The Biggest Little Farm

The Biggest Little Farm is an inspiring story about a couple who starts a traditional farm and follows their adventures as they struggle to make it work. It is made by the couple themselves and is therefore their own loving tribute to the idea and dream they made a reality. As entertainment it mostly works  as I thought more about it I struggled with the format of the film.

John Chester is a cinematographer and this film shows he’s a good one. The film is beautiful and he captures the magic of a farm space filled with animals and gorgeous flora. He knows how to make a film that is beautiful to watch. Families will especially appreciate seeing how all the animals and humans interact and thrive together.

But I struggled with the tonal shifts of the film. Chester starts out the film with a moment of high anxiety, a wildfire is approaching their farm. As a starting point this is brilliant. It sets up the stakes before he jumps back to the creation of the farm and outlines how the farm was built with the hard work of those on it. But then when the film reaches its climax the fire ends up being nothing (in terms of this story) and is summarily dropped, making the film’s end feel rather anti-climactic.

This is systematic of the way the whole film is constructed. Chester sets up crisis after crisis only to give us either a cursory solution and move on or drop it entirely and move on. It never feels like the story is being told organically. The film is beautiful but its story feels constructed and awkward.

But that might be because the point isn’t to tell a story. This isn’t made by a documentary film maker following an event and bringing that to an audience. This is made by the person living it sharing their joy and pain. Its more of a chronicle than a story and as that it works. As I said you route for them and appreciate their dream. But it doesn't make a convincing or persuasive story. Still it remains generally enjoyable despite the loose ends and dropped details.

The Biggest Little Farm
Starring: John Chester, Molly Chester
Director: John Chester
Writers: Mark Monroe, John Chester

Aladdin (2019)

Sigh

The more Disney remakes their classic animated films into "live action" the more hollow they feel. I've complained many times about remaking films for no reason (other than profit) and the problems with this experience so I won't go into all the details. Suffice it to say that Aladdin is a pretty good example of all the reasons not to remake a perfect good film.

We've seen this story and know exactly how it will play out so there is no dramatic tension. The updates do nothing to enhance the story and to be honest the story was told better the first time. For an example that is rather small but impactful, one of the pivotal and most memorable moments of the first film is how Aladdin tricks the genie into giving him a free wish. That whole interaction tells us so much about the characters and its a clever and fun plot wrinkle. For some reason they change how he tricks the genie and the means takes away from all of this. It's simpler and feels more of a cheat than a clever exploitation. Also it is brushed off without creating the relationship that the the moment did in the first film. Similar changes to plot devises in remakes irk me. 1994's Miracle on 24th Street changed the judge's final reasoning into a way that just doesn't make sense.  The end of Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes remake takes out the best moment from the story and substitutes something rather anti-climactic. The American remake of The Vanishing adds a completely different ending which fully erases the power of the original film. If you're going to just tell the same story over again then tell it, don't fuck up details.

But I get it. People love what they are familiar with and want to be told the same story again and again. Aladdin is beloved (if somewhat problematic) and therefore lets see it again but with bigger special effects! Wow.

But despite my disappointment in just another Disney remake let me focus on a few of the things I liked. The new song is pretty and gives Jasmine a little more room to shine. That's a plus. I like they removed the homophobic gay coding around Jafar, and removed all the mildly xenophobic references the first film had. That's another plus....

Um...

I can't think of anything else I enjoyed. I mean. It's a good story so if you haven't already seen it 100 times I guess it would be entertaining for that purpose. 

Will Smith is given the thankless and impossible job of following up Robin Williams' Genie. Smith is clever and funny but just doesn't come near to capturing the magic (pun intended) of the original Genie. Not sure anyone could.

And that's the problem over all. Aladdin just doesn't capture the original magic. Pun intended. These films still haven't ever done that yet. Most of the time when I was watching the film I just wanted to watch the original instead. This is a curiosity, nothing more, just like Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and most of the remakes Disney has churned out recently.

Aladdin
Starring: Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban, Nasim Pedrad, Alan Tudyk, Frank Welker
Director: Guy Richie
Writers: John August, Guy Richie

Beach Bum (2019)

Director Harmony Korine's films have never spoken to me in any strong way. Beach Bum, a loving portrait of a train wreck of a man, may be the one that opens me up to his work. The thing which resonated for me in the audience is the way the film embraces its subject and convinces us to as well. Also it is a remarkably beautiful film. Korine found a way to captivate me visually and push my buttons by telling a story that is at best challenging.

Beach Bum doesn't have much plot. We follow writer Moondog (McConaughey) as he stumbles through his indulgent life. The film feels like it is trying to make his audience uncomfortable, Moondog acts in ways that seem to provoke discomfort in us. He says things we're not supposed to say, dresses as we're not supposed to dress, uses substances and sex to excess, and his actions have consequences, including the loss of life. The juxtaposition between how we are lead to feel about him is in how the film doesn't judge him instead celebrating who he is, like a counterculture hero. We are forced to be torn between the film's push to cheer him on as a rejection of all the values we're supposed to feel and the way he viscerally makes us feel.

McConaughey plays right into his stereotype and is completely entertaining. That paired with Korine's lush and loving visual style makes watching Moondog quite fun. All of this plays into the discomfort we have with his life, until we let it go. And that's what's Beach Bum seems to be about, letting go of our discomfort and embracing divergence. It's not a bad message simplistically and the film never tries to justify its embrace of Moondog. Other than simply letting us see his charming humanity while never looking away from the way his behavior causes harm is what makes Beach Bum something to see.

Beach Bum is a fantasy. Moondog has a horse shoe up his ass. Most who live like him do not get to have the fairy tale ending he gets. But Beach Bum isn't a documentary. I don't think the film's point is to convince us of his worth based on his behavior, more to convince of us his worth because he's human. And it does so with an energetic and joyous approach which is generally fun to watch.

Beach Bum will make weird out quite a large part of its audience and will charm and romance another large part. But in the middle is an interesting place without either judgment or worship.

Beach Bum
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Isla Fisher, Snoop Dog, Zach Efron, Jonah Hill, Stefania LaVie Owen, Martin Lawrence, Jimmy Buffett
Writer/Director: Harmoney Korine

Brightburn (2019)

People who think Superman is boring truly don't get it. Having all that power and not being corrupted is one of the most fascinating stories out there. The idea of what if Superman lost that struggle is a question which is also quite fascinating, and terrifying. As we see in the real world, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Superman isn't a myth because he can fly or is super strong. He is a myth because no one could be that hero. Could they?

So the idea of telling the Superman story where he uses that power for his own benefit and to dominate others is an interesting one to explore. Tied to that is the story of those who love him. How do you react when your own child does terrible things? All of this should have made such a fascinating story.

This is what Brightburn should have been, an exploration of the seductive nature of power. But it never gets to that. Brightburn pays lip service to showing the central figured bullied a bit and made to feel different but it never gets under the surface of that in a meaningful way. It kind of just plays paint-by-numbers horror, shortcutting the real work of telling that story, making us understand what it is like to be different and the desire to lash out, to take control. Instead Brightburn just assumes evil from the start, like he's Damien or something with no reason for it. The film gives Elizabeth banks some moments to deal with her conflict between her love for her son and her coming to the realization that he's evil, but in 90 minutes she doesn't have much time to get into much of that either.

Brightburn spends the precious little time it does have on making spectacular attack sequences. The scene in the diner is horrifying. But it ends up being little more than a straight up horror movie with very little to chew on beyond that. Even it's supposedly clever ending feels cliche and rushed. Brightburn just never attempts to be more. I think there is a fascinating story out there to be told and Brightburn just isn't it.

Brightburn
Starring: Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A Dunn, Matt Jones
Director: David Yarovesky
Writers: Mark Gunn, Brian Gunn

Pokemon Detective Pikachu

While it was sort of cool to see a world filled with humans and pokemon living together it turns out that's not enough to make for an interesting full length movie. To make this entertaining you need to do more than slap a B-movie plot filled with every cliche in the book into this world. Bad writing, ham acting, and a rather boring story just don't make Detective Pikachu worth sitting through.

And it turns out Ryan Reynolds' shtick might be getting a bit old. I started to tire of his predictably, if pg-sanitized, sarcasm as it rolled out of the mouth of everyone's favourite pokemon. Sure the idea of Reynolds' voice coming out of Pikachu is a funny one.. for about 5 minutes. Then it's tired. Will Deadpool 3 start to feel like a drag once we all get tired of the same old same old? Perhaps its time for Reynolds to reinvent himself before he becomes Will Farrell. He's kinda just playing the same character now in everything and this Pikachu is just safe for work version of Deadpool. Nothing stays funny forever.

So unless one is just really excited about seeing pokemon stories set in a "real" world. Detective Pikachu should be passed over. Let's hope this doesn't start a string of sequels.

Pokemon Detective Pikachu
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, Bill Nighy, Ken Watanabe
Director: Rob Letterman
Writers: Dan Hernandez, Benji Samit, Rob Letterman, Derek Connolly

Wine Country (2019)

I guess I'm still waiting for the preeminent Gen X middle age reckoning movie. I thought this talented group of funny people would be able to deliver but Wine Country is certainly not it.

Instead Wine Country is just a series of cliches punctuated with not very funny jokes. We've got some of the funniest actors/comedy writers around behind this thing so occasionally they hit and make us giggle a bit. But mostly you spend the 100ish minutes of Wine Country wondering what the help happened?

There isn't an original idea anywhere to be seen. Wine Country is a collection of exactly what anyone would expect about a group of women turning 50.

Perhaps it would be better if I drank at least a bottle of wine before watching it.

Wine Country
Starring: Amy Phoehler, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Paula Pell, Emily Spivey, Tina Fey, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Amy Poehler
Writers: Emily Spivey, Liz Cackowski

See You Yesterday (2019)

Two of my favourite films ever deal with time travel, the cerebral and horrifying Primer and the popular classic Back to the Future. See You Yesterday reminds me of both in different ways. It features Michael J. Fox in a cameo to hearken back to that 1985 fun adventure film, a film it is clearly paying homage to with its kids-save-the-day adventure vibe. But in the end See You Yesterday sticks closer to the esthetic of Primer with its cautionary tale lessons and its less than optimistic view of our world and our ability to fix it. In there it also manages to mix in elements of The Hate U Give. Two friends discover through their passion for science a way to move back through time and end up having a reason to use it despite being warned of the consequences.

See You Yesterday features a young smart science focused women in the lead and specifically centres the issues of police violence against her community. The balance between the gravity of the film's social focus and its kids adventure vibe is a tenuous one that I felt the film walked, for the most part, beautifully. Kids are drawn to stories of kids saving the day but this story is set in a very real, very frightening world. People swear and talk like people talk, and not how we are used to hearing them talk in films aimed at youth. Also, there are real consequences to the choices made by our heroes. Again we're used to kids saving the day. But we're faced with the idea that sometimes it can't be saved and that can be a powerful if unpopular message.

But See You Yesterday finds a way to make this all pay off. It is a very satisfying and rewarding film. I felt the film could have benefited from a longer run time to flesh out some of the themes in a way to make them more powerful. But overall I think it nails what it is trying to do. And as the movie reached its climax I truly wondered how they were going to wrap up this tale. I wasn't sure I knew where it was going, a feature I truly appreciate in most movies. I won't spoil it but in a way I felt the film makers found the perfect way to sum it up that doesn't betray anything leading up to the conclusion.

While it may be a bit intense for the younger viewers, older children should get a lot from See You Yesterday, as will their parents.

See You Yesterday
Starring: Eden Duncan-Smith, Dante Crichlow, Astro, Michael J Fox
Director: Stefon Bristol
Writers: Fredrica Bailey, Stefon Bristol

A Dog's Journey (2019)

A Dog's Journey is pretty much the same film as its predecessor A Dog's Purpose, the story of a reincarnating dog who keeps coming back to the same family. In this case, the dog keeps returning to the granddaughter of the boy in the first film. Like that film the family goes through their drama and all along the dog is there to make it all well again.

Yes the film is cheesy dog propaganda and yes the film is manipulative and generally poorly made (wooden acting, awkward writing, filmed like a TV movie) but a dare you not to get into the journey of Bailey through numerous lifetimes and his desire to keep this family together. Everything is a cliche in this film from the high achieving asian character to the drunk single mother. The film's logical leaps are astounding and the plot's coincidences are almost unforgivable. It's not a good film but it is a good experience despite itself.

Because at the centre of A Dog's Journey is a heart. I'm almost pissed at myself for letting myself enjoy such a film. But I did despite myself.

A Dog's Journey
Starring: Kathryn Prescott, Josh Gad, Dennis Quaid, Marg Helgenberger, Henry Lau, Betty Gilpin
Director: Gail Mancuso
Writers: W. Bruce Cameron, Cathryn Michon, Maya Forbes, Wally Wolodarsky

John Wick Chapter 3 Parabellum

The first John Wick film took many, including myself, by surprise. A smart simple action film with a straight forward plot. John Wick was a man paying for his past sins. Directed by a stunt man, John Wick was choreographed with precision and had just the right amount of character development and world building to make for a satisfying 100 minutes.

Inspired by the success of the first film, the sequel took the story to the next level raising the bar perhaps a bit too far. It entered a more ridiculous phase. Yes John Wick's world of assassins and crime lords was fantasy but the first film felt a bit grounded. The second left that behind for a far more fantastic take on the criminal underworld. But the film also upped its game in the visuals. Stuntman turned director Chad Stahelski found a visual poetry in his art and his cinematographer and art director were given free reign to create a world that we couldn't take our eyes off of. What John Wick Chapter 2 lost in realism it gained in sheer aesthetics. It remained a very satisfying boost to the adrenalin even when it was pushing our suspension of disbelief.

And as these things tend to go it appears John Wick Chapter 3 Parabellum (yup, that is a real mouthful) may be the most gorgeous and watchable of the series... but also the least convincing. As this film series has continued the foes Wick faces give him more and more time to get himself ready to take them on, he takes on harder and harder blows while soldiering on, and the motivations of characters adjust more and more rapidly away from anything feeling organic and more towards what moves the plot in the direction we want to go.

The whole Wick saga remains simple. That is part of the beauty of it. We start out with a contract being put out on John and he has to just make his way through a city of assassins who want to be the one to collect the reward. This goes on just long enough before Stahelski introduces some new plot developments which really work more for their ability to showcase characters like Angelica Huston's eastern european matriarch. Stahelski knows just how far to push it, and films everything with such a truly beautiful eye that Parabellum is a stunning film.

But there were too many times I just went hmm. Too many plot devices that seemed a little too much. And then there is the ending. What could have been an interesting, and rather unresolved, twist is executed in a way that just takes you out of the film, takes away any credibility the story had going for it. And it descends a bit into self-parody, the most obvious example is the sheer amount of dead dog jokes. The film series so far has taken itself seriously and this one feels a little too tongue in cheek for my comfort level. 

Basically the John Wick series is surrendering to sheer silliness. I can embrace that. For what it is doing it does well. I guess perhaps I just hoped it would have kept more of an edge.

John Wick Chapter 3 Parabellum
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishbourne, Mark Decascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance Reddick, Angelica Huston
Director: Chad Stahelski
Writers: Derek Kolstad, Shay Hatten, Chris Collins, Marc Abrams

Booksmart (2019)

Booksmart is fickin' joyous. From the opening moments until the end, Booksmart will keep a smile on your face. It is a tribute to friendship at a pivotal moment in life and it unblinkingly celebrates that without irony or shame.

Booksmart is set on the last day of highschool for two best friends who have dedicated their school years to achieving high grades to set them up for the future. They decide they need to have one night of the kind of partying that highschoolers are known for and set out to achieve this. You know the genre. You've seen it a million times.

But never like this.

Booksmart doesn't play the games of the typical crazy night of highschool party tropes. Instead its characters do some fumbling and exploring but do so focused on what their strengths are as individuals. Every character in the film is a unique and redeeming figure. There aren't the typical bad buy stereotypes. Each character is given their reasons for being and their moments to shine. But the film's focus remains on the heart of the movie, the love between two friends who lift each other up and make each other stronger.

I loved that Booksmart didn't try to paint a "realistic" portrait of highschool with all the cruelty and heartbreak. Instead it tells a wishful story of a group of young people being themselves and being good to each other. This is a big part of the magic of the film, the way it takes the best of people and lets them shine. No one is perfect. Yes people make mistakes and sometimes step on each others' toes. But they react in the best way to it.

Booksmart is smart writing. Clever and hilarious Booksmart is the funniest film I've seen so far this year. A big part of this is the cast. Leads Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein nail it... I mean nail it... hitting exactly the right notes on the pathos and the humour. They are both riveting to watch and I could have been satisfied with just their roles. But the entire cast nails it. Just like the film empowers the side characters to a degree that most films don't, the supporting cast steps up and delivers. Especially strong is Billie Lourd in a scene stealing role. And stealing scenes in this cast is a truly impressive feat.

Hats off to Olivia Wilde in her directing debut. 

All around Booksmart is a joy. Make sure you see it. You will thank me later.

Booksmart
Starring: Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein, Billie Lourd, Noah Galvin, Jessica Williams, Jason Sudeikis, Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte
Director: Olivia Wilde
Writers: Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, Katie Silberman

The Hustle (2019)

The Hustle should have been a no-brainer. Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway are both damn funny and making them rival con-artists should have worked no matter what. I guess The Hustle proves no premise is fool-proof.

The Hustle is mostly not-very funny. It's filled with grifts which aren't very clever. The frenemies mixed with a hamfisted love story just never comes together. The whole thing feels like an awkward misfire and it makes you wonder how something like this gets so far along without someone fixing it.

There are moments in The Hustle which made me laugh out loud. The sheer talent of these two leads is enough that they will make you laugh regardless of how bad the movie is. But there are also times when you laugh because it is so awful, like we're laughing at them more than with them. What could have been a fresh take on Dirty Rotten Scoundrels ends up being sad watching two actors, both with real talent for comedy, just not pull it off. It made me sad more than laugh.

The Hustle
Starring: Rebel Wilson, Anne Hathaway, Alex Sharp
Director: Chris Addison
Writers: Stanley Shapiro, Paul Henning, Dale Launer, Jac Schaeffer

Tolkien (2019)

Is the life of one of the English world's most famous writers as interesting as his famous books? This experience appears to answer the question; no. Not really. Lush period sets and costumes and good performances from a strong cast don't do much to make us care about the life of the writer of Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien is fairly standard biopic fare, telling a rather paint by numbers telling of the man's life. Director Dome Karukoski shoots his film in rich earthy tones and it's all lovely to watch. He seems to be trying to make a connection between the life of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien and his famous work. He goes to great lengths to develop a narrative which creates a "fellowship" around John, sends him on an adventure through a fiery hellscape, and find a catharsis in the need to tell a fantastic tale of wizards and elves. The film is almost gleeful in the way it finds inspiration for the moments of his epic in the life of his subject. It's like Dorothy at the end of The Wizard of Oz seeing all the real people who inspired the magical characters in her adventures.

So much of this feels forced even if it is an appealing notion. Without the connection to the Hobbit story, the life of John doesn't hold much beyond the life of anyone really. I'm not slighting JRR Tolkien. Like so many people he appears to have had a lovely and somewhat challenging if privileged life. But there needs to be a reason to tell a life story in a movie that will make it resonate and be interesting for audiences. Perhaps there wasn't much else there than our passion for his stories. Tolkien doesn't find much more interesting than that.

Tolkien isn't terrible or (that) boring or dreadful or even upsetting. It just is. And it didn't inspire much passion in me. Having said that I could watch Derek Jacobi read the phone book and I'd be fascinated. He's brilliant in anything.

Tolkien
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, Derek Jacobi, Colm Meaney
Director: Dome Karukoski
Writers: David Gleeson, Stephen BEresford

Breakthrough (2019)

Pretty much everything about Breakthrough is bad. It is a moving cliche as is every character in it. It is filled with bad theology and horrible views on adoption. And worst of all it's just a boring movie.

The story of John Smith (based on real life events) is a series of insultingly cliche moments. He is adopted so therefore he naturally suffers from abandonment issues and his mother is a series of memes about what mothering is supposed to be. When he has his accident and recovers he struggles with the reasons for why he was spared. He comes to his rationalization that he was worth saving because of something good that he did. As if our value as human beings is based on what we can contribute. And as if others die because they can't contribute something valuable enough. Plus there is the whole plot piece about the community coming together to pray for his survival, as if God is somehow making decisions about who lives and who dies based on a prayer tally, similar to "likes" on Facebook. These ideas are an affront to people of faith and to adopted people. It reinforces horribly simplistic efforts to seek meaning in the difficult complicated world we live in. I could go on and on about all that I found insulting about this film from a faith perspective and from an adoption perspective. But instead of all that I'll focus on what a bad movie it is overall.

The story is the kind of afterschool special level of writing and acting which frustrates me when I'm watching it. The characters are two dimensional, each one a stereotype. The film does what I most resent in films. It doesn't build real characters it relies on the stock ideas we each carry with us so that we simply fill in the blanks with each stereotype and know who that person is supposed to be. The film does the same thing with its story. It sets us on a path where we know wxactly what's going to happen and why, simply reinforcing our assumptions for us as we go along instead of pushing us or challenging us. Fitting that it stars This is Us star Chrissy Metz, a show which suffers the same manipulative writing style.

While some my buy into the corny and rather insulting theological aspects of this story I get that I won't be able to convince them of how problematic it is. But beyond that Breakthrough is just bad film making, the kind which doesn't expect anything of its audience.

Breakthrough
Starring: Chrissy Metz, Marcel Ruiz, Jake Lucas, Topher Grace, Mike Colter, Denis Haysbert
Director: Roxann Dawson
Writer: Grant Nieport

Long Shot (2019)

The opening scene of Long Shot will make audiences wonder if they are in the right cinema. They came for a rom com and the film starts with a neo-nazi meeting. The scene quickly turns to laughs, in one of the most awkward transitions in a mainstream movie in a long time. This actually sets up what Long Shot is going to be.

Long Shot is half political satire and half part romantic comedy. But the problem is, like much of that first scene, the two sides never quite gel. The political satire half wants to go all in. The jokes are hard edge, the politics unapologetically progressive, often erring on the side of SNL skit absurdity. The rom com part wants to be all charming misfit meet cute, basically Knocked Up all over again. And despite Both Theron and Rogen being really good at what they are doing, this Jeckle and Hyde plot doesn't come together.

But there are extremely funny moments throughout and the film has a charm that makes it enjoyable at times. There are also times when you want to cringe. I kept oscillating between enjoying and being frustrated about it. I certainly did like all the genX references. But the film isn't The American President or even Dave. But I kinda wish it could have been.

Long Shot
Starring: Charlize Theron, Seth Rogan, O'Shea Jackson Jr., June Diane Raphael, Andy Serkis, Randall Park, Lisa Kudrow
Director: Jonathan Levine
Writers: Dan Sterling, Liz Hannah

Extremely Wicked Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)

True Crime is not a genre I often appreciate. There is a voyeuristic, exploitative element to it that I find hard to overcome. There needs to be a reason to tell stories about real people's deaths and their suffering and that reason has to be compelling enough to justify the risk of glamorizing both the killer and the crimes. In my opinion most True Crime doesn't manage this feat. I don't feel Extremely Wicked Shockingly Evil and Vile manages it either.

Extremely Wicked has trouble finding it's focus. It attempts to be a number of different movies at once and never quite manages to be any. First it focuses less on the crimes and more on the legal proceedings. It follows infamous killer Ted Bundy as he is arrested for the first time and through his journey through the legal system. This choice opened the door for what could have been a fairly fascinating look at criminal justice and how it works (in this case it mostly worked) yet the film doesn't spend much time on the legal aspects and more on the trials as we expect them on TV shows. 

The film also looks at Bundy as pseudo-celebrity. Yet even with this the film doesn't get into a deep analysis of the way we romanticize celebrity criminals. Instead it just scrapes the surface never getting underneath the whys or hows and all the difficult questions that go along with it.

The choice to cast Zac Efron emphasizes this. His image as sex symbol focuses us on that path. And while many critics praise his performance I found it rather basic. It's certainly not bad but I don't feel be brought anything complicated to the role. The film follows his "adventures" escaping, filling the story with charming moments and entertaining if sometimes comic anecdotes. All making Bundy charming and attractive with little deconstruction of these emotions and reaction. The film plays into them.

Another approach the film tries but never quite delivers on is centering Bundy's girlfriend played by Lily Collins. There was a choice made to tell the story (partly) through her eyes. It is therefore the story of a woman who is taken in by him and struggles with her love for him and the revealing truth as she drowns in it. This could have been an interesting movie too but the film doesn't give enough of it's time to it. Sometimes I felt like I wished the film had chosen between its foci but it keeps moving in different directions doing neither very well. The film introduces elements of different ways to tell the story and then doesn't fully follow through on any of them.

I did appreciate the film didn't focus on his crimes. We aren't subjected to reproductions of his murders and that I felt was a good choice. There are times when the film does have people speak of the crimes and this is probably important. We need to remember how evil Bundy truly was. But we don't have to watch that evil happen. Especially since it really did happen. However even this part is problematic. The film never makes us see Efron as truly evil. There is a disconnect between him and the crimes that the film never addresses.

Extremely Wicked Shockingly Evil and Vile does not fail completely it just never truly succeeded for me in making me care about any of it. Mostly this is due to the way the film never truly commits to what sort of story it wants to tell and therefore never quite tells one fully realized tale.

Extremely Wicked Shockingly Evil and Vile
Starring: Zac Efron, Lily Collins, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Dylan Baker, Jim Parsons, Haley Joel Osment
Director: Joe Berlinger
Writer: Michael Werwie

Penguins (2019)

It isn't hard to make an entertaining film about penguins. Point the camera at them and let the charismatic buggers go about their lives and bam you have a fun film. Their incredibly beautiful and inaccessible landscape is mesmerizing and their struggle for survival is extremely captivating. Penguin movies make themselves.

Disney has focused on one "everyman" penguin they've named Steve and through following one brief antarctic summer in his life they give us the basics of the penguin life cycle. While we learn a lot about penguins, an into to penguin life 101, it is all wrapped up in a fun accessible story which is safe enough for the youngest viewers but compelling enough for anyone of any age. Steve falls in love and raises children and survives predators. It is all here.

Ed Helms narrates and voices Steve in his personified adventures. He doesn't over do it as he sometimes does, keeping a rather casual vocalization of Steve's thoughts. Penguins tells as simple but extremely enjoyable tale of the life of an average penguin, one of the most lovable species on the planet. I dare you not to enjoy this.

Penguins
Starring: Ed Helms, Steve
Directors: Alistair Fothergill, Jeff Wilson
Writer: David Fowler