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Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)
Are we in his head, or is he in ours?
Are we in his head, or is he in ours? A year since his murder spree and a suicide attempt has seen Arthur Fleck abused in Arkham Asylum awaiting his trial. He's given up hope. Nothing can cheer him up, just a cigarette that the guards drip-feed him now and then.
But one day, he walks past the low-security dance and song class where he sees Lee. He's intrigued. As his guard likes singing and musicals, he gets permission to take the prisoner to these classes. It seems to work. Arthur seems more cheerful, humming, and singing under his breath. He dreams of show tunes, now.
But after lighting a fire and trying to escape, Harleen Quinzel is asked to leave. The day before his trial. She had lied to him. A rich girl whose parents still breathed, self admitted to get closer to her obsession- Joker.
Harvey Dent leads the state prosecution. By the end of the farcical trial, the Joker is the defence. He's found guilty, not crazy. Sentenced to death.
But it ends with him getting stabbed in the stomach. Dead? Doubt it.
Daddio (2023)
She has daddy issues, and he no longer wants to play Daddio.
Young-looking female takes a cab to midtown New York. Her driver, a very amicable older man, finds her interesting and unique, so begins an intimate, long conversation.
She's insecurely texting her squeeze, who we later find out is married, hoping for comfort but instead gets sexting. The driver lays out her pathetic life as 'the other woman' bare, making her question everything.
No flirting in so much as gentle whispers of mutual respect. She has daddy issues, and he no longer wants to play Daddio.
98% set inside a cab makes it hard to keep focused, but their acting is attracting. More secrets are shared as they start a competitive tally. Nothing is taboo. She reveals a miscarriage she hadn't told a soul.
Un p'tit truc en plus (2024)
They parked in the wrong disabled parking spot!
When a father & son hold up a jewellery store, their getaway car gets towed because they parked in the wrong disabled parking spot. As the car was parked besides a disability centre, when the duo tried outrunning the police they must pretend they are disabled to join the group on the bus. Dad becomes carer for the bad-acting son.
The comedy of errors turns charming as the tough father criminal develops a soft spot for one of the boys. The son begins to respect and love the guys he showers and shares a bed with.
Nowhere to run, they stay and develop into valuable companions to the busload of disabled and their carers.
One is trying to let her boyfriend down, but she can't bring herself to tell him she doesn't want to move to America until he shows up unexpectedly. The chubby workmate has a crush on her but is easily swept away when another girl catches his attention. The third carer, who saw a pigeon with one leg as inspiration to help the disabled, is fascinated with hunting and is missing a few players to boot.
Venom: The Last Dance (2024)
There's always a bigger fish
There's always a bigger fish. In this case, an intergalactic destroyer of worlds hunting the symbiots that locked it up.
Chaos ensues on Eddie. From transforming a horse into a flying monster to being saved by UFO-hunting hippies, they must race against being hunted by an alien tracking bug and the army.
A sibling twin side story focuses on a female scientist who damaged her arm when hit by lightning finds herself with symbiotic help- a female Brock.
Tom Hardy seemed bored playing the hapless host against the Beetlejuice-type staircase railing head. His over-steroid-used body moved as little as his expressions!
Sasquatch Sunset (2024)
May as well be called Cavemen's journey!
Four hairy sasquatches travel across the untouched forests of the Canadian wild, as the various wildlife shown proved. Three males and a female.
We can tell because of weird, rat-tail-like willies poking out their furs, and the female's breasts identify her. The colour of their fur identifies the ages. The eldest, the father, enjoys the woman's body, while their two sons watch. But he dies pretty gruesomely quickly in the tale, eaten by curiosity dressed as a mountain lion.
Now, the eldest male tries using the female, but mum puts him straight in his place. A hole in a log will do. Then he drowns. The female has a baby.
They keep walking, slowly finding more and more signs of humans: an x on timber, abandoned tent, destroyed and burnt clearings, a scary, winding road. Then they reach a statue of Big Foot next to a museum for sasquatches. And it ends!
Were humans gone from Earth? Did the fire in the horizon mean war? Many things left unspoken. Were they representing Adam and Eve and their sons Cain and Abel?
Outback (2019)
Sob story written by a dude
A simple outline fleshed out fully and entertainingly. A young tourist couple travelling around Australia in a rented station wagon get more than they bargained.
The couple's plan was to visit all the beaches around the island, but apart from turning down his proposal on the flight over, he also gets a nasty jellyfish bite, and they change their goals. Now they want to reach Uluru.
Unprepared and in a bad mood, the 32 hour trip turns into a horror camping disaster. Lost in the red dirt plains, out of reach of GPS & phone reception, the tourists get out of their safe box vehicle and try walking the hill to get a better view- if only they could see a house or lights they'd get their bearings.
When the walk turned fruitless and they try returning to their car, at dusk, they find themselves absolutely lost.
A deadly, black-headed snake, poisonous insects and a scorpion make a cameo and cause havoc.
The man sacrifices himself for the woman that turned him down. He drinks the only water accessible, the radiator liquid from the car he finally found- out of battery- and pees the cleaned liquid onto a bottle for her. He dies. She lives. Regretting she said no in the first place. She lives in the states now. A nurse, single and sorry. Moral: Never say no to your man! Pfft! Australian horror is the macho patriarchal mentality seeped throughout its society! Being based on a true story beggars the question of whose perspective it was told, as it seems his but he died, so how'd he get his say?
Guns Akimbo (2019)
Guns @ Arms Length
Miles is screwed to two guns, which each have 50 bullets each to kill or be killed for trolling the wrong chat. In a subculture devoted to streaming Battle Royale-style kill-or-be-killed chases, between criminals, known to the police who find them hard to catch in the act, a nerdy loner is thrown in the deep end, being hunted by Trix. Along comes a vegetarian, gun-hating pacifist thrust into the firing line, and Miles survives against all expectations. Chased by a pair of bumbling cops, he ends up accidently shooting one before getting help to dress himself by a homeless Kiwi: Rhys Darby.
Finally, out of his childish pyjamas with furry animal slippers, Miles gets inspiration. For his plan to work, he needs his huntress's help.
A side mission to gain his ex's respect and love back doesn't reach fruition. Another plotline about Nix's fire trauma and cop dad die out, too.
All in all, it's just about a rude, nerdy, IT guy pissing off the wrong criminals and being put in a position to unleash his inner lion. By the end, he deserves his place in the expansion.
The Gentlemen (2024)
Stealin' green & breakin' rulez
A study on passing the buck. How to delegate; Back-stabbing and double-crossing; all the material you need to run a crooked business, or be a crooked politician, the degrees overlap! Just how the aristocrats are in the drug business in a manner.
The story runs along, slowing down in deceptive side stories, and long-winded expositions. It cuts the action at its climax, cutting to another situation which reminisces on the results previously omitted. It was novel in episode 1, tiresome by the 4th!
The Gentlemen the title denotes alludes me. Whether its the land barons, the wealthy investors, the ex-marine Aristocrat with his addict brother, or the gardener! An extended Snatch with a drug theme instead of diamonds!
Sabotage (2014)
A lot of threads, not enough nice, neat bows!
Breacher (Arnold) leads an elite, precision-shot, tactical DEA unit disrupting drug cartels' supply and cash flow. The team erupted into a store house, killing all occupants before burning the crate of cash they had found. In concert, they all decide to hide $100 k down the pipes to retrieve later.
Problems arise as a team member is shot dead by a hiding crim, whilst the money count is compromised as the FBI had an inside guy on the job. The team is put on ice as the Feds investigate. The team are fuming as the money wasn't at the end of the tether when they went to collect it later that night.
A few weeks go by as Breacher is benched, and his team is on hold. The Feds give up the investigation without result, meaning that the team can reform. But they start dying, one by one.
Now, the cartel that had tortured and murdered Breacher's wife and son are coming for them. But Breacher had been playing his team all along, gathering enough money to return to his hunt for the killers in Mexico.
Josh Holloway, with short hair, plays the caravan cowboy - Neck - first to be hunted. Sam Worthington, barely recognisable as a bald, tattooed bikie, Monster, is Breacher's voice of reason. Terrence Howard is Sugar, so sweet he's cheating with Mireille Enos' Lizzy (Monster's drugged-up lady). Grinder, Pyro & Tripod are the remaining members of the team, who perished without enough screen time to name! As wars go.
Olivia Brentwood, is the detective charged with solving the murders, ranging from a caravan hit by a train with body parts spreading miles around, a body nailed to the ceiling, and another death I've forgotten. She digs deep enough to be manipulated by the DEA agent she's investigating.
A lot of threads, not enough nice, neat bows!
Elysium (2013)
Robocop Damon. Foster's mean menace gets killed. Good guys win. Mexicans get free health care. The end. Or Yadda Yadda!
A bald Matt Damon is an ex criminal trying to walk the line as a line worker for robots that become law enforcement. Pushed too far one day, he ends up back in crime.
As Damon was just a worker, he was sacrificed to continue production when he was locked on a radiation room, leaving him only 5 days to live. He gets an exo-suite drilled to his skeleton with added memory chips drilled on his skull.
Off-world, on a fake satellite made for the elites, with their healing machines and private security to ward off the poor-striken earthlings trying to break in, run by a ferocious and corrupt Jodie Foster. By her command, 26 lives were pulverised, trying to get into the secure wheel hovering just above the blue dot. At the same time, her disdain for the soft president, Patel, is the catalyst of her plan to usurp power.
With the help of a programmer, currently overseeing operations on the planet, they hold the key to Elysium in his head. Matt Damon gets the data transferred into his head and reaches the orbiting Beverley Hills with the help of the illegal Mexican immigrants: Diego Luna and Wagner Moura. His first Latina girlfriend, Sharito Copley, has a sick daughter that urgently needs the medical miracle machine only available on Elysium.
Bad guys gets face blown up then repaired in the med bay before playing catch and release with Robocop Damon. Foster's mean menace gets killed. Good guys win. Mexicans get free health care. The end. Or Yadda Yadda!
The Cobbler (2014)
1903 Lower East Side Ny Ny. So?
A Jewish shoemaker or repairer receives a gift for entertaining a stranger. It's a magical sewing machine that allows the shoeman access to as many lives as shoes fit, therefore making the saying: walk in somebody else's shoes, a reality. Except for Max.
Max's father disappeared when he was twelve, leaving the shop and his mother under his care and guidance. Now near his 40s, Max is bored with it all. Change comes when a black criminal demands his shoes be fixed by 6pm. An electrical outage takes Max into the cellar to find the magical contraption his grandfather received.
When the crim doesn't show up, and bored of waiting, Max tries the shoes, 10 and a half, his size, & transforms into the black criminal. After coming to terms with the magical rules, he stitches every 10.5 shoe that comes his way. Never trying to use the magic for good, & ignoring his store-neighbour's sage advice.
Not until the third act, of course!
Dustin Hoffman playing his dad was cute. And the reveal who he had hid as wasn't a surprise thanks to the pickle side-plot with Max's mum. Seems magic is radioactive and cured only by pickles- run with it!
A Jewish moral of always trusting your parents wisdom, even if they're absent! Maybe?
Felony (2013)
Great Aussie story!
An 80's corrupt detective drinks and drives, hitting a kid doing the paper rounds, leaving him in a coma. He lies & claims it was somebody else.
Meanwhile, an older, more corrupt detective is shadowed by a younger detective with stronger morals. Their stories collide.
Joel Edgerton, as detective Malcolm Toohey, had just taken a bullet to his vest for country and colours, but does that forgive his callous drink driving offence after that night's celebrations?
Jai Courtney, as Detective Jim Melic, needs a few lessons on teamwork, taking one for the team, and keeping mum when things go south. Tom Wilkinson's experienced Detective Carl Summer is tasked to impart his wisdom.
After seeing a kidnapper walk out of court, Carl's tolerance for the moral high ground grinds to a halt, vexing the young Jim. So when they happen upon Mal's accidental run-in with the soon-to-perish youngster, Jim is sent to patrol traffic while Carl sets Mal up to forego a conviction.
Lots of nods to police cliches, like the racist, misogynistic, and corrupt force. But an interesting dilemma of ethics appears through the stereotypes. Does a good man deserve the same punishment for an accidental, regretful, and lethal crime as a criminal with intent? Would taking an officer willing to run into danger for the greater good off the streets because he erred once better society? Even the mother that lost her son saw good in the guilty officer, or was she just fearful of the Police Union's retributional procedures?
Like all good movies should, this film leaves viewers questioning. The grey between good and bad, honest and deceiving, right and wrong, and guilt and forgiveness are explored and given new light in this meditative movie disguised as a crime thriller.
The noob with a lot to learn may have learnt the bad way when he's waiting for Mal with a coffee. A nod to how he began with Carl. But is Jim taking Mal to jail or visiting Carl, who's had a stroke?
The detailed conversation Carl had with Mal, that Jim viewed from a distance during the opening, is revisited and revealed in the third act, in detail. All the previous looks between Jim & Mal have to be seen in a new light with the information revealed so late in the tale.
Note to self: Rewatch it when you've forgotten the plot, but not the revelation!
Miss Sloane (2016)
Sounds like all politicians when they open their mouths!
Jessica Chastain is the title character: a lobbyist in the dirty American political system. 10 minutes in & already the best bit is the priest driving a nun home joke. Luke 14.10 "friend come up higher to reach glory".
The movie shines a light on the powerful gun owners association and their lobbying techniques. When Sloane jumps ship to support a bill to restrict weapons sales, like The Queen's Gambit, she plans her strategy 20 moves ahead. In her ruthless Masterplan, the collateral damage includes throwing a co-worker under the bus, disguised as media, and prison time for herself. A sacrifice she is willing to make to expose the corruption.
How many school shootings are necessary before any changes occur? That's the question the film poses and does not answer. And it's asking the women voters directly: What if it were your kid?
Oh! And there's a side story about Sloane's soliciting to discredit her, but it didn't work with this viewer. She chooses to sacrifice relationships for instant gratification: something many people with ADHD do. And if the job were so demanding as portrayed, who has time for love?! Miss Sloane only loves her success, no matter the emotional cost inflicted on herself or others. Which sounds like all politicians I've heard!
Civil War (2024)
Watch it again, in case!
Let's hope this wasn't made by the predictive team behind The Simpson's future revealing episodes as it's a bleak look at how far opinions lead us! It wasn't! Sat through this masterpiece, expecting something different on every turn. But I got exactly what I needed to see!
Had to hold my tongue until its BluRay release and time to rewatch it. The first time, I was breathless, and this time, I caught my breath. It's less about conflict and more about perceived purpose. The photographer seeking "the shot," the reporter getting the quote, the soldiers getting the killshot. Those that don't want to seek, settle in a bubble of their making, protected by their fearless, MK47-weilding cowboys!
The zombie-like emptiness and destruction contrasted sharply by the hanging bodies at the car wash, the dead body in Christmasland, or the pit of bodies in the harrowing racist soldier encounter. If Alex wanted to show the devestation, futility, and inhumanity of wars, this film completes the mission with colours!
The journalist's journey includes the ethical debate of how much they interfer in the product they seek. Lee's journey takes her a step backwards. She does what she predicted Jesse would do. Lead by example or learn from their mistakes!
Reptile (2023)
Snake charmers and sugar-water scammers
A thriller whodunit about a husband finding his girlfriend murdered in his living room. As a successful real estate agent, and with his mother's influence behind him, Will Grady (Timberlake) must continue his work and put the home up for sale.
A detective with a lot on his mind, Tom Nichols (Benicio) juggles duty with parenting and being a husband. Balls are dropped.
It's called another name for snake because the slimy real estate business and the dead girlfriend's ex are into drug dealing, maybe. Not everything is cut and dry as the film spins expectations and delves into dead ends that lede nowhere. Silverstone plays Only Murders in the Building crime-loving know-it-all helping her defacto detective solve his cases.
It's slow. It's not deep. Easy to follow and guess. Just seeing mother and son real estate partners is enough to judge harshly. Good performances, but thin characters. The storyline, no matter how you order the scenes, is flimsy at best.
The Substance (2024)
Can't a broad 'av a dream, Gov'n'er?
Demi Moore, we all know from Indecent Proposal, Showgirls, and more, and Margaret Qualley from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Poor Things fame are two halves of the same fame-hungry starlet.
The Fly, Showgirls, Multiplicity, Black Swan, An American Werewolf in London, Alien, The Swan, and Cocoon wrapped up in a bloody black bow.
Daryl Sparkes, my once-lecturer at USQ, spoke wonders of the film. Tilting his hat at everybody involved and pronosticating Oscar wins. He spoke of society's fickle obsession with youth, maintaining it, and looking as youthful as possible.
But I saw Demi's plastic breasts. As fake as her co-star, the younger, more perfect version, that had the op before hatching! Nothing youthful there. Then we have the fact that Sparkle lived a solitary, self-absorbed existence before the Substance, and she expected her younger, more perfect self, to share? How naive and selfish. Surrounded by a giant poster and billboard, visible from her lone lounge in front of her instrument of labour - the Idiot Box, she knew her Sparkle would cease to shine the day after she was fired! The man-hungry, sexier, more luscious self, Luxy, was the most extreme version of Sparkle's biggest traits. Attention seeking, fame obsessed, adoration wanting, single-minded workaholic. Luxy added the sex.
When one week just won't cut it, Luxy sacrifices her older self and goes for broke as the bad ass sex symbol. The Fly's worst FX can't prepare you for what comes next.
Award worthy? Cringe-worthy more accurately. Can't a broad 'av a dream, Gov'n'er?
Teacher (2019)
Bad bad view
Questionable ethics denoted in a film less about teaching and more about midlife crisis and the power that comes with money. It also touches on judgements we make about others without seeing the whole picture.
Without defending bullying, it shows sides of the debate not always mentioned. Bullying takes many forms, and strict parenting can be assessed as coercion, too. The dipiction of Tim Cooper's parent's hardwon riches and the push to raise a son befitting their accomplishments bellies the unspoken lessons imparted. The win at all costs attitude, warts and all!
From a couple of punched holes that causes his divorce, going through The Merchant of Venice's bipartison moral high grounds teaching lessons, the great wealth gap, and two students that capture his affections, this anti-hero's journey takes many roads less travelled!
The affected kids, a nerdy photographer and a Spanish-speaking migrant learning English as a Second Language, have stories of their own revealed in filmmaking shortcuts as events conspire to bring all four lives crashing down: Mr Lewis, Tom, Sheridon and Daniella, with Kevin Pollack's dad Cooper and Daniella's family as collaterally damaged!!
St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
The Cheap Dinner Club
St. Elmo is a bar named after the sailor's legend of fire lights in the sky leading them home. A fable to give hope when all is lost. Appropriate allegory of finding out all your dreams through university are pipes in the real world.
Billy Hicks, the stud turned player, unable to hold a job, impregnating a minor and fathering a child is played very loosely by Rob Lowe. Alec Newbury, the dedicated law student changing sides for money, admired by his naive girlfriend, despised by his best friend who's in love with her. The threesome of Judd Nelson (Alec), Ally Sheedy (Leslie), and Andrew McCarthy (Kevin) doesn't eventuate on screen but is alluded to at the end of the film. Demi Moore's character, Jules, is. A ditzy, hot brunette trying to sleep her way to the top contrasting starkly with Mare Winningham's role: Wendy wants to tie Billy down at all costs, forgoing her self-esteem and self-respect. A virgin obsessed with an out-of-control young adult. Speaking of, Emilio Estevez, playing the always-giggling Kirby, is a horrny young out of control stalker- obsessed with dating his junior year crush Dale, played by Andie Mac Dowell: as herself practically!
Like watching a steam train slam into a steel barricade, as a 51-year-old watching characters like my younger self make the same life-changing decisions I once made, triggered my curiosity until the end of the film.
Coming out in 1985, I was starting high school, watching Star Wars and Alf, and way too young to appreciate this film. Although I loved The Breakfast Club, containing many of the same actors, St. Elmo's Fire, like the lights in the sky, were out of reach in the Drama section of my local Video Rental Store. I only browsed Action, Comedy and Fantasy genres!
Cedar Rapids (2011)
'Fell short' falls short!
A film trying to prop up insurance brokers through the eyes of a simpleton. He befalls a speaking role at a conference in the title's "Crapids".
There, at the gathering of many agencies peddling the same grift, he meets a debauchery of characters.
Was it a comedy? Was it a success? Did it change our minds about scheming schmozos? Not here.
The late Anne Heche underplays a loose, married broker, broken by too much privilege. And the later John C. Reilly overplays, as usual, the sleazy, misunderstood and double-crossing antagonist. A little friction. A lot of booze. And not much action. 'Fell short' falls short!
Seriously Red (2022)
I'm in it! Nuff said!
Look for the handsome extra at the 46-minute mark when they are in Hong Kong, and at the hour and 21 minute where we're at Twin Towns Casino, Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia.
Seriously, it is a story about a loose canon becoming an independent woman when her strained mother-daughter relationship is further wedged when lies, costumes, and make-believe coalesce. Her journey is littered in let downs and undervalued courage. She meets pretenders who know who they are as she pretends to know who she wants to be dressed as her moral guide and idol, Dolly Parton.
When Red, the clumsy Real Estate Agent, burns bridges at a work party and becomes the woman she admires, to standing ovation, an impersonators' manager offers her a path out of her predicament. Out of the pot and into a saucepan as Red juggles her persona, wigs, and lacklustre breasts! Yes! Boob job to top off her transformation.
Knowing the actress also wrote this semiautobiographical comedy, and her bravura during the casino scenes at Tweed, elevates the film in my mind. Although there was a lot of film on the Cutting Room floor, as first hand witness to a bunch of takes that were unused, I can attest, the finished cut did the job in shorthand. It is a shame there is no bonus material to see what could have been.
Seeing her childhood best friend find happiness encourages Red to find hers, in the unlikeliest of places: a bar for trans impersonators! For those who do not understand metaphor, the shedding of her costume represents a new start. A new skin to take on the next project, whatever it may be.
Great performances by Daniel Webber: doing a spot-on Kenny Rogers; Celeste Barber: hilarious throughout, with an unfortunately cringe-worthy nickname, but her face in a Grease-like dream sequence takes the prize; and an Elvis impersonator that takes a few double takes to recognise, if you know the cast list! Even then, Elvis is a mystery in this film as in real life! Thomas Campbell unashamedly camp in his Bowie outfit, and a pleasure throughout. His voice is not heard, as Red drowns it out in her flamboyant fashion. And, finally, Bobby 'Antman's ex's new beau' Cannavale can also sing! His Lou Diamond impersonation deserves a whole outright movie with him headlining. It's that good! And on a personal note, Bobby: Sorry for not smiling and for looking like a dead mullet during your scene at the Hong Kong set. We'd been there since 4 a.m., and I was just sincerely in awe that you were in this small Aussie film being shot in my backyard...so to speak.
The scenes I'm referring occurred very late the night our nation closed its state borders due to the pandemic. I could have walked across the border to my home in Queensland, but I drove through the highway and got locked in as they were putting the barricades up. Took my a good long two hours to cross that invisible line! When I finally reached the officer that was getting a feel for the situation, he apologised that I had been waiting so long when they should have had two lanes, one to let QLD plates through, and the other to check the Blues' papers to cross over. He admitted to that, but it still took a long time to go home. This is why I think the filmmakers listed all of us extras in the credits! Thank you for that! Thank you, Krew, for sharing your story with the world! Well done!
The 355 (2022)
What Ocean's 8 should have been!
A worldwide intelligence inter-agency cooperation to stop deadly tech getting in the wrong-er hands. A whodunit that keeps you on your toes as which bad guy works for whom gets muddled by which nation's best female agent suspects whom. The CIA, Norwegian Intelligence, MI6, and China's version of a secret service have their best female agents on the hunt. The tech that changes hands as fast as a pack of cards in a magician's palm, has the power to control anything computerised and online: from city lights to airplanes, the gadget can turn them on and off like a child's toy!
It's up to the trained skills of these women to find the device before it gets sold to the worst villain. Double crossing abounds, but Cruz's fish out her league steals each scene she bumbles her way through, distracting this viewer from who stole what, where and how! The intent to have the two cop buddy feel, like Lethal Weapon (among so many others), falls very short, and yet the contrasting characters work fine, too. The black English IT guru and the Chinese undercover spy, although little used, add another texture to the action genre. It's the poise and smarts that other characters lack.
Bucky, Captain America's best friend (Sebastian Stan), Tom from Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (Jason Flemying), and Choco, from Domino (Edgar Ramírez) are the cameo-like appearances of the male cast, as this film is purposefully female lead. The title of this film honours a woman's role in a male-dominated industry. I believe she, the agent the title refers, deserves a whole film all to herself! Unfortunately, that is all I am willing to reveal, as the film does a better job at it.
Special features of the BluRay claim the film was made differently to the norm. Instead of writing the script with an actor in mind for the characters, the filmmakers asked the actors for a character, and wrote the script around their proposals. The outcome is a character with a specific set of skills used to the most efficient degree, by each one. So the IT nerd could hack anything, but her field work was rusty. The two Alphas, Mace and Marie, played coyly by Jessica Chastain and Diane Kruger, respectively, do a Tango and Cash waltz throughout the proceedings. Very stereotypical for male alphas, but kind of new in the female lead genre. The only bickering, whinging and whining came from the reluctant tag along: Penelope Cruz, though in a humorous fashion. Bingbing Fan, who played Blink in X-Men: Days of Future Past, plays the strict, serious, and warming personality of the Chinese force with much aplomb. Nobody will laugh at her act! Lupita Nyong'o, the mentioned IT guru Khadijah, renowned now from her magnificent role in Jordan Peele's Us, gives a subdued, quiet and intelligent take on an agent wanting to leave the field behind and concentrate on teaching or marrying or both. Her heart is not in the job at hand until she is forced to pay attention.
Some ruthless decisions by the 'bad guys' leave the ladies with only each other to rely on. With renewed vigor and strength, the rogue team of 5 wreck havoc in pursuit of the technology before catastrophe strikes.
Hopefully, unlike the A-Team, we can see these women work together again fighting crime!
Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)
Zachary is having the time of his life, and that's all that really matters in this film, I believe.
Looking at the forthcoming Flash reset, it pains me to think we may not see Shazam again. From the online gossip, the public didn't like the family unit portrayed. Too disjointed, maybe? I enjoyed the dynamic: especially when they mixed the young characters with their SHAZAM counterparts. When Pedro is saved by the little orphan, Annie in Shazam form was great writing (not her real character name: just drawing a comparison)!
Having just rewatched and reviewed Shazam! The jump in years was evident from the get-go. They've grown and are "growing out of" the system that funds the orphan lifestyle. No matter how important their family is to them, life goes on full steam ahead! Like a runaway train, Billy goes from solo to large-group-management in a flash and doesn't handle the responsibility to the best of his abilities. Case in point: Freddy Freeman's new-found fame as his Shazam persona, played perfectly by Adam Brody, is intefering with Billy's desire to control. Coming from a place of losing loved ones, Billy holds his new family a little too tightly. Cue the mirrored villains!
Atlas, one of the letters of the film's namesake, the sly dog that he was, had three daughters with varying mothers. The Daughters of Atlas, now released into our world, create havoc for the divided team. It's up to Billy Batson to defeat his insecurities and reunite the heroes he knows his siblings to be!
Meanwhile, the Charmed trio themselves, Hespera, Kalypso, and Anthea, are coming to terms with their father's demise and what legacy each wish to leave the mortals. The power struggle is evident, yet Billy fails to see the similarity until it's too late, or is it?
Time after time, when Billy, in either version, is confronted with a question of right or wrong, he always responds like a hero. That's what made him worthy to begin with! The Wizard cast a spell to fetch him a worthy candidate, and in this film, up against murdering demigods, we see how well that magic worked. When I saw Djimon "Amistad" Hounsou in the trailers, I thought it was going to be flashbacks. Boy! Wasn't I pleasantly surprised!? The levitas that he brings to The Wizard just barely balances the might and powerful performances of Atlas' Hesperides: Helen, Lucy, and Rachel. A stellar cast on both sides of the fence!
While the first Shazam dealt with Chosen Family, this second outing focused on individual versus teamwork ideals. As Billy tries leading, he becomes demanding and inconsiderate. Meanwhile, without a guide, the rest of the Shazam team are all doing their own thing. It will take a lot of give and take for them to get it together before it's too late, and the Golden Apple is planted in the wrong dimension! Oh! Nearly forgot to mention the dragon! There's a dragon, too!
My advice: don't let the sparce nod to mythology distract you from the fun, family adventure this film certainly is.
Shazam! (2019)
The allegory of hidden powers in relics transformed into a rollicking great time!
From religion to witchcraft, relic hunters can tell you about the artefacts said to be imbued with special powers or somebody's spirit. From these tales and the tombraiders' experiences, a tale of an exotic word, when uttered by the chosen vessel, is so powerful it could imbue 'the one' with the ancient powers of 7 Gods... (kind of like the Eternals meets the 10 rings, but not the same). The wisdom of Solomon: son of David in the Hebrew testament, but also a demon master in mythology; the strength of Hercules: the Roman equivalent of the greek Heracles; the courage of Achilles: with or without his heels; the power of Zeus: needs no introduction; the stamina of Atlas: who holds the world on his shoulders; and the speed of Mercury: the trickster with wings on his helmet; all join forces to combat the 7 demons who are named after sins. A mixmatch of religious, mythological, and pagan sources, the resulting hero is a Frankenstein of sorts. Parts from lots of beings held together by the purest heart of the orphaned Billy Baxter.
Pure of heart doesn't mean actions. It means intentions. Billy broke laws, but not with malice. His intentions were honest when disobeying the law in search of his lost mother. Or was it he who was lost in the fair? The dilemma haunts the boy's proceedings but does not impede him from acting in the best ethical manner: defending the weakest from big bullies.
When Billy Batson is taken in by a motley crew of former and current foster children and adults, not only has he to learn how to fit the Shazam suit's responsibility, but more importantly, Billy must learn to love back. His lessons come thick and fast when a super-villian shows up to claim what he was denied as a child. The prologue, in which Thaddeus has an unsuccessful audition with the Wizard, ignites a life-long quest to find the way back to it. When he finally confronts the Wizard and gets his hands on an artefact, he releases the 7 monsters: Pride, Greed, Gluttony, Lust, Envy, Wrath and Sloth. Now he has their powers and can direct their actions, or can he? The journey of the villian, as interesting and circumstantial as Billy's own, differs in one major way. One works alone, and the other learns to trust his family. And, yet, children, no matter how many, cannot go up against a powerful adult warlock unless they unite. And so the battle unfolds with lightning and quick-thinking minds.
The side story of the bully brothers, a foreshadowing, maybe, of Billy's character and heart.
The only thought that nagged at me is that now Billy shares his powers and responsibilities with his 5 new siblings, we know very little of their past, and present is brushed over too quick to decide. If any of them were sacrificed in the fight with monsters, would the audience shed a tear? Hopefully, with further chapters, we can learn to love them as much as we do both versions of Billy (the boy and the manchild in tights) and their actors by osmosis (Asher Angel & Zachary Levi)!
Some fun post-credit scenes that today, coming from seeing Fury of the Gods, didn't get their pay-off, fully, yet. The worm and the headless body promised a cameo or more from the DCEU and a great, little, viallian from Venus.
Shazam! Is a very light, fun, action-packed popcorn film that reminds me of a mix of 80's classics: The Greatest American Hero: a hilarious television show; and Tom Hank's film: Big, there's even a nod to the piano scene! It also reminds this old man of a show I watched as a youngster. The cartoon had a couple of teen superheroes and a monkey. The Wonder Twins, Google kindly told me, had some similar situational comedy moments. Let's be honest, it's not as deep and disturbing as The Dark Knight, nor as silly as Batman & Robin: the OTT Schumacher fiasco. Maybe it's DC's response to Ragnarok (2017)? Maybe somewhere along the path of rounding out great stories... after the proposed Flashpoint reset.
Four Good Days (2020)
Tough loving never looked so mean!
Mila Kunis, Glenn Close, and lots of familiar faces doing an independent film about a topic quite painful and ignored. A once loving family is destroyed by the addiction and despair caused by illicit drugs.
Watching Mila's amazing performance, her transformation into a film star, no longer That ditzy 70's Show teen, was truly great! She somehow exudes addiction, the main issue of her character, from her eyes! The look of fear, desperation, and pain in Mila's acting couldn't have been any better! Believable to the extent we suffer her mum's heartbreak! And when the shock of seeing Glenn's facelift up close wears off, you'll be able to focus on the strength it took this character, the mother, to withstand her daughter's addiction. A drama so well done it felt like a documentary about real-life families!
Citizen Kane (1941)
Recommended amongst cinephiles, ignored, unnecessarily, otherwise!
Brilliant black and white film, but very grey subject matters as it's not about wealth, though it prevails throughout, nor is it about privilege, though that resonates, too. It's about orphans and parenting!
The title character is sold during the great depression to a rich industrialist who provided him the best education money could buy. With that advantage, Charles uses one of the businesses left him, a Newspaper, to tell truths that those who raised him would prefer not widely circulated.
Unfetted, unwarranted incontrolable greed, and the injust cretins that manage it do what they please, as Kane's parents learn. Bit like now if you ask me!
Very Finch or Memento in the distorted storytelling and editing style.
Agnes Moorehead, the mean witch slash mother-in-law in Bewitched, is the equally selfish mother that sold her son. But was Mary really selfish, or was she looking out for his well-being? The mortality rate in that time was low but much lower for people in Mary's situation. Putting the film in the time it was made gives its meaning much more power. That a real rich person thought the movie was about him gave the film the publicity it needed! William Randolph Hearst's castle, long-running newspaper, political ambition, and wives are the similarities. Hearst inherited his fortune from his father, unlike the story in the film.
In today's view, it's all been done. But Citizen Kane was first in so many categories it's difficult to list all. Storytelling is its best feature, then cinematography, make-up and editing! A film that, unfortunately, is recommended among cinephiles, ignored unnecessarily, otherwise!