Blinded by the Light (2019)

While the real life story of a young Pakistani first generation Brit finding his voice through listening to the music of Bruce Springsteen is crowd pleasing, the film with its clunky pacing and mostly simplistic story beats often feels rather dull. But director Gurinder Chadha find some powerful moments in a movie that would otherwise feel rather paint by numbers making it more inspiring than it would be.

There are a lot of relationships in this film which feel forced and cliche. They often aren't developed organically, instead the film relies of our assumptions to make the relationships work. Javed’s childhood best friend is never shown to be anything more than an accessory yet certain emotional beats rely on their connection. I never felt Javed’s romance was built in a believable way. And Hayley Atwell as his teacher is the prototypical inspiring teacher trope. Fortunately the film spends the time more on his connections to his parents and since this (rather formulaic) journey of clash between first generation child and his immigrant parents mostly works and is the heart of the film.

And if it was jus that Blinded by the Light might feel like a rather typical film in this genre. But what Chadha does that takes it just a bit higher is help make Javed’s experience of racism and rising racism in 80s Britain feel authentic and real. It is often in these moments that Chadha’s film comes together and delivers its best punches. Also she finds a way to help us feel Javed’s love of music in a way that is both cinematically beautiful but emotionally strong and, as with any music based film, the connection wth the songs is essential.

So while Blinded by the Light is fairly typical it does manage to offer something a it special.

Blinded by the Light 
Starring: Viveik Karla, Hayley Atwell
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Writers: Paul Mayeda Berges, Sarfraz Manzoor, Gurinder Chadha

Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019)

Dora and the Lost city of Gold finds its way to balance making a movie for young kids that also manages to be entertaining for adults by being all wink wink tongue in cheek. Director James Bobin of Flight of the Concords and The Muppets knows how to achieve that. Dora quite appropriately falls on the younger side of the entertainment spectrum being best for elementary school kids the most (probably too intense for toddlers but a little too childish for pre-teens). But it ends up being charming and entertaining enough that adults can enjoy it too.

Sometimes Dora felt like it was trying a little too hard to make the adults laugh. There is a rave joke at the beginning that started out okay but went on a little too long. And really? Raves? What year is this? And Danny Trejo as the voice of Boots and Benicio Del Toro as Swiper are probably the biggest feats of stunt casting I've ever seen. Still, Dora never felt too boring, moving along with its basic but satisfying if predictable plot at a quick pace.

Isabela Moner is a young actor to watch. I've seen her if a few films so far and have always been impressed, often rising above sub-standard material. Here she manages to do a good impression of what a teen version of the classic cartoon character would sound/act like but also making her character feel like a real enough person. 

Little ones will love and their parents won't hate it. But does it have the cross over magic that would let teens and young adults enjoy it ironically or with a nostalgia for their childhoods? Hmmm, not sure. I'm not convinced it pulls of that trick.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold
Starring: Isabela Moner, Eugenio Derbez, Michael Pena, Eva Longoria, Jeff Whalberg, Benicio Del Toro, Danny Trejo, Temuera Morrison
Director: James Bobin
Writers: Nicholas Stoller, Matthew Robinson

The Kitchen (2019)

Sometimes a great idea just doesn't come together.

Casting McCarthy and Haddish, both great actors, against type and telling the story of mob wives who run things when their husbands go to jail should have been a great movie. Exploring the way domestic violence and gender/race politics played a hand in organized crime in the 70s should have breathed depth into a stylish crime movie. But none of this happens.

The Kitchen feels paint by numbers. This happens then this happens then this happens. Characters walk into rooms, explain what they are feeling instead of showing us. The plot/motivations/details are all handed to us on a silver platter as if we aren't smart enough to understand so we have to have it all explained to us. We never get to feel the scenes as they never have a chance to breathe. The film never feels organic or authentic. During the film I was trying to guess if there was a longer, more fleshed out movie in here which was slashed to pieces or if this is all we would have gotten. Whatever the reason The Kitchen is anemic and oversimplified.

Most disappointing are the performances. McCarthy and Haddish have both been better. Great character actors like Margo Martindale are wasted. The thing that made me so sad while watching The Kitchen was how much potential there was and how much of it was wasted. Plots are introduced, resolved, and dropped quickly and expediently so you almost never have a chance to get involved. Characters are thin and shallow so its hard to become attached. It feels like it was all there but just not put together.

As The Kitchen skipped its way to its rather unsatisfying conclusion I wished I had seen a different movie, one which explored the issues brought up here with some finesse and insight, one that gave this remarkable cast something more to do, and one that would have kept me on the edge of my seat.

The Kitchen
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, Elizabeth Moss, Domhnall Gleeson, Common, Margo Martindale, Brian D'arcy James
Writer/Director: Andrea Berloff

Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw (2019)

I'm torn. I'm not a fan of the Fast & Furious movies. These holdovers from the 90s when action movies were all about how stupid they could be, how much they could blow up, and how much toxic masculinity they could celebrate. They were all style and no substance. But director David Leitch makes fun and usually not stupid movies... and Idris Elba who I could watch do anything. So this spin off featuring the cheesy but scene stealing characters of, well Hobbs and Shaw, is it going to be as mind numbingly dumb as the movies that spawned it? And can the cast and director find a way to pull this from the dumpster fire?

Well, one can't say Hobbs & Shaw is a good movie, but Leitch has taken this world and basically done the best one can with it. He sets it up perfectly. He introduces us to Elba's ridiculous villain (but it's Elba so who cares?) setting into motion the simple and straightforward plot. Then he shows us who each of the leads are, giving us just enough in case we haven't seen a F&F movie before, so we want to see what they'll get up to. Then he sets up the central conceit of the movie, the odd couple, buddy cop, best of frenemies trope. He lets Johnson and Statham ooze their off the charts charisma (well Johnson's at least, Statham is more riding his coattails). Finally he shoves in a bunch of action. And Leitch knows action. What he delivers is pure dumb action movie gold.

None of it is believable. All of it is formulaic. Its as predictable as they come. It is overblown and walks the line of ridiculous. The climax is so over the top you'd think it was Con Air. These are things that would normally sink a film for me. But Leitch plays to the film's strengths, self aware in the F&F limitations and just playing it straight for fun without succumbing to the genres low rent impulses. The screenwriters know what they are doing. While Hobbs & Shaw has a bit of a script 101 feel to it, it also does a great job of pulling that off. It's rather funny, embraces its action movie cliches, but does it without punching down. Basically Hobbs and Shaw is a good example of being exactly what a movie tries to do, not exceeding that, but doing just that.

Could this be the best F&F movie yet? In my opinion the F&F movies have been too corny, too ridiculous, and too generic, to be enough fun. I was always rolling my eyes too much to enjoy any of them. H&S pushes right up to this line but didn't quite cross it for me, so basically I had an okay time. So yeah. It's the best F&F movie so far.

But that's not really saying much.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Helen Mirren
Director: David Leitch
Writers: Chris Morgan, Drew Pearce

The Farewell (2019)

It's become common for performers we know for comedy to take a dramatic turn so while Awkwafina first dramatic turn may not be novel, it is truly enjoyable. She does a great job with her character and all her struggles through this lovely, touching, entertaining, and often funny look at the life of a family pulled apart by distance and time and brought together by time's inevitability.

Posthumous director Lulu Wang brings us this personal story, based on her own relationship with her grandmother by keeping it feeling very real. She moves through her story unassumingly, just letting her characters exist and interact with each other. The relationship between Awkwafina's character and her grandmother as well as her relationship with her parents and extended family comes to life easily and naturally by Wang's approach. The whole film feels lived in and honest. Wang appears to be putting it all out there for us and sharing with us something meaningful.

The Farewell is uplifting without being purposefully sentimental and although rather quiet it never drags. It's a lovely piece of film making featuring a star in the making and it's story is truly satisfying.

The Farewell
Starring: Awkwafina,  Tzi Ma, Zhao Shuzhen
Writer/Director: Lula Wang

Ophelia (2019)

"It is high time I told you my story, myself."

I am drawn to stories that re-examine famous tales but from different points of view than we are used to, the idea of centering different characters so that we experience some time told tale with new insight is fascinating to me. The idea of the film Ophelia is that idea. While not an entirely new idea (retelling Hamlet from Ophelia's point of view has been a touchstone of feminist criticism for decades) it remains a very effective tool. And Claire McCarthy's film treads some new ground, while telling a truly engaging story.

Ophelia shows us the story not just from the younger woman's perspective but from the play's other legendary female character Gertrude. The King is abusive and neglectful. Claudius is caring if ambitious. Polonius is a loving father but weak. Hamlet himself is selfish and spoiled. It is Ophelia and Gertrude who are the complicated ones with agency beyond what Shakespeare envisioned for them.

Stories like this can be challenging as we know where things will go so the task is to invest us in how it will get there. Well McCarthy does this, making a beautiful film which invests us in Ophelia in ways he hadn't before and gives meaning to the words of the play (although the language isn't Shakespeare's prose the film sticks close to the meaning while imbuing a new way of understanding them) which helps us experience the story differently.

Ridley is powerful in her take on Ophelia. She has just the right mix of strength and vulnerability to make the character meet McCarthy's vision. And Watts truly makes the film, in a duel role which explores numerous natures of the burdens laid on women in western culture. Ophelia may be the centre of this tale, but Gertrude is the battle scarred survivor whose choices lead her to survive.

My main complaint is the economy of the film. I felt it rushed somewhat through Hamlet's plot points. I enjoyed what the film was doing and wanted to see if explore this more, with perhaps even more intricately than the short run time allows. Still what it does pack in here is interesting and its perspective is one I appreciated more than I thought I would.

I enjoyed the ending, one that I imagine will be controversial. It is rooted in Shakespeare's tales so it isn't without precedent. I like the idea that Ophelia's story isn't entirely known to us, that perhaps he held on to something more that we aren't entitled to. 

Ophelia
Starring: Daisy Ridley, Naomi Watts, Clive Owen, George MacKay, Tom Felton, Devon Terrell, Dominic Mafham
Director: Claire McCarthy
Writer: Semi Chellas

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

You can tell from the poster what sort of movie this is. It is a love letter to old Hollywood, a bygone era before the modern age of cinema began, one that looks adoringly at the films and the people of the time and celebrates them. Tarantino has made his career paying homage to genre films and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is like a summation of that, an homage to all that inspired him as a film maker. With just enough cinematic magic to give us the fairy tale ending we want.

I'm not a fan of true crime. The idea of entertainment based on real suffering is difficult for me to swallow. I understand the fascination with murder and the need for us to work through our fears around these horrible crimes, but the genre boarders on exploitation and quite easily crosses over. When I heard Tarantino was making a film centred around the murder of actor Sharon Tate I was worried. Especially with his penchant for stylized violence, the sort of thing that worked brilliantly in the fictitious stories where he explored sexism and sexual violence in heterosexual relationships (Kill Bill) or what if fantasy of WWII (Inglourious Basterds), but in recounting a horrific true life crime I worried he would more than cross any reasonable line. I was wrong.

This is Tarantino's most mature film. Sedate and stoic for a Tarantino film, Once Upon a Time In Hollywood shows him doing all the things he does well (deep dive character development, crafty interwoven plots, smart and sharp dialogue) but doing it with less adolescent urgency and more tempered pacing. A long film that never feels long, Tarantino tells a story about a friendship set in the world that he loves and that created the art he loves for good or for bad. He gives them a rose coloured narrative and us a cathartic way to look at this world as well.

His Tate isn't victim or object. We've come to see her in that light. Instead Tarantino casts her as a lovely human. At times I wondered why she was so prominent in the film when her character never does much of anything. But I realized she does do something important. She lives. She has connections. She experiences joy and frustration. She doesn't get the arc we are expecting. She instead gets to be alive before that fateful night. Instead of this being about her death. This film is about her as a living breathing person. I'm not sure I've seen something that frames her that way before.

Tarantino's Polanski isn't romanticized or celebrated. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actually uses him very little. It was Tarantino's first film after parting ways with sexual predator Harvey Weinstein and he slyly comments on Polanski's own sexual crimes by having another character specifically turn down sex with a minor due to the fact that she's a minor.

Tarantino pulls this off despite all my fears about what this film could be. It is none of those things. Instead it is that tribute to Golden Age Hollywood and to friendship really. In many ways it captures all the things that make a Tarantino movie a Tarantino movie. However in all of that it may also be the least exciting. That's not necessarily bad. It doesn't have the glitz and glam of his usual efforts. His style is muted and although it start to peek through in moments he keeps it rather restrained. While I was never bored throughout the long run time, the story full enough to keep it engaging throughout, I was also rarely excited or moved. In some ways the film is rather touching. But its emotional impact is slighter than some of his other works.

Another down side is a weird, disjointed scene featuring Bruce Lee in the middle of the film. The scene is played for laughs but has a strong air of racism with it that took me out of the film and made me feel fairly gross. I don’t see a good reason for Tarantino playing this scene this way, making Lee a laughing stock. The excuses that it is about building Pitt's character don't make sense. It didn't require making Lee seem like an ass to accomplish that. The whole part just felt way out of left field and took away from an otherwise strong movie. While I love that the film reimagines history and changes events to tell its story (it's not claiming in any way shape or from to be historically accurate) there is no need to paint a real life person as an ass without reason.

But overall this little loving fantasy is worth seeing. Well made. Well acted. And with a twist which gives the ending the kind of feeling that feels really good leaving the cinema.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Emile Hirsch, Al Pacino, Margaret Qualley, Timothy Olyphant, Austin Butler, Kurt Russell, Zoe Bell, Bruce Dern, Dakota Fanning, Michael Madeson, Luke Perry, Mike Moh, Damien Lewis
Writer/Director: Quinton Tarantino