Aronav     Joe Alwyn     Greta Scacchi

     The title is borrowed from Nazi Adolph Eichmann’s term, the “Final Solution”, his proposal in 1942 to get rid of the Jews in Germany, which was to exterminate them, something he accomplished with staggering efficiency.  The result was the deaths of 3-4 million Jews in occupied Europe and another 2 million elsewhere.  Fast-forward to 1960, when Israeli Jews discovered where Eichmann was after his escape before the International War Crimes Tribunal was held in Nuremburg.  He had fled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he lived with his family under a pseudonym and worked in a Mercedes-Benz factory.  

     With the blessing of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, a small team of Mossad agents was dispatched to Buenos Aires to abduct Eichmann and bring him to Israel for trial.  Disagreements had to be worked out between those who were still so enraged they wanted him killed and maybe tortured on the spot.  But cooler heads argued that putting him on trial for the whole world to witness was a better plan.  

     Although the real events were laden with drama, the movie, Operation Finale, elaborates on history to increase the tension and excitement for audiences.  It could be argued that this is unnecessary, in that simply telling the story like it happened is drama enough.  For instance, I understand that in actuality Eichmann was drugged and disguised as an injured airline worker with a bandage on his head in order to fly him to Israel.

     At any rate, the film focuses on the Israeli operatives and their interactions with one another and with Eichmann, giving us background stories that make us care about them and their families and accomplices, and helps us appreciate the dangers of the operation.  The action of the story is so absorbing and exciting, that if you didn’t know the outcome—or even if you do—you will be impressed.

     Oscar Isaac as Peter, one of the Mossad agents, and Ben Kingsley as Adolph Eichmann make the two characters come alive, especially during the time they are in a safe house before their departure from Buenos Aires.  Peter is convinced that they will get more from Eichmann—specifically, a signature—by establishing rapport with him, rather than obtaining it through force and torture.  This is borne out, which pleased me, in that it has been shown that this approach is much more effective than torture.  Unfortunately, they also demonstrate torture giving captors the information they desire, which undercuts the good example.  (Whether or not these circumstances are a reflection of true events or whether they are fiction for the movie I cannot say.)  

     All of the actors are very good, and Matthew Orton’s script and Chris Weitz’s direction—along with the lesson in history, albeit a compromised one—make this a worthwhile movie to see.  The “dressing up” for film audiences doesn’t detract too much from essential historical elements, which allows me to recommend it.

A thrilling, tension-filled story that reflects enough of the historical events to make it worthwhile for all to see.  

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS: THE FIRST EPIC MOVIE

Voices of:  Jordan Peele   Kevin Hart   Thomas Middleditch   Nick Kroll   Ed Helmsl   Kristen Schaal

     The setting of this animation of absolutely no value is grade school with a mean principal, Mr. Krupp (Helms) who has it in for two student cartoonists, George (Hart) and Harold (Middleditch), pranksters who constantly thwart Krupp’s efforts.  Of course, he is shown as being just as humorless and bad as the two pranksters are “funny.”  Funny is in quotes because the humor always has a scatological reference.  Let me list the words—you’ll be amazed that they could get this many into an 84-minute production:  Underpants (of course), toilet, toilet plunger, toilet paper, Uranus, peeing, farting, pooping, and diarrhea.  There’s even a Professor Poopypants (Kroll) and a farting symphony.  Not only is the principal disparaged in this film; so are school, science, and good students. 

     The basic premise of the plot is that mean Mr. Krupp threatens to put George and Harold into separate classrooms, which they’re convinced will destroy their friendship forever.  In desperation, they snoop around his office and find some of their things, which Mr. Krupp had confiscated, like a “hypnosis ring.”  With it, they’re able to put him in a trance, which transforms him by removing his clothes and putting him into underpants and a red cape.  An unanticipated side effect is that he thinks he’s a superhero and they start calling him “Captain Underpants.”  In this role he’s seen as partly a dumb fool and partly more heroic than he is in his natural state.  Anytime he starts transforming back into the principal, the two boys simply snap their fingers and sing “Tra-la-la”, and he’s in his underpants and cape again.

     Mixed into the plot is a mad scientist (Kroll) with a German accent and a hairdo that looks like a wild Einstein who gets hired to teach science.  He is Professor Poopypants, with fantasies of revenge for being imprisoned, and one of his efforts is to wipe out all laughter in the world.  This will clearly impede George’s and Harold’s comic book business, so they team up with Captain Underpants to try to destroy Poopypants.

      The ending is predictable.

     This film will appeal to five year-olds who are still in the giggly potty humor phase, but it gets very tiresome for other ages—particularly those who are mature—and it is devoid of any helpful, positive qualities for children.

This is for those who still think potty jokes are funny.

Grade:  F                                   By Donna R. Copeland

SING

Voices of:  Matthew McConaughey   Reese Witherspoon   Seth MacFarlane   Scarlett Johansson   John C. Reilly  

Nick Kroll   Nick Offerman   Leslie Jones   Jennifer Saunders   Rhea Perlman   

Jennifer Hudson   Tori Kelly   Taron Egerton   Garth Jennings   

       The show must go on.  Clever animation and a wealth of songs tell the story of Showman Buster Moon (McConaughey), a koala who has inherited a famous theater from his father, and he is desperately trying to keep it going.  But he has had a number of failed projects and is about to lose it to the bank when he has a great idea for a singing contest. 

          The screwball comedy in the efforts to make it happen include such things as Buster’s secretary Miss Crawley (Jennings) constantly losing her glass eye, which bounces around, landing on the computer keyboard, and making $1,000 into $100,000.  Buster doesn’t find out about this until much later, because as Miss Crawley was carrying a stack of the flyers announcing the contest to show Buster, the whole stack gets blown out the window and scattered by the wind.  Hundreds of flyers all get picked up by aspiring vocalists all around the city in need of cash.

        Sing is animated and all the characters are animals.  There are pigs, elephants, sheep, baboons, giraffes, and an alligator among others, but these are only the main players.  Rosita (Witherspoon) is a housewife pig with 25 kids and an absent-minded husband who takes her for granted.  She is tech-savvy, and creates an automated assembly line at home so she can get out of the house to compete.  Mike (MacFarlane) is a mouse with a Frank Sinatra voice who has a gambling problem, and hence has big brown bears chasing after him for cheating.  Ash (Johansson), a porcupine is part of a duo, but Buster only wants her to sing, wounding her narcissistic partner deeply.  When she gets really into her songs, quills have a tendency to fly out and get stuck in the audience.  Meena (Kelly) is an elephant with a voice, but she is so shy she clams up during a performance, which enrages her “stage-mother” father.  Included is Johnny (Egerton), a gorilla who has great talent for jazz piano, the only problem being that his gangster father wants him to continue to pull off jobs with him.

       When one disaster follows another, and it looks like all is lost, Buster engages the help of his friend Eddie (Reilly) the sheep, who comes from a wealthy family and has a nanna, Nana Noodleman (Hudson and Saunders) who used to perform in operas at Moon’s concert hall.  Buster wants her to sponsor the contest, so invites her to a rehearsal.  Disasters happen, involving all the contestants and those chasing after them, so that it’s doubtful Buster and his hall will survive.

       The primary theme of the film is that everyone involved must pull together to make the show go on, and that fundraising is always something to be dealt with.  Sometimes it also takes boosting the self-confidence of the performer, holding back parents pushing their children inappropriately, and then convincing other parents that their child has talent and needs to be encouraged.

       The film is a bit of a mish-mash in the beginning, and I wonder how many children can appreciate the plot, because it has a lot to do with the “business” of running a theater.  But when the contest and parent involvement begin to happen, the story gets more interesting and engaging.  Writer-director Garth Jennings has conceived of a picture that is ultimately engaging and has good information for children.  The production design by Eric Guillon and animation pull the audience in visually, and Toby Talbot’s music is a running delight throughout.

This is a fanciful animation about what is actually involved in show business.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland

LOVING

Ruth Negga     Joel Edgerton     Nick Kroll     Michael Shannon     Margaret Blackwood

          Another Jeff Nichols (Mud, Take Shelter, Midnight Special) film that quietly pulls at your heart and reason and captures your attention.  It’s aptly entitled because the last name of the interracial couple having to buck Virginia’s outdated law against their union is Loving.  When their case, championed by the ACLU, goes to the Supreme Court, and the attorney asks Richard (Edgerton) what he wants to say to the Court, Richard’s answer is simply “I love my wife.”  Nichols wrote the screenplay based on an actual case, but he dramatized it, using as much information as he could glean about the actual case.  In the Q&A after the screening in Austin, Texas, he said all the legal information he gathered would have made a very boring movie, so he chose to write a drama, keeping the focus on the couple.

         Loving is about an interracial couple in the ‘50s-‘60s who defied Virginia law against miscegenation by going to Washington D.C. to get married, and upon returning home living together as husband and wife.  They lead a normal life in a family atmosphere, unaware of a “snitch” who informs the local police.

     The Lovings are an interesting twosome—she is only 19 when they marry (in Washington D.C.)—and he takes his responsibility for caring for her seriously.  So when they are roused from a deep sleep by policemen invading their bedroom one night and hauling them into jail, we see the beginnings of his disillusionment (“It’s just not right”) and mystification, although he continues to accommodate to the sentencing they receive (which is lighter than it otherwise would have been, thanks to a sympathetic local lawyer who is a friend of the judge), which uproots them from their home and her family to the city of Washington D.C.  He is a good honest worker-type who diligently drives back to their hometown every day for work.

     As time goes on (marked by seasons changing and children being born), Mildred (Negga) develops more confidence and assertiveness, so when her relative giving them accommodations in Washington says to her during the Civil Rights marches in the ‘60s, “Write to Robert Kennedy; you need to get you some civil rights”, Mildred does just that, which gets the ACLU involved.  It’s at this point that we see Mildred’s gradual transformation into a sharp woman who comprehends what the lawyers and press are telling her and becomes aware of the social significance and implications of their pressing forward.

        Another thing I love about Nichols’ writing is that he makes this transformation positive and non-threatening to Richard, partly because of her loving nature, but partly because his inner strength makes him thoughtful and, once again, accommodating, always from a strong position.  (The movie could be an inspiration for couples in achieving equality in their relationship, along with its message about equality for all citizens.)

      The casting of these two characters could not have been better.  Ruth Negga epitomizes a woman we can admire in any age—tender, sharp, decisive in a quiet way, sympathetic, and empathetic.  [For fun, you can contrast this with Richard’s mother (Sharon Blackwood), a midwife, who is scary looking when we first meet her, devoid of emotion and issuing out instructions, yet still supportive of her patients.  It’s unnerving later to see her as a doting grandmother, but that is Nichols again capturing human nature in all its variances.] 

     Joel Edgerton should be highly praised for portraying this character who is eloquent in nonverbal language but terse or reticent verbally.  His facial expressions, eyes, body language, and cryptic comments give you a full picture of who he is, what he values, and what he is about.  Both Edgerton and Negga embody Nichols’ subtlety and accuracy in honing in on the human psyche with all its complexities.

     With all the low-key drama, we also get to chuckle, as for instance, when Richard is evaluating the value of ACLU lawyers—for which there is no charge—he says wryly and cynically, “You get what you pay for.”  For all his crustiness and terse observations, Richard is the most comedic character.

Jeff Nichols, an artist with cinematic social sensitivity who’s still entertaining and insightful.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland

ADULT BEGINNERS

Nick Kroll     Rose Byrne     Bobby Cannavale

Adult Beginners is a comedy with some heart and substance supporting it.  We’re introduced right off to Jake (Kroll) as a billionaire creator/investor in high tech when his company goes bottoms up.  He never saw it coming, and now has incensed investors all over him.  A funny part of this comedy to me is that in his desperation he turns up at his sister’s house.  (His mother is dead, and his father lives with a new wife in Arizona).  Sister Justine (Byrne) couldn’t be more surprised when she answers the doorbell to her brother standing on the porch.  It’s clear that years have gone by since he had made contact, and Justine is obviously ambivalent about allowing him to stay for three months.  She is pregnant, has a three year-old, and a job on the line.

 

Justine is counting on her husband Danny (Cannavale) to oppose the idea, but he is a family man and says of course Jake must stay, and by the way, how about having him be their son’s nanny rather than sending Teddy to his preschool where he can get sick from the other kids licking the toys. 

 

What follows is a picture of what many families experience nowadays—upheaval of all kinds, challenges that crop up by the day, misgivings, angst, and true caring.  The reward for the audience, along with genuinely funny episodes, is seeing the characters adapt to changing circumstances.  Fatherhood plays a big role here, with the fancy tech guy learning about and coming to appreciate family ties, and the father so caught up in his thriving business he delegates his responsibilities until a crisis brings him up short.  But motherhood is a part of the mix as well, and Justine must let go of some of her childhood fears and rebellion and become a more protective adult with her children and her students at school.

 

Nick Kroll as the author of the story and the director of Adult Beginners clearly shows promise.  In this film, his characters are well developed, the storyline is captivating, and there are threads of wisdom about relationships, marriage, families, and children that he has clearly thought about.  I’m sure the screenwriters, Jeff Cox and Liz Flahive, deserve credit along with Kroll.  There are plenty of one-liners that have soul as well as substance, e.g., “Ow!  Don’t kiss me so it hurts!”  But the whole story line is more than simply one joke after another.  In addition to illustrating how adults can grow still further, it has a number of male bonding scenes that I think women could profit from seeing.

 

Byrne, Kroll, and Cannavale make a fine acting team; they play off one another like good musicians in an orchestra.  They demonstrate here that, taking into account their previous work, they can ace a range of characters.

This is intelligent, thoughtful comedy.

Grade:  B+                      By Donna R. Copeland