Yesterday (2019)

Yesterday is an example of great film making. A gimmicky premise with a schlocky romantic script is turned into something truly fascinating to watch by the work of a master film maker. While I often have little interest in the stories he tells, Danny Boyle's work as a director always impresses me. Here he takes a cutesy little story from the writer of Love, Actually and Four Weddings and a Funeral and makes it remarkable.

You wake up one day and no one remembers the Beatles so you pass their songs off as your own and become a big star. Clever little gimmick that could easily have run out of steam about 30 minutes in. This all happens during a rather ridiculous love story where his girlfriend demands he give up his success to stay with her (a truly yucky proposition) and the film almost ignores the real dilemma of finding one's identity when one is carving it out of the work of another. Yesterday is far more interested in the chemistryless romance between the leads Himesh Patel and Lily James than it is in the truly fascinating questions posed by the Black Mirror like storyline.

All in all it was a film that really shouldn't have worked for me. But yet it did.

I attribute this to three things. As I said Danny Boyle is a master film maker often making me care about stories I wouldn't otherwise with his truly innovative story telling techniques. He made a movie about a guy trapped in a crevasse and another about a guy going on a TV game show interesting. He finds a way through his visual approach, which merges so well with the music, to overcome this story's short comings and make it watchable.

That's the second thing, the Beatles. This music is just hard not to appreciate. There is a moment near the end which is a bit of a spoiler so I won't describe it completely, but it allows our hero to connect with some strangers over the music and it's truly wonderful. It was a joyful moment, one that surprises us a bit, and one that helps us understand what this music means. This is a bit of a love letter to John Paul George and Ringo and that adds something to the film which lets me forgive it a bit.

The third thing is connected to the music. It's Himsesh Patel's magnetism and his owning of the music which redeems much of the film. He is endlessly watchable and his performances are truly enjoyable. I didn't feel he connected with James in anyway and their romance truly dragged down the film but when it was about him and the music it was wonderful.

Oh and Kate McKinnon is always amazing to watch and she shines here in a scene stealing role.

So even though Yesterday should be cringey, it is not. If you can forgive the cheesy romance plot, the film's total abandonment of the identity crisis issue, and its Ed Sheeran cameos it ends up being a lovely little film.

Yesterday
Starring: Himsesh Patel, Lilly James, Kate McKinnon, Ed Sheeron, Ed Sheeran, Robert Carlyle
Director: Danny Boyle
Writer: Richard Curtis

Toy Story 4 (2019)

Sequels have to meet a high bar for me. I am not just interested in seeing another chapter in a story. I want to feel there is a reason this story needs to be told. Sequels are usually just the need for the movie studio to make more money off a property they have already invested in. This usually doesn't translate into a great movie. So many sequels just feel like a rip off, a shadow of the previous film they are based on.

But every now and then a sequel comes along which offers us something more, a reason to follow its characters into a new adventure. Sometimes a sequel can deepen the experience of the previous film or at least offer us a reason to continue caring about the characters.

Toy Story 4 isn't really either of those things.

This one was a weird nut for me to crack. I remember when Toy Story 2 was released I had real mixed emotions. While I had fallen in love with the toys from the first film I didn't feel there was a reason to tell more stories about them. The story of the toy's journey to finding meaning had been done perfectly in the first film. Anything more felt like a cash grab. But the film exceeded my expectations, told an equally good story, introduced fascinating characters, and made it worth while to return to Andy's room.

But then Toy Story 3 came out and once again I was nervous. The first two films were both good. Don't mess with a good thing! What more could there be to tell about a bunch of toys? Well it turns out 3 is a tiny masterpiece. 3 is a culmination made possible by 1 & 2. It reaches into your heart and obliterates it. I still can't get through it without crying. And it finishes the story. I truly felt the tale was over and should remain as it was.

But then Pixar made a few short films about the toys and each one was a little delight. I basically got to the point where I expected each Toy Story outing to be a wonderful little return to old friends. They had hit on something that was worth returning to.

Well...

Toy Story 4 is the first one that didn't feel special. While it is heads and shoulders above what the other American animation studios are putting out with its original plot that doesn't pander to cliches, intelligent script which doesn't talk down to its audience, and complex characters whose motivations are more than cardboard cutouts, it also wasn't in the league of its predesessors.

Part way through I found myself wondering why I wasn't caring very much about what happened next. Knowing I couldn't get through Toy Story 3 without crying why wasn't I overly invested in what these characters were doing now. You get to the end, an ending which may end up being fairly controversial, and I felt almost nothing. The story was fun, I laughed a lot, but I wasn't emotionally invested.

To be honest I am not quite sure yet why this chapter didn't get under my skin in the way the previous films did. Perhaps it comes down to the fact that 3 had such a satisfying ending, the kind of ending which provides closure. So that whatever happens next didn't really matter. I'm glad I got a fun story out of it (even it if was a bit meandering and didn't hold a consistent energy throughout) and I truly enjoyed the new characters (even Keanu Reeves Duke Kaboom was enjoyable, but no one comes close to Key and Peele's plush Ducky and Bunny) but whatever sort of came in the story was fine with me.

I'll have to sit with this one a bit. Is this the last stop on the road for these characters (or just one character perhaps?)

And why wasn't there a Pixar short playing with it? That was likely my biggest disappointment. I look forward to seeing something wonderful before the movie even starts and this one just went right into the film.

If I was to rank the films this one would be the afterthought.

Toy Story 4
Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Kay, Jordan Peele, Christina Hendricks, Keanu Reeves, Ally Mackie, Joan Cusack, Bonnie Hunt, Kristen Schaal, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, Timothy Dalton
Director: Josh Cooley
Writers: Andrew Stanton, Stephanie Folsom

The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019)

A sequel no one was asking for.

It is no secret that I am not a fan of Illumination Studios. I find their films pedantic and unoriginal. While The Secret Life of Pets was a runaway hit a few years ago, it didn't speak to me. It was a clever idea for a premise which was executed in an extremely average manner, relying on gimmicks and caricatures to tell its story. When a movie makes this much money they make a sequel assuming we all want to see another chapter. But that often isn't the case. Sometimes an audience just enjoys a film (even if I didn't) but aren't necessarily invested in the characters or the story enough to want to see more of their adventures.

The Secret Life of Pets appears to be a good example of this.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 isn't really a story. It is a series of unconnected stories, forced together at the end into a rather anti-climactic finale. None of those stories are that interesting. Few of the jokes are that funny. It's really an example of a corporation trying to milk more money out of intellectual (haha) property without there being a creative reason or artistic motivation to continue the narrative.

So instead we are subjected to rather heavy handed cliches about cat behavior and dog behavior. We watch animals go through forced scenarios which are all too easily resolved. It's all a bit absurdist, which I wish made it better than it is. But by the end you ask yourself, why did I watch that?

The Secret Life of Pets 2
Starring: Patton Oswalt, Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, Jenny Slate, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Harrison Ford, Ellie Kemper, Tara Strong
Director: Chris Renaud
Writer: Brian Lynch

The Dead Don't Die (2019)

Jim Jarmusch's films rarely grab me. There are a few exceptions, including his most recent preceding this one, Paterson, but generally I am left feeling very little after a Jarmusch film. Early into The Dead Don't Die it became clear to me this was another of his which wouldn't resonate with me. I kept hope alive, wishing it would get better, perhaps because of the cast or maybe my affinity for zombie films, but it never got better, it got worse. Other than the theme song from the amazing Strugill Simpson, I liked nothing about The Dead Don't Die.

The Dead Don't Die is annoyingly self aware. Speaking of Simpson, early on Driver's character references the song on the radio as the "theme song" and there is a long, long beat, begging the audience to laugh. But the joke not only takes you completely out of the movie (clearly its purpose) but it just isn't really that funny. The Dead Don't Die has a number of fourth wall breaking moments but here's the thing. It doesn't do anything with it. If you're going to experiment with form like that it would have more impact if it meant something. It doesn't. The Dead Don't Die's biggest struggle is that it isn't about anything. And no, that's not the point. it's not some comment on meaninglessness. It just isn't about anything.

Oh the film tries to piece together some thought provoking message about us all being dead inside all along but it doesn't earn it. It just tells us. Literally. It has a character say it out loud. It doesn't show us this in a meaningful way. Just tacks it on at the end like an afterthought. And here's the thing about that. That is what every zombie movie is about!!! That is what Romero's point was way back when. It's been said. It's been done. If that's all you got...

The Dead Don't Die tries to be satire but it isn't overly funny and doesn't grasp on to a good target of that satire to begin with. So it all just falls flat. The cast stands around delivering awkward lines in awkward manners with long periods of waiting in between as if we're supposed to be laughing or ruminating or whatever. But all this creates is a high level of boredome. Its themes are shallow, it's jokes clunky, and its approach (probably purposefully) wooden. It is a bit torturous to be honest.

And again maybe if the film had offered us some wisdom out of all that tedium it could have had some power. Instead it recycles all the cliches of the genre without adding anything new, takes us out of the experience by taking the awkward approach and rather forcefully breaking the fourth wall, and generally doesn't entertain. I know there are folks who are drawn to truly broad satire without significant meaning, perhaps just for the sake of being ironic. That's not me. I need something a bit meatier.

The Dead Don't Die
Starring: Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloe Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, RZA, Carol Kane, Selena Gomez, Tom Waits, Sturgill Simpson
Writer/Director: Jim Jarmusch

Men In Black International (2019)

I've never really enjoyed the Men In Black movies. They play mostly to the jokes so despite any interest I might have had in the premise, the films were always just too silly for me to get into. Their plots were always straight forward and pedantic, characterization thin, mythology weak. MIB International doesn't do anything different. It really feels like just another installment with a cheaper cast. There isn't much in MIB International different or more interesting than previous MIB films. I'm truly of the belief that a sequel needs a reason to be made, a new story to tell or new approaches, and not just do more of the same. More of the same bores me.

But I went in hopeful. Tessa Thompson has the potential to be a big magnetic star. She has a great screen presence and I usually find her quite compelling. Chris Hemsworth has yet to get a role that isn't just about joking on his looks and this one is no different. But Thompson is exciting to watch. So I thought seeing her lead this film could be truly entertaining.

Well she's mostly wasted. Her induction into the order is completely unbelievable, rushed, and fairly ridiculous. They don't spend time making either of the main characters into anything more than two-dimensional stereotypes. It fits with the story however, which is also rather predictable and two-dimensional. It's not bad per se, just not inspiring or different or interesting. It's exactly what any other movie like this would be. MIB has always had the potential to comment on immigration and it's never done this more than just a surface referencing. MIB is, as it always has been, mainstream accessible filler. And that's not terrible. Perhaps if it was exceedingly funny or with a remarkably compelling story it would rise to the occasion. But it is exceedingly average.

MIB International feels like the sort of film that is rushed and is almost more of a second thought. Is it too much to ask that the story idea comes first? The desire to make a movie derives out of a need to tell a particular story and follow particular characters? Instead it seems we just focus on taking a brand and then constructing something to fit it. There are plenty of franchises where the creators take a prepackaged idea, character, or world and make something remarkable out of it. MIB was never that so I guess International should not be a surprise. I guess Thompson (both of them... and Nanjiani too) gave me hope this might be a smarter more relevant take on the MIB trope.

Men In Black International
Starring: Tessa Thompson, Chris Hemsworth, Kumail Nanjiani, Emma Thompson, Rebecca Ferguson, Rafe Spall, Liam Neeson
Director: F Gary Gray
Writers: Art Marcum, Matt Holloway

Late Night (2019)

Late Night is a rom com in all ways but without the heteronormative relationship at its centre. It hits all the beats, and in smart, creative ways, of a typical rom com but centres on the relationship between two (apparently) heterosexual women who do not end up falling in love, well not in the way we think of in terms of these movies. They meet cute, the situational problems surrounding them attract them together then pull them apart, they grow through the experience into better people, and at the end one of them chases down the other to  reunite them and they ride off into the sunset happy to be together.

So much about Late Night is smart and funny in this way of embracing a genre to tell us a different story. It pushes us to see the way professional women interact with each other and can strengthen each other. Everything our culture says different. What is brilliant about it (besides strong performances, sharp writing, and lovely direction) is the way it all feels so familiar while telling us a story that is so different from what we are usually force fed.

And when there is romance it is genuine. Thompson's relationship with Lithgow's character is truly poignant and honest despite getting very little screen time. The two actors bring such skill to their performances the connections are realistic and truthful. And Kaling's romance is relegated to where it should be, the background. Because the fact her character finds love is incidental to the plot and while it is nice for her it isn't what is important.

Indie director Nisha Ganatra seems like a strange choice for a mainstream comedy like this til you see it. First of all the film apes mainstream films as a device but transcends those tropes it borrows at every turn. Instead she imbues her film with a lovely sensitivity and awareness which makes it so damn watchable while at the same time telling us a story far more interesting than we would have expected. She takes Kaling's script, full of very familiar Kaling sensibilities, and takes full advantage of it. It's smart without being inaccessible. It's funny without being over the top. It is the sort of film where all the pieces fit together so nicely.

And as we watch Thompson and Kaling go through the beats of a typical romantic comedy but do so as friends, as women, as colleagues, and never as lovers, we realize that there are more stories out there which are so damn fascinating and entertaining to watch.

Late Night
Starring: Mindy Kaling, Emma Thompson, John Lithgow, Hugh Dancy, Reid Scott, Max Casella, Denis O'Hare, Amy Ryan, Ike Barinholtz, Annaleigh Ashford
Director: Nisha Ganatra
Writer: Mindy Kaling

Shaft (2019)

Very early into the new Shaft film a character throws out a transphobic joke. It's a throw away line and for many it might go unnoticed. I winced. It was ugly but perhaps that would be a blip in the film. I should have known better.

The gay jokes started coming fast and furious soon after. While some of the jokes were specifically about being gay, joke after joke focused on laughing at men whose masculinity is... well, less than this film deems worthy.

While perhaps I could have enjoyed this film, despite it's rather predictable plot and paper thin characterization, the rather constant attacks on queerness for the sake of humour ruined it for me.

At one point Regina Hall's character says "you had to fuck it up, didn't you?"

She took the words right out of my mouth.

Shaft
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Jesse Usher, Richard Roundtree, Alexandra Ship, Regina Hall, Avan Jogia, Method Man
Director: Tim Story
Writers: Kenya Barris, Alex Barnow

All Is True (2019)

I remember watching Branagh's Henry V in highschool and being transported. I was already nerdy enough to love Shakespeare's language but it was my first experience with it being performed so... right. I've seen a lot of great productions of Shakespeare's plays in the meantime but no one captures the language like Branagh. So it seems just and fitting that this little portrait of the man behind the pen is played and directed by him.

All Is True is about Shakespeare certainly but it is about so much more. He is a man, like Jesus, whom we debate the veracity of his life and work. All Is True is about not seeking the truth about who the man William Shakespeare was, but about what truth is. How do we understand what is true, what truth means? Is there something more true than facts? Do we truly want to know?

All Is True is about a successful man at the end of his life and he faces the regrets and the graces he has as a man with a life well lived. Branagh plays his bard thoughtfully and quietly. He doesn't make him into a "character" but plays him as a man with all the flaws and admirable traits that all men have. He is bisexual. He is protective. He is indulgent. He is grateful. He is in mourning. He is celebrating. He is all of the complicated pieces of work of man.

Opposite him Judy Dench is, as always, a revelation playing his older wife in all her power and glory. And Ian McKellen, also true to form, has a scene stealing cameo which is a delight. All of it is tinged with a lovely melancholy and bittersweet love. Branagh is a fan for many reasons and he brings that passion to this work.

After being essentially a director for hire for the past few years, this Branagh feels back in his element. He is an operatic filmmaker who understands how to find beauty in each shot and All Is True is gorgeously filmed. His tale is a rather quiet, anti-climactic story yet he finds a way to fill each moment with energy and passion. All Is True is seriously beautiful.

Once again I am a fan and fascinated with what he has put on the screen.

All Is True
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Judy Dench, Lydia Wilson, Kathryn Wilder, Ian McKellen
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Writer: Ben Elton

Dark Phoenix

I will always look fondly at Fox’s X-men franchise. There are some of the strongest films of the genre as part of this series. I rematch the entire series, even some of the stinkers, and enjoy them each time. There is a world built here which is a vehicle for exploring certain themes which are important themes to me. No matter what comes in the future these 10 films will always be a part of my collection.

As far as we know Dark Phoenix is the end of the road for this journey. Knowing that I went into the film with a lot of mixed emotions and expectations which were likely unfair. I wanted in someway for this to be a wrap up, conclusion to the entire narrative. I wanted it to be a capped off farewell to the specific versions of these characters that I have loved for this long.

It is not those things.

In my opinion Dark Phoenix feels set up to be an “episode” entry into the series. The status quo is set up, the characters are developed, and we start into this story. Its a story of great personal and emotional importance to X-men fans, one that was already attempted to be told in X3 although generally felt not well. So taking on this story is brave knowing the audience has high expectations.

It also isn’t the definite Dark Phoenix telling. While head and shoulders better than X3 it may not live up to the hopes and dreams of fans.

But it does a lot well. Dark Phoenix the movie is the story of how men try to protect and control women and where the responsibility for that falls. This film keeps its moralizing under the surface but it doesnt leave it on the cutting room floor. It integrates its narrative well with its messages.

It also creates good set pieces. I felt the way the film comes together was exciting and propels us through the story. All of this is in the plus side for the film. But the film falls flat somewhat in its character development. Even Jean Grey who is the centre of the story feels only thinly flushed out. Storm has never been given the development she needs in this series and nothing changes here. But worst of all the long terms central figures to this journey like Xavier, Raven, Magneto, dont truly get to grow much beyond where they have been.

The story isn’t the strongest in the series. It is also not the weakest. It is a middle ground piece. If it hadn’t been the final chapter perhaps it would have felt more satisfying. I found it hard for me to divorce my meta experience of the series ending and my desire to enjoy this film for what it is. For me Dark Phoenix is decent for what it is but it isn’t more than that.

And it doesn’t have to be.

Goodbye X-men.

Dark Phoenix
Starring: Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicolas Hoult, Ty Sheridan, Alexandra Ship, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Evan Peters, Jessica Chastain
Writer/Director: Simon Kinberg

Rocketman (2019)

Biopics are always as much fiction as any other movie. So I often appreciate it when a biopic embraces that, self consciously owns its perspective, and finds a way to tell someone’s story with an authenticity without trying to purport itself to be a “true story.” Rocketman, Fletcher’s highly innovative and entertaining telling of Elton John’s early life and rise to fame, embraces this, and tells a truly charming and insightful story.

Made as a traditional musical (characters breaking into song to advance their motivations and story) but shot in less than traditional ways, Rocketman is as vibrant and eclectic as its subject, and as entertaining. The film tells us from the beginning it is not just going to be your average biopic. We need as an audience to suspend our disbelief and just run with the experience and if we do we’ll get so much more out of it.

Fletcher’s cast truly steps up. I have seen some potential in Taron Egerton but have never felt he had a role to truly show us what he can do. Rocketman is a breakout for him. This role gives him an opportunity to shine. It requires a certain amount of mimicry but also a high level of layered character building. And he manages it all in a way that feels effortless. Another example is Bryce Dallas Howard, an actor who doesn't normally impress me, but here she plays the complicated difficulty of John’s mother and makes it feel real. One of the moments that bright a tear to my eye was her subtle cruelty. She could have been just a caricature of a bad mother but Howard brings more to her than that and its these touches that make Rocketman so strong.

There is a tendency in queer stories to tell tragedies. There is a wealth of tragic stories in the queer oeuvre, both in fiction and in “true stories” like the recent Bohemian Rhapsody film. One of the ways Rocketman is so successful is in telling a gay man’s story that gets a happy ending, a story of success. It is important to see those stories too and for many LGBTQ2S+ folks those stories are out of reach. Rocketman is a refreshing and important for that.

Rocketman is one of those films that just all comes together, tells an accessible story that can be felt by anyone, but also tells in its specificity a certain story that often doesn't get told. All wrapped in up the magical and wonderful musical world of Taupin/John. What more could we ask for?

Rocketman
Starring: Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard, Gemma Jones, Tate Donovan
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Writer: Lee Hall

Godzilla King of the Monsters (2019)

2014’s Godzilla remake was Hollywood’s attempt to tell the famous story in a serious way. Ernest and emotional it turned Godzilla into a heroic figure and painted humanity in all its flaws. King of the Monsters director Daugherty described that fist film and this follow up in comparison with Ridley Scott’s Alien and James Cameron’s Aliens. Seeing these two films now I understand. King of the Monsters builds on the story beats of the first film and the world building and takes it in a less cerebral more action packed direction similar to what happened in the Alien films.

And as knock down monster fighting film, King of the Monsters is great spectacle. The story is just enough to get us through from encounter to encounter without boredom. The narrative is economically told and focused on building the reasons for the set pieces and it does that well.

What it doesn't do well is the character building or believability. Characters act more like archetypes than real humans and they don't often make realistic choices, the kinds of choices that feel real and honest in the moment. Instead choices seemed put there to advance the plot in the way the film makers needed it to go. The story is a bit forced and not overly organic.

But what it does, big monster fight set pieces, is done well and the film remains enjoyable “for what it is” but it doesn’t go beyond that, doesn’t transcend its genre. That’s fine. It might have been nice to have it be something more, to use the story to tell something grander. There is an overly simplistic message about human folly and some skimmed over ideas about the methods used to address global problems but the film never gets into that enough.

King of the Monsters isn’t cringe or eye rolling despite a few plot and character moments which take us out of the film. For what it tries to do it does it well.

Godzilla King of the Monsters
Starring: Kyle Chandler, Ken Watanabe, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Zhang Ziyi, Bradley Witford, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, O'Shea Jackson, Jr., David Strathairn, Joe Morton, CCH Pounder
Director: Michael Daugherty
Writers: Zach Shields, Michael Daugherty

Ma (2019)

Ma has an interesting premise which goes beyond what the trailers show you, but it falls apart in the third act when the film gives up any pacing and just lurches towards its climax. Any goodwill it had earned with its attempt at creating a complicated character gets spent on a rather forced and gratuitous ending that just doesn't feel earned.

Octavia Spencer is always a fascinating actor to watch. Much of the first part of the film works because of how she crafts her character. You aren't quite sure how sympathetic she will be. She creates a great deal of mystery. But once the film gives up on mystery a lot of that mystique is gone.

The problem becomes the grand plan just doesn't stack up. The schemes and mechanations required for i all to come together  just don’t ring true. Also the ending feels rushed, like hey just decided to finish it up without making it feel authentic.

So in the end what starts out promising kind of piddles out and leaves a lot to be desired.

Ma
Starring: Octavia Spencer, Juliette Lewis, Diana Silvers, Luke Evans, Alison Janney
Director: Tate Taylor
Writers: Scotty Landes, Tate Taylor