Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Review

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story/Walt Disney/Dir. by Gareth Edwards/Rated PG-13 for extended sequences of sci-fi violence and action

When Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, reaction among hardcore Star Wars fans was equal part anticipation and dread.  While many were thrilled that they would see Episode VII, something that most had resigned to the realm of impossibility, many others were worried that they would watch the much-loved "galaxy far, far away" become homogenized and "Disney-fied" with an eye more focused on corporate synergy and profit than on character and story.  Of course, It would be naive of me to say that Disney didn't have the bottom-line in mind when they made the purchase,  However, as was the case when they bought Pixar and Marvel, Disney has shown that the best way to make that all-important profit is by caring about character and story first and foremost.  While the newest chapter in the Star Wars universe, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, could easily be dismissed as merely another cog in the never-ending machine that is Disney, it's clear from the outset that the actual creative talent behind the film are true fans who want to tell the best story they can in the best way possible.  In fact, with The Force Awakens and Rogue One, it could be argued that the real effect of Disney on the Star Wars universe is a willingness to get dark, to employ more multi-dimensional story elements, and a deepening complexity in the series' heroes and villains.

Stemming from the events described in the opening crawl text of the first Star Wars film, Rogue One is the story of the rebels who obtained the plans that lead to the destruction of the first Death Star. Specifically, it is the story of Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), a woman with a shady past who is recruited by the Rebel Alliance in hopes that her connection with a mysterious anti-Imperial militia leader named Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) will lead to a partnership.  Jyn agrees, but not out of any love for the cause.  She's in it to find out more information about her father, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), who most of the rebels believe to be a traitor deeply entrenched in the Empire, but whom Jyn believes to be working to bring down the Empire from within.

Along the way, she meets the rest of her "dirty dozen" or rather "half-dozen", including an ethically dubious rebel assassin (Diego Luna), a re-programmed Imperial droid (Alan Tudyk), two mysterious Guardians of the Whills (Donnie Yen and Wen Jiang), and an Imperial pilot that defected for the cause (Riz Ahmed).  

While Rogue One is clearly visually rooted in the Star Wars universe, it is the least Star Wars-y of the franchise if only for the fact that these characters are not magical or "chosen ones."  No Skywalkers or Solos here.  They're the foot soldiers that fight and, at times, die so that Han, Luke, and Chewbacca can get medals and be celebrated in grand award ceremonies.  That alone makes this a grittier and more intense experience.  While we might be mildly concerned for the well-being of the main characters in any other chapter of the Star Wars story, we're constantly aware that any of our new favorites in Rogue One could die at any time as jarringly and unceremoniously as any soldier in any war.  In fact, this is the first Star Wars film to really address the ultimate sacrifice of war and the utter conviction of purpose that drives a soldier.

That acting in Rogue One is strong throughout with Oscar-nominee Jones bringing to vivid life another great heroine in the saga.  Luna is equally impressive, especially creating an empathy toward a character with a rather gray sense of morality.  His General Andor has been fighting against the Empire for so long, that he has become a believer in an "ends justify the means" sort of worldview, even if those means include killing innocent people.  Luna does a great job showing the weight of war on his face, even as his experiences with this mission change him for the better.  Tudyk, who has recently become Disney's good luck charm in the vocal performance arena, steals every scene as K-2SO, a droid with C-3PO's skill, Han Solo's sarcasm, and R2-D2's implied talent for well-timed put-downs (sure, we never understand R2, but you just know he's got a way with an insult).

Director Edwards, who most recently directed the 2014 Godzilla reboot, artfully mixes the old and new, imprinting his own impressive visual style with the well-worn look of a Star Wars film.  In addition, he choreographs the climactic battle of the film with ease and vigor, something that is missing a bit in the first act of the film, which can, at times, feel a little disjunct.

But that finale.....whew!  It seems hardly possible after 40 years (has it really been 40 years?!?) that we could see images that surprise us in a Star Wars film, but the final act of Rogue One is a stunner. Seamlessly weaving three different battles (much like the finale of Return of the Jedi), is it filled to the rim with everything we love about Star Wars (Space battles!  AT-ATs!  Fish aliens yelling orders!), yet it manages to surprise and excite (a clever strategy in battling Star Destroyers is particularly fun).  Plus, it give us a potent example of why Darth Vader is the ultimate bad guy in a scene that, in another context, could have felt just at home in a "there's a killer lose in the house" film. Think a horror movie villain armed with a lightsaber and the ability to do that force choke thing.  Eeek.

Another splendid element of the film is Michael Giacchino's masterful score.  Hired to write the music for the film a mere two months before its release, he manages to create a score that marries the musical language of John Williams with his own sense of melody and progression.  One could easily see it being written by Maestro Williams, yet it is also distinctly in Giacchino's voice.  It's a memorable and evocative accompaniment to a memorable and evocative film.

Rogue One isn't a perfect film and it doesn't inspire in me the same sense of "Insta-Favorite" enthusiasm that I felt with The Force Awakens, but it's almost better that it doesn't because it's not that kind of film.  Yes, it's fun.  Yes, it has light moments.  However, this is a movie that makes you feel more than just nostalgia or visceral popcorn-movie euphoria.  In it's own small way, Rogue One makes you ponder the lives of the unremarkable people who do remarkable things because it's the right thing to do, no matter how difficult or ominous, which might be the most noble message found in any of the Star Wars films.  After all, it is all about a new hope.

Grade: A-

Summer 2016 in Review: Some Good, Not Much Great, Lots o' M'eh

My classroom is set, my seating charts are made, and my beginning lesson plans are created.  It must be fall.  I've mentioned this before, but there is usually a bitter-sweet air that hangs on Labor Day weekend for me.  I really am looking forward to a new school year, but, being the massive movie nerd that I am, it means that the summer movie season is over.  However, this year I'm not as sad because this year the summer movie season was......kinda weak.   Both in quality and in box-office performance, this really wasn't one for the record books.

Sequels that nobody asked for unsurprisingly died quick deaths,  Mediocre "sleeper" movies over-performed because there wasn't much else worth seeing.  Reboots were met with steely indifference (even the one that deserved better).  There was just a lot of "m'eh" this year.

Oddly, some of the best entertainment to be found this summer was on Netflix, which presented the cultural sensation Stranger Things (equal parts Spielberg and King) and The Little Prince, a foreign animated film that was bafflingly passed on by every major American distributor, but finally brought to the states by the streaming giant.  Had it been released in theaters, The Little Prince would likely be on my year-end top ten list.

However, there were some lights in the cinematic darkness.  Let's focus on them first....

THE GREAT

Kubo and the Two Strings

This film, made by the local geniuses at Laika Animation studios, was the best film of the summer, a fact that surprised me.  Laika has consistently shown wild innovation and creativity, but nothing in their previous work showed me that they were capable of this level depth and heart.  I hesitate to say too much about the story for a simple reason, this is a movie that deserves to experienced with fresh eyes.  Beauty in animation is certainly not a new thing, but it's rare that any film, regardless of genre or technique, reaches this level of art.  Thrilling, moving, breath-taking, this is the first instant-classic from this wonderful studio.

Captain America: Civil War

The best Avengers movie, in spite of the fact that it's not technically an Avengers movie, Civil War was a beautiful example of everything that Marvel has gotten so incredibly right with their cinematic universe.  Instead of rushing character development and plot, a major failing of that other comic book cinematic universe, Marvel has been building these relationships for a period of eight years over several films and they do a splendid job of making these developments feel organic and oddly inevitable.  Directors Joe and Anthony Russo (who made their debut in the MCU with the superb Captain America: The Winter Soldier) not only make this a vital extension of that story, but masterfully meld that story with the events of several other Marvel franchises to create a film that manages to be a thrilling and surprisingly well-rounded popcorn masterpiece.  I can't think of another film this year that has so masterfully balanced weight and humor, all while juggling a huge cast and introducing two very important characters to such an expansive world.  Definitely a movie that will be spun on my blu-ray player on a regular rotation.

The Very Good

Finding Dory

Pixar's latest, which has also now become their most successful film to date, really was as good of a sequel as we could have gotten.  Especially considering the fact that the original Finding Nemo was a perfectly constructed film that ended beautifully and in no way lent itself to becoming a franchise.  Honestly, this might have gotten to "great" status for me if not for some very lazy call backs to the original.  There's about a ten minute section toward the beginning that could have just been left on the cutting room floor and I would have liked this one much more than I did.  As it is though, Pixar did a wonderful job taking a plot device that had been played for laughs in the first film (Dory's short-term memory loss) and made a film that pays tribute to every person who has ever had to find their way through life in spite of great adversity.  Plus, baby Dory (seen above) is just about the cutest animated character in the history of the medium and the short shown before Dory, the delightful Piper, is among Pixar's best.

Star Trek Beyond

While the latest installment of the rebooted Trek series doesn't reach the heights of the previous films, it's still a perfectly cromulant Star Trek film with some great action, terrific acting, and moments of unexpected poignancy, especially when paying tribute to fallen members of its cast.  The plot feels more old-school than more recent Trek adventures, but it's much more than a series place-holder.  Director Justin Lin, new to the franchise, does himself proud.

Florence Foster Jenkins

Among classical musicians, especially vocalists, Florence Foster Jenkins is a legend.  Listening to  her performances (and subsequently laughing yourself silly because of them) is almost a right of passage in your training.  You see, Foster Jenkins was a unique force in the music world who had money, a desire to perform, and a.....well.......unique vocal instrument.  What director Stephen Frears and the always brilliant Meryl Streep have done in telling her story is let you see her as a person rather than a caricature.  This makes for a compelling film, but also an oddly guilt-producing one.  While the movie encourages you to laugh at her voice in the beginning, it imbues her with such warmth and humanity that by the end you feel like you were previously duped into being a bully by laughing.  Don't get me wrong, it's a terrific movie, but it also is a film with a split-personality, begging you to laugh, then chastising you for doing so.

 Ghostbusters

The level of bile and animosity spewed at this funny, fast-paced, highly enjoyable movie baffles me.  Yeah, the original is great.  I know this.  I love it too.  However, I also love the concept enough to look forward to a revisiting, especially one done with this much joy and respect.  In fact, this movie's biggest failing is that it feels beholden to unnecessary references to the original.  The cameos (including Slimer and Mr. Stay-Puft) pull you out of a story that is strongly it's own thing.  The cast, including standouts Kate McKinnon and Chris Hemsworth, is uniformly terrific, the special effects are great, and the humor rarely fails (starting with an amusing and memorable cameo from The Office's Zach Woods and ending with an extended credits sequence in which Hemsworth gets down with his bad self).  Is this better than the original?  Of course not.  However, it's almost as good, which is really saying something.  I wish it had performed better at the box office, because I would very much like to see more from this cast playing in this world.

Pete's Dragon/The BFG

Both wonderful family films with similar messages, these two performed modestly at the box-office, but should enjoy a long life in home video.  Both also display a surprising level of subtlety (barring, of course, a few moments in The BFG that wander into slightly crude humor that is to be found in most modern family films).  It's so heartening to know that filmmakers are still willing to make films for younger audiences that still have a sense of craftsmanship.

Honorable Mentions
Jason Bourne, X-Men: Apocalypse, Cafe Society

The Disappointing

Suicide Squad

Why do I get the feeling that the screaming and obnoxious internet whiners who proclaimed the new Ghostbusters movie to be the worst thing ever created weeks before its release are the same ones who petitioned to have Rotten Tomatoes shut down because critics didn't like Suicide Squad?  Suicide Squad is simply not a good movie.  It's not horrible, but still.  The actors do their best, with Margot Robbie acquitting herself the best, a feat made more impressive by the fact that she gets it done in spite of her ridiculous wardrobe.  I can't remember the last time I saw a film with characters about which I cared so little.  How can we be expected to enjoy a movie with no characters to root for?  They're all terrible people, including the "good" guys, plus the character "development" is so shallow that it almost inspires the audience to just root for the universal destruction of everyone on screen just to get the whole thing over with.  DC Comics is filled with such wonderful and memorable characters, it's just depressing to see how horribly Warner Bros. is botching the new DCEU, especially considering how glorious the Nolan Batman movies were.

So...yeah.  This summer was kinda....blah.  I'm thrilled that Kubo and Captain America: Civil War exist and I'll definitely re-watch my other favorites often, but here's hoping that next summer, a movie season that will include Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming, War for the Planet of the Apes, Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan's WWII epic), and....(sigh) Cars 3....fares better.  For now, bring on the 16-17 school year!

Movie Review: Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek Beyond/Paramount Pictures/Dir. by Justin Lin/120 min./Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence

In terms of how to do a reboot of a beloved franchise right, I believe there's Nolan's Dark Knight films and J.J. Abrams' Star Trek films (also known as the Kelvin timeline to fans).  Both series took what was great about the properties, made them their own, focused on character as well as spectacle, were impeccably cast, and allowed their actors to shine.  Both series have films that are universally revered among fans and films that are highly divisive among fans, in spite of the fact that all entries were heralded by critics.

2009's Star Trek was revelatory.  Rather than do dry impersonations of the classic Star Trek actors, the new cast simply inhabited the roles with such confidence that trivialities, like the fact that they really don't look like the original cast looked at that age, became completely moot.  They simply were the crew of the Enterprise.  In addition, thanks to Abrams' sure-handed direction, the film felt more purely cinematic than any previous Star Trek movie.  Space was 3-dimensional, meaning that ships in space didn't always look like they were on a horizontal plane.  Battles packed a huge punch and stakes were immediately through the roof.  (I mean, they blew up Vulcan in the first hour for heavens' sake!)

For many, Star Trek Into Darkness was a huge misstep.  I am not among those people.  While I can understand people being disappointed that the second film mirrored the second film in the original film series, but I found it to be a thoughtful and intelligent look at the ideas of fate and change in destiny based on the new timeline.  This Kirk would make these choices.  This Spock would scream "Khaaaaaan!" and then hunt the madman down.  I loved it.

However, for those who wish that Into Darkness would have just gone exploring into space, your wish is granted with Star Trek Beyond.  No Federation hearings, no flirting with alien women at the Academy, no villain who turns out to be the classic series villain that you suspected it was from the beginning.  The "Beyond" in the title is telling the truth.

The Enterprise is in year three of its five year mission.  The crew has slipped into a malaise of routine and diplomatic negotiations, and the senior crew is going through several personal existential crisis. The ship docks at the Yorktown, a deep space station/city and Captain Kirk hopes that the respite will invigorate the crew, but is also secretly considering giving up his chair for a desk job at the station. Fortunately, that decision will have to wait because a mysterious alien arrives asking for help in recovering her missing crew.

The ensuing journey ends up separating the crew of the Enterprise and stranding them on a planet with no apparent means of escape and encounter a new ally named Jaylah (beautifully played by Sofia Boutella), a strong-willed alien who informs the crew about the evil Krall (Idris Elba), who is the reason they are in their current predicament.  They must organize a plan to save crew members who were captured and stop Krall from his evil plans.

Star Trek Beyond contains all of the elements that make this franchise fantastic, including great performances, viscerally exciting action sequences, stunning visuals (particularly the amazingly conceived Yorktown space station), and another wonderful Michael Giacchino score.  However, it separates itself in plot and in the fact that it definitely has a more old-school Star Trek vibe.  In some ways, it feels like a lost installment of the original film series.  In fact, in theme and design, it reminded me most specifically of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which happens to be one of my very favorite of the original cast films.

One of the most pleasant surprises of the movie is the terrific direction from Justin Lin, whose hiring as director was quite controversial when first announced.  After all, when I think cerebral sci-fi, my first thought isn't the dude from the Fast and Furious movies.  However, he does a wonderful job balancing character and action with a truly engaging visual flair.  

All in all, Star Trek Beyond is a fun and entertaining movie.  It does feel a bit like a place holder film, but it's so enjoyable that you won't care and it is a more than worthy entry in the Abrams-era films.

Grade: A-

Movie Review: Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters/Columbia Pictures/116 min./Dir. by Paul Feig/Rated PG-13 for supernatural action and some crude humor

Summer 1984, Blackfoot, Idaho, Plaza Twin Theater, screen #2.  What was a fun movie experience for many became really a pivotal moment in my personal development.  You see, as a kid, my highly active imagination was a double-edged sword.  On one hand I was able to lose myself in hours of joyful flights of fancy.  On the other, everything scared me because my imagination would add about a thousand more points of horror to any already terrifying thing.  Be it a story or a news report on nuclear war or a snake in the garden, everything was exaggerated in my mind.  A commercial for a scary movie could keep me up all night, yet I was oddly obsessed with scary things too.  I wouldn't watch scary movies, but I would make people tell me about every frame, which I would then magnify in my mind to horrors not achievable by a mere movie.

Then came 1984, my 13th birthday, and Ghostbusters.   I wanted to see it because all of my friends had and, since it was a comedy, I thought I could handle it.  Of course, the original Ghostbusters had some pretty effective scares.  Ghost librarians screaming and turning into skeletal specters, giant four-legged demons, horrific possessions....this movie had some legitimate jumps accompanying the laughs.  However, I was doing OK.  Then at the end of the film, when the demi-god Gozer, she of the gelled-hair, skin-tight Solid Gold dancer outfit, and glowing red-eyes, arrived to release the Destructor on New York City and Ray Stantz accidentally thought of a form in which the Destructor would appear, I was getting scared.  The music was tense and there was some terrifying visage moving in between skyscrapers.  Then Dan Aykroyd uttered the words, "It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man" and that giant, smiling anthropomorphized tower of sugar rounded an intersection, and I laughed.  I laughed harder than I had ever laughed in my entire life.  I laughed for at least ten minutes straight and I remember laughing still as my family walked, somewhat embarrassedly, out of the theater.  That day, I didn't just watch a movie that I would love for decades to come, I learned that my fears had less power than my joy.  Much like a real-life riddikulus spell from Harry Potter, I learned that laughing at my fears robbed them of their power.  This was also around the time that I began to lucid dream, giving me control of the terrors in my subconscious as well.

After having seen the remake of Ghostbusters, I could easily see this film serving a similar function in a similarly minded youth of today.  Is it a classic?  No, but the main thing that makes the original a classic is nostalgia.  While this incarnation isn't quite as good, it's very close, and it's a very fun time at the movies.

Of course, this movie has been surrounded by controversy ever since it was announced.  Some of the outcry against it was clearly a misguided, misogynistic reaction to the announcement that the new team would be comprised of very funny women instead of very funny men, but mostly people didn't like the idea of a remake of Ghostbusters.  They wanted a straight-up sequel, and at the time, I felt the same way, or at least some kind of a reboot that didn't erase what came before, much like the new Star Trek movies had done.  However, now I'm delighted by the change.  Seeing this group come together, find their purpose, and build their own different, but equally funny chemistry is a joy and I hope we get to see them do it in more stories to come.

Scientists and friends Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) and Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) have been estranged for years after co-writing a book on the paranormal (the hilariously titled "Ghosts From Our Past (both literally and figuratively)") which widely discredited them as quacks.  Erin distanced herself from the book (claiming to have burned "both copies") while Abby embraced their work and moved forward with their research.  However, a haunting at a historic mansion in N.Y.C. brings them together, along with Abby's live-wire colleague, Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) and sets them on their new career path in paranormal investigation and elimination.  After a brief flirtation with a familiar firehouse (turns out such a large piece of real estate is a bit pricey in current day New York), they end up setting stakes in a space above a Chinese restaurant, hire a new secretary (Chris Hemsworth, whose take on the antiquated blonde, bimbo secretary archetype steals the show), and bring on a new partner (Leslie Jones, whose presence and performance is much stronger than they appeared to be in the trailers).  Things start to get heated when the group discover machines scattered throughout the city that magnify paranormal activity, the end result of which leads to a fantasmagorical Times Square battle in which buildings, billboards, and advancing spooks emerge through the mists of varying time periods to confront the jump-suited soldiers of science and paranormal metaphysics.  

The key ingredients for a good Ghostbusters movie are humor, cast chemistry, and convincing special effects/scares.  This is a good Ghostbusters movie.  Not all of the jokes land, but the ratio is strong.  It's the most I've laughed during a movie in a very long time and it's not simply because of the quality of the jokes themselves, but because of the strength of the performances and the characterizations.  The cast feels like they're having the time of their lives throughout.  While McKinnon and Jones get more of the conventional jokes, Wiig and McCarthy still get their fair share of the funny and, as I mentioned, Hemsworth steals every scene with an quirky combination of ineptitude, naivite, misplaced-cockiness, and utter obliviousness.  In fact, many of Wiig's funniest moments involve him, and her take on the 50's stereotype of the boss making inappropriate advances on the ditzy secretary.

The scares are there, but they're not quite as potent as the first film (however, pretty much everything here is an improvement on the second Ghostbusters film, especially considering the weakly written finale of Ghostbusters II), and the special effects are very effective.  The 3D version is quite well made, using a changing film ratio to allow spectral vapors and spraying ectoplasm to seemingly spill beyond the limits of the screen.

Another fun addition is the proliferation of new ghostbusting tools.  Whereas the original film was just about capturing the ghosts, this team has an arsenal of weapons that can not only capture the malevolent phantoms, but can shred, gooify, and sock them on their paranormal kisser.  McKinnon gets an especially memorable butt-kicking glory moment using all of the new toys.

There are many elements that were in the trailers and tv spots that were handled far better in the film than the advertising presented them.   Yes, Mr. Stay-Puft shows up, but in a way that pays tribute to the original film without ripping it off.  Yes, the ghost from the famous logo shows up, but the narrative makes his appearance not merely palatable, but seemingly inevitable.  Yes, Slimer shows up, but his glorified cameo (and the baffling appearance of a Ms. Slimer) actually lead to a pivotal plot point.

Director Paul Feig clearly has a respect and affinity for the original film, in fact, sometimes maybe a little too much so.  Most of the original cast shows up in cameos (except for Rick Moranis, who passed) and those cameos are varying levels of successful (Bill Murray's was the most delightful for me).  The original Ray Parker Jr. theme song shows up performed by no fewer than three artists and multiple orchestral cues in Theodore Shapiro's score (which was otherwise more dramatic and tense than Elmer Bernstein's jaunty work in the first film).  Hopefully, if the film is successful enough to warrant a sequel, Feig, or whoever is at the reins, will feel more a sense of moving forward than looking back.

So, in summation, rest assured.  This film will rob no one of their childhood.  It is neither a travesty nor an abomination.  What it IS is a fun, breezy summer popcorn movie that pays tribute to the past while creating a world and an energy all its own.  Plus, it proves the same thing that the original did to me all those 32 years ago: it's more difficult to be afraid when you're laughing with pure abandon.

Grade: B+

P.S.  Stay through the credits.  Not only is there a fun song and dance bit throughout, but after the final credit rolls, there's a juicy hint as to where the series could go from here that will be especially meaningful to fans of the first movie.

Movie Review: The Secret Life of Pets

The Secret Life of Pets/Universal-Illumination/90 min./Dir. by Yarrow Cheney and Chris Renaud/Rated PG for action and some rude humor

I have always loved animals, but I never really understood the passion of pet owners until I became one.  His name is Pippin, he's a terrier/chihuahua mix (far more terrier than chihuahua in look and personality), and he's the cutest, best behaved, move lovable dog ever.  Of course, all pet owners feel that way about our pets and therein is the key to understanding our mindset.....our pets are part of the family.  Calling them our "kids", a tendency that seemed silly to me five years ago, is merely an expression of how profoundly they've cuddled their way into our hearts and changed our lives.  Pippin and Mali (our very own "soft kitty") have comforted through times of pain, romped through times of joy, and shown us how very much we have to learn from them.

Therefore, when the first trailer for The Secret Life of Pets premiered last year in front of Minions, I was thrilled.  Sure, there have been countless animated films inhabited by animals, but this was the first one that looked like it was going to address the idiosyncrasies and personalities of actual pets.   Then further trailers revealed more about the story and my excitement level began to lessen.  It began to look like another by the numbers zany animated film, with a street-talking rabbit and plenty of lowest-common-denominator toilet humor.

Now after having seen it, I'm delighted to say that, while it's not the perfect ode to housepets that I hoped it would be, it's not the mindless, generic laugh generator that last year's Minions was.

If you're familiar with that first teaser trailer, the one that shows what the different pets get up to when their masters leave, then you've pretty much seen the first three minutes of the movie.  Our hero is a terrier named Max (Louis C.K.) who is living the perfect life with his master Katie (Ellie Kemper).  They play, the cuddle, they stare wide-eyed at the New York City skyline...the only hiccup to their life is that, for reasons Max can't fathom, Katie leaves every morning.  In fact, he misses her so much that he just sits by the door waiting for her until she comes home.  However, one day, she doesn't come home alone, having adopted a giant mutt named Duke (Eric Stonestreet).  Duke is big and messy and determined to take over as alpha dog, something that Max can't abide.

This rivalry erupts while the dogs are being walked by a not particularly attentive dog walker and the two end up collar-less and left to fend for themselves on the mean streets of New York, streets ruled by an adorable looking, but psychotic buck-tooth bunny named Snowball (Kevin Hart) who is leading an anti-human movement populated by the "Flushed Pets" (i.e. any pets who were abandoned).

The mid-section of Pets is where things get a little more frantic, but fortunately, it's got some surprisingly bizarre humor to keep things interesting, including an unnecessary, but hilarious, side-trip to a sausage factory.

The Secret Life of Pets absolutely works best when it's interpreting common behaviors of animals, making these widely-known idiosyncrasies character traits and allowing a strong and immediate connection to this ragtag group of animals.  The voice-work is uniformly excellent, including Hart, who, based on the trailers, I had some concerns about.  Louis C.K. especially gives Max a warmth and a heart that is vitally necessary for this character.

The screenplay, by the team responsible for the Despicable Me movies, is zippy, funny, and heart-felt, the latter element being something that was painfully missing from Illumination's last effort, Minions. 

Overall, The Secret Life of Pets is not perfect and not quite as engaging as the adventures of Gru, but it's fast-paced, filled with humor, and ends on a tender note guaranteed to put a little bit of a lump in the throat of any of us who consider ourselves pet lovers.  Bring the kids and have a great time.  It might even teach the kids to love their four-legged friends even more.

Grade: B+

Movie Review: The BFG

The BFG/Dir. by Steven Spielberg/Walt Disney Pictures/117 min./Rated PG for action/peril, some scary moments and brief rude humor

The BFG is a film of firsts.  It's the first film Steven Spielberg has ever directed for Walt Disney Pictures.  It's also Spielberg's first live-action children's book adaptation.  It's the first Walt Disney film scored by legendary composer John Williams.  However, what makes it special and bittersweet is that it is also a notable last.  It is the last film with a screenplay by Melissa Mathison, the celebrated writer of E.T. and The Black Stallion.  Her heart, intelligence, and sense of wonder is in every frame, which, when combined with the original story by Roald Dahl and the visual brilliance of Spielberg, makes for a special, if somewhat uneven, film-going experience.

Sophie (terrifically played by Ruby Barnhill in her film debut) is an inquisitive, intelligent, and unusually brave and responsible little girl who is also an orphan that suffers from chronic insomnia.  This combination of personality traits all contribute her being abducted by a mysterious giant (Mark Rylance) who is ultimately revealed to be big and friendly.  Worried that she would reveal the existence of giants to the general populace after seeing him, the big, friendly giant (henceforth known as The BFG) takes Sophie to the land of the giants.  Unfortunately for Sophie, the BFG is the only giant to which the "friendly" moniker could be applied, especially considering their fondness for the taste of human "beans."

The BFG is short on story, but big on charm, largely because of the great performances by the two leads and the instant connection they share.  Yes, BFG is entirely motion capture CGI, but there is absolutely no question that Mark Rylance is at the heart of the character, creating perhaps the most engaging CGI character in a live-action movie since Andy Serkis searched for "the precious,"  and his relationship with "brave Sophie" quickly becomes an enchanting delight.

There are moments of pure magic in The BFG, particularly a visit to the land of dreams, which one would expect from the makers of E.T.  Interestingly, the most "Dahl-esque" elements of the movie, the gruesome and repellent non-friendly giants, are so effectively icky that the magic of the rest of the movie drains whenever they appear.  Thankfully, while they play an important role in the story, but they're spoken of more than they are scene.

As usual with a Spielberg movie, the technical elements are top note, with top-tier work from his usual suspects, cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, editor Michael Kahn, and another insta-classic musical score from John Williams.

Unfortunately, I predict that The BFG will be a pretty big flop at the box office for a few reasons.  First, it's simple and sweet...no smart-talking donkeys, no hyper-active minions, no pop-culture references.  There is one running bathroom-humor gag, but even it is innocent and fantastical.  Secondly, it's an expensive fantasy movie based on a three decade-old novel that is certainly not as popular now as it was when I was a kid.  In addition, the marketing assumed that the title and the name Roald Dahl were enough, downplaying the outstanding talent making the film.  Lastly, Disney released it two weeks after they released their own Finding Dory, which was clearly going to be a mega-blockbuster.

However, if you're looking for a sweet, simple, old-fashioned family film, something not perfect, but warm and enchanting, then The BFG would fit the bill quite nicely.

Grade: B

Movie Review: Finding Dory

Finding Dory/Rated PG/Pixar Animation/97 min./Dir. by Andrew Stanton and Angus Maclane

In all honesty, I wasn't chomping at the bit for a sequel to Finding Nemo.  The first was so perfectly conceived and resolved that a sequel seemed entirely unnecessary, not to mention fiscally motivated (The sequel was greenlit after director Andrew Stanton's first live-action film, John Carter, crashed at the box-office.  It is rumored that a Finding Nemo sequel was among the requirements for Stanton to ever direct another live-action film for the studio).

After having seen it, I can say that it still doesn't feel entirely necessary, but I am happy that it exists. For all the anger and cynicism in the world, we can certainly use this warm, funny, joyful return to Pixar's underwater gang.

Taking place one year after Finding Nemo, Dory shows that clownfish Marlin, his son Nemo, and their blue tang best friend, Dory, have been living a pretty comfortable life back at the coral reef.  Sure, Marlin and Nemo have the occasional sleepless nights trying to keep their memory-challenged friend from wandering off into the void of the sea, but it's something they're happy to do for the fish who was so willing to sacrifice for them.  However, after Dory starts to have short flashbacks to her younger home life, she becomes obsessed with the thought that her parents are still alive and she must find them.  After initial resistance, Marlin realizes that helping Dory find her family is the right thing to do, so the three of them set off on another adventure.

The first 15 minutes or so of Dory feel disappointingly familiar as it seems to be setting up a beat-for-beat remake of the first film with return visits from the ocean-surfing turtles and another attack from a mysterious beast (this time a squid instead of a anglerfish), which feels less like dramatic tension and more like nostalgic padding of the running time.  However, once the fish find their way to a marine rescue park in California, the film grows into it's own pacing and vibe completely independent of the first film.

It's here that we meet new friends, like Hank, the octopu......excuse me, septopus (wonderfully voiced by Ed O'Neill), a deliriously creative character that uses his camouflage to often hilarious results, Destiny (Kaitlin Olsen), a short-sighted whale shark that turns out to be a friend from Dory's past, and Bailey (Ty Burrell), a beluga whale who is pretending to be injured so he doesn't have to leave the marina.  These characters are fun additions voiced with verve.

Of course, it's the titular blue tang who owns the movie and, as was the case with Finding Nemo, Ellen Degeneres proves a perfect combination of humor and heart.  In the first film, Dory's handicap of short-term memory loss was played mostly for laughs, but here it is presented as the heartbreaking hardship that it really would be and Degeneres fills the scenes detailing her struggle with such sincerity that it's impossible not to empathize with the isolation such an issue would create.  In addition, the scenes showing Dory as a child are beautifully voiced by Sloane Murray with pitch-perfect innocence and desire to do what's right through the fog of her ever shifting memory.

As is the case with every Pixar film, Dory is a visual wonder.  However, unlike their last effort, The Good Dinosaur, it's so much more than beautiful to look at.  There is a huge heart to this film and a wonderful message about finding our way in the world regardless of the obstacles we may be called to face.  Also, in the final act, the story takes a delightful shift into fast-paced visual comedy with a finale that is bizarre, hilarious, and still very sincerely character based.

The look of these films was so memorably established in Finding Nemo that a sequel can't help but suffer by comparison simply because of familiarity, not to mention some opening sequences that feel lazily derivative of what came before.  However, I'm happy to report that in the world of Pixar sequels, Finding Dory is one of the best.  While it lacks the narrative brilliance of the Toy Story sequels, it is far closer to that level of quality than it is to a Cars 2 or even a Monsters University and is a warm, funny, memorable addition to the Pixar canon.  

Grade: A-

P.S. - The short in front of the film, Piper, is utterly delightful.  Make sure you get there on time because you will definitely not want to miss it.

P.P.S. - Stay tuned to after the credits for a couple funny callbacks to new and familiar characters.

Movie Review - Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War/Marvel Studios/Dir. by Anthony and Joe Russo/Rated PG-13 for extended sequences of violence, action and mayhem

Story, story, story.  This is the well-known mantra of Pixar studios and you can certainly tell which of their films adhere to it and which don't.  This mantra has also been embraced by Marvel Studios.  From the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the stories have been thoughtfully crafted, the motivations and humor have been built from character, and the cross-connections throughout franchises have been carefully planned.  Whereas another well-known comic-based cinematic universe seems to be of the mindset of "characterization be hanged, we need a Justice League movie and we need it now!," Marvel has been building these worlds and characters for almost a decade now and the work pays off spectacularly in their latest opus, Captain America: Civil War.

As a direct result of the events of Captain America: Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron, the world is equally appreciative and leery of the superteam known as the Avengers.  After an accident in Laos which resulted in civilian casualties, the U.N. has decided the superpowered of the world have to be put in check, thus the drafting of the "Sokovia Accords," named after the area destroyed after the Avengers battled Ultron.  In essence, it requires that the Avengers be under the control of an advisory board of the U.N., restricting their involvement to only sanctioned situations.  The members of the Avengers are being pressured to sign the accords.  If they don't they will not be able to legally continue their work, making them vigilantes.

In addition, The Winter Soldier (a.k.a. Caps old friend, Bucky Barnes) seems to be responsible for a terrorist act, causing Captain America, who believes his friend to be innocent, to race to find and save Bucky before the council can fulfill their "find and shoot to kill" orders.  

One of the delightful aspects of this film is, while the action is thrilling and jaw-dropping, it takes it's time building to them, crafting thoughtful and well-acted scenes of dialogue making decisions and motivations crystal clear before plunging characters into the fray.  These scenes are expertly paced with a dramatic rhythm and a level of writing that makes the action scenes feel like the natural extension of these conflicts.

This has one of the largest ensembles of heroes of any of the Marvel films and, quite miraculously, it never feels over-stuffed.  Every character has a reason for being their and, even more miraculously, every character has a glory moment.  New team members include Black Panther (fantastically played by Chadwick Boseman), a Wakandan prince with a mission of vengeance, and the new incarnation of Spider-Man (played with a delightful humor and innocence by Tom Holland), which is, quite simply, the most faithful to the comics version of the character ever placed on film.  Yes, this is a Captain America film and his friendship with Bucky and his respectful/combative relationship with Tony Stark are at the film's core, but the side characters are rich and provide some of the best moments of the film.  Without getting into spoilers, the battle at an airport tarmac in Germany is quite simply one of the most delightful, intense, surprising, flat-out fun scenes I've ever seen and each individual character plays an integral part in its success.

You should be forewarned that if you're a fan of the Civil War comic series, this is quite a bit different.  No spoilers, but don't expect the same outcomes.  Yes, the MCU is integrally different by the end, but not for the same reasons the presented in the comics.  Frankly, I prefer this version in that its conclusions are a little more open-ended, which leaves the future for these characters wide-open.

The Russo brothers do a fantastic job directing, providing a sure pacing and visual artistry that masks the film's 2 1/2 hour run time, in spite of which, I could have easily turned around and watched it again.  The Russo's were controversial choices for Captain America: Winter Soldier because of their background in sitcoms, most famously Arrested Development and Community (which reminds me, Jim Rash, a.k.a. Dean Pelton, has a delightful cameo in Civil War), but having proved themselves with that film and simply nailing this one, they have now been handed the keys of the MCU, currently prepping the Avengers: Infinity War films.  The complexities of this film may have blurred my allegiance to Team Cap or Team Iron Man, but I'm firmly on Team Russo.

Final Verdict: One of the most emotionally complex and wildly imaginative films of the MCU, Captain America: Civil War is an easy recommendation for anyone who likes their movies equal parts thoughtful and fun.  Grade: A

Movie Review: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice/Warner Bros./Rated PG-13/Dir. by Zack Snyder

In the beginning (a.k.a. the 70's and 80's), quality superhero films meant DC/Warner Bros.  There was Superman and Batman and everyone else.  Richard Donner's Superman films were revolutionary in how seriously and respectfully they treated material that had previously been quite literally considered kid's stuff.  Tim Burton's two-film take on Batman almost completely erased the image of Adam West punning it up in tights with colorful text cards letting us know that the correct sounds of someone getting hit were "Pow!" and "Bang!"  For Marvel, these were the dark years.  When Captain America was played by the guy from the classic MST3K episode Space Mutiny and Howard the Duck was the biggest Marvel feature-length movie.

Of course, a couple decades later, things were different.  Superman fought Richard Pryor and nuclear war and ended up killing his own franchise, while Batman met his doom with Joel Schumacher replacing grit and character with kitsch and those infamous nipple-enhanced armor plates.

However, in the mid-2000's both of the rival comic companies seemed to be getting the idea of how to make great movies.  Marvel, who had sold the movie rights to their biggest properties, watched as Sony very wisely handed the keys of the Spider-Man franchise to Sam Raimi, a man who loved the comic, but who had spent his early career working in character-driven independent horror and drama films, guaranteeing that both the spectacle and the grounding emotive elements would be in place.  Warner Bros.  followed Sony's lead by hiring Christopher Nolan to take over Batman and Bryan Singer (who had previously brought the X-Men to screen with great success) to handle Superman.  The resulting films, Batman Begins and Superman Returns respectively, were equally well-received financially and critically.  Unfortunately, WB wanted a lot more success from Superman because they had previously spent a lot of money on an aborted Superman movie and wanted to recoup their loses, so they let Nolan continue with Batman, but put the hold on more Supes movies.  Of course, during this time, Marvel began their own cinematic universe with the properties they still owned, brilliantly taking their time to build character by perfectly matching director with material.  Even as Marvel introduced new characters to the MCU, they made each film feel like an extension of the previous films.  It was a level of inter-connectivity that had never been tried before in film.  It was wildly successful, but at the time was a huge risk.  After The Avengers, though, all bets were off and DC knew it needed to get into the "cinematic universe" game.

I give this little history recap because these events are integrally related to the quality of the DC/Warner Bros. film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.  Just look at that title.  Whereas the first mention of The Avengers was in a post-credits stinger scene snuck into Iron Man, everything about this film, starting with the title, screams "DC HAS A SUPERGROUP TOO!!!!  AND IT'S GOING TO BE AMAZING!!!  AND MAGICAL!!!!  WITH COOLER POWERS!!!  TAKE THAT MARVEL!!!!!"   This movie was obviously rushed into production in order to catch up with the runaway freight train that is the MCU and it reeks of that desperation.  It's not a bad movie, it's just a frantic, haphazard, and somewhat soulless place holder for the eventual Justice League mega-movie-event.

One of the smartest things director Zack Snyder did was connect BvS with his controversial ending act of Man of Steel.  Well, either smart or extremely arrogant, as he has long defended that ending, which jettisoned everything that Superman the character and Superman the comic ever stood for in favor of Transformers-style chaotic city-wide mayhem and destruction.  However, in making those events the catalyst for Bruce Wayne's (appropriately dourly played by Ben Affleck) homicidal obsession with the Kryptonian Kid, he retroactively makes the events seem integrally important to the development of his story.

The plot involves Lex Luthor (played with gleeful psychopathy by Jesse Eisenberg) mining for kryptonite, a tough-talking, hard-nosed senator (the always welcomed, Holly Hunter) holding hearings about dealing with aliens with god-like powers, and a mysterious woman played by Gal Gadot (whose mystery is severely undercut by the ridiculously spoilery ad campaign for the film) who is always skulking around the same parties as Mr. Wayne.

The cast does what they can with a plot that alternates between interesting and ridiculous and dialogue that alternates between inspired and insipid.  Henry Cavill, who has always been a pretty great Superman, is the least well-served by the screenplay, but if Man of Steel showed us anything, it's that Zack Snyder doesn't really get Superman.  His gritty, style-over-substance, film-making M.O. is far better suited to the Bat than Superman and it's in the Gotham focused scenes that BvS soars most highly.

As for the titular smackdown, it's quite short-lived and, in all honesty, one of the weaker scenes in the movie.  Again, character is tossed out the window as Superman says all he wants to do is talk and then proceeds to pummel the dark knight as hard as he can.  The dialogue that ends the fight is meant to be character based, but it's pretty thin that that short conversation would completely negate the bad blood that the entire movie has been building towards.  However, once we get passed the BvS and move on to the "Dawn of Justice", the movie kicks it back into gear with a finale that is at once thrilling and exhausting.

Among the best elements of the film is a terrific Hans Zimmer score that expertly combines the roughly rhythmic style from his own Dark Knight scores with the exhilarating theme from Man of Steel.  Another high point is the wonderful performance by Gal Gadot.  Her scenes are short and fleeting, but the promise of greatness to come surrounds her throughout the film.

So, long story short, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is not a bad film, but it is an inconsistent one.  It's not a boring film, but it is roughly hewn.  It's not a disaster, but it's not a triumph either.  It's not the DC Cinematic Universe-building movie we wanted, but it'll do for now.

Rating: B-

Movie Review: Zootopia

Zootopia/Disney Animation Studio/Dir. by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Jared Bush/Rated PG

Anthropomorphic animals have been a regular fixture in animation since Gertie the Dinosaur stunned audiences in the 1910's.  They've talked, they've sung, and they've fallen in love.  They've become kung fu masters and gourmet French chefs.  Animals are so entrenched in the world of animation that yet another movie about yet another group of animals acting like people seems beyond indifferent.

When I first heard the premise of Zootopia, my expectations were low and my apathy was palpable.  "A metropolitan city inhabited by animals instead of people!  What?  There are cops and gangsters and the movie is a tribute to movies like The Godfather?!?  That has literally never been done before!"  Except, of course, by Shark Tale, which was an hour-and-a-half of fish puns held together flimsily by lazy references to movies that no kid in the audience would know.  Also, Cars tried a similar "it's just like our world, except with (fill-in-the-black) instead of people" strategy as well, with stronger, but not fantastic, results.

So, yes, it's fair to say that I was not sold on Zootopia from the beginning.  The trailers didn't help.  Even the popular 2nd trailer involving an admittedly hilarious sloth working at the DMV still seemed like too little too late.  Well, I'm here to say that the reviews are right and the hype is justified.  Zootopia is a marvel.  It's endlessly inventive, consistently hilarious, surprisingly thoughtful,  and contains one of the most important and timely messages in animation history.  Seriously.

Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) is a small-town rabbit with big-time dreams.   Since she was a small bunny, she was determined to become a police officer, in spite of the fact that no rabbit had ever been one.  After working through the police academy, she gets assigned to the police force in Zootopia, a metropolis in which predator and prey have been living side by side in harmony for eons.  Viewing Zootopia as a place where "anybody can be anything", Judy approaches her assignment with unbridled enthusiasm, even as her parents (Bonnie Hunt and Don Lake) worry about their little baby moving to the big city.

In her first day on duty, she meets a fast-talking con artist fox named Nick (perfectly voiced by Jason Bateman).  Eventually, the two end up working together on a missing persons case which, of course, goes deeper than it initially seems.  Also, not surprisingly, they become unlikely friends who learn to see each other's strengths in spite of their own bigoted views of the other's species.

For having a basic premise that seems, in all honesty, pretty "by the animation book", Zootopia displays a dazzling amount of ingenuity and imagination.  Unlike other similarly themed films, which made their cities look just like human cities with ridiculous car or fish related puns taking the place of genuine humor, the city of Zootopia is uniquely, delightfully animal based.  There are different boroughs with unique climates for a variety of species.  The buildings have beautifully organic designs that make many areas of the city resemble jungles.  There are even mini-neighborhoods for the rodents.  Every frame contains another 10 or 20 reasons to smile at the extreme amount of thought put into backgrounds that fly by with colorful glee.

Beyond the frequently surprising humor and the visual splendor to be found in this, one of the very best films from the John Lasseter-era of Disney animation, there are several messages that could not have been more timely.  If motivated by kindness and determination, we can make a difference.  Judging a group of people by the actions of a few is ignorant and dangerous.  It's better to get to know people than it is to simply believe rumors that we've heard about "their kind."  Most people are capable of surprising you with their depth and decency.  What hopeful and empowering messages for children and adults alike.

For parents considering this as a family outing, the only misgivings you may have involve a visit to a nudist yoga facility (of course, non-anatomically correct, but a few jokes about yoga positions au natural are still a bit on the crude side for a Disney film) and two instances of taking the Lord's name in vain, an increasing trend in family films, but still disappointing to those of us who are devout Christians.  Also, the plot involves some darker bits involving some animals "going savage" which may frighten very young children.  It's not the most "adult" of the Disney animated films, but it is more grown-up than anything they've done for a while.

However, these issues do not change the fact that this is an outstanding film and an early front-runner in the Best Animated Feature Oscar category.  The animation is uniformly stunning, the vocal performances filled with energy and warmth, the writing brilliantly nuanced, the music (by the terrific Michael Giacchino) alternatively gonzo and poetic, and the messages are head and shoulders above typical animated fare.  The directors, the minds beyond the terrific Wreck-It Ralph and Tangled have taken a premise that could have just been a rehash of the worst instincts in animation over the past two decades and created a complex, funny, and poignant reminder of the best of what it means to be human, even if it is a talking rabbit and fox that teach us about our own humanity.

Grade: A