First Reformed (2018)

First Reformed is being hailed as a triumph for writer/director Paul Schrader, a man responsible for films such as Taxi Driver and The Mosquito Coast but also Dominion an Exorcist Prequel and The Canyons. Ignored by audiences but hailed by critics as a minor masterpiece and a stellar performance by star Ethan Hawke. As I sat down to watch it I admit I expected to be amazed. Sometimes its expectations that kill us.

First Reformed is a very quiet movie. Slow paced and contemplative, First Reformed avoids holding our hands and telling us what to feel. It is the story of a minister and his transformative experience with a suicidal activist. I appreciated the way the film took its time through its story, let its characters build and grow through their arcs, and didn't sensationalize their experiences. But as the film went on I wondered why I couldn't get myself more invested in Reverend Toller's journey.

It's not that Hawke doesn't give a good performance. Understated and solid, Hawke plays his character below the surface. But perhaps it was a bit too far below for my tastes. I never connected with him, never understood how he was feeling. I felt like the film was asking me to read too much into what he was doing. There is a hard balance to strike between telling us too much of what to think and not giving us enough. For me First Reformed erred on the latter.

And I found Amanda Seyfried's character pulled me out of the film as well. I never felt her character acted in a way that wasn't simply to advance the plot, or move a male character's arc forward. She never rang as real or as an organic part of the story.

So as the film builds to its rather anti-climactic climax and Toller's moral conundrum collapses on itself, I found myself not caring enough. This frustrated me as the issues raised here about faith, Eco-responsibility, passion, history, should be very interesting. As Toller wrestles with how to make his passion real, I felt the film didn't do enough to truly get him there, it didn't do enough to get me there. It felt a little hollow.

And then it ends in a way that feels just too pat. Like so much of the rest of the film, I like what the film is getting at but not how it gets there. I wasn't inspired and was only a little bored. I think I just expected the experience of First Reformed to be a little more spirited. While I find Schrader's work can be all over the map from genius to truly bad, this felt mostly good but a bit of a missed opportunity.

First Reformed
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric Kyles
Writer/Director: Paul Schrader

Robin Hood (2018)

Why is it so hard to make a good Robin Hood movie? The story is ripe for an exciting adventure. But, honestly, not since Disney made the famous thief a fox has there been a good Robin Hood film. Prince of Thieves is awkward and the only good part is how it brought Alan Rickman to national attention. Ridley Scott's attempt to make Russel Crow in tights was a snore. Men in Tights isn't as funny as people say it is. And now we have another attempt which has some good ideas but falls rather flat.

The gimmick here is how they attempt to give the film a modern vibe. Robin on the crusades is shot like The Hurt Locker. When he returns to Nottingham the rain of arrows is shot like a hail of bullet scene right out of Bad Boys. It all looks really good, as does the sexy cast, but there just isn't any story here.

How hard is it to tell a story about a fallen nobleman turned thief pushing back against a corrupt regime? In this case they specifically go after current administrations in their political commentary and it still feels less than fresh. When there aren't Michael Bay style action sequences the story gets pretty boring pretty fast.

One day Robin Hood will recapture the public imagination. Just not today.

Robin Hood
Starring: Taron Edgerton, Jamie Foxx, Ben Mendelson, Eve Hewson, Tim Minchin, Jamie Dornan, F Murray Abraham
Director: Otto Bathurst
Writers: Ben Chandler, David James Kelly

The Front Runner (2018)

The Front Runner should have been a more interesting film. Its subject, the deconstruction of Gary Hart’s failed campaign should be an interesting one. Filmed fast paced West Wing style with a stellar cast, it is hard to understand why The Front Runner is mostly boring.

For me I think most of it is how the film refuses to get passionate about its subject at all. In its attempt to remain rather neutral it also remains rather inert. Perhaps if the film had become passionate about something the audience could have too. There are moments when the film flirts with getting angry about something, such as issues of freedom of the press, but then backs off to ensure we are considering all sides. This mailaise doesnt give us much to get worked up about ourselves.

And for a cerebral film the film doesnt get very cerebral. It only scratches the surface of the issues it raises without getting too complicated about them. So in the end it feels like the Front Runner isn’t really about anything.

Perhaps another problem is the time we live in. Issues of politicians lying and sexual morals have all been thrown out the window afte 2016. The film’ls wrestling with moral character questions almost seem quaint in today’s political climate.

Perhaps The Front Runner is just too little too late.


The Front Runner
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons, Alfred Molina, Sarah Paxton, Kevin Pollack
Director: Jason Reitman
Writers: Matt Bai, Jay Carson, Jason Reitman

Green Book (2018)

Green Book is that sort of film that white people make to feel good about not being racists. Glossy and charming, heartwarming and crowd pleasing, Green Book takes the ugly and horrible institutional racism, and gives a white audience a way to understand it and challenge it. I’m not knocking that. Not really. There is a need for these sorts of narratives. But for many audiences Green Book may feel overly simplistic and perhaps a bit pandering.

I want to give credit here. Director Peter Farrelly (yes, the director of There’s Somthing About Mary) brings his A-game here. The film is beautifully shot, looking like a Norman Rockwell painting most of the time. Green Book is filled with gorgeous costumes, wonderfully structured scenes, and all the sorts of film qualities that Awards fall all over themselves to honour. There are the obligatory standing up to racist moments that will make the audiences cheer. Farrelly does good work as does his cast, but more on that later.

Green Book is the story of a white man. Sure Mahershala Ali has joint billing above the title but this is Viggo Mortensen’s character’s story. it is about his experience with American racism as he witnesses Ali’s experiences from the sidelines. He is awoken to the true American experience, one he was able to mostly ignore for most of his life, and it is his journey we are following. Ali is just along for the ride, literally and figuratively.

And that ride is rather predictable. Green Book is racism 101. It rarely gets into anything too layered (more on that later). While I didn’t feel Green Book got into white savior territory a la The Blind Side, it is still the story of a white man and his awakening to the horrors of racism, the kind of racism he benefits from. That is a story. And it is told well here. But it just may not be the entirety of the story. We are assured of Mortensen’s characters essential goodness (turns out he’s not homophobic, good on him) and that means that even when we benefit from racism we are also essentially good. What a relief for the white audience. Because we are making our little baby steps. We are applauded for doing so.

About half way through Green Book the film acknowledges this, if only slightly. When Mortensen claims it (the racist behaviour of other whites) is not his fault Ali asks him “isn’t it?” The film sort of drops it there but at least it waded into that thorny question. We come to learn more about Ali’s character and how his experience may have been even more challenging than we were originally presented with. We understand why he doesn’t get included easily into black communities either and why he might be a bit distant and protective. The film flirts with more complicated ideas but sticks safely in the slow lane allowing its audience to keep pace.

The film builds its characters as cliches at first. Ali is the effete snob and Mortensen is the thug with a heart of gold. But the film does allow them to grow beyond those stereotypes somewhat as it reaches its crescendo. Much of this is due to these two strong lead actors who bring much more subtly and nuance to their roles than the script would allow. Ali especially shines in a role that really isn’t designed to let him do that. He overcomes that smashingly. His Dr. Shirley is a revelation and he elevates the film.

Green Book pulls on your heart strings and will give any feeling person a tear in their eye, a happy tear that comes from that place where we think love truly can conquer all. Do I wish Green Book had been a more thoughtful, more substantial deconstruction of racist America? Sure. But that isn’t the purpose of this film. If it inspires us to look at each other a little more lovingly that is a good thing too. And it gives us some great performances to enjoy in a very well made film.

Green Book
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini
Director: Peter Farrelly
Writers: Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly

Creed II (2018)

Director Stephen Caple Jr. has pulled something off here. He has taken a story which is very predictable and cliched and made it incredibly watchable. I have to hand it to him as everything about Creed II is rather average, yet he has found a way to make it quite entertaining despite just how by the book it all feels.

Normally Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson are actors I enjoy watching. I didn’t feel either of them was doing their best work here. The script is paint by numbers and neither is given much to do that doesnt feel like we’ve seen it 100 time before.

The film’s story is filled with cliches about daddy issues, creating legacies, toxic masculinity. The film is a spiritual sequel to Rocky IV and it milks all of that for what it is worth. Very little here feels fresh or relevant. But despite all that Caple has made a striking film to watch which grips you to the end.

So Creed II is mostly eye candy with little substance. It’s basic yet stylish. It is fun if rather disposable. The Rocky series has always been a rather sentimental affair so perhaps this is fitting. Despite my better intentions I did end up enjoying it.

Creed II
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Dolph Lundgren, Phylicia Rashad Brigitte Nielsen
Director: Stephen Caple Jr.
Writers: Sylvester Stallone, Juel Taylor

Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)

Welcome to the most meta of all the Disney movies, a movie which really doesn't have a story, more of a sequence of cool events strung together on the thinnest of plots, and tacks on a moral just to give the appearance of a purpose. And yet despite all of this I still loved it.

Wreck it Ralph was a strong film in its own right. Despite it not being from Pixar Studios it had that Pixar vibe of having a truly original story that didn't fall into any cliches never really telegraphed where it was going. It's an enduring enjoyable rewatch with great characters. So I get the urge to want to return to that world.

But honestly Ralph Breaks the Internet sort of feels like it doesn't know what to do with these characters now that the original story idea is done. The film starts out with the characters just talking about how great their lives are. Sure Vanellope yearns for some new adventure in a very cliched and familiar way, but everything feels very resolved.

Then the film starts to take short cuts. It invents a series of rather quick and convenient "problems" which the characters are able to resolve rather quickly. The film is quite episodic and jumps from one crisis to another, none of them feeling very threatening, until the film's ultimate purpose, learning to respect each other enough to let each other follow our dreams, comes into focus. In all honesty it's rather contrived in a way that the first film was not.

But as I sat watching the movie realizing all of this, I didn't care. I was enjoying it all none the less. The film is filled with a sort of referential joy that is infectious. The film is about the internet, personifying aspects, creating an entire livable world to interpret it. And Ralph and Vanellope are so enjoyable to watch, following them from one cameo to the next, seeing them explore the wink wink world created for them, is truly wonderful.

And the new characters are fun too. Gal Gadot's Shank is a dream of coolness. Taraji P. Henson's Yesss is suave and stylin. You don't really mind that Felix Jr. and Calhoon, as well as most other characters from the first film as sidelined almost completely. Especially when the much hyped cavalcade of Disney Princess deconstruct themselves live in front of your eyes. 

So yeah there's no real story and the character development is mostly heavy handed. But Ralph Breaks the Internet defies all of this to be entertaining and fun. It may be more entertaining for the parents than for the children as it is so much about how we view animated films more than actually being an animated film. It's meta meta.

And it works.

Ralph Breaks the Internet 
Starring: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, Taraji P. Henson, Gal Gadot, Alfred Molina, Alan Tudyk, Ed O'Neil
Directors: Rich Moore, Phil Johnston
Writers: Pamela Ribon, Phil Johnston

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

The Coen Brothers have a bit of a duel identity. They have their dark dramas (No Country For Old Men, Blood Simple, Inside Llewyn Davis) and their absurdist comedies (The Big Lebowsky, Hail, Caesar!, Burn After Reading). Most of the time I find myself loving the former and disliking the latter, although I do have a soft spot for Raising Arizona. I know this makes me an outcast amongst cinemaphiles who love to fall all over themselves for those comedies, but they just don't speak to me. So I go into each Coen Brothers film with a bit of trepidation. I rarely find myself luke warm to their work. It is usually hit or miss for me.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs creates an interesting dilemma. As an anthology piece (6 short stories, all westerns, put together as one package) Scruggs manages to be a bit of both kinds of Coen movies. It starts out full absurdist with the title piece, a wacky and thankfully brief treatise on overconfidence and judging a book by its cover. By the time it gets through to the end, they have gone much darker, yet with only a tinge of seriousness. Their irreverent voice remains throughout.

So, as I guess is typical in anthology films, Buster Scruggs is a bit of a mixed bag.  Generally I warmed to the stories as they went along. The Coens explore multiple themes but most of Scruggs is about death, and grappling with mortality. They do it mostly with a bit of a wink, a charming embracing of the inevitablness of the subject. And there is something comforting, something romantic about it.

And there is likely something for everyone here. Those who prefer their sillier proclivities will certainly find something here to enjoy while those of us who like their more mature themes will also find something. Each short is short enough that if it isn't your bag it won't be long before the next story.

I do have to comment on how The Ballad of Buster Scruggs suffers from a fairly typical problem with films in the western genre. Scruggs is interested in the story of white settlers only and this limits the scope of the film in a way that doesn't allow it to be something perhaps greater. While the film does find a few moments to tell white women's stories, the film also focuses almost exclusively on white men, using non-white characters solely as devices for the settlers.


The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Starring: Tim Blake Nelson, James Franco, Liam Neeson, Tom Waits, Zoe Kazan, Tyne Daly, Brian Gleeson, Saul Rubinek
Writers/Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Widows (2018)

Widows is what an action movie should be. A movie with thrilling action set pieces. A plot that doesn't telegraph everything coming around the corner and offers surprises along the way. A strong cast who bring their A-game. A gorgeous spectacle that is a thrill to watch.Every now and then a film comes along that makes me go "man this is why I go to the movies." Widows is all this and more.

Steve McQueen is one of my favourite working directors. He directed one of my favourite films of all time (Shame). He directed a very deserving Best Picture winner (12 Years a Slave). And now he has brought us a pulse pounding, emotionally wrecking, action movie that pulls no punches. His pacing, his attention to detail, the way he sets his characters into motion and into conflict, it is all masterfully done. Widows grabs you from the beginning and doesn't let go. It also doesn't oversimplify anything. The movie ends without giving any easy answers or moral clarity. Widows is a thinking person's action movie. This isn't escapism. It is damn fine film making.

McQueen's colour palette is gorgeous. I kept falling in love with each scene, soaking in the beauty he set his rather dark tale in. A movie is both a story to tell and something to watch and McQueen knows this giving us richness in both. It helps that he cast the amazing Viola Davis in the lead. So much of what makes Widows so watchable is the way he lets us focus on her remarkable presence. He films her, centres her, in a way that allows us to soak in her beauty and strength. And she lives up to the task, as she always does. She fulfills the role of Veronica, one of the most complex and riveting characters in any action movie in a long time. The entire cast is strong but this if Davis' movie and she rocks it. Also knocking one out of the park is Daniel Kaluuya, playing a villain in the most satisfying way. Both seductively evil and terrifyingly evil, his Jatemme is a classic and wholly original.

McQueen and his cast don't set this story in a sterile, neutral world. Widows, while first and foremost a heist film, confronts full on issues of gender and race. This is some of the best social commentary I have seen in a mainstream film in a long time. It's not thrown in our faces but laced intricately throughout. This is a world ruined by male greed and patriarchy coloured by the interplay with white supremacy. McQueen balances this all so pitch perfectly that Widows becomes something more, something profound.

Widows is the kind of movie that will remind you why you love movies.

Widows
Starring: Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Daniel Kaluuya, Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Liam Neeson, Jacki Weaver, Robert Duvall,  Gerret Dillahunt, Manuel Garcia Rulfo, Jon Bernthal, Lukas Haas
Director: Steve McQueen
Writers: Gillian Flynn, Steve McQueen

Fantastic Beasts the Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

The Crimes of Grindelwald manages to be both infuriating and thrilling. There were times I was deeply immersed in the Wizarding World laid out before me, and other times I felt pulled out, removed. The Crimes of Grindelwald is very much a mixed bag that moved me through excitement into a bit of tedium and through a lot of confusion.

Like the Harry Potter movies/stories themselves, the Fantastic Beasts series often gets bogged down in exposition. Which makes it hard to get into what I loved and didn't love about the movie without some spoilers. My high level take is that I found the simpler moments quite exciting. A high adrenaline prison break starts off the film and gets the blood pumping right away. Jude Law captures previous Dumbledore actor Michael Gambon's mischievous playfulness and melancholy regret in taking on a younger version of the character to a powerful effect. But then the film gets into its complicated and convoluted plot which almost requires a Who's Who in the Wizarding World reference book. Characters from previous films feel shoehorned in. Motivations seem forced. The climax feels quite contrived to get to the big reveal. I'm not sure the story has an organic quality.

Fans of the Harry Potter series may be attracted to the way this film religiously works in references, characters, and ideas from the previous stories. But more casual fans may just be overwhelmed with trying to make meaning out of all that is going on. One thing you're going to hear is how this film wants to be the Empire Strikes Back of the series. The comparisons are obvious. The film ends on a down note. Bad things happen to be righted or addressed in the next one. But I'm not sure the film's story is strong enough to make it have the weight it needs to to truly pull this off.

I'm going to get into a few spoilers here so don't read this paragraph if you don't want to know things. The film packs in a lot of backstory. Knowing the histories of the Dumbledore and Lestrange families is certainly helpful. Rowling seems to want to do a lot of worldbuilding here, which isn't surprising if you've ever read her work or see movies based on it. But there is so much it is easy to lose track. And in all that world building a lot of character development is lost. There is truly no explaining what happens to Queenie, her motivations seem completely at odds with her character and her expressed wishes. On the other hand Lita Lestrange is given an incredible arc only to be snuffed out so the rather bland and boring Scamander brothers can have something to move their arcs forward. The plot sort of lurches along, jumping from one event to another without a real sense of cohesiveness. So much is going on characters have to spend a lot of time explaining things.

Still there is a lot of interest going on here. I like world building and mythos and it is one of Rowling's strengths and when it gets to the end there is a lot that is tantalizing about it. I think though for Crimes of Grindelwald to be truly successful it would have benefited from being tighter, more focused. But like its awkward and overblown title, the film is just unruly, even when it is being a lot of fun.

Fantastic Beasts the Crimes of Grindlewald
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Folger, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Johnny Depp, Zoe Kravitz, Callum Turner, Claudia Kim, Jude Law
Director: David Yates
Writer: J.K. Rowling

Suspiria (2018)

Sticking the landing is often the hardest part of movie story telling. Especially in genre films, often the build up is too much for the finale to live up to. Suspiria (the remake) falls squarely into that category. It's a superbly filmed and crafted movie which just lets you down at the end.

Director Luca Guadagnino shows off his remarkable talent as he manages to ape the Giallo genre as well as American 70s wave film makers (like Coppola, Friedken, Lumet, etc), while also building a mounting powerful dread throughout. The first two thirds of Suspiria are electric, stylish, haunting, disturbing, and filled with delicious horror.

Thom Yorke's score is incredible. He also manages to transport us to another time while also creating something breathtakingly original. This, paired with the brutal choreography, adds to the intensity of what Guadagnino is building here. You can neither take your eyes or your ears of what you are witnessing.

Sayombhu Mukdeeprom's cinematography is operatic and overwhelming. Everything about how Suspiria is constructed is luscious and referential. This speaks to me. A big part of my love of film is that it is a visual medium. I love movies that tell me a story not just through the dialogue but through all we can soak up on the screen and Suspiria has a richness to it, structurally and decoratively. But I also recognize that it can't all just look good. That has to support a strong story and characterization for it to have real impact. And for most of the movie the story here is strong enough to make it all come together.

Until the end.

The ending is appropriately off the rails. How could it not be with everything the film has been building to. When we get to the climax it is a hot mess and that in itself is pretty much necessary. Anything else would have been a disappointment. However, the story part of the ending just isn't there. Despite all the drama, all the dread, it all comes to very little, there isn't anything emotionally there. Basically it's just a power battle. And all that disgusting, gory, beauty which Guadagnino has been ushering is used to tell something kinda boring.

He spent some time leading up to his ending shoehorning in what should have been a powerful story of national guilt (it is set in Berlin in the 70s, a nation recovering from its Nazi past) which is rather thinly dismissed by the end. As the climax was playing out and all the insanity of the final moments were playing out before my eyes, I felt there just wasn't the substantive narrative depth to make it all worth it.

So Suspiria ends up as a stylish, glossy, but rather hollow spectacle. There is much to admire about Suspiria, but it remains more style than substance.

Suspiria
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Chloe Grace Moretzs, Mia Goth
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Writer: David Kajganich

The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018)

I find Lizbeth Salander one of the more interesting heroes of modern pop culture but a difficult one to get right on screen. There is a fine balance here to walk to make her hero without commodifying her. She resists interpretation by being herself iconoclastic. Taking her on is a challenge, but one worth taking.

Unlike the more star studded predecessor to this film, The Girl in the Spider's Web went with fewer recognizable names before and behind the camera, instead going for a more straight forward and accessible take on this series, which is a bit ironic based on the title. Still I felt it delivered a very satisfying popcorn thriller in the end which, while being more traditional crime thriller story doesn't hold your hand completely. It also doesn't let its title character down.

Claire Foy is the headliner here and she knocks it out of the park carrying the movie by tackling the titular character in an earnest way. She captures all Salanders awkward strengths and relatable weaknesses while still portraying her as the centre, the hero. She needs help at some points but is never dependent. The film only skirts some of the background story here and I think Foy would have been up to the task of delving more deeply into some of that. But the film keeps its story tight and just safe enough.

Director Alvarez is a rising star and I love the way he tells a story. Most of what works for me in Spider's Web is his approach. Visually he is spectacular, but the way he spins his threads is also remarkable. I think Spider's Web could have easily felt more mediocre without his deft touch. Spider's Web is a lovely little piece of cinema, with him having picked up the torch from Fincher and not dropping it.

So yes, Spider's Web pushes less buttons than I might have liked. This series has a very strong undercurrent of subversion to it which this film dampens. Salander and the very real misogynistic world she inhabits and revolts against is a tough sell to the mulitplex crowd. Spider's Web feels like a bit of a compromise but one that doesn't give up too much in the deal. I was entertained, inspired, on the edge of my seat, and thrilled at her taking names. For a franchise film I felt this was a worthwhile edition.

The Girl in the Spider's Web
Starring: Claire Foy, Sverrir Gudnason, Lakeith Stanfield, Sylvia Hoeks, Stephen Merchant
Director: Fede Alvarez
Writers: Jay Basu, Stephen Knight, Fede Alvarez

Overlord (2018)

War is horror. I think war-horror films are not only justified but necessary. Genre films, when they are good, offer us something honest in their fantasy, something which speaks to the real world through something fantastic. As I got more and more into what many are calling a nazi-zombie movie the more I appreciated just how much this film was capturing the horrors of war and how important that was.

Overlord starts out strong. A plane full of soldiers is flying into Germany and gets shot down. it is a visceral, exciting, terrifying scene. The film creates very real characters only to make us lose many of them quickly, others more slowly, just like in a real war. Overlord gets its humans right and that, in turn, makes its story work so well.

Nazism is a vile evil and Overlord deconstructs this in a very effective way by using the horror genre to understand it. The use of fictional elements to get underneath the real historical and cultural phenomena is a strong and powerful tradition that Overlord taps into. What we see if often very terrifying. Overlord may not be for the feint of heart but in many ways it is for everyone to understand the depths of human depravity and why standing against Nazism is so important.

Upcoming director Julius Avery does a masterful job with his story, keeping it tight and exciting while deftly managing a large cast and interlocking characters. He brings out the humanity of his subjects while telling a thrilling tale at the same time, a tale lousy with moral overtones. Overlord pulls off a small miracle, a great action film with an important story. Also strong is his cast, lead by the promising Jovan Adepo who headlines this piece with a leading man air.

Overall Overlord is a winner and I recomend seeing it and reflecting on it.

Overlord
Starring: Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Matilde Ollivier, John Magaro, Pilou Asbaek
Director: Julius Avery
Writers: Billy Ray, Mark L. Smith

Nobody's Fool (2018)

Make no mistake about it, Nobody's Fool is a bad movie. It's meandering never ending plot is part rom-com nightmare and part wanna-be Girls Trip/Bridemaid shock comedy. But despite all it's flaws there are moments where I laughed myself silly despite myself. Then I went back to feeling angry over wasting my time on this trainwreck.

Perhaps the film's sole saving grace, despite an offensively bad romance which just reinforces all that is wrong with falling in love movies, is the fact that Tiffany Haddish is hilarious no matter what garbage she is in. And this is the first time I've enjoyed Whoopi Goldberg in anything in at least a decade so perhaps she found some of her mojo as well. But when one of them (or both) isn't making you laugh, the boring, downright insulting romance story here is just so bad... so bad...

I don't care how ridiculously gorgeous Omari Hardwick is, this is the kind of love story that just makes you go ewwwwwww. Tika Sumpter is an actress I think has a strong future if she can get parts worthy of her. And let's get Haddish the kind of movie that can actually exploit all her talent.  Cause the only fool here is the audience for buying a ticket.

I was catfished by this film.

Nobody's Fool 
Starring: Tiffany Haddish, Tika Sumpter, Omari Hardwick, Whoopi Goldberg, Amber Riley, Mehcad Brooks, Missi Pyle, Chris Rock
Writer/Director: Tyler Perry

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

There is a moment in Bohemian Rhapsody where Freddy, played by Rami Malek, tries to define himself and someone else cuts him off and tells him what he is. It came early in the film and reminded me of something. We don't get to know the real Freddy Mercury. No matter how researched the film, no matter how closely involved in the production his family, Queen, and his friends were, we are still just witnessing this version of him, their versions. Based on true stories are just that, fiction based on something that really happened.

And director Brian Singer (along with Dexter Fletcher who stepped in to finish the film after Singer was fired) mostly make a fantasy film. Along with Malek, who follows the immerse-yourself-into-the-persona school of playing a famous person in a movie, the cast and crew of Bohemian Rhapsody jump from iconic moment to iconic moment. They romanticize the creation of classics like We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions, Another One Bites the Dust, and the title track itself. And it all builds to the famous Live Aid performance.

For me not much of it felt real. The film oversimplifies the story into a very cliched one about a band making it big, splitting apart, and reuniting in a triumphant happy ending. There is a clear villain, and everyone else (mostly because they are involved in the making of the film) comes off looking really great with little nuance to their characters. Even Freddy himself is reduced to the simplistic idea of the lonely oddball genius who struts on stage but is fragile inside. It all would feel very superficial and shallow if it wasn't for the way the film just warps you up in the legend and makes it all so much fun.

So once you throw out any desire for authenticity you can just embrace the film as a rock n roll fairy-tale (pun intended). The beautiful myth making, the martyrdom, the glorious legend. By the time the film gets us to the happy reunion at Live Aid Malek is a star and the film just lets us bask in the glory of all things Queen. It's a beautiful thing all wrapped up in a pretty bow. Mercury finds love in the most rom-com way ever, the long suffering band are affirmed as the legends they are, Mercury reconnects with his loving family. You couldn't ask for a more completely wrapped up plot.

I do have to overlook how Mercury's queerness is used as a blunt instrument, first to show him drowning in his excess and later to redeem him, briefly, to find the safe pairing that hetero-audiences find so comforting. Yeah I wanted this film to have a truly queer feel but that's not what this film is. And as much as Freddie doesn't put up much of a fight when someone else defines his sexuality in the film, I guess we aren't supposed to put up much of a fight when we are told what queerness we should expect in a mainstream Hollywood movie. But I digress...

Instead we are invited to a lovely little fantasy. Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy. Real life may not work the way this film does but the movies sure do and Bohemian Rhapsody is just that fantasy.  It's a night at the opera. It will have you clapping in that familiar We Will Rock You rhythm.

Bohemian Rhapsody
Starring: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Aiden Gillen, Joseph Mazzello, Tom Hollander, Allen Leech, Mike Myers, Aaron McCusker
Director: Bryan Singer
Writer: Anthony McCarten