Action

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

Keith YoungLeave a comment

The third installment in the John Wick franchise with the release of its first movie in 2014 and directed by Chad Stahelski who was Keanu Reeves’ stunt double in The Matrix franchise, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is a high octane and over-the-top action movie that rises above the rest of the genre as a result of its magnificent choreographed fight sequences and creative storyline. It follows the titular character John Wick, played by Keanu Reeves, who is an internationally-known assassin working under the secret organization known as The High Table but is excommunicado, an unprotected status in which the other assassins can kill him for a bounty, after an unauthorized killed in the previous movie. He is no longer given immunity while staying at the hotel for assassins in New York City known as The Continental run by the manager Winston, played by Ian McShane, and the concierge Charon, played by Lance Reddick. Eventually, a very large contingent of assassins chase John Wick in order to get the 14 million dollar bounty on his head. Over the course of the film, he is engaged in very stylistic and elaborately choreographed fights in which he kills off many men using a variety of tactics, including gunplay, knife fights, and martial arts. Eventually, he travels throughout the world trying to get protection from a powerful criminal leader played by Anjelica Huston and later a fellow assassin played by Halle Berry. Eventually, John Wick teams up with Winston and a fellow assassin leader known as the Bowery King, played by Laurence Fishburne, who are both punished by The High Table and its representative The Adjudicator and hunted down by a group of hitmen led by the ruthless assassin Zero, played by Mark Dacascos. What sets the movie apart is the heavy use of practical stunt work instead of the usual CGI bloat common with superhero movies, all the while taking place in a very different world that is extremely stylish and filled with secret organizations. Overall, I found the third movie in the franchise to be as good as the original as well as the sequel, and I still believe it to be one of the best action movie series due to the martial arts talents of the subdued Keanu Reeves and the unique yet violent visual style.

Pokémon Detective Pikachu

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Based on the internationally popular Japanese fantasy video game and television franchise Pokémon first created in 1995 and the 2016 video game also named Detective Pikachu, Pokémon Detective Pikachu is a light-hearted and cute family film that will surely delight fans of Pokémon while also appealing to other audiences looking for silly and funny entertainment. It takes place in a fantastical world where Pokémon, adorable creatures with special powers, and humans live together in which most everybody has a Pokémon companion. The movie follows a young insurance salesman named Tim Goodman, played by Justice Smith, who always had the dream of becoming a trainer for Pokémon to fight in battle against other Pokémon. When he learns that his estranged father who is a well-respected detective has disappeared, Tim finds himself in Ryme City where humans and Pokémon live harmoniously together to gather his father’s belongings but eventually is caught up in a mystery to discover what really happened to his father. Unexpectedly, a talking Pikachu Pokémon, voiced by the perfectly casted Ryan Reynolds, appears to Tim at his father’s apartment, and the bewildered Tim discovers that the very sassy Pikachu is his father’s partner. The rest of the film takes the audience on a colorful adventure where we meet a wide variety of Pokémon and evolves into a fairly funny movie with the comedic witticisms of Ryan Reynolds’ Pikachu character. The duo meet up with a young intern hoping to be a reporter named Lucy Stevens, played by Kathryn Newton, who helps them progress in their investigation of Tim’s father’s disappearance. The case leads them to a mysterious scientific lab run by a company owned by the wealthy founder of Ryme City named Howard Clifford, played by Bill Nighy. Overall, I found it to be a surprisingly entertaining and charming movie as a result of the wisecracking Ryan Reynolds performance and the whimsical world of Pokémon enhanced by fantastical CGI.

Avengers: Endgame

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The twenty-second installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that first began in 2008 with Iron Man and the final film in Marvel’s so-called Infinity Saga, Avengers: Endgame is a terrific superhero movie that is both epic in scope and full of bittersweet emotions in which the audience feels a deep connection to the characters that have been part of Hollywood for over a decade. It follows the previous Avengers film in which the supervillain Thanos has vanquished half of the world’s population as well as half of the Avengers after he gains possession of the six Infinity Stones. Having the feel of a drama about losing loved ones, the majority of the first half of the film shows the comic book heroes in great despair and feeling hopeless in bringing back those who have vanished. Eventually, the surviving Avengers that include Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, War Machine, and Rocket devise a plan involving time travel to rescue the other Avengers and the millions of people lost. Although it does include the typical CGI-enhanced action sequences, the movie, unlike the rest of the franchise, is a very personal one in which all of our favorite characters are reunited and give very real human emotions as they cope with grief. At first blush, the three-hour runtime seems like it would be excessive, but the filmmakers are able to craft a very entertaining and sentimental movie that has just the right amount of time to explore some of the most memorable superheroes in what perhaps will be their last appearance together. Also, it does not always take itself too seriously by including some rather hilarious and fun moments that is reminiscent of some of the more comedic installments such as Guardians of the Galaxy. Overall, I found it to be a quite surprisingly heartfelt and emotionally powerful film that is very much a welcome relief from the stereotypical superhero comic book movies produced by Marvel, while also including elements of action and entertainment that has made the films so popular.

Shazam!

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The seventh installment in the DC Extended Universe comic book superhero movie series, Shazam! is a wildly entertaining and sometimes quite funny superhero film that refreshingly takes a less serious step back from the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe and the rather disappointing movies in the DC franchise. We first meet an awkward young teenager named Thaddeus Sivana in the 1970s who is magically teleported to the so-called Rock of Eternity where he is greeted by a mysterious wizard named Shazam, played by Djimon Hounsou, who tells him that he could have his powers if he is a truly good person. The movie flashes forward to present day with the now power-hungry Thaddeus, played by the conniving Mark Strong, searching for a way to return to Shazam and steal the evil powers also contained at the Rock of Eternity. Eventually, he is able to get the powers and thereby becomes a supervillain intent on using his superpowers to enrich himself and get revenge for being bullied by his family. Meanwhile, we meet the young teenage orphan Billy Batson, played by Asher Angel, moving into a new group home with the very kind Vasquez foster parents who also are fostering five other kids. He is a troublemaker who has been searching for years for his real mother and does not want to be with this new family in Philadelphia. However, Billy’s life changes dramatically after he is transported to the Rock of Eternity where he accepts the powers imbued by the aging Shazam. When he returns to the real world, he discovers that he is a superhero in the body of an adult, played by Zachary Levi. He tries to figure out in several entertaining scenes what exactly are his superpowers with the help of his disabled foster brother Freddy, played by the funny Jack Dylan Grazer, who is a comic book nerd. Throughout the beginning of the movie until the middle, the movie shows Billy and the often bullied Freddy having fun and enjoying the fame associated with Billy’s new superhero adult alter ego who can be summoned by just saying the word Shazam. But, towards the end, the story follows a more typical superhero movie route by having Billy’s superhero body being forced to fight against the supervillain Thaddeus who has equally dangerous superpowers. Overall, I have not had as much fun in a while at a superhero movie as I did watching this very entertaining film that is made special by the charismatic performances and the hilarious childlike antics of what a kid with superpowers would really do as a superhero.

Captain Marvel

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The twenty-first installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie franchise, Captain Marvel is your fairly typical superhero comic book movie but is elevated by above-average acting performances and a script filled with humor and female empowerment. The story revolves around Vers, played by Oscar winner Brie Larson, who is a member of the Starforce tasked with protecting their own alien race known as the Kree. Her commander and mentor Yon-Rogg, played by Oscar nominee Jude Law, trains her to control her superpower of having a powerful energy force that can be used as a very destructive weapon. They are in the midst of a war with another alien race known as the Skrulls who can shape-shift into any life-form and are led by Talos, played by Golden Globe winner Ben Mendelsohn. Eventually, Larson’s character finds herself on Earth in 1995 after she is captured by the Skrulls. She is discovered by bewildered agents of the secret American agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., including Nick Fury who is played by Oscar nominee Samuel L. Jackson. He is teamed up with Larson’s character whose Earth name is Carol Danvers and thereby is ordered to keep eyes on her by the agency’s director Keller, also played by Ben Mendelsohn. Over the course of the storyline, not everything is as straightforward as first presented at the beginning, and it does not become entirely clear who the real enemy is and the true motivations of the characters. Things get increasingly complicated for Danvers after discovering she was connected to a secret United States Air Force program known as Project Pegasus run by a woman that Danvers previously forgot about as a result of amnesia, Dr. Wendy Lawson who is played by Oscar nominee Annette Bening. Par for the course with such a blockbuster, the film is filled with CGI-enhanced action sequences and cross references with the other movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Similar to the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, the film does have moments of humor, especially the scenes involving the cat Goose who is seemingly always around for no apparent reason. Overall, I found it to be yet another entertaining blockbuster in the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe that provides just enough levity to not take itself too seriously while also presenting a powerful female superhero, in the same vein of the inspiring 2017 movie Wonder Woman.

Cold Pursuit

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Directed by Norwegian filmmaker Hans Petter Moland who directed the original 2014 Norwegian film that Cold Pursuit is a remake of, Cold Pursuit is a dark comedy action film that has a uniquely twisted and humorous script and is led by another entertaining action star performance given by Liam Neeson. The film follows a ski town snow plow driver named Nelson Coxman, played by Oscar nominee Liam Neeson, who seeks vengeance for the death of his son by going after competing drug gangs in in the remote fictional town of Kehoe, Colorado. His major target is a Denver drug lord nicknamed Viking, played by a psychotic Tom Bateman, who his son got mixed up with and Nelson goes on a killing spree viciously murdering several of Viking’s men. Eventually, a war between Viking and a Native American drug lord named White Bull, played by Tom Jackson, after Viking suspects White Bull of being responsible for the deaths of his men. Along the way, Nelson’s brother nicknamed Wingman, played by William Forsythe, who used to work for one of the drug cartels helps him find possible leads in the death of his son. In a similar fashion like Liam Neeson’s first action flick Taken but to a much more bloody degree, an absurdly high body count quickly rises, especially towards the climax when the drug cartels and Nelson engage in a all-out shootout. Overall, I found it to be an entertaining action movie with the right amount of dark humor to mark a departure from the tropes of the often over-bloated action genre, but it is definitely not for the faint of heart as a result of the over-the-top violence.

Alita: Battle Angel

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Directed by Robert Rodriguez best known for 2005’s Sin City and produced by James Cameron and Jon Landau best known for 1997’s Titanic and 2009’s Avatar, Alita: Battle Angel is a fairly underwhelming science fiction film that has visually stunning special effects and CGI but is bogged down by an uninspired and formulaic script. Set several hundred years in the future when Earth has been devastated from an alien attack, the film follows the powerful warrior cyborg Alita, played by Rose Salazar, who is discovered by the scientist Dr. Dyson Ido, played by two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz. He adopts her like his daughter who died years ago and unintentionally allows her to be discovered by the malevolent leaders of the city of Zalem which hovers above Iron City and is forbidden for anyone from the Iron City to enter. As she is pursued by the powerful Iron City businessman Vector, played by Oscar winner Mahershala Ali, and his associate Dr. Chiren, played by Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly, Alita falls in love with a human named Hugo who introduces her to the extremely popular sport of Motorball. Against the wishes of Ido, she decides to become a legal bounty hunter known as a Hunter-Warrior and try out to become a competitor in Motorball. With increasing CGI violence in which Alita skillfully fights off cyborgs and robotically enhanced humans, the influences of Japanese manga, which the film is based upon, and Asian martial arts become readily apparent, contributing to the movie’s unique cinematic style and aesthetic. Overall, despite the advanced use of CGI, I found it to be less of a fully fleshed-out movie that rises above the rest of the sci-fi genre and more of a way to set up for commercial success that it will obviously try to take advantage of with sequels. Furthermore, I often felt myself distracted from the story as a result of the visuals bordering on the uncanny valley in which the attempt at realism does not necessarily work effectively; on a similar note, I found the extremely large eyes of Alita to be often absurd and unnecessary.

Miss Bala

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A remake of the critically acclaimed 2011 Mexican film of the same name, Miss Bala is a fairly typical average action thriller that does not add much to the genre and is bogged down by rather underwhelming performances and a sloppy script filled with cliches. We first meet the main character and Mexican-American makeup artist Gloria, played by Golden Globe winner Gina Rodriguez best known for her role on the TV show Jane the Virgin, crossing the border from her home in the United States to help her friend Suzu who lives in Tijuana, Mexico prepare for a local beauty pageant. However, after visiting a nightclub in which a local gang attacks, Gloria is separated from her friend and desperately tries to find her. Eventually, she is told by the Las Estrellas Mexican gang that they will help locate her friend and bring her to safety if Gloria agrees to work with the gang. She enters in a rather unusual relationship with the boss who is named Lino and is convinced to participate in criminal and often violent activities as the only way to see her friend ever again. For a while, she is kept at a safe house in the outskirts of Tijuana where she meets a another woman who has been held against her will to be with the gang members as a sort of sex slave. Towards the end of the film, Gloria is forced to get involved with an assassination attempt on the Tijuana Chief of Police, played by Damián Alcázar best known for his role on the TV show Narcos. She is also secretly contacted by the DEA and a undercover CIA agent played by Anthony Mackie to help foil the activities of the Las Estrellas and its leader Lino. The movie gives Gina Rodriguez a promising start to a dramatic film career but, unfortunately, her talents are underutilized and she never really becomes a full-fledged action star expected for her role. Overall, I found it to be a mildly entertaining action thriller that somehow lacks much action or thrills, and it did not use the potential of a clearly talented Gina Rodriguez to really shine and help the film escape the tired tropes of an action movie.

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

Keith YoungLeave a comment

A direct sequel to 2014’s The Lego Movie and the fourth installment in the Lego film franchise, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is a very charming and witty family friendly computer animated movie that continues the creativity of the original with funny voice acting and humorous gags. Set five years after the original, we meet the protagonist Emmet Brickowski, voiced by the charismatic Chris Pratt, living his hopelessly naive life in what has now become Apocalypseburg until his Lego world is faced with an even greater danger than before, an army of alien invaders led by Queen Watevra Wa-Nabi, voiced by the comedian Tiffany Haddish. The shape-shifting Queen tries to brainwash Emmet and his friends to join her Systar System and force Batman, voiced by the gruff-sounding Will Arnett, to marry her in order to form an alliance. However, Wyldstyle or simply known as Lucy, voiced by Elizabeth Banks, knows that something is wrong and must fight off the Queen and her minions who could bring forth the so-called Our-Mom-Ageddon. Meanwhile, Emmet tries to rescue his friends, especially his love interest Lucy, and is eventually teamed up with a tough guy named Rex Dangervest, also voiced by Chris Pratt, who is cleverly yet indirectly described as a combination of the actor Chris Pratt’s other roles, including Star-Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy and a velociraptor wrangler from Jurassic World. When Emmet and Lucy finally reunite, they realize that not everything is as it seems and that the Queen may in fact not be as bad as they initially thought. Like the original, the film takes the audience on a very entertaining adventure filled with extremely clever references and metaphorical representations of the real world in which the characters are part of two children’s imaginations. In a very creative twist, it is revealed that Emmet’s world is in the real world realm of the young boy Finn and the Queen is the real world representation of his younger sister Bianca who simply wants to play Legos with her older brother. To clarify this reality, the film occasionally cuts to live action sequences in which the feuding siblings are portrayed as well as their father, played by Will Ferrell, and mother, played by Maya Rudolph, who threatens to put all the Legos in storage if the two siblings do not get along. In the end, the movie gives a heartwarming message of the bond between brother and sister that ultimately overcomes all challenges. Overall, although it is clearly not as great as the original, I found it to be an extremely enjoyable cinematic experience as a result of the terrific and often very funny writing fleshed out by a first-rate cast of voice actors. Furthermore, I was thoroughly impressed by the level of realism generated by the computer animation that makes the Lego pieces look real and are even aged with marks that would typically appear on real life Legos over time.

Destroyer

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Directed by Karyn Kusama best known for 2000’s Girlfight and 2009’s Jennifer’s Body, Destroyer is a very gritty crime drama exploring the criminal underbelly of Los Angeles and is truly remarkable for the tour de force acting performance given by an unrecognizable Nicole Kidman. Clearly living a troubled life filled with alcoholism and regrets, the downtrodden and physically weathered LAPD Detective Erin Bell, played by the extraordinary Oscar winner Nicole Kidman in a truly transformative role, finds herself intricately involved in a murder investigation of an unknown victim. A majority of the film uses the rather unusual yet extremely effective flashback narrative device, which reveals the complicated nature of Bell who at one point worked as an undercover officer for a criminal gang in Los Angeles almost fifteen years before the present day. We witness her and her partner Chris, played by Sebastian Stan, pretending to be criminals involved in a bank robbery for a gang headed by the dangerous Silas, played by Toby Kebbell. Bell and Chris’s relationship becomes much more close than they expected and their involvement with the eventual robbery becomes something more than just an undercover investigation. During the present day, Bell encounters several of the key gang members to find the whereabouts of Silas who may still be alive. Underscoring her gritty life, she is a rather terrible mother to her deeply troubled teenage daughter and has a contentious relationship with her ex-husband Ethan, played by Scoot McNairy, who tries his best to take care of the daughter. The filmmaker does an excellent job of developing a rather unlikeable character whose motivations we never really know by presenting side-by-side the character’s messy and morally ambiguous personal and professional lives. It is definitely a depressing movie and is not for the faint of heart as Detective Bell does some legally dubious interrogations of criminals, including a wealthy money launderer, played by Emmy winner Bradley Whitford and Silas’ drug-addicted girlfriend Petra, played by Emmy winner Tatiana Maslany. Overall, I found it to be a deeply compelling crime drama that provides enough twists and turns to make for a wholly unique movie that defies the crime genre and is the perfect showcase for Nicole Kidman who is somehow made ugly and gives one of her best performances in her already illustrious career.