The thrill of a life that is lived on the edge
Lasts only as long as one’s love for the ledge.
Eventually, danger
Is no more a stranger,
And those once so thrilled
Can be left unfulfilled.
And yet who can blame them for normalcy’s dream,
For craving some quiet when life’s been a scream?
While risk has its place
In its white-knuckle pace,
Who wouldn’t wish for
Just a little bit more?
______________________
MPAA rating: PG-13
Now that I’ve gotten around to watching the third Mission: Impossiblefilm, I finally see the unlikely trend that this series seems to have pulled off. Unlike most franchises, its sequels are getting better. Perhaps it was too early to tell that when J.J. Abrams’ third entry hit theaters in 2006, but Mission: Impossible III is easily the best MI so far.
Having shed his long-hair phase and Thandie Newton as his girlfriend-of-the-week, the Ethan Hunt in this threequel is far from the confident flirt in M:i-2; he’s now happily engaged to Julia (Michelle Monaghan) and content to train new agents rather than risk his life in the field, all while keeping Julia and her friends in the dark as to his top-secret career. However, he is soon drawn back to the field to rescue his captured protégé (Keri Russell) and stop a highly dangerous arms dealer (Philip Seymour Hoffman).
Leave it to J.J. Abrams to once again reignite a series’ potential, and I bet it was this franchise stint that made him desirable to direct the Star Trek reboot three years later, aided by his frequent co-writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. From the very first intense scene, he sets the stakes high before flashing back to show how events led there, which isn’t the only Abrams trademark you may notice. (Who else revives characters by pounding on their chest?) Eschewing the over-emphasized slow-motion of its predecessor, this feels like the Mission: Impossible movie I’ve been waiting for. The first two had their defining moments, but M:i:III has all the twists and turns you’d expect from a spy thriller while building to a surprisingly satisfying conclusion.
Ethan’s desire for a normal relationship and life makes him far more personable than his past appearances, and you can feel his desperation when that life is threatened. Likewise, the villain makes more of an impression, with Hoffman relishing and making the most of his coldly murderous role as black marketeer Owen Davian. One detail I especially liked was the revelation of how those famous face masks are made, including the spy trickery of copying someone’s voice, which is revealed to not be as fast and easy as the second film made it seem.
As I said, this is a Mission: Impossible film done right. Despite the overly-complex plot and the occasional line of hackneyed dialogue, the twists and fast-paced action kept me entertained from start to finish. My VC even pronounced it as (probably) her favorite Tom Cruise movie. If the other films in the series are supposed to be better than this one, I can’t wait for more. Ghost Protocol, here I come!
Best line: (IMF leader Brassel) “Mr. Musgrave, please don’t interrupt me when I’m asking rhetorical questions.” (Although Ethan’s “I’m gonna die unless you kill me” comes close too.)
The job of the IMF agent
Before he or she needs a coffin
Is mounting impossible missions
For heroes no danger can soften,
Yet lately the best of the bravest
Have been going rogue far too often.
I can’t speak to why these trained agents
Are letting their loyalty lapse,
More focused on garnering riches
Than keeping the world from collapse,
But IMF might try improving
Their benefits package perhaps.
_________________
MPAA rating: PG-13
Now for the second Mission: Impossible film, the one that seems to be widely considered the most inferior of the bunch. I can see why. Mission: Impossible II isn’t necessarily awful, but it’s highly inconsistent, only sometimes feeling like an actual M: I installment as opposed to a rip-off of ‘90s James Bond.
In this entry, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise in his thankfully brief long-haired phase) must vie against a rogue IMF agent (Dougray Scott) who aims to steal a deadly bio-engineered virus called Chimera. I could tell early that this entry would have problems. We first see Ethan free-climbing a high rock formation in the Utah desert, and while it shows off Cruise’s impressive strength for stunts, it also inadvertently echoes that other worst-movie-in-its-series, Star Trek V, which also features Kirk free-climbing in Yosemite. After that, Ethan recruits a thief named Nyah (Thandie Newton) for his team and engages in some awkward scenes of innuendo and seduction that strengthen the James Bond comparison I made earlier and just don’t feel like Mission: Impossible.
It’s not these faults that drag down M:I 2 the most; that can be summed up in two words: slow motion. I don’t know if this is a trademark of director John Woo or what, but the slow-mo scenes are distractingly frequent, from the long sultry looks exchanged when Ethan first sees Nyah to the mid-action interludes that are thrown in as if to say to the audience, “Look at this! Isn’t it cool?” Sometimes it is admittedly very cool, but there are plenty of other movies that have used slow-mo more judiciously. Except for The Matrix, it’s best when such scenes don’t draw attention to themselves.
I don’t mean to sound like I hated it. Around the midpoint, it does hit its stride with another spy heist that is even more like the one in National Treasure than the first M:I film. And the slow motion aside, the action scenes are still thrilling, while the face mask tactics are even more entertainingly clever, though I’m starting to wonder how those convincing face masks can be applied so quickly.
There’s extra epicness to the music this time around, and the cast is strong as well, especially the returning uber-competence of Cruise and Ving Rhames and a surprising uncredited role for Anthony Hopkins; plus, I must mention a Lost alert for William Mapother (whose island role was named Ethan, oddly enough) as one of the villain’s henchmen. Despite the world-threatening perils, though, the plot feels strangely shallow, thanks mainly to the short-term chemistry of Thandie Newton, who I don’t believe is in the rest of the sequels. M:I 2 is a good effort, but it ultimately takes the series in a less interesting direction that I sincerely hope the other films will rectify.
Best line: (Mission Commander Swanbeck) “Mr. Hunt, this isn’t mission difficult, it’s mission impossible. ‘Difficult’ should be a walk in the park for you.”
Missions preventing or triggering wars
Are shrouded in subterfuge no one explores,
And those who enact them
Are quick to redact them
With names only spoken behind their closed doors.
Missions accomplished with such secrecy
Are kept as discreet as we need them to be.
And though you and I
Never know how or why,
Such missions are part of what keeps us all free.
__________________
MPAA rating: PG-13
It seems that any franchise I didn’t watch growing up simply has to work up enough buzz for me to finally catch up on it. I’d heard that the first three Mission: Impossible movies had mixed reviews, but with three critically acclaimed entries in more recent years, I think it’s finally time for me to see if Tom Cruise’s spy thrillers are all they’re cracked up to be. I was pleasantly surprised last year when I watched the latest Planet of the Apes trilogy, so I’m hoping for good things. My mission, if I choose to accept it, is to watch all six of the M:I films in the coming weeks and review each one before seeing the next, so that I don’t get confused on which explosion or double cross happened in which sequel. But you have to start with the beginning, and that means the 1996 original.
Having never seen the 1960s-70s TV series on which it is based, I didn’t have any major expectations, aside from the famous theme music and the self-destructing tape that details a mission, if they choose to accept it. (On a side note, I always thought the tape would cause some big explosion, not just go poof with a little smoke. Isn’t it fun to learn how wrong you are sometimes?) The man listening to that tape is Jim Phelps, played by Jon Voight, but despite the presence of Voight and other stars like Emilio Estevez and Kristin Scott Thomas, we all know Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt is the star, which becomes even clearer after the mission backfires and shaves down the team considerably. Now suspected as a mole behind the sabotage, Hunt goes on the run to figure out who the real criminal mastermind is.
I suppose I’ll just come out and say it: I liked it. The British have James Bond, and Ethan Hunt is sort of his American counterpart, just with less womanizing and more disguises and hacking. As a product of the ‘90s, the technology in this first Mission: Impossible is unavoidably dated, with spies fighting over floppy disks and a hidden video early on that seemed almost like the quality of a parody. But it also has a twisty plot and the same kind of heist-style infiltration by which my beloved National Treasure was clearly inspired. Though most of the film lacks the daring stunts that the series has become known for, the climax boasts some especially thrilling (albeit CGI) action with a bullet train and a helicopter.
I do see why my parents never got me into the series early on because this first one apparently trampled all over the original they remembered, particularly the character of Jim Phelps. Those with nostalgia for the original series will likely take offense, but I as a newcomer found a lot to enjoy. I’m still not convinced whether this qualifies as List-Worthy in my book, but I’m excited to continue the series and do think that it has the potential to join my favorites. Now for the supposedly bad one, Mission: Impossible II….
Best line: (tech guy Jack Harmon, describing a gum-like explosive) “Hasta lasagna, don’t get any on ya.”
The final frontier’s waiting.
It waits for those who dare.
For each frontier
That man draws near,
A new one grows elsewhere.
We often think that warnings
Were made to be ignored,
Yet some frontiers
Deserve their fears
And should be unexplored.
But human beings being
What human beings are,
We will not see
Our fallacy
Until we’ve dared too far.
_____________________
MPAA rating: PG
Before recently, I could say that I’d seen all the Star Trek films, from the original series cast to Next Gen to the J.J. Abrams reboots…all of them except Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Why? Well, I suppose I just assumed it wasn’t worth seeing. My parents always said it was one of the bad ones and never had any desire to see it more than once, so I never did while growing up. But then I thought, “Why should I take their word for it? I ought to find out for myself how to view a Star Trek film!” So I watched The Final Frontier, and you know what? They were RIGHT!
There’s a commonly held notion that all the even-numbered Trek films are good and the odd-numbered ones are bad. I personally don’t think that holds true for later films, since I didn’t much like Insurrection or Nemesis but love all three reboots, yet it’s films like The Final Frontier that give that kind of theory credence. It’s not unwatchable; it’s not utterly boring like Star Trek: The Motion Picture was, but like that first movie, its story is both ill-advised and far more fitting a small-screen episode rather than a feature-length film. It’s the only Trek film written and directed by William Shatner, and no offense to him, but that’s likely for the best.
After an introduction to the film’s unusually empathetic Vulcan antagonist Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill), we catch up with Kirk, Spock, and Bones on shore leave in Yosemite National Park, which very quickly reveals the problems that will plague this film. The banter is far more forced than in other films, relying more heavily on the proven chemistry of the actors rather than actual wit or humor. A scene with Kirk falling off a cliff and Spock rescuing him features some atrociously obvious green screen and hints that the effects won’t be nearly as polished as in prior films. (ILM was busy with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Ghostbusters II, so a less prestigious effects house was commissioned instead, and it shows.) Plus, a scene with the three amigos sitting around a campfire just felt rather pathetic, Kirk and McCoy trying to teach “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” to Spock. I think my mom once said it was a reminder of how old these actors/characters had gotten, keeping each other company for lack of any families of their own.
The middle of the film does bounce back a bit, as the malfunction-ridden Enterprise is sent to Sybok’s desert planet to rescue some consuls he has taken captive, only for him to seize Kirk and his ship. It allows for some decent action and even a glimpse into a private trauma in McCoy’s past, thanks to Sybok’s patented form of therapeutic brainwashing. Yet there’s always a sense of this being a second-rate production, from bewildering creative choices (a three-boobed cat woman? Uhura doing a fan dance to distract some guards?) to unavoidable plot holes. Here’s a prime example: Starfleet sends Kirk on this mission, despite his ship’s handicaps, solely due to his experience because hopefully he won’t have to resort to violence to rescue the hostages. However, he opts for an infiltration plan that immediately turns to violence because his transporter wasn’t working. If Starfleet had sent another fully functional ship, they could have just beamed up the hostages, and Kirk’s unparalleled leadership wouldn’t have even been necessary!
By the end, the film nearly falls apart as the Sybok-led Enterprise navigates to a planet at the center of the galaxy where Eden and God supposedly await them. The “dangerous” barrier surrounding it is nothing but a bunch of swirly colors, and when they beam down to the planet, they wander yet another desert landscape while the music swells like we’re supposed to be awestruck by its grandeur. The god they encounter is visualized as a big glowing face that shoots lasers out of its eyes, and…now that I’m describing it, I realize how stupid that sounds. Yeah, it is, and even with the attempt at deep religious questions that might have made a worthwhile episode, the end product just isn’t a very worthwhile film.
Although I’d easily consider it the second-worst film in the series, Star Trek V has moments where you can see why the filmmakers and actors kept running with it rather than throwing their hands up and starting over. Luckinbill has a great screen presence as the villain, if only he had a better film to antagonize, and it’s hard to hate Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley in these iconic roles. The film was reportedly plagued by multiple budget problems during filming and post-production, and while some movies can hide such issues, here the end result suffers. The plot is unfocused (a potential romance is teased between Uhura and Scotty but goes nowhere); the humor is largely unfunny; certain elements are introduced, never to be seen again in the franchise, as far as I remember (Spock’s rocket boots, an observation deck with a literal ship’s wheel); and I found it unfortunately easy to mock while watching it, MST3K-style. The plot ofStar Trek IV can also sound stupid when you describe it, but it’s all in the execution. There, it worked; with The Final Frontier, it didn’t.
Best line: (McCoy, to Spock) “I liked you better before you died.”
Incredible is a subjective term,
As critics and colleges can confirm.
One man’s amazing and top-of-the-class
Is another’s mundane because people, alas,
See things either clearly or through rosy glass.
Incredible is a desirable word,
So rarely deserved yet so commonly heard.
At times, there’s consensus for some shining star,
But mostly we just must agree on the bar
And how we compare them decides what they are.
___________________
MPAA rating: PG
Of all the studios churning out long-awaited sequels, Pixar has arguably the best track record. Whether it’s Monsters University, Finding Dory, or Toy Story 3 (I mean 4), the decade-waiting sequelization of their canon is well underway and, with the exception of Cars 2, has turned out surprisingly well. (They’re all weaker than the originals, but they’re by no means bad, except Cars 2.) Yet strangely, Pixar has made fans wait longest for the follow-up to the one film in their oeuvre that was actively crying out for a sequel, namely The Incredibles. Perhaps due to the influx of superhero franchises since 2003, director Brad Bird finally delivered, and I’d say the fourteen-year wait was worth it.
Picking up immediately where the first film left off, The Incredibles 2 reminds us that, even after saving the world from Syndrome, the Parr family still have to deal with the fact that superheroing is illegal. After their battle with the Underminer goes south, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter) and Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) are approached by millionaire entrepreneurs Winston (Bob Odenkirk) and Evelyn Deavor (Catherine Keener), a brother and sister team who are actively trying to bring supers back into the spotlight. Due to her less destructive abilities, Elastigirl is the new face of their law-bending campaign, and while Bob deals with the headaches of parenting at home, Helen faces off with a mind-controlling villain called the Screenslaver.
There are certain elements borrowed from the previous film, such as the family disagreements on how to handle hiding their powers, and if you suspect their new benefactors aren’t entirely on the up-and-up, you’d be somewhat right. Yet The Incredibles 2 does an excellent job at differentiating itself from the first and from other superhero films in general. Chief among the differences is the inclusion of other supers joining the crusade for superhero legality, and their presence allows for added creativity in the battles and actual super-vs.-super fights rather than the repeated super-vs.-robot fight of the first. Anyone who wanted more Elastigirl and Frozone shouldn’t be disappointed, and while Bob seemed sidelined by suppressed egotism and Mr. Mom franticness, it wasn’t as bad as the trailers implied. Ultimately, even with some mature themes being broached, this is still a film for and about families, with Bob’s first-hand struggles with superpowered child-rearing offering a nice counterpoint to the more action-packed beats with his wife.
One thing that seemed like a retroactive change is that the Parrs apparently didn’t see baby Jack-Jack use his powers at the end of the first film, allowing for all of them to be surprised again by his multifaceted abilities. Jack-Jack even steals the show at times, whether he’s paired with an ornery raccoon or fashionista Edna Mode (Brad Bird). Likewise, Violet (Sarah Vowell) and Dash (Huck Milner, seamlessly replacing Spencer Fox) get their fair share of screen time, especially after the villain is revealed. Speaking of which, the Screenslaver may not have as compelling a backstory as Syndrome, but the philosophy spouted by the shadowy figure has a point in denouncing people’s reliance on computer/TV screens and lack of responsibility. It’s the kind of motivation that works well for a supervillain, bearing a kernel of truth but taken to a malevolent extreme, which actually offers a legitimate threat against the supers.
I’ll be honest: I intentionally had very low expectations for The Incredibles 2. Others I know have said they had enormous hopes for it, but when you’re dealing with a film as awesome as the first Incredibles, it’s going to be hard to match. Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed it so much compared with one of my disappointed coworkers, who likely had too many preconceived notions of what the perfect sequel should be, not unlike Star Wars fans of late. Yes, The Incredibles 2 doesn’t quite reach the heights of its predecessor: It lacks the meaningful character arcs of the first film, its villain mystery is semi-predictable, and it raises more thematic questions about right, wrong, and responsibility than it even tries to answer. Yet it was so enjoyable to spend time with these characters again that I didn’t mind, and it still stands head-and-shoulders above the majority of animated films nowadays.
I think I’d go so far as to call it the best Pixar sequel since Toy Story 2, at least in recapturing the spirit of the original. The action scenes are as cool and polished as anything in the MCU, and Michael Giacchino’s bombastic score is still the perfect complement to its comic book world. It’s not above some complaints, but if you compare The Incredibles 2 to Cars 2 rather than the first Incredibles, I think you’ll agree it’s an “incredible” sequel. Pixar does it again!
Best line: (Edna) “Done properly, parenting is a heroic act. [Glares at Bob’s exhaustion] “Done properly.”
There once was a rogue on the run
Who liked to shoot first with his gun.
He’d often cheat death
Without catching his breath
And make every danger seem fun.
The hand of a princess he won.
Have you heard of the famed Kessel Run?
You may know he’s tough,
But you don’t know enough
Till you see how his tale had begun.
___________________
MPAA rating: PG-13
Of all the opinions swirling around Solo: A Star Wars Story, there’s one thing everyone seems to agree on: It’s not a bad movie. That’s more generous than a lot of films get, but that seems to be the basis around which many are building their views. They may embrace it as a prequel done right or poke every imaginable hole in its plot and execution, but one thing’s for sure: It’s not a bad movie. I’ll go a bit farther than that, though. Solo: A Star Wars Story is a good movie.
Solo had the unenviable task of recasting one of the most iconic roles in cinematic history, and no matter who they picked for Han Solo, there’s only one Harrison Ford. That being said, Alden Ehrenreich holds his own as a younger and scrappier Han, not quite looking the part, not quite nailing Ford’s mannerisms as well as I’d like, but he still works as a believable version of the beloved rogue. Likewise, Donald Glover slips smoothly into Billy Dee Williams’ debonair shoes, and Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca is, well, the same Chewbacca we’ve always known, one of the perks of playing an alien in a full-body suit. The recasting isn’t quite a slam dunk like J.J. Abrams’ rebooted Star Trek cast, which was arguably a harder sell, but it comes close enough
Joining these familiar faces/characters are a host of other rogues, from Paul Bettany’s scarred crime lord, to Woody Harrelson’s smuggler and grudging mentor, to a group of Cloud Riders led by a masked pirate dressed suspiciously like Hiccup’s mother in How to Train Your Dragon 2. The title of best addition, though, goes to the always beautiful Emilia Clarke as Han’s childhood friend and love interest Qi’ra, whose three-year separation from him among villains leaves you constantly questioning what exactly her role and intentions are. Many of the characters don’t stick around long enough to leave much of an impression, often just to put more focus on Han, but they do their parts admirably. Oh, and I suppose some mention is deserved by Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s irascible droid L3-37, whose strident calls for droid equality shed a different light on the sentience and rights of robots in the Star Wars universe (and an odd, though unconfirmed implication of Lando’s romantic tastes). It’s funny how “sarcastic” describes most of the named droids of Star Wars, and she’s no exception, though I preferred K-2SO in Rogue One.
I’ll admit that Solo didn’t have the same hype for me that past Star Wars films had, perhaps because it’s been only six months since The Last Jedi, perhaps because the marketing made it seem like the least Star Wars-y movie yet, perhaps because of the publicized difficulties behind the scenes that replaced directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller with the ever-reliable Ron Howard. Yet anyone going in with low expectations is bound to have a good time, whether you want a series of well-fashioned heist scenarios and action set pieces or a geeky exploration of Han’s origins, complete with the Millennium Falcon, the Kessel Run, those golden dice I never knew about till Last Jedi, and how he first met Chewie and Lando. I do wonder what Lord and Miller’s version would have looked like, but my VC and I agreed that, even with its changes in casting and a poorly lit visual tone, this still felt like Star Wars, which is the least we fans can hope for as Disney continues to churn out sequels, prequels, and in-betweenquels.
I’m still not entirely sure whether I consider Solo and Rogue One to be 100% canon, even if they may be “officially.” With no George Lucas, Jedi, or Skywalkers involved, they’re more like big-budget fan fiction, and I’m okay with that. To my mind, there has still not been a bad Star Wars movie, and I like how new directors and storytellers have added their own distinctive style to the most recent installments while preserving what made this world so compelling from the start. These Star Wars Stories have managed to surprise me both in quality and narrative. (Solo has a late revelation that I’m surprised isn’t getting more buzz, though maybe that’s because I haven’t seen Star Wars: Rebels. I don’t think this film will be the one-off that Rogue One was, though its box office performance leaves some doubt on a sequel.) Whether it’s real Star Wars or just someone else’s version of it, it’s still darn entertaining and decidedly not bad.
Best line: (Lando, to Han) “I hate you.” (Han) “I know.”
A hero isn’t born, you know,
With all he needs to earn that rank.
All roles are blank
Until they grow.
He may have strength to break a chain
Or speed to outrun any train
Or powers to abolish pain
With snap of finger or of brain,
The likes of which man can’t contain.
But all of that would be in vain
If he viewed others with disdain.
It’s finding one worth fighting for
That makes a hero from a blank.
___________________
Rating: TV-MA (with several beatings, the content is much more PG-13, but there are a few F words in the English subtitles)
It took me longer than everyone else to jump onto the bandwagon praising Yeon Sang-ho’s South Korean zombie hit Train to Busan. One advantage to waiting was that I didn’t have to wait too long for his next live-action feature, this time tackling the superhero genre. Though not on the level of his earlier film, Psychokinesis is an enjoyable counterpoint to the big-budget Marvel movies to which we’ve become so accustomed, a decidedly smaller-scale adventure that still delivers the goods.
The film starts out a little confusingly, segueing from an advertisement about successful young restaurateur Shin Roo-mi (Shim Eun-kyung) to a night attack on her restaurant by a group of workmen, who try to evict her and accidentally kill her mother. Soon after, we meet her absentee father Seok-heon (Ryu Seung-ryong), an oafish security guard who happens to drink from a fountain right as it’s contaminated with energy from a meteorite and discovers he has telekinetic powers. Just reading back those two sentences makes this film sound really bizarre, and maybe it is at the start, but I’m glad I gave it a chance because it somehow does work by the end. After hearing of his ex-wife’s death, Seok-heon decides to use his power to reignite his relationship with the daughter who hates him and protect her from the villainous corporate developers trying to remove her and the other tenants who refuse to leave their shops.
Like Train to Busan, Psychokinesis is just as concerned with its human characters as its genre conventions. At first, Seok-heon is hardly the type to stick up for others and tries to dissuade Roo-mi from joining the rebellious shopkeepers. Much as the inconsiderate father in Train to Busan had his conscience pricked, Seok-heon ends up second-guessing his own selfishness and aiding them with his psychic abilities. Both Ryu and Shim are quite good as an estranged father and daughter (they voiced similar estranged roles in Yeon’s previous film Seoul Station as well), and those playing the villains are gleefully evil, especially Jung Yu-mi (the pregnant woman in Train to Busan) as a beautiful, power-crazed mastermind.
As for the superhero side of things, the effects are actually very well done, and their impact is gradually built up as Seok-heon progresses from floating lighters and ties to throwing bad guys around to almost flying. It clearly takes immense concentration for him, and his mental straining often verges on comedic. With some over-the-top reactions and simplistic motives, the film knows when to chuckle at itself and when to be serious, bolstered further by some genuinely cool superhero moments.
Psychokinesis may not be quite on the technical level of Marvel’s offerings, but with its Korean setting and surprisingly small body count, it’s a refreshingly low-profile member of an increasingly crowded genre. It’s also a sign that Yeon Sang-ho is a director worth keeping an eye on for empathetic family dynamics and quality genre fare.
The world of tomorrow was yesterday’s dream.
Today’s that tomorrow, or so it would seem.
Today’s not exactly what yesterday guessed,
But thinking dystopian, maybe that’s best.
Today has its own dreams of what’s on its way
But also thinks fondly about yesterday.
Today is a mess; maybe if we combine
Tomorrow and yesterday, all will be fine.
_________________
MPAA rating: PG
Some films are just unlike any other. The weird thing about Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is that it’s both utterly unique and yet reminiscent of many other movies before it and since. It’s an unusual blend of the futuristic and the retro, which offers the same kind of entertaining, if not particularly deep, gusto as a pulp magazine from 80+ years ago.
Of course, unlike those magazines or comics, Sky Captain puts its visuals in motion with a distinctly retro, sort of noir visual style, which most reminded me of those Superman cartoons from the 1930s. Shadows are at stark angles, the colors are muted almost to sepia and black-and-white, montages have semi-transparent scenes playing over each other, and many shots have a balanced composition resembling an old war poster. Added to all of this are special effects that, created in 2004, manage to be both well-visualized and just that slightly bit cheesy, minus the extra polish that they would have if made today. Yet the fact that nearly all of the actors’ surroundings are CGI is quite impressive and not immediately obvious. So many films these days end up looking like something else, even if it’s unintentional or trying to be somewhat different (think Pacific Rim vs. Transformers), yet it would take a lot of effort to make anything resembling Sky Captain’s visual flair.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a hodgepodge of genres and story elements from sources ranging from Indiana Jones to those same Superman cartoons I mentioned. Jude Law plays the titular Captain Joe Sullivan, whose tricked-out plane is called in to stop giant robots attacking New York City, while Gwyneth Paltrow is Polly Perkins, a Lois Lane-ish intrepid reporter seeking her next big story. Together, they investigate a worldwide conspiracy that is making famous scientists disappear as part of some unknown master plan by a man called Totenkopf (Laurence Olivier, or rather his likeness since he died in 1989).
Like I said, I was reminded of many films while watching this one, making me wonder why I hadn’t bothered to see it sooner. It’s hard not to think of Salah in Raiders of the Lost Ark when Joe and Polly rendezvous with an old friend to visit Shangri-La, and Sky Captain himself is like an airborne Indy, as his womanizing ways and bickering chemistry with Polly indicate. Yet I was even more stunned by the fact that I was reminded of films that came out after this one and must have drawn some inspiration from it. Angelina Jolie shows up as an old flame of Joe’s, but tell me she’s not a touchstone for Nick Fury when she wears an eyepatch and captains a helicarrier from a bridge that even resembles the one from The Avengers.
More shocking still for me was how similar Sky Captain was to April and the Extraordinary World, a new favorite animated film I praised for its originality just last month. The story just holds too many parallels: a World War II-era setting with unusually advanced technology, famed scientists being mysteriously abducted, a jungle-set climax with a rocket that has more or less the exact same purpose in both films. I can’t say my opinion of April has diminished, but I must admit that it’s not quite as original as I thought. I suppose Sky Captain has absorbed my appreciation in that regard, even if I still like April more.
With my rambling on about uniqueness and originality, I don’t know if this review has made it clear or not, but I highly enjoyed Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. If you can buy into its stylistic distinctiveness, there’s plenty of high-flying, largely family-friendly adventure to be had from its genre blending. As the first film to be (almost) completely shot on blue screen, Sky Captain was clearly a labor of love for director Kerry Conran and remains his only feature film. It is indeed something of a novelty item, as many reviews have called it, but it’s still quite an entertaining one.
Best line: (I’d rather not say since it gives away a major plot point.)
Rank: List-Worthy (tied with April and the Extraordinary World)
Nineteen films in Marvel’s canon, fruit of planners’ careful plannin’,
And though some are sick of fandoms,
I am still a fan extreme.
So to honor them and thank them, now seems like the time to rank them,
Using Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”
For my rhyming scheme.
Just so everybody knows, regardless of where each one goes,
I like them all, both highs and lows.
(And poems are just more fun than prose.)
At number nineteen in the listing is one barely still existing
In the continuity
Of Marvel’s growing universe.
Edward Norton as Bruce Banner had the acting chops and manner,
But the climax was all smashing,
Which got tedious or worse.
It’s better than the green banana that had featured Eric Bana
But still feels unripe so, man, a-
Nother recast was in store.
William Hurt has since been spotted, but the hints with which it’s dotted
Might as well have not been plotted
And should come back nevermore.
Iron Man put Marvel soaring, but its sequel left some snoring,
Dragged down by two villains boring,
Both in need of better scripts.
Poisoned by his source of power, Tony’s mood was often sour,
But he managed still to win
When Russian Mickey Rourke made whips.
Still though, ScarJo as Black Widow made her entrance, and she did so
Well that most will only think
Of her debut and not the rest.
Rhodey gets a suit for blasting, none the worse for his recasting,
And Don Cheadle has proved lasting
Past the Terrance Howard test.
Then came Thor with smashing hammer, lifted up by Branagh’s glamor,
Boasting bold Old English grammar
And Chris Hemsworth’s muscled bod.
Visually, Asgard was stunning, and we love Loki so cunning,
But the plot was just too simple:
Humbling the thunder god.
New Mexico no doubt did smile as the place of Thor’s exile,
Where he learned to face the trial
Of his selfless worthiness.
I like Thor’s supporting players, and the myths have many layers,
But only in its outward airs
Was this Thor able to impress.
Still important? Yeah, I guess.
Avengers rocked the whole box office, praised by all except some sophists,
So Phase 2 kicked off for Marvel
With another Iron Man.
Traumatized and shaken Tony, grown from being glib and phony,
Offers honest testimony
Where his lowest point began.
Kingsley’s villain is scene-stealing till we get to his revealing
That he’s merely double-dealing,
Just a hack to fool the press.
Well, it worked, and it’s disjointing, baffling, and disappointing,
As is Tony’s final act,
Progress but dumb nonetheless.
Yet the rest meets with success.
Don’t discount my rare opinion, thinking I’m some racist minion.
No one race deserves dominion
Over superhero flicks.
As the first black solo story, yes, Black Panther meets with glory,
Breaking in new territory,
Adding to the Marvel mix.
Yet Wakandan mysticism paired with governmental schism
Drew from me some criticism
While from others gaining praise.
Sister Shuri and the action still earned positive reaction,
And, though others have more traction,
This film had a trail to blaze.
Keeping Phase 2 sequels going, Thor 2 showed the stakes keep growing
As the first time that the whole dang
Universe was jeopardized.
Fantasy continued merging with sci-fi, like worlds converging
As dark elves pursued the purging
Of the light they so despised.
True, it won’t impress Criterion, but the tone is still Shakespearean,
And both Thor and Loki shine
As they develop their rapport.
Next to Thanos or the Joker, Malekith is mediocre
As a villain. “Who?” you say,
Which just confirms my comment more.
Recently, the god of thunder suddenly has fallen under
Comedy, and fans have wondered
Where the gravity has gone.
Yet most others have ceased caring, caught up in the funny pairing
Of both Thor and Hulk, not sparing
Any joke to fall upon.
When his sister shows she’s greater, Thor becomes a gladiator
Under Goldblum the dictator,
Yet his humor pulls him through.
Losing hammer, home, and hair, plus friends you may not know were there,
May seem to be a bleak affair,
Yet laughter keeps the sad from view.
After Garfield and Maguire, did the universe require
Yet another Spider-Man
To swing his webs and quips galore?
Maybe so, because Homecoming kept young Peter Parker humming,
And we knew that he was coming
Since he was in Civil War.
(Want a fourth? Please, nevermore.)
Born from Disney’s deal with Sony, this young Spider now has Tony,
Gifting high-tech Spidersuits
To mentor over-eager Pete.
With its youthful high school setting and no Uncle Ben regretting,
It’s a new and fun resetting,
Not the best but no mean feat.
From the tech so futuristic, Marvel moved on to the mystic
With a dose of surrealistic
Imagery to help us cope.
Cumberbatch proved quite appealing as a doctor seeking healing,
Whose whole world is set to reeling,
Much like a kaleidoscope.
Yes, it’s effortless equating Strange’s rehabilitating
With one Tony Stark and rating Iron Man as first and best.
Visually, though, eyes were popping, just as many jaws were dropping.
Marvel showed no signs of flopping,
Always leaving us impressed.
I don’t mean to be a hater, since I do enjoy James Spader,
But in looking back years later, Age of Ultron is a mess.
Triumph was not guaranteed in this great challenge for Joss Whedon,
Yet he made the mess proceed in
Good directions, more or less.
Lots of characters to juggle, hints at future tales to smuggle,
All of it proved quite the struggle,
Even for his cleverness.
Ultron left a weak impression, but the heroes in procession
Still were awesome, since (Confession!)
I’m a geek, but I digress.
Of their many near disasters turned to gold by Marvel’s masters,
This one shocked the best forecasters
Who thought surely this would flop.
Talking trees and troublemakers and raccoons were no dealbreakers;
No, these misfit moneymakers
Proved too humorous to stop.
With its crowded plot subverted by pop culture jokes inserted,
Seventies pop songs diverted,
Making Guardians a fave.
Though not every wisecrack landed, Marvel’s world was well expanded,
And this superteam commanded
Special props for being brave.
Yet another risky venture, Marvel’s miniature adventure
Brought an original Avenger
From the comic to the screen.
Though its brethren may stand taller, I appreciate the smaller
Scale and silliness of Ant-Man,
Still with sights we’d never seen.
Paul Rudd’s both sincere and silly next to Lost’s Evangeline Lilly,
As he rides on ants (yes, really),
For a heist by shrinkage done.
While its physics call for bending, Ant-Man’s lark is worth commending.
It’s a romp or runt depending
On the viewer’s sense of fun.
Sequels can be tricky notions, preying on the fans’ devotions.
Some say this went through the motions,
But I favor Volume 2.
There’s more leeway to admire characters established prior,
And its fun flies slightly higher
Than its predecessor flew.
Mantis is a great addition, while Kurt Russell’s opposition
As Quill’s father made his mission
Quite the father/son dispute.
Drax’s laughing is contagious, and the action’s still outrageous,
But its poignancy engages.
Plus, I just love Baby Groot.
As you might guess from his placing, Cap’s one hero I’m embracing,
And his second film’s great pacing
Helped it merit much acclaim.
As a proven HYDRA hater, Cap was branded as a traitor,
And one elevator later,
He set out to clear his name.
Verifying comic theories, this one’s vast conspiracies
Rippled through both film and series,
Changing Marvel’s status quo.
Steve and S.H.I.E.L.D. were still quite lucky, more than poor, reprogrammed Bucky,
And to helm it, Marvel welcomed
Anthony and Joe Russo.
Iron Man initiated all that Marvel’s since created,
With a movie that predated
Disney’s lucrative control.
Downey, Jr.’s star selection was, in casting terms, perfection,
Serving as a nice reflection
Of the actor in the role.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges kept the central cast prestigious.
(Rhodey, though, would be recast,
With ol’ Don Cheadle in the wings.)
Tony’s origins so winning got the MCU to spinning.
Solo story, grand beginning— Iron Man was many things.
Though Iron Man was the go-getter, origins don’t get much better
Than the fourth but First Avenger In the Marvel pantheon.
World War II was recreated, screaming classic but not dated,
And Steve Rogers’ motivated
Hero showed both brains and brawn.
Of all baddies you could fill in, Nazis are an ideal villain,
And for girlfriends, Agent Carter
Still remains one of the best.
Though not quirky or exotic, Steve’s so sweet and patriotic,
Standing up to those despotic,
That he stands above the rest.
One whole decade in the making, bigger if not quite groundbreaking,
There is no doubt or mistaking
Marvel’s tour de force so far.
No more just a brief inclusion, Thanos dreams of one conclusion,
Boasting views downright Malthusian,
If he only had the Stones.
So much epic superteaming, such high stakes no higher seeming,
Fruit of all of Marvel’s scheming,
Nerdwise, this film made our day.
Though it gave us all we wanted, viewers might not leave undaunted.
I walked out less thrilled than haunted,
Part 2 still one year away.
“Avengers” isn’t in the title, since Steve Rogers is most vital,
But all members are not idle
In this epic civil war.
Ant-Man helps with Cap’s resisting, Spider-Man swings in assisting,
And Black Panther joins the listing,
All with ends worth fighting for.
Nuanced in its controversies, vengeful spats, and moral mercies, Civil War left this fan thirsty
For whatever would come next.
Once more, status quo was shattered, favorite heroes sad and scattered.
Next to others, this one mattered.
Give those Russos my respects.
Phase 1’s awesome culmination, The Avengers earned ovation.
(I saw it post-graduation,
Very fondly I recall.)
Team-ups were a new sensation, this one passing expectations,
Building on its strong foundations,
One big balanced free-for-all.
Geniuses and egos clashing, aliens and buildings crashing,
Every hero still proved smashing.
(Who wants shawarma? Anyone?)
Whedon’s dialogue was clever, which surprises no one ever,
And their first combined endeavor
Still is Marvel’s most well-done.
Thanks to anyone persisting, finishing my Marvel listing.
Let me know what you may think.
No need to write in verse, though. *Wink*
Since this town was sprung up from the ground
And the pioneers came
And the money came round
And it earned its fame
Being anything but tame,
Many drinks and fears were both poured and downed
At the unembellished name
Of Tombstone.
Curing wanderlust with its drinks and dust,
It soon started to draw
Folk you could not trust,
For there was no law
When the West was raw
Till a man moved in to defend what’s just
When he reached his last straw
In Tombstone.
___________________________
MPAA rating: R
Once again, I fear I’ve been neglecting my dear VC, who hasn’t gotten one of her movies reviewed in well over a month. This time, she picked Tombstone, an all-star western that I’m honestly surprised I hadn’t seen before. As a sweeping retelling of the events surrounding the gunfight at the OK Corral, it provides a fictionalized but surprisingly comprehensive look at the law enforcement career of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.
I knew only the most general background information about the shootout at the OK Corral involving Wyatt Earp and the Clantons, but Tombstone offered quite a bit of context with its large ensemble cast. Not only do we see Wyatt Earp’s arrival in Tombstone and the increasing tension between his family and the violent gang called the Cowboys, but we get to find out the aftermath of the OK Corral incident, which could have ended the film as its climax.
Earp himself, played by a tough-as-nails Kurt Russell, is a well-known badass trying to retire from his days as a peace officer, yet an early confrontation with an unrecognizable Billy Bob Thornton confirms he can still put the fear of God in bad guys. Once we’re introduced to his family and sick friend Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer), it’s only a matter of time before his attempted retirement yields to bloodshed and vengeance as the Cowboys threaten the peace.
Like Silverado, another favorite western of mine, Tombstone boasts a staggering number of famous faces, some of them before they became famous. Russell is a fantastic Wyatt Earp, while Kilmer brings an unflinching swagger to an all-around pip of a role, which is considered one of his very best with good reason. Since my VC is a huge fan of Sam Elliott, his appearance as Wyatt’s older brother explains in part why she likes this movie so much, but there’s also Bill Paxton as the other Earp brother, Powers Boothe as wicked “Curly Bill” Brocius, Michael Biehn as fearsome Johnny Ringo, Stephen Lang and Thomas Haden Church as two Clantons, Dana Delany as Wyatt’s love interest, and Billy Zane as a visiting actor. That’s not even mentioning the smaller roles for the likes of Charlton Heston, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, John Corbett, Michael Rooker, Harry Carey, Jr., Gunsmoke’s Buck Taylor, Jason Priestley, and (Lost alert!) Terry O’Quinn as Tombstone’s mayor. It’s hard at first for me to keep up with the less familiar faces, but the biggest stars stand out with strong support from the ensemble around them.
I suppose I ought to see Kevin Costner’s Wyatt Earp from the following year for comparison’s sake, but it would be hard-pressed to top this western epic. While liberties are taken, there were many events and details that I was surprised to learn were true upon researching afterward, such as the fate of Johnny Ringo, which is a point of historical mystery yet was worked plausibly into Tombstone’s plot. Russell and Kilmer are in top form here, and Boothe and Biehn make for genuinely despicable villains from their very first scene. I wouldn’t hesitate to put Tombstone high among the top ten westerns I’ve seen, and it would likely make my Top 365 List if only I was more partial to the western genre. (True Grit is still my favorite.) As it is, I enjoyed Tombstone for its strong performances, excellent script, and historical interest; it’s the kind of movie that makes me want to like westerns more.
Best line (simple but great characterization): (Turkey Creek Jack Johnson) “Doc, you oughta be in bed. What the hell you doin’ this for anyway?”
(Doc Holliday) “Wyatt Earp is my friend.”
(Johnson) “Hell, I got lots of friends.”
(Doc) “I don’t.”
Rhyme and Reason 