Spider-Man: Far from Home - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

‘Spider-Man: Far from Home’ doesn’t stray from Marvel’s Midas touch

Directed by:  Jon Watts

Written by:  Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers

Starring:  Tom Holland, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jacob Batalon, Zendaya, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Marisa Tomei, and Jon Favreau

“Spider-Man: Far from Home” – Peter Parker (Tom Holland) needs a break.

 This teenager fought alongside Tony Stark, became an Avenger, traveled into deep space, battled a purple-skinned, 8-foot Titan, died with half the universe’s population, and – five years later - came back to life.  If you have not seen “Avengers: Endgame” (2019), this critic will not reveal any more spoilers from that film’s colossal closing chapter on the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) first 11 years.

Yes, “Endgame” delivered a spectacular ending, with all the madness and pomp and circumstance of a trifecta-trip to an amusement park, a rock concert and The World Cup…all rolled up into one evening. 

By contrast, “Spider-Man: Far from Home” is the morning after. 

Peter is back in Queens.  He lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and takes classes at Midtown High School.  Life has been a whirlwind, and Peter hopes that a Midtown-sponsored European class trip is a healthy and healing dose of calmer life-weather.  Quite frankly, MCU fans could use a tonal shift too, and director Jon Watts (“Spider-Man: Homecoming” (2017), “Cop Car” (2015)) delivers a needed change of pace in this very good superhero film that also doubles as a lively comedy with (a little more than) a pinch of teenage romance.

It’s been five years and eight months since Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) snap, and although this film is set in the near-future, the soundtrack takes a time warp into the past.  With music that includes yesterdecade-acts like The Ramones and The Go-Go’s, these groovy sounds match the script with plenty of breezy high school banter between Peter and his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), Flash (Tony Revolori), MJ (Zendaya), and teachers Mr. Harrington (Martin Starr) and Mr. Bell (J.B. Smoove).  Many of the quips connect, especially with Peter and Ned’s philosophical analysis of the dating-world.  Mr. Harrington and Mr. Bell show stunningly-bad chaperone-ineptitude, as the teachers basically play into a clueless-adult schtick from almost every teenage comedy over the last 40 years, from “Better Off Dead…” (1985) to “Booksmart” (2019).  Admittedly, some of their hopeful moments fall a little flat. 

Meanwhile, Peter hopes that his plans for a romantic jumpstart with MJ in Paris don’t fall flat.  This restless teenager simply wants to hang out with his friends and win over the girl, but Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) have other ideas.  They need his help along with a brand new superhero, Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal).  This man-of-mystery, dubbed as Mysterio, sports an opaque crystal ball as a helmet, a metallic-green suit, a maroon cape, and a can-do attitude.  He needs a positive outlook, because he dukes it out with four 100-foot creatures called Elementals.  No, you won’t find Philip Bailey, but Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water are represented, and these creatures wreak havoc over European hotspots like Venice. 

The film successfully dangles a pair of heated emotional pulls that tug at Peter:  the slow healing process from his recent time/space rollercoaster and the current crossroads between high school adolescence and superhero responsibilities.  When love fills a teenager’s head, crowbarring other life-plans into purview may prove nearly-impossible, and Fury and Hill don’t hold the right keys to unlock the power of persuasion.

Holland, 23, needs no persuading to convince (most) moviegoers that he perfectly captures Peter’s challenges to process his clashes with Thanos, face future responsibilities and cope with the painfully-real teen angst of butterfly feelings.  These latter moments are complete with stolen glances and awkward conversations, and Zendaya allows MJ to let her guard down with Peter, as their energy travels into warmer spaces.  Peter’s relationship with Happy (Jon Favreau) evolves too, because Stark’s best friend nicely lightens up on Marvel’s youngest protagonist. 

“Spider-Man: Far from Home” certainly is a lighter affair than the two-part “Infinity War” saga but it is not without some enormous special effects and highly-kinetic sequences.  Watts, Holland and the cast and crew hand MCU fans a 2-hour 9-minute chance to ease into a Marvel Phase 3 denouement, regroup for Phase 4 and - more importantly - watch our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man grow from his European vacation, even though it is not the break that he expected. 

(3/4 stars)

Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008, graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and is a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic. Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.

Annabelle Comes Home - Movie Review by Ben Cahlamer

Directed by: Gary Dauberman

Screenplay by: Gary Dauberman

Story by: Gary Dauberman and James Wan

Starring: Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga

There’s an inherent curiosity in horror films that has drawn me toward them as an adult; perhaps it’s the carnage, or maybe the mayhem that ensues. Perhaps I’m just demented with a macabre sense of humor - the horror films that I avoided as a kid are more than a passing interest for me. I’m drawn into them more for the technical aspects of the filmmaking.

First time director Gary Dauberman has extensive background on this film’s antagonist and horror in general having written “Annabelle,” “Annabelle Creation,” “It” and “The Nun”. Yet, when I reflect on “Annabelle Comes Home,” I am left with an empty feeling.

No, the empty feeling is not the glass case used to house Annabelle. My feeling has more to do with the fact that Dauberman’s narrative structure, who co-wrote the story with series’ producer James Wan, felt exceptionally limp.

Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, respectively) are an integral part of the story, as they bring Annabelle to rest. Knowing that simply locking Annabelle in a box is insufficient, the Warrens have a priest’s holy blessing to keep Annabelle’s evil at bay.

The Warrens focus on their family while continuing their demonology exploits. Their grown-up daughter, Judy (Mckenna Grace) has become the subject of ridicule at school because of her parents, but a protective neighbor, Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) defends her, while Daniela (Katie Sarife) marvels after the idea of what the Warren’s do for a living.

The Warrens leave Judy in Mary Ellen’s care for an overnight and that’s when the fun begins. I say fun because Annabelle Comes Home has an exceptionally strong fun-house atmosphere. Sure, some of the jump scares are probably a little tried and true, but once Annabelle is on the loose, the women’s worlds are turned upside down and inside out. I found myself surprised a number of times too.

And, I don’t like surprises.

Mckenna Grace’s performance is the highlight of the film. She had an innocence about her that amped up the tension while at the same time, the character’s innocence was reserved because she knew what her parents did for a living, despite many attempts to shield her from their work. Madison Iseman did an effective job at playing coy and then getting creeped out by the whole experience.

My biggest disappointment and the reason why I think the film doesn’t work as well as it could is with Daniela. Katie Sarife’s performance was strong, but the character’s motivations weren’t believable and this is a fundamental issue with the story.

I suppose for the time the film is set in and her own situation, the context makes sense, but the bond between the three girls doesn’t gel.

“Annabelle Comes Home” works on a technical level, but the story leaves a lot to be desired. Still, this film has me curious about the rest of the “Conjuring” universe that Warners has embarked on and I’m looking forward to what the future holds.

2 out of 4 stars

Toy Story 4 - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Dir: Josh Cooley

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Joan Cusack, Christina Hendricks, and Keanu Reeves

1995. That was the year Disney and Pixar Animation Studios released an animated film that would reshape how the animation movie would be developed. “Toy Story” is a seminal cartoon classic, a film that has aged with the many young people who experienced it first in the 90’s.

For those who may have been children in 1995, the “Toy Story” franchise has been a continuing saga of storytelling; moving cowboy Woody, spaceman Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the toys through the entire childhood of Andy, who grew up and gave his toys to another young person named Bonnie who could restart the journey. It’s an accomplished feat of storytelling, a journey filled with fun adventures, countless laughs, boundless amounts of love, and ageless life lessons.

So, it’s surprising that the tale continues with “Toy Story 4” more than 20 years after the release of the initial film. The quality that exists in this extended story is that many of those young children who first watched “Toy Story” now have the opportunity to take their young children to experience these characters on the big screen again. After the near perfection of “Toy Story 3” it would seem like there is no other way to take the story of Woody and Buzz in a direction that would be satisfying enough to not tarnish the quality of the trilogy that came before it. Worry not, “Toy Story 4” is exactly what you are expecting it will be, but it is also something unexpectedly different in surprising ways.

Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), and the rest toys are going on a road trip. But they have a new friend, Forky (Tony Hale), that Bonnie (Madeleine McGraw) crafted during her first day at school. The new adventure has Woody taking care of Bonnie’s new favorite toy Forky, who is consistently trying to escape. During the journey, however, Woody has an unexpected reunion with a long-lost friend Bo Peep (Annie Potts) and encounters a new toy named Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks) who has devious plans.

Pixar has crafted these animated worlds with such precision and meticulous detail that it’s starting to blur the visual lines between what is real and what is manufactured. A colorful carnival at night with glistening and glowing lights, a dusty antique store filled with cobwebs and creepy ventriloquist dolls, and an aggressive feline who purrs as honest as it hisses are exceptionally composed works of animation. It’s simply beautiful to see these worlds operate.

“What happens when playtime is over”? This narrative theme plays throughout the film, specifically with the character of Woody who has been replaced, almost completely, as the favorite toy of Bonnie’s. The story does a nice job of leaving the home, building a fun road trip adventure that veers in and out of situations with old friends while supplying new friends to fill some necessary spaces for Woody’s character development.

It’s within the journey of Woody and the new struggle he is having with the relationship of his purpose as a toy that the most interesting elements of “Toy Story 4” begin to take shape. It’s reflective and somewhat melancholic in a way that connects on numerous levels for viewers who grew up with the content but also for those new to the story. That’s the joy of good storytelling, it connects with people in different and unique ways. Whether the elements related to understanding the role parents have when adapting to the maturation of children or the aspect of being brave while understanding fear for young children, it’s a nice composition.

The “Toy Story” franchise has been around for a long time. Children have grown into teenagers who have grown into adults and may have young children of their own now, that’s the best part of having this new tale available now, as an opportunity to experience cinema together as a family. “Toy Story 4” is a film you may not have wanted, but rest assured it’s a film that you will be happy you got.

Monte’s Rating
4.25 out of 5.00

Toy Story 4 - Movie Review by Ben Cahlamer

Directed by: Josh Cooley

Screenplay by: Stephany Folsom and Andrew Stanton

Story by: John Lasseter, Rashida Jones, Will McCormack, Josh Cooley, Valerie LaPointe, Martin Hynes, Stephany Folsom, Andrew Stanton

Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) could have very well gone off in to the sunset with “Toy Story 3” and the world would have been okay.

Pixar had other designs for the characters who filled Andy’s life with joy. “Toy Story 4” continues in that tradition with grace, laughs and a genuine moment of self-reflection.

Many might see another adventure as a ploy to pull on the heartstrings, and the cash, of those who have been with the films since Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” played to audiences’ delight. That theme still resonates through “Toy Story 4.” Andy has gone off to college and to greater things. Bonnie has taken on the responsibility of caring for the toys.

Bonnie, who is at that preschooler age, is preoccupied with her dolls and cowgirls rather than cowboys and astronauts, but is no less aware of the fact that the hand-me-downs from Andy are a part of her life when her introduction to kindergarten is thrust upon her. She is initially resistant, but her parents know what Woody reluctantly acknowledges; that this is a part of the growing process and is ultimately necessary.

What surprised me about “Toy Story 4” is that it expands on what has come before, without changing our perception of what’s come before. The screenplay by Stephany Folsom and Andrew Stanton, story by John Lasseter, Rashida Jones, Will McCormack, Josh Cooley, Valerie LaPointe, Martin Hynes, Folsom and Stanto, treats this story with kid gloves especially as we go along with Bonnie (Madeline McGraw) to her first day. We see the growing pains with trying to integrate, socially, with other kids: we don’t make it easy on one another, which is why we take comfort in our toys.

In a moment of inspiration, Bonnie creates Forky (Tony Hale), who becomes her special friend. The herd is perfectly willing to integrate Forky, but Forky doesn’t understand what it’s like to be loved. It takes a great adventure like a late summer family vacation to make the point stick, which leads us to a whole host of new characters and some familiar friends.

Nothing about “Toy Story 4” is somber. The forward – looking story weaves our existing characters into its threads and themes, and in a very exciting way, so as not to be a continuation of the original trilogy, but as an extension of it. This is Woody’s story and some very adult themes come about as a result. It isn’t overbearing in that regard. We’re happy to see Bo Peep (Annie Potts) make a return in this film, who I found to be the most evolved of the characters, giving Woody a new outlook on what being a toy is really all about.

Forky’s existential crisis is also treated with a light touch, enough so that kids of all ages (yes, even this one) could grasp the concept. In an interesting contrast, where Bonnie was left to fend for herself in the classroom, Woody helped Forky adjust into their world; it was a nice touch that gave Forky more development and allows Woody to discover himself.

Of all the characters for this new film, the grandest was Duke Caboom, voiced by Keanu Reeves. There was cinematic joy in seeing yet another forgotten toy come back to life in a meaningful, and Canadian way. That’s no easy feat for a story where the main human character was missing.

Then again, the heart of “Toy Story” has always been Woody.

“Toy Story 4” is poetic in this regard. It is not a direct sequel to Andy’s adventures with Woody and Buzz, but the incredible storytellers at Pixar managed to cook up something new and brilliant with beautiful animation at its heart.

3.75 out of 4

Hudson - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

‘Hudson’ offers simple pleasures, warm smiles and a couple of gentle tears. 

Directed by:  Sean D. Cunningham

Written by:  Sean D. Cunningham and Gregory Lay

Starring:  David Neal Levin, Gregory Lay and Mary Catherine Greenawalt

“Hudson” – Talk to any random group of New York City residents – especially those born and raised in The Big Apple – about Upstate New York, and four out of five will say, “Upstate isn’t really New York.” 

Technically, they are wrong, but culturally, those blokes and blokettes have a point.  The City sports over 8 million residents in just 300 square miles.  It has Broadway, Chinatown, Greenwich Village, Wall Street, Yankees baseball (and 27 World Series championships), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and great pizza.

Meanwhile, in between Syracuse, Albany, Rochester, and Buffalo, Upstate features never-ending stretches of rolling hills filled with deciduous trees.  You’ll also drive by an occasional red barn, a cider mill, a local garage named Al’s Automotive, and a confusing network of somewhat-maintained country roads that have more curves than Jason Momoa and Christina Hendricks on a joint-calendar shoot. 

Yes, director/co-writer Sean D. Cunningham’s “Hudson” features a clash of philosophies between Downstate and Upstate but not with earthshaking bombardments between tribes, factions and armies.  He reunites two cousins - who live in the aforementioned opposing worlds – in a road trip comedy/drama, complete with simple pleasures, warm smiles and a couple gentle tears. 

As the film opens, 30-something Ryan (Gregory Lay) takes a train from NYC to Small Town, U.S.A.  Ryan – a hip actor who lives in the Village - has some downtime, so he visits his cousin Hudson (David Neal Levin).  They haven’t seen each other in ages and have an initial awkward reunion, as Hudson’s recluse-persona immediately stands out.  He is a mellow, kindhearted soul but dons a bathrobe in the middle of the day, shares numerous Haikus and races his remote control car around the living room and mentions, “I have a few more laps to get in.” 

Hudson’s genial nature sincerely draws in the audience through an inherent contrast, as this puzzling, droll character places us in complete ease but delivers the most unexpected commentary, similar to “Saturday Night Live’s ‘Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey’”, but more childlike.  For instance, Hudson picks up Chinese takeout and says, “I hope you like food.” 

Well, the camera doesn’t just like Levin.  It loves him, and he shares its adoration with Mary Catherine Greenawalt who plays a free spirit named Sunrise.  For reasons that will not be revealed in this review, the cousins hop into a burgundy/brownish Volvo and hit the road to address a family matter, but – along the way – they pick up Sunrise out of necessity, despite Ryan’s reservations.  Since Ryan’s frequent impatience clashes with Hudson’s laidback attitude, Sunrise plays an important buffer, as this misfit-triad heads to a place called Cherry Ridge.  Incidentally, one would be hard-pressed to find a ridge of any kind at the said location, but that’s not the point. 

The point, instead, is to enjoy the journey and the small conversations.  Ryan and Hudson reminisce about their preadolescent days and Sunrise shares her dreams and history, while they drive on the winding asphalt, surrounded by vibrant orange and red hues.  Cunningham also ensures that the three crunch on beds of leaves in the woods, a common Upstate practice.

You don’t have to be from the East Coast to embrace “Hudson”, just a moviegoer who appreciates a small, earnest story about family, as a temporary break from special effects-laden blockbusters.  Family undercurrents, of course, can be naturally complex, and these cousins share a surprising layer of gravitas in addition to inconsequential, one-sided arguments but also cordiality, as a beautiful score - that feels like the best of SiriusXM’s Coffee House station – keeps our toes tapping.     

Yes, Levin, Lay, Greenawalt, and Cunningham are completely dialed-in during this stroll through Upstate, as the film’s simple pleasures, warm smiles and a couple of gentle tears are most certainly real.

(3/4 stars)

Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008, graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and is a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic.  Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.

The Fall of the American Empire - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

‘The Fall of the American Empire’ does not have highs and lows

Written and directed by: Denys Arcand

Starring:  Alexandre Landry, Maripier Morin and Remy Girard

“The Fall of the American Empire” - Three numbers:  .1, 188 and 90.

The richest .1 percent of Americans earn 188 times as much as the bottom 90 percent, according to a 2017 study featured on inequality.org.  The 2019 numbers surely have grown more disproportionate, but if one thinks that the U.S. is the only country with such frightening statistics, the answer is no.  Include Canada too.

Set in Montreal, writer/director Denys Arcand (“The Barbarian Invasions” (2003)) disburses “The Fall of the American Empire”, an economic inequality commentary delivered by a comedy-caper storyline.  Unfortunately, the film is void of amusing, thrilling and dramatic highs and lows, as its tone and pacing remain flat for nearly the entire 2-hour 7-minute runtime.

Well, the movie does have some curious moments, and yes, Arcand’s moral-messaging somewhat-connects - albeit via repeated and obvious didactic deliveries - but the overall narrative fails to deliver big payoffs.  

Our hero Pierre-Paul (Alexandre Landry) certainly feels the need for a big payoff, both emotionally and financially.  He graduated with a PhD in philosophy, but rather than teach, he earns more delivering packages for Col Par, which resembles UPS’s Canadian first cousin.

During a middle-of-the-day stop at a strip mall, he witness the aftermath of a robbery gone wrong, and two bulky duffle bags full of money lay at his feet.  Rather than hand the nylon sacks of treasure to the police, Pierre-Paul quickly tosses them into his Col Par truck.

Despite his questionable – but understandable – ethical choice, Pierre-Paul - otherwise - lives by a strong moral code that compliments his pragmatic view of the world, born from his university-learned philosophic insights.  He’ll justify his decisions throughout the picture with his ex-girlfriend Linda (Florence Longpre), new business partner Sylvain ‘The Brain’ Bigras (Remy Girard) and love interest Camille (Maripier Morin) by quoting various intellectuals like Ludwig Wittgenstein or Marcus Aurelius.

Arcand lays out a path for Pierre-Paul’s ultimate destination along with the mechanics of institutionally-hiding a heaping pile of dirty money.  Pierre-Paul steps out of his comfort zones of commercial deliveries and complaints of modern society’s shortcomings and into criminal and banking universes, as his natural naiveté drags him into trouble, but his philosopher training lifts him up.  Although these big-money worlds help shape Pierre-Paul’s new perspective, experienced moviegoers have frequently faced familiar criminal and comedy storylines through hours and hours of “Law & Order” and “The A-Team” episodes, but this feature film is missing the late-Jerry Orbach and Mr. T.   Ah, if only…

Well, the clichés wouldn’t be complete without police detectives hot on Pierre-Paul’s trail, but they casually stroll into homes and businesses to interview forgettable mob bosses, their underlings and our hero with all the excitement of people-watching in a nearly-empty shopping mall.  

The most engaging aspect of “The Fall of the American Empire” is Pierre-Paul’s volunteer work with the homeless.  This is Arcand’s connection to the haves and have-nots dichotomy, but other than a couple random conversations with one displaced man, we don’t learn a whole lot about Pierre-Paul’s friends who frequent the soup kitchen.

Maybe Pierre-Paul will successfully hide the money in offshore accounts.  Maybe he won’t. Don’t know if it matters a whole lot, but while reading this review, the richest .1 percent earned an even bigger piece of the economic pie.  Oh well. Which ancient televisions shows are available to stream, and when does the mall close?

(1.5/4 stars)

Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008, graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and is a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic.  Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.

The Last Black Man in San Francisco - Movie Review by Ben Cahlamer

Directed by: Joe Talbot

Screenplay by: Joe Talbot and Rob Richert

Story by: Jimmie Fails and Joe Talbot

Starring: Jimmie Fails, Jonathan Majors, Danny Glover, Tichina Arnold, Rob Morgan, Mike Epps, Finn Whitrock, Thora Birch

Joe Talbot’s “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” is not what you think it is, and that’s only the beginning of a beautiful journey which slowly unfolds through strong characters and themes that will resonate with audiences for years to come.

The story, based on Jimmie Fails’ own life has a harmony about it as a man who works to preserve his heritage in the form of a house his grandfather built.  The home, a Victorian mansion in the Fillmore District serves as the centerpiece of gentrification, of love, of family, of self.

Fails who plays himself in his own story is sublime. There is a determination about the way he goes in the story. He’s committed to restoring his legacy. His friend, Montgomery Allen (Jonathan Majors) is an artist and has a unique view of the world, a layer that shapes the direction the story takes us. Neither Fails nor Montgomery are employed, but they share a room together along with Montgomery’s grandfather, Allen played by Danny Glover.

Joe Talbot, who won the Sundance Best Directing award for his debut film along with a Special Jury Prize for Creative Collaboration, uses his entire pallete to slowly unveil the details behind the story. The pacing is purposeful, but is never distracting. The key to this story is in the details and its unique twists and turns needed the pacing to be spot on. Talbot enlisted the help of David Marks, who edited “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far” for Gus Van Sant last year as they ease us into the shifting tides of the Bayfront area where Jimmie and Montgomery live to the Fillmore District where the house stands.

As a character, Fails is quiescent allowing Talbot and co-screenwriter Rob Richert to move the story forward through visual cues rather than dialogue. Within the calm, quiet demeanor, Fails also uses his body language with a fervor and a passion. We know what he wants, we understand why he wants it and the story ultimately and painfully explains the ramifications of his actions.

The emotion of pain is manifested in several, beautiful ways in this film as we learn more about Jimmie through his father, James Sr. (Rob Morgan). There’s a playfulness about James Sr, but when it comes to Jimmie and the house, he becomes very serious as we learn the lessons of how the Bay Area has changed over the years, and continues to change.

If asked today what my favorite movie of 2019 is, Joe Talbot’s “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” sits at the top of that list. It is magnetic, literally poetry in motion. From Talbot’s unique point of view to the entire ensemble and the technical team behind the camera, I can easily understand why this film won the awards it did at Sundance.

4 out of 4 stars

5B - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

Hospital Ward ‘5B’ is a heartbreaking and inspirational destination

Directed by:  Paul Haggis and Dan Krauss

Starring:  Alison Moed Paolercio, Cliff Morrison, David Denmark, Mary Magee, Rita Rockett, Hank Plante, and Dr. Paul Volberding

“5B” – “I was ready, but I was scared.” - Alison Moed Paolercio, Ward 5B nurse manager

In 1981, the AIDS crisis frightened the nation.  San Francisco and other U.S. metropolitan centers became ground zero, and this mysterious disease – born from unknown causes - was horribly labeled Gay Cancer.

Out of nowhere, young gay men developed ghastly skin lesions, as the disease pulverized their immune system into dust.  Soon after – sometimes within a month – their bodies followed suit.

How is AIDS contracted?  How is it spread? Blood transfusions became a known cause for transmission, but varying degrees of more casual contact, including touching, were open questions.

“The director of nursing (at) San Francisco General (Hospital) said, ‘We have to do something,’ and I said, “Okay, I’ll do it.’”  – Cliff Morrison, Ward 5B nurse

Despite the risks, San Francisco General Hospital formed Ward 5B in 1983, the first AIDS ward in the country, and a number of healthcare workers elected to face their fears along with those who didn’t have a choice: their patients.

To some, the early 1980s might feel like another lifetime ago, and directors Paul Haggis and Dan Krauss became modern-day historians with their solemn but also vastly inspirational documentary “5B”.  They not only found truly remarkable Ward 5B footage from the period, but they also interviewed the men and women who helped form and ran this new humanitarian wing of the hospital.

“You have to get out of the mode that you’re here for curing people and really get into the mode that you’re here to care for people.” – Mary Magee, Ward 5B nurse recites the advice from fellow nurse David Denmark.

With countless patients facing certain death, Magee, Morrison, Paolercio, Denmark, and other nurses stood on the front lines and not only cared for these young men, but sat with and held them as well in a radical approach to hospital care, but one that seemed imperative.

In 2019, knowingly hugging someone with HIV might feel as benign as a simple job interview handshake, but Haggis and Krauss – from the get-go - offer so much dated footage of bedridden, sickly-thin young men who sport looks of either absolute bewilderment or dread, that the filmmakers push us into this time capsule, where confusion and fear are exceedingly real.  Anguish is another emotion, especially when the ages – like 23 or 26 - of some patients are randomly revealed…when we least expect it.

Haggis and Krauss also create a surreal duality between the 1980s and today, because Magee, Paolercio, Morrison, Denmark, and Dr. Paul Volberding not only speak about those times in present-day, but we also repeatedly see them in Ward 5B as young people, sans their current gray hair and earned crow’s feet.  

In deeply meaningful ways, their 2019 selves become anchors or lifelines for moviegoers, because their seasoned perspectives and reflections on their historic 5B work help arm us a bit when the screen turns back the clock to a very different time.  A time when AIDS was not understood, even by the most dedicated Ward 5B workers, who at first didn’t know if they would contract the disease when offering basic medical care.

“So much in life is not what you say or what you do.  It’s how you make people feel.” – Rita Rockett, Ward 5B volunteer

In many circles throughout the country, intolerance for AIDS patients and gay communities grew, and “5B” spends some stretches exploring these views.  These needed moments offer an accurate framework for the decade, but naturally, the individual stories within the ward are the most affecting and rewarding, and these personal memoirs also deliver a pair of real surprises that raised gasps during the June 12 Phoenix Film Society screening.  

It shouldn’t be a surprise that similar inhales, gulps and tears will find their way into a “5B” showing near you.  Silence, heartbreak and inspiration, however, might be the prevailing emotions felt, after witnessing these scared souls – both the patients and nurses of Ward 5B – bravely staring into the abyss…together.

(3.5/4 stars)

Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008, graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and is a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic.  Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.

Shaft - Movie Review by Ben Cahlamer

Directed by: Tim Story

Screenplay by: Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow

Based on “Shaft” by: Ernest Tidyman

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Jessie Usher, Regina Hall, Alexandra Shipp, Richard Roundtree

Before my screening of Tim Story’s “Shaft,” I went to work on revisiting the private eye’s legacy because that’s what you might be inclined to think that this latest iteration is all about.

In a way, you’d be right. The latest “Shaft” is about legacy.

Based on the characters created by Ernest Tidyman, screenwriters Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow tapped the essence of the stories and characters that have come before this film; the nuances of what made Shaft such a bad mother . . . . I’m just gonna shut my mouth.

The story also modernizes the character for the next generation.

In this regard, Tim Story offers a modernized Shaft in an expected way. The trailer that riffed on the comedic aspects of the film and the banter between Samuel L. Jackson and Jessie T. Usher is not misrepresented.

It’s not the whole story though.

If anything the film has a level of intelligence and thoughtfulness with respect to the characters and their situations. Admittedly, this film’s set up doesn’t necessarily work as well as it could have, but it did serve as a way to reintroduce us to Jackson’s John Shaft II, the role he originated in John Singleton’s Shaft 2000. Director Story starts the film in 1988 and an incident separating him from his wife and their son, John Jr.

Story treats us to a montage over the opening credits, evoking a feel of the time the character originated; you feel a sense of nostalgia as the montage shows Shaft’s attempts to be in John, Jr’s (JJ) life along with scenes from 2000 interspersed in between new footage.

Usher plays JJ, the younger Shaft, an FBI data analyst. He’s immediately shot down when he puts himself in the running for a big case (one that, ironically doesn’t need visibility) forcing JJ to act meek. Usher’s performance in these early scenes exude what the world thinks a typical millennial is: technology forward and incapable of standing up for themselves. I’m generalizing for the benefit of the story, which is the film’s second issue.

There’s a running gag about JJ’s sexual preference, which got to be a bit too much; a fundamental problem with the script as it tries to balance the values of the elder Shaft with those of the younger Shaft who has been coddled to the point where he can’t defend himself nor speak to women. Story, Barris and Barnow intended this to be a contrast between the two characters as a way to connect them. In the context of layering the legacy, this contrast works.

The contrast also tries to “teach an old dog new tricks” as JJ enlists Shaft’s help to uncover the mysterious circumstances of JJ’s friend, Karin’s (Avan Jogia) death. JJ is the stiff lipped son who thinks his dad bailed on him. Shaft tries to teach his son how to release the energy that’s preventing him from being himself. There’s a scene in a bar where the younger Shaft breaks out some swift fighting moves. The elder Shaft asks him where he learned his moves and the quick response was, “Mom.” Unfortunately, this joke is only the start of the condescending nature of the story.

The story tragically uses the guise of a detective story to lead us to Richard Roundtree’s Shaft along with the story’s villain. By this time, the comedic banter between father and son and the various contrasts between generations, exhaustion sets in because the villain and the conflict mean very little to the overall context of the story. Perhaps that’s the film’s point: ambiguity rules the day with multiple layers which obfuscate the truth.

48 years ago, Gordon Parks’s Shaft electrified audiences. It was a simplistic story by today’s standards. Tidyman used the characters and their environment to elevate the story. You believed Richard Roundtree was a badass who could handle himself. That’s what made John Singleton’s 2000 reboot a success: Samuel L. Jackson uses the same level of badassery, but his was born out of frustration with the system. In Tim Story’s Shaft, JJ’s instincts are coaxed out of him as the story moves forward, as if each piece of the puzzle feels like breadcrumbs leading him to the prize.

The clichéd nature of the storytelling in this Shaft and the condescending banter, which felt more like a buddy cop story than a father-son bonding, misses its target.

1.5 out of 4

Dark Phoenix - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Photo Credit: Doane Gregory TM & © 2019 Marvel & Subs. TM and © 2019 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.

Dir: Simon Kinberg

Starring: Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Evan Peters, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Jessica Chastain

Before “The Avengers”, before “The Justice League”, before “Spider-Man”, the foundation for the modern era model for comic book movie franchises was started with a 2000 film called “X-Men”. Nineteen years later and the X-Men have gone from wrapping up one storyline to rebooting the entire series of characters altogether, the twelfth installment of the long-standing franchise concludes once again with the film “Dark Phoenix”.

Director Simon Kinberg, who has produced a wealth of action and comic book films, helms his first feature with “Dark Phoenix”. Unfortunately the results aren’t terrific but there are moments of potential with certain characters and with some of the moments of spectacle. For a franchise that has seen its progression roller coaster from fantastic heights to disappointing depths, “Dark Phoenix”, though not the worst in series, deserved a better sendoff for its characters and storyline.

Professor Xavier’s (James McAvoy) School for Gifted Youngsters has grown into a veritable superhero training academy and, for some, a safe place for young mutants to educate themselves and hone their powers for inclusion into the “normal” world. Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Professor X’s prized pupil, continues to develop at staggering pace along with the rest of the young team which features Ororo “Storm” Munroe (Alexandra Shipp), Scott “Cyclops” Summers (Tye Sheridan), and the team leaders Raven “Mystique” (Jennifer Lawrence) and Hank “Beast” McCoy (Nicholas Hoult). During a mission into space the X-Men team encounter a powerful force that embeds itself into Jean Grey, turning her into an unstoppable force consumed by anger and rage.

The character of Jean Grey is a fascinating and intriguing villain, a force of dominance amongst the X-Men world but also a character with a rich backstory who is directly connected to all the core characters in this world. There are narrative themes associated with trauma that shape the story early in “Dark Phoenix”; Jean has a past steeped in pain and sorrow, her newly achieved power opens up these memories that Professor Xavier has been trying to hide, unknowingly adding to the traumatic elements that Jean has already experienced in her life.  The story does a nice job initially of displaying the turmoil Jean has been through but also proposing that Professor Xavier’s best intentions for the mutant world may be more self-serving than helpful. It’s a nice element introduced for these characters.

Unfortunately, these interesting insights and intriguing narrative themes dissipate as Jean grows into a force that is being hunted by the X-Men, the Government, and an old foe named Magneto (Michael Fassbender). The film quickly introduces another villain, a rogue group of alien beings led by a determined and stoic Jessica Chastain, and all the work to establish “Dark Phoenix” like a Jean Grey focused film disappears into the same familiar formula we’ve seen before in the X-Men Universe before. While this narrative formula isn’t necessarily bad, there are some nicely composed battles and some interesting references for fans, after twelve films it just feels overly familiar.

Sophie Turner, unfortunately, isn’t provided the proper character to develop here, any nuance of emotion is replaced with big bursts of raw anger and sadness that never feels necessary or provides the scenes with the kind of power they are shooting for. Ms. Turner is a talented actress capable of so much more. Even Jennifer Lawrence and James McAvoy aren’t provided the character structure to build upon. Michael Fassbender’s Magneto character doesn’t change much throughout these films, so the actor does a decent job of being brooding and filled with rage, hellbent for revenge.

“Dark Phoenix” has a few moments when the action takes over, director Simon Kinberg seems most comfortable during these big scenes, nicely composing effects with crisp clarity and utilizing the best abilities from the characters to showcase some great fight moments. It’s a shame that more attention wasn’t provided towards the story or characters interacting throughout. The film is trying hard to rise above the other films in this franchise, though it’s far from terrible, “Dark Phoenix” gets lost along the way.

Monte’s Rating

2.75 out of 5.00

The Secret Life of Pets 2 - Movie Review by Ben Cahlamer

Directed by: Chris Renaud

Written by: Brian Lynch

Featuring the Voices of: Patton Oswald, Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Jenny Slate, Tiffany Haddish, Lake Bell, Nick Kroll, Dana Carvey, Ellie Kemper, Hannibal Buress, Bobby Moynihan, Harrison Ford

One of the many reasons I like the movies is because it allows me to escape from my reality. Of course, when you write reviews as I do, it isn’t as much an escape now, but I don’t mind it. I enjoy sharing my thoughts with the rest of the world.

And that’s how I felt about “The Secret Life of Pets”, which opened our eyes to the loveable Jack Russell Terrier, Max. The movie allowed me to escape from my reality of being a non-pet lover into a world of imaginative and creative dogs. I wasn’t a fan of the film because it took itself a little too seriously.

It did well enough at the box office that the sequel, “The Secret Life of Pets 2” was greenlit and it hits theaters this weekend. Much like the first film, the animation is gorgeous. We’ve gotten to a point where computer generated images have become as believable as the real world.

The challenge is that the story telling still hasn’t necessarily caught up with the animation (unless you’re Pixar). “The Secret Life of Pets 2” picks up three years after the first film. Patton Oswalt has replaced Louis C.K. who voiced Max in the first film. I found Max to be a bit more loveable and warm as a result of the change.

The story forwards us through Katie (voiced by Ellie Kemper) as she gets married to Chuck (Pete Holmes) and they have baby Liam. Just like the spoiled kid who finally gets a younger sibling, Max fears being replaced by Liam. The story takes on a dual role in that Max is also feeling like the overprotective bigger brother and no matter how many times Duke (Eric Stonestreet) tries to reassure him, Max just won’t have any of it. There are some cute moments as Katie tries to get some help for Max, but what they all really need is a trip away from the big city.

Max entrusts his favorite toy in the care of Gidget (Jenny Slate), who very quickly loses it. Her story thread was interesting as Lynch explores the idea of a dog playing a cat. Gidget’s story elicits some chuckles and it was a nice way to tie in the more humane part of the story.

As Max, Liam and the rest of the family head off to the country, trouble is still afoot for Snowball (Kevin Hart), a white rabbit who sounds like he’s had a six pack too many of Red Bull. His owner likes to cosplay with him, leading him to believe that he is a superhero. To some, his story will be exactly that as he tries to rescue a white tiger from a circus. It is, as I mentioned the most humane story about coming together to rescue a distressed animal.

More importantly though is what happens to Max during his country adventure. This is where the characters get creative in their environments as Max learns to deal with his inadequacies with the help of a familiar sounding farm hand dog, Rooster.

The story runs a little off the rails in the third act as Renaud and Lynch try to tie the lessons of the three stories together. It’s a bit murky, but the laughs, the humanity and my god, the animation keep “The Secret Life of Pets 2” redeem the film.

If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to find a dog to hug now.

2.75 out of 4

Pavarotti - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

Tenor Luciano Pavarotti rehearses for a recital with accompanist Leone Magiera. Photo credit: Decca / Ira Nowinski

Howard hits the right notes and celebrates ‘Pavarotti’

Directed by:  Ron Howard

“Pavarotti” – “Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Luciano Pavarotti, one of the most illustrious opera singers of the 20th century, had a voice that made life more beautiful, but his warm, infectious smile – which he always seem to wear – certainly did as well. 

Hence, director Ron Howard’s documentary “Pavarotti” naturally celebrates the man who transcended the opera-world and shined in the boundaryless pop-culture universe.  Howard - who helmed two recent music docs “Made in America” (2013) and “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years” (2016) - takes a conventional filmmaker’s approach to capture Pavarotti’s life in full view on the big screen, but his picture offers so much rich history that it should engage just about any moviegoer, whether or not they appreciate the famous tenor’s bold vocation.

Howard presents many of Luciano’s childhood and young adult (sans his trademark beard) photos from Modena, Italy, while the man lovingly recalls his positive influences and reasons for pursuing the opera, which provided a rock-solid foundation for his soaring career.  Several friends, family members and prominent public figures proactively speak highly of Luciano’s gifts and glowing personality, and most importantly, the emotion raised through his performances.

“Heaven on Earth.”

“He made your ears vibrate.”

In a recent interview, Howard said, “I’m watching him sing these arias, and I’m thinking, ‘This is like Brando.’”

To Howard, the thought of making this documentary was an offer that he couldn’t refuse, and his enthusiasm for the singer absolutely leaps off the screen, especially when he holds seminal Pavarotti on-stage moments and extends them a bit longer than expected for us to marvel and embrace.  This includes the spectacular first performance of the Three Tenors (Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras and Pavarotti) at the 1990 World Cup in Rome. 

For fans, this joyful spin of Pavarotti’s radiant Rolodex will stir fond memories and also offer new insight, such as his angst before every show, including a certain phrase that he would always utter.

In a potentially-forgotten Pavarotti interview, he wonders out loud if he can actually hit the high note.  Wow!  Throughout the doc, Howard includes several small revelations but - admittedly - no real bombshells.  Other than deeper examinations into a couple very unfortunate chapters with his family – a lesser-known brief episode and another highly-publicized, lengthy one – his life did not muddle in behind-the-scenes emotional toil, at least not more than anyone else. 

Director Tom Volf’s 2018 documentary about opera singer Maria Callas (“Maria by Callas”) uncovers her struggles with lost love and career priorities over starting a family.  Volf, however, had the luxury of Callas leaving a treasure trove of her memoirs and letters behind, and opera singer Joyce DiDonato narrates the film, as if the featured soprano was speaking to us from beyond the grave.  “Maria by Callas” offers the woman’s most intimate, private thoughts, and whether or not Callas suffered more sorrow than Pavarotti is unimportant, but the 2018 documentary connects more deeply.  

Outside of noteworthy family heartache and too many on-screen minutes of Pavarotti’s business manager and chatty concert promoter, “Pavarotti” is a celebration, and Howard strikes the right notes and offers clear reasons for Luciano’s ever-present smile.

(3/4 stars)

Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008 and graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.  Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Dir: Michael Dougherty

Starring: Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Ken Watanabe, Ziyi Zhang, Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Thomas Middleditch, and Charles Dance

From 1964 to 1988 KPHO-TV5 in Phoenix, Arizona had a television program called “The World Beyond”, it’s the seminal foundation for my young movie loving mind. Where most young people were influenced by Saturday morning cartoons, mid-day western cinema, or the Sunday night family movie…my love for moving pictures started with “The Twilight Zone”, “The Outer Limits”, and “Godzilla” monster movies.

Films like 1973’s “Godzilla vs. Megalon”, 1956’s “Rodan”, 1980’s “Gamera-Super Monsters”, and the monster movie that most affected me, 1968’s “Destroy All Monsters” played critical roles in my development as a cinephile, and ultimately as a genre film fan.

The king of the monsters, Godzilla, has played an extensive role in film history; serving up nearly 40 films ranging from the Toho Studios franchise to the American adaptations of recent years. Director Michael Dougherty, who previously guided two successful horror films “Krampus” and “Trick ‘r Treat”, tries to find balance while bringing the bang and boom to the monster party with “Godzilla: King of the Monsters”.

Monarch, a crypto-zoological agency developed to investigate ancient monsters, has been working towards a peaceful existence between the mighty Godzilla and numerous  newfound monsters around the world. Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) has developed a new technology called Orca that can control the monsters; it can calm them, agitate them, or signal them. It doesn’t take long for this technology to get into the wrong hands, unleashing the ancient monsters on the world with only the beast Godzilla and the human Monarch team to come to the rescue.

Gareth Edwards’ “Godzilla” film from 2014 brought the beloved “titan” back to the big screen, though the film was highly criticized for its lack of monster mayhem. But it was this film that signaled the beginning of yet another franchise universe, one filled with giant kaiju.

It didn’t take long for a film featuring another famous monster, “Kong: Skull Island”, to continue the franchise, however this film seemed to find the balance between its monster and human counterparts. Having fun while finding the human elements to add substance to the story.

“Godzilla: King of the Monsters” is also aiming for balance, in a sense it wants to deliver on everything fans have been waiting for, which is a battle royale of some of the greatest kaiju to be brought to the silver screen, but also find a sense of humanity in the mortals clamoring beneath the bellies of these gods. Unfortunately, the human element of this film is completely lost. We have a wide selection of some talented actors, Ken Watanabe, Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Sally Hawkins, Ziyi Zhang, and Bradley Whitford to name a few, but none of them are every given the development necessary to make them impactful with emotion and motivation. Instead, they are relinquished to roles that really have no more purpose than to introduce the monsters and watch in captivated/shocked awe of the chaos happening.

The story of how all these monsters are conjured and combat is convoluted, but are people really coming for a story? I would hope so, but the one presented here is barely formed. This is unfortunate because there is a wealth of social commentary to mine for a story about a monster born of nuclear destruction, born of war, born of discourse.

The kaiju are plentiful however, the three headed dragon King Ghidora, the winged fire beast Rodan, and the unusually beautiful Mothra all make an appearance. Some are allies and some are foes, but all fight in a collision of debris, dust, wind, rain, fire, and electricity. So much of the action between the “titans” is done in the dark with a wealth of elements masking much of the action, it doesn’t help as well that many of these scenes are done with jarring camera moves and constant motion. The few wide screen, stable shots display the impressive scope of these monsters, it’s picturesque and quite stunning when it happens.

“Godzilla: King of the Monsters” is searching for balance between its many spinning plates, it is seldom found. Instead, the film shifts heavily from one battle scene, then into a strained family drama, and back again. Yes, there is monster movie mayhem galore, but is that enough? For some it might be.

Monte’s Rating

2.00 out of 5.00

Rocketman - Movie Review by Ben Cahlamer

Directed by: Dexter Fletcher

Written by: Lee Hall

Starring: Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard

I spent the better part of Dexter Fletcher’s Elton John biopic “Rocketman” on the edge of my seat, my senses heightened and the world around me shut out. My body tingled with excitement over Taron Egerton’s performance and Elton John’s music filling the theater.

Lee Hall, who shared a Tony nomination with John for their original score to “Billy Elliot the Musical” penned the eponymous musician’s story. “Rocketman” opens up with Egerton in a full costume as if he’s going on stage, a blinding light behind him creates a halo effect as he rushes toward the camera, only to break into an AA meeting, where he confesses all of his vices. Fletcher and Hall then start us on a backward journey through John’s childhood.

Born Reggie Dwight, “Rocketman” takes us back to his younger days with a mum who was coldly dispassionate and an absent dad who, before the war, doted on his son. Matthew Illesley plays the younger Reggie with a reserved panache as he sets about a piano and instantly replicates the music he’s just heard.

In between the musical numbers is a deep, trauma of a musician who never had the power to be himself, held back by absent parents through no fault of his own. Enter Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell). On a chance encounter, the two find one another; Bernie a lyricist and Reggie a musician who couldn’t find the words to match his music.

Fletcher spends a good deal of time in “Rocketman” building up Reggie’s prodigal nature as a way to define his problems as an adult. Fame and fortune really didn’t get the best of John when he first took off. The performance at the Troubadour in swinging L.A. in the early 70’s really drove home John’s ability to draw and entertain a crowd. The sequence leading up to his performance is full of nerves and humor, a great deal of which is broken up by Tate Donovan’s Doug Weston, the flamboyant manager of the Troubadour.

When he gets on stage, Taron Egerton as John is absolutely magnetic. You can see the power in not only his singing and performing, but in the dramatic flair he adds to make the onscreen character his own.

The Troubadour sequence is also a pivotal moment in the lives of Bernie and John as well as the introduction to the delicious John Reid played by Richard Madden who eventually becomes Elton’s business manager as well as partner. The relations that Fletcher chose to show are tastefully done and shouldn’t put anyone off. The passion between the two characters and the actors oozes right off the screen.

So too does John’s descent into a pit of alcohol and drugs. The drama related to the “rock n’ roll’ personae blends into the musical performances and the characters’ antics, so much so that it becomes unambiguous. You still feel the raw emotion from Egerton’s performance as he comes to terms with who he is and his place in the world.

“Rocketman” stumbles just a bit balancing the drama with the musical numbers, but Taron Egerton’s Oscar-worthy performance will have you taking flight.

3 out of 4 stars

Ma - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

‘Ma’:  Spencer is a terrific villain, but she’s stuck in a clunky story

Directed by:  Tate Taylor

Written by:  Scotty Landes

Starring:  Octavia Spencer, Diana Silvers, Juliette Lewis, and Luke Evans

Erica (Juliette Lewis) and her high school-aged daughter Maggie (Diana Silvers) drive towards a small-town destination, and a single-stack nuclear power plant looms over the endless acres of leafless, dormant trees.  Little did they know that their lives would soon blow up, after Erica decided to move back to her hometown and into a modest three-bedroom ranch that sits on a dead end street. 

They should have been more attentive to the figurative and literal warning signs that bad times lie straight ahead. 

“Ma” does not refer to Erica, a recent divorcee who truly attempts to keep a positive outlook, while working long hours as a cocktail waitress at a local casino.  No, “Ma” is Sue Ann Ellington, an easily-distracted, middle-aged veterinary assistant.  She would rather gaze at her phone than prep and pamper the four-legged patients.  At least the “Ma” casting directors called Allison Janney to play Sue Ann’s boss, so she can hilariously insult and badger our bored title character.

Outside the office, Sue Ann stumbles upon Maggie and her new friends in front of a convenient store.  She buys alcohol for these underage kids, and somehow - that under no circumstances is explained – runs into them on a different day, repeats a similar purchase and convinces the gang to drive to her home in the sticks and drink booze in her basement.

Didn’t anyone teach these teens to avoid talking to strangers, let alone willingly party in an unknown person’s basement?  

Well, Sue Ann’s intentions – despite smoke screens of pizza rolls and 70s disco music - are less than charitable, and one would be very generous to call “Ma” a good horror film.  It’s not, and instead, director Tate Taylor – who worked with Spencer in “Pretty Ugly People” (2008) and “The Help” (2011) - heavily leans on her to act like a psycho in order to camouflage the fact that the narrative doesn’t really work as a full-length feature.  One of the chief problems is that no teenagers – no matter how desperate for alcohol – would go back to Ma’s house to party again and again and again.  The teens – led by Haley (McKaley Miller), Andy (Corey Fogelmanis) and others – tend to (mostly) shrug off that Ma doesn’t let the kids go upstairs, reveals frequent, angry mood swings and even points a gun at one of them in plain sight during their first visit.

It’s not believable that most of the kids ignore these omens.  Well, sometimes they actually wise up!  They do stand firm!  They do opine that Ma’s place is now off-limits, but then backtrack on their decrees a short while later, sporting excuses that it’s so-and-so’s birthday, so let’s celebrate at Ma’s! 

Whoo hoo!

Perhaps the film would work much better, if it transpired over just one fateful night, with a false welcome and a slow descent into booby traps and madness.  Instead, writer Scotty Landes drags the film over several days and devises a backstory that references shades of “Carrie” (1976), “Misery” (1990) and “The Sixth Sense” (1999) with a pinch of dread, but no real terror.  The only tension stems from about a half-dozen (and brief) jump scares and one admittedly stressful search by Maggie and Haley in Sue Ann’s home. 

Looking back, the nuclear power plant premonition does come to fruition in another way, because the movie’s last seven minutes mechanically blow up into nonsense.  On the bright side, now we know that Spencer can play a very believable nutcase…for 92 minutes in this 99-minute movie. 

(1.5/4 stars)

Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008 and graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.  Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.

An interview with Noble Jones, the director of The Tomorrow Man by Ben Cahlamer

Phoenix Film Festival had the opportunity to sit down with Noble Jones, the writer, director and cinematographer of “The Tomorrow Man” featuring John Lithgow and Blythe Danner, which is now in theaters. Jones was in Phoenix for a Q & A following a screening of his film at the Harkins Camelview theater on Friday, May 24.

Although our visit was brief, Mr. Jones’s visual style is distinctive and we enjoyed the chat.

Phoenix Film Festival: This is your directorial debut, isn’t it?

Noble Jones: It’s such an odd thing to hear. I’ve been at this for a while, but yes this is my directorial debut.

PFF: I know you did second unit work on the Social Network and directed a number of music videos, I get the sense that background is what informs the visual style of “The Tomorrow Man”?

Noble Jones: I actually did commercials for about fifteen years before I moved into music videos. I started with the Department of Corrections where I created training videos with inmates. We did dramatic scenarios showing things that could go wrong and then have the officers and staff review the films that we did. I then went to work with David Fincher who mentored me before getting into my own projects.

PFF: I felt like “The Tomorrow Man” is an updated version of Ron Howard’s “Cocoon.”

Noble Jones: [laughs] It’s funny that you mention that. Someone else mentioned it as well, but didn’t quite go that far.

PFF: I think from that vantage point, you showcased what wonderful people and actors both John Lithgow and Blythe Danner are. They were wonderful.

Noble Jones: Thank you.

PFF:  What lead you to choose them for these particular roles?

Noble Jones: It’s really serendipitous in that John came to Anonymous Content as part of a management change. I had pitched the film just a few months prior. John’s manager, Tony Lipp also manages Blythe and John said “I think I have an idea for a project that we can work on together.” The stars aligned. They had never worked together before on film, but they had an opportunity to work together on Broadway. John went on to do films and then this project came along. On set, when the cameras would stop rolling, they would go off in to a corner and just continue chatting.

PFF: Your visual style is almost a character itself in the movie. It’s one of the most unique aspects of your film and it’s what drew me in. Can you talk a little bit more about that.

Noble Jones: That’s probably a combination of both the commercial and music video work that I did. I was a rigger and I always had a strong desire to do design – oriented work. It found its way into this project.

PFF: The most interesting hurdle for this film is the dinner scene with father and son. You introduced a new set of characters and a new course correction for the movie that has a different visual style than the rest of the movie. Can you talk more about that?

Noble Jones: It was a meticulous process, working the table, trying to create a unique movement and finding that cohesion with the rest of the material. It’s a lot of fun. That was the point of it all. That was the trauma that Ronnie saw that lead her to say “I can bring him in to my life.” She was able to develop a compassion for Ed that wasn’t previously there. I needed that moment.

Our thanks again to Noble Jones and Bleecker Street. “The Tomorrow Man” is now in theaters.

The Perfection - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Dir: Richard Shepard

Starring: Allison Williams, Logan Browning, Alaina Huffman, and Steven Weber

Practice makes perfect. There are musicians who practice the most difficult musical compositions for their entire careers, all with the hope of achieving the perfect manipulation of notes. The amount of perseverance, motivation, and ambition needed to accomplish this feat of perfection is a mindset that many cannot, and will never, accomplish. 

Director Richard Shepard crafts a genre-bending tale of perfectionism, jealousy, and deep trauma with the “The Perfection”. Assisted by a wonderful performance from Allison Williams, this bizarre, engaging, yet also unfortunately flawed, horror/thriller/science fiction mashup is consistently operating at maximum capacity, even when there are moments that it should make room for something other than gratuitous spectacle. 

Charlotte (Allison Williams) is a former musical prodigy who had to leave a house for musicians, run by an eccentric and wealthy husband and wife (Steven Weber and Alaina Huffman), when her mother became ill. Charlotte, now older and no longer a revered musician, seeks out the new prodigy, Lizzie (Logan Browning), who is now the star pupil of Charlotte’s old school. The two women are drawn to each, and eventual take a journey together that begins to lead to sinister outcomes. 

The mystery presented “The Perfection” is a major piece of the fun; the design of the narrative utilizes more than a few fun devices that keep the viewer guessing about what is going on and where the film is leading, specifically the editing style and the manipulative nature of the character development are key elements. There is a Brian De Palma-esque quality to the structure of the film, with manipulation of time and detailed story perspectives, however this film doesn’t have the auteur’s sense of subtlety within the frame. 

The film isn’t too interested in balancing the different elements of tension and suspense. Instead, this film completely swings for the cinematic fence every time it steps to the plate. And, on a few occasions, the approach towards instituting a twist in the story feels so forcefully implied that it ultimately takes away from the dark and twisted fantasy horror story being told. Still, it’s refreshing to see the chances that this film is willing to take, especially in its push towards being its own unique and unexpected vision. 

One of the strongest links within “The Perfection” is the fascinating performance from Allison Williams, who is building a strong horror credential with this film and Jordan Peele’s “Get Out”. Ms. Williams has a way of being devious and delicate at the same time, of being a manipulator and the manipulated; her smile has a quality that is both naïve and sinister. Watching Ms. Williams build her character, amidst the twists and turns, is amusing throughout the entirety of the film. 

Elements pile one after another, building upon each other, and all leading towards a finale that seems impossible to conclude after all the genre manipulations being operated at every corner of the film. This makes it difficult to conclude this film, especially when the spectacle of everything is being pushed towards extraneous limits, and unfortunately the addition of a specific story device doesn’t help “The Perfection” find its place in the end. 

“The Perfection” is a nicely composed, sometimes bizarre and sometimes fascinating, genre mashup. With a great performance from Allison Williams it’s a pleasant surprise to see a film play with genre in such interesting ways, even when it doesn’t always work out like it should. Still, for those willing to take the strange journey being offered here, “The Perfection” is looking to stimulate all your horror senses. 

Monte’s Rating

3.50 out of 5.00

Booksmart - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

‘Booksmart’ is the funniest high school comedy since ‘Superbad’

Directed by:  Oliva Wilde

Written by:  Katie Silberman, Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, and Sarah Haskins

Starring:  Beanie Feldstein, Kaitlyn Dever, Jason Sudeikis, Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte, Jessica Williams, Mason Gooding, Skyler Gisondo, and Diana Silvers

“Booksmart” – Let’s get this out of the way right now: “Booksmart” is the funniest high school comedy to hit theatres since 2007’s “Superbad”, and Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut delivers pure, unadulterated joy for just about anyone who loves the R-rated, teenage-hijinks genre. 

Wait, that Olivia Wilde who garnered supporting roles in somewhat-to-very forgettable flicks like “TRON: Legacy” (2010), “The Change Up” (2011), “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” (2013), and “Love the Coopers” (2015)? 

Yes, and in a blink of an eye, or more accurately, after 102 minutes of two brainy best friends embarking on a journey to find a house party on the day before their graduation, Wilde’s film career has immediately shot into dizzying new heights in a surprising career-course correction.  As far as this critic is concerned, if Hollywood studios are street-smart, they should line up in droves to hand this woman the keys to their next big screen comedy-vehicle.

In this movie, Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) are a couple of Los Angeles teens driving full speed ahead to graduation day and then onto Yale and Columbia, respectively.  While Molly visualizes a path to become the youngest U.S. Supreme Court justice, Amy will live abroad to make tampons in Botswana over the summer before starting her college days.  After fiercely studying in the evenings and throughout their weekends for years and years, always standing by one another’s side and forever-offering each other eternal support, these two young ladies achieved soaring scholastic success and close concrete camaraderie. 

Wilde and writers Katie Silberman, Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, and Sarah Haskins demonstrate the girls’ devoted friendship right away in the film’s second scene, when Amy picks up Molly for school.  She gets out of the car and the two perform a bouncy, impromptu dance on the lawn of Molly’s apartment complex that instantly raises smiles and good feelings.   

With Molly’s alpha-female, ultra-competitive and dismissive outlook towards her classmates, her coarse, honest and riotous discourse deserves the camera pointed at her at - just about - all times.  Amy, meanwhile, is her steady, rigid, easily-embarrassed companion who acts as a sounding board for Molly’s unsupervised, brash viewpoints and an unwilling partner for her various schemes.  Granted, prior to the events in the film, Molly’s various plans consisted of benign ideas, like acquiring college IDs to gain 24-hour access to university libraries.  The point is that Molly fills this movie-universe with comic relief, and Amy pronounces a safe voice of reason that - naturally - her best friend relentlessly challenges.

During the film’s first act, Molly discovers a harsh, challenging truth in a co-ed on-campus bathroom, and realizes – in infinite buckets of splashing anxiety, trauma and regret - that Amy and she “are the girls who missed out.”  They spent so many countless hours hyper-focused on reading, writing and arithmetic, that they skipped juvenile exuberance, and hence, Molly is determined to change their all-work-and-no-play destiny in the 11th hour and 59th minute of their high school careers.  Molly’s goal, which is now – by default - Amy’s reluctant objective, is to find the most popular jock’s (Mason Gooding) party, and their timing is beyond critical, because graduation day is just a handful of hours away. 

Hey, the plot might be thinner than Keira Knightley on a hunger strike and more familiar than Meryl Streep receiving her annual Oscar nomination, but “Booksmart” is an on-screen page-turner.  Wilde, Silberman, Fogel, Halpern, and Haskins showcase a wide-open platform for Feldstein and Dever to dive into Molly’s and Amy’s uncouth antics as the girls attempt to travel from Geekdom to Acceptanceville…powered by their rooted, sisterly alliance.    

While the leads, writers and the director are all women, be mindful that “Booksmart” is not exactly packaged as a mother/daughter bonding trip to the cineplex.  Projecting the dynamics of millions and millions of families is surely impossible, but the odds are fairly high that Molly’s and Amy’s youthful, frank and frequent chit chat about their sexual curiosities will embarrass a parent-child moviegoing-pair.  In addition, almost every adult character is a semi-clueless numbskull, so there’s that.  No, don’t take your mom or dad to “Booksmart”, but any other combination of human-relationships – who, again, love the R-rated, teenage-hijinks genre - should be enthusiastically encouraged to catch this movie.

“Booksmart” not only acts like a souped-up paintball gun that splatters the audience with tangled encounters, amusing supporting characters, about one thousand one-liners, and a worthy destination for our heroines, but Molly’s and Amy’s conflicting mix of high-functioning brainpower and coming-of-age naivete is equally hilarious and endearing.  Even though Molly’s and Amy’s trek towards a hopeful party-nirvana makes highly-memorable stops along the way, the girls’ friendship is paramount, and Wilde never loses sight of that emotional bond.  A bond wrapped in sidesplitting comedic timing, fresh surprises and brilliant adolescent foolishness.

(4/4 stars)

Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008 and graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.  Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.

The Souvenir - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

‘The Souvenir’ is no ordinary memento

Written and directed by:  Joanna Hogg

Starring:  Honor Swinton Byrne, Tom Burke and Tilda Swinton

“The Souvenir” – Set in the 1980s in Sunderland, England, writer/director Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir” purposely feels like a hazy dream.  A look back to yesteryear, in which the individual scenes seem to reveal themselves as separate memories with little connective tissue from one to another, although collectively, this story of Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne) and Anthony (Tom Burke) is certainly linear and whole.  

Julie is a young, bright film student.  The daughter of supportive, financially-comfortable parents, she owns seemingly limitless career paths and opportunities for positive, life-affirming experiences.  This, of course, makes her choice of a companion a perplexing one, because Anthony offers two visible qualities: a warm body for cohabitation and insidious toxicity.

The film’s tagline is “The past never stays in focus,” but Julie’s and Anthony’s poisonous relationship is crystal clear for the audience, as he blinds our young, wide-eyed heroine with his constant stream of meanspirited games.  Games that creep subtly into conversation and on occasion – without warning - forcefully bully into Julie’s plain view.  No matter the degree of degrading belittlement, Julie overlooks Anthony’s behavior or is oblivious to it.

Anthony appears to be Julie’s first love, so she only knows devotion.  Unfortunately, the sentiment is not returned, and whether Anthony repeatedly asks for “a few quid” or reveals a specific self-destructive behavior, Julie enables his conduct.  These moments are sure to enflame moviegoers, but Anthony dryly concocting his crafty putdowns through framing any particular situation might be the most infuriating.   He calls her “fragile” and “lost”, to name a few insults, but he also surmises - during one dark lark - that she takes up too much space on her bed.  All designed to cut her down and placate his self-loathing, he is leveling the playing field in his mind, if not tilting it in his direction.

Even during the couple’s first meeting, Hogg pours an uneven foundation that disadvantages Julie solely based on her naivete, which allows Anthony’s easy entrance into this young woman’s world, dig in his roots and spread his rot in her cozy two-story flat.  Their shared encounters are not long and episodic but just last a few minutes at a time, which raise figurative bristles in anticipation for his next unwelcome, snide comment or destructive action, while Julie - ironically – repeatedly apologizes for feeling conflicted.

Burke and Swinton Byrne dive into the material and offer deep, cavernous mindsets for the characters that are wholly convincing.  Perhaps, Julie believes that all relationships are difficult, and this is just how it is, even though her parents – by all accounts - enjoy a loving, happy marriage. (Note that Tilda Swinton plays Julie’s mom on-screen and is Honor’s in real life.) In turn, Anthony’s folks seem to adore one another, so there is no immediate explanation for his posture either.  

In a fair-minded world, there is no place for this couple to rendezvous and settle, but under the grey skies of this English town that sits on a North Sea beach, one can only wonder how many other Julies and Anthonys live in Sunderland, let alone everywhere else.  Perhaps we know several such couples or are reminded of one of our own past relationships.  One in which constant acceptance and emotional impairments ruled the day.  If anything, “The Souvenir” can be teaching moment that the present should always stay in focus, but Hogg’s film is so much more.

(3.5/4 stars) 

Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008 and graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.  Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.

Aladdin - Movie Review by Ben Cahlamer

Aladdin (2019)

Directed by Guy Ritchie

Screenplay by John August and Guy Ritchie, based on “Disney’s Aladdin” by Ron Clements, John Musker, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio

Starring Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban, Nasim Pedrad, Billy Magnussen

Like many of the recent live-action reimaginings from Disney’s vast vault of treasured classics, Guy Ritchie’s (Snatch, Sherlock Holmes) “Aladdin” is memorable for its vivid imagery, its imaginative casting and for not trying to be more than the sum of its parts. Ritchie was not in unfamiliar territory when it comes to reimagining a classic (Warner Bros’ “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”) and so it was with great interest that I sat down to watch this film.

That and the really big shoes that Will Smith had to fill.

The story features an impoverished street rat, the titular character of Aladdin played by Mena Massoud, who is currently playing a recurring role in the Amazon Prime series, “Jack Ryan”. He has the charm and grace to not only play a stealthy thief, but to also win the heart of a certain princess, Jasmine (Naomi Scott, who herself stars in the upcoming reboot of Charlie’s Angels).

The screenplay by John August and Ritchie based on Disney’s “Aladdin” by Ron Clements, John Musker, Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio doesn’t immediately fan the sparks between Aladdin and Jasmine. They instead focus on establishing Aladdin as a loveable scoundrel with his pet monkey Abu (voiced by Frank Welker who reprises his voice work from the animated film). The many sleights of hand that occur in the first fifteen minutes of the film, along with the stellar choreography, really sets the light touch that Ritchie is known for: it is serious, but there’s a spritely step about the way Aladdin strives to prove himself to Jasmine, who he thinks is a handmaiden.

We learn a thing or two about Jasmine as well. She is secluded, yet worldly in her understanding of how things work. Ms. Scott brings an intelligence to the role that was unexpected and refreshing, matched only by Mr. Massoud’s wit and bravery. There is a benevolence about Jasmine, something that I imagine translated over from the animated version of the character.

Since Aladdin is not a prince, he cannot court nor marry Jasmine and therefore it is up to Jasmine’s father, The Sultan of Agrabah to find a husband worthy of his daughter. There is an awkwardly funny scene early in the film in which the pompous Prince Anders of Skanland (Billy Magnussen) is introduced to Jasmine. Anders is a new character to this film and brings some brevity to the updated story.

New to this story also is Dalia (Nasim Pedrad), Jasmine’s handmaiden. Dalia’s introduction is also laden with humor. Ritchie injects more of a familial relationship between Dalia and Jasmine, enhancing Jasmine’s role and Ms. Scott’s performance as well as that of Ms. Pedrad’s performance. There is an ease between the two, as if they were sisters.

When Aladdin is discovered in the castle by Jafar’s (Maran Kenzari) guards, he is given a chance to prove himself worthy by bringing back a magical lamp to Jafar. In an ode to “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “The Mummy” (the Brendan Frasier version, not the Alex Kurtzman version that featured Kenzari), we are treated to a rousing adventure full of danger and . . . . the Genie (Will Smith).

The Genie is definitely the highlight of this film and Will Smith knocks the character out of the park. Where Robin Williams voiced the beloved, original character, Will Smith not only puts away his swagger, he embodies the goodness of the character. In much the same way that Ritchie and John August gave Jasmine a sisterly relationship with Dalia, there is a brotherly closeness between The Genie and Aladdin. That relationship really drives the essence of what makes Aladdin loveable in the first place.

Mr. Smith’s performance does not take away from the voice that Robin Williams gave the character in 1992. In fact, I think audiences are going to quickly warm up to Smith’s interpretation. In an interview with the actor, “What Robin Williams did with this character, he didn’t leave a lot of room to add to the Genie. So I started out fearful. But then, I got with the music and it started waking up that fun, childlike, silly part of me.”

That’s the heart of this film: it is fun and silly, and that’s perfectly okay. That’s the essence of who Guy Ritchie is and what his films mean to his fans.

“Aladdin” is no exception.

If I had one, minor quibble, it’s that the Jafar story thread and interpretation doesn’t completely work. It fits nicely into the overall story and we really see the power of the character in the third act, but in the earlier stages of the film, he doesn’t feel as threatening as he probably could have.

“Aladdin” really is about changing your vantage point and unshackling yourself from the ties that bind you. The modern interpretation of these characters will spur on a whole new world for future filmmakers.

3.25 out of 4