Month: May 2016

“Alice Through The Looking Glass” (2016): A Slightly More Tolerable Waste Of Time

Posted on by Thomas Mariani

Tim Burton‘s 2010 retelling of Alice in Wonderland is one of the more ghastly blights on his career yet is his most successful with a worldwide box office pull of $1 billion. It gave Lewis Carroll’s absurd stories a tether, a hero’s journey plot that resembled nothing close to a surreal fantasy romp of puzzles and nonsense as much as it did a generic fantasy adventure that could at best be called a lower level version of a Wizard of Oz adaptation mainly existing to further Tim Burton’s reach in Hot Topic stock and give Johnny Depp another reason to frump around in pancake make up and a silly wig. It’s a conundrum that befuddles even the biggest former Burton fan like myself, realizing that probably the least inspired and imaginative production of a once visionary voice is his largest success.

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Disney

So after that made a ton of money, the cynical wheels of Disney realized they could squeeze more out with a sequel. This sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass wasn’t directed by Burton, who only serves as a producer here as he hands directorial reins to British director James Bobin (the recent Muppet movies, Flight of the Conchords). There are moments in Alice Through the Looking Glass that show the potential of giving a mind like Bobin’s a budget of this scale as he revels in the vast array of colors in even the darkest sequences, unlike Burton’s dower overlay. The character designs alone show so much more creativity than Burton’s version, from The Red Queen’s minions made of vegetables to the clockwork mechanics of Time’s palace. Bobins’ former Da Ali G Show boss Sacha Baron Cohen plays Time, who’s hamminess that often grates is a bit more controlled here, channelled into a Christoph Waltz impression that’s more humorous than not. Time works as a sort of villain for this world because he has to exist to keep some order in Underland, serving as a pompous bringer of inevitability that even this magic realm must face: passage, aging and death. That ego creates an enjoyable contrast with the characters of Underland that adds more than a few chuckles to otherwise dull proceedings.

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Disney

The devil of the dull is in the details, though. Namely, the decision Alice Through The Looking Glass makes to show us the origins of these Underland characters. Because if there’s one thing we needed for these weird fantastical characters, it’s removing any sort of mystery. Do you want to know about the Mad Hatter’s family? How the Red Queen got a big head? How the White Queen and her grew to hate each other? All is revealed here in flashbacks that waste time in the second act showcasing tedious information and have no impact given that Cohen firmly establishes that you cannot change the past quite early on. So Alice’s motive to fix the past is ruined, leaving Mia Wasikowska relegated to the same role she had in the first film. That is to both have a rushed arc about “appreciating family when you have the chance” and to state what’s obviously just happened visually so as to make sure the morons in the audience that are looking at their phones know what happened miliseconds ago. It’s so contradictory that this movie trying to promote feminist ideals completely removes the agency of its female title character.

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Disney

Alice of Alice Through the Looking Glass mainly serves as a vehicle to get from set piece to set piece and pale white celebrity in silly outfits to pale white celebrity in silly outfits. Such pale white people include the ever mugging & voice changing Johnny Depp continuing the character that officially flushed his credibility down the toilet, Anne Hathaway waving her hands in front of her face as an excuse for whimsy and Helena Bonham Carter screaming instead of building a character of any interest. Add in all the CG characters you didn’t care about in the first movie that only allow people like Stephen Fry, Timothy Spall or Alan Rickman (in his final role that gives him about three lines) the chance to earn an incredibly easy paycheck. The CG in the first film had some credibility with blending actors and their fabricated environments, but here the technology has somehow gotten worse. Any time Alice is floating in the watery ocean representation of time, Wasikowska looks about stone face while pulling levers without any understanding of what’s happening. It’d be one thing if this didn’t follow any sort of plot structure, but the loose structure of this and its predecessor are just enough to make the nonsensical Lewis Carroll stories feel painfully uneventful and familiar to any forgettable recent blockbuster.

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Disney

Alice Through the Looking Glass isn’t a necessary or even warranted sequel. It’s an exercise in seeing how much CG Disney can dump into a film without any form, like a testing ground for what won’t work for their upcoming sequel to the live action The Jungle Book. It’s an excuse to have Tim Burton’s former frequent co-stars Depp and Bonham Carter (who haven’t worked with Burton since his 2012 flop Dark Shadows) mug in front of green screen. It’s a desperate cry from Disney to wring another $1 billion off the hope that people want more of something from six years ago. That all being said, James Bobin took the big paycheck and constraints of the first film’s screenwriter Linda Wolverton‘s continual bland void as a challenge to at least create a few fun visuals or silly antics with Cohen, the latter two of which make it a less grating exercise than Burton’s film. He at least deserves a pat on the back for that… a pat that will likely be enhanced by ludicrous CG to make it proportionally much larger than it needs to be.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 Broken Stop Watches

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“The Nice Guys” (2016) – World’s Worst Detectives Done Good

Posted on by Thomas Mariani

A couple of mismatched charismatic leads? Check. Extensive shoot outs? Check. A precocious wisecracking kid? Check. An elaborate mystery plot that unravels over the course of the running time? Check. All the hallmarks of writer/director Shane Black are very present in his latest feature The Nice Guys. As a writer, Black reinvigorated the concept of mismatched buddy cops coming together to solve a case with his script Lethal Weapon, but few others could recreate that ingenious mix of crowd pleasing fun and solidly developed characters within this violent comedic adventure. Now that Black has been in the directing game for over a decade with the under appreciated gem Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and the mega blockbuster Iron Man 3 under his belt, he can go full-on Shane Black with his witticisms and on a larger budget.

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Warner Bros Pictures

One wouldn’t immediately imagine a comedic duo of acclaimed dramatic actors Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling would be the best pairing. Crowe has largely put his initial leading man charisma to the side in favor of delivering blander no-nonsense performances for big pay in recent years along with his impressive physique. Meanwhile, Gosling has been known for much more experimental arthouse faire that mainly lets him display his hunky asymmetrical face in silence. Yet, for The Nice Guys, Gosling and Crowe manage to find a fun chemistry that plays on their traditional personalities while subverting them to hysterical effect. With Shane Black’s love of wisecracks and clashing personalities, these two dramatic heavy weights manage to find a common ground in the elaborate comedy, mainly because they are so committed to their characters. Crowe’s tough guy attitude is slowly softened by Gosling’s own damaged soul hiding under his own tough guy veneer. One is a lonely under appreciated goon for hire in search of a purpose in life, the other is a family man hiding behind liquor to lessen the pain of losing his love and raising a daughter on his own.

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Warner Bros Pictures

The Nice Guys has the type of masculine deconstruction Shane Black knows how to write, but in a way that never feels like an endless retread. These guys aren’t just Murtaugh & Riggs or Harry Lockhart & Gay Perry or even Tony Stark and James Rhodes. They’re their own men who have to deal with a hyper intensified situation, full of individual regret and snark that feels genuine for the situations Black creates. The type of charisma Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling have manages to create a genuine conflict of personality types, but also deconstructs the sillier aspects of the buddy genre. When they face off against certain criminals, they argue about how well one is handling the situation over the other. It’s the type of unraveling that –  in the wrong hands – could fail miserably. Yet, Black, Gosling and Crowe have such a handle on who these characters are that the humor and development flow naturally. It shows Black’s biggest strength as a director: managing to turn his stock characters into grounded ones in context of how he deals with his actors. This shows off in the supporting cast, particularly Angourie Rice as Gosling’s precocious daughter, Matt Bomer as a unsympathetic killer and Keith David & Beau Knapp as henchmen with revolving motives.

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Warner Bros Pictures

The romp nature of The Nice Guys doesn’t just stop with the heightened nature of the characters, as it translates to the decor of the 1977 setting. The markers of the time period are rather obvious and pointed through the look of Los Angeles of the era, from the retro appearance of the famous Comedy Store Russell Crowe happens to live in to the news of the time Gosling deals with directly like the gas crisis or killer bees. Shane Black points them out rather obviously, but they’re treated less like major points for the characters to talk out and more as smaller details in the background that add to their own individual foibles and paranoia. That paranoia translates to how certain shots are constructed, particularly whenever Gosling and Crowe are in the middle of the more tense situations. There’s a ludicrous comedy element still feeding through the more intense scenes of investigation that keeps the danger alive. There’s even a brief acknowledgment of casualty for a henchman from Rice’s character that’s oddly endearing, doubling as deconstructing and touching thanks to Black’s careful hand. If there’s any real issue with how this world construction, it’s some of the lackadaisical consistency Black builds for the sake of a joke. Namely, the way he establishes a rather hilariously subversive scene of Ryan Gosling being cut by glass he’s broken with his hand, yet sets about allowing other characters to break through glass like a typical action film of the 1980s. It’s not a huge issue, but when he brings it up specifically in an early scene, it’s a bit odd that the cliche gets treated without much irony over the course of the film proper.

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Warner Bros Pictures

The Nice Guys is the type of summer rollick needed in a sea of sequels and adaptations. An original film spun on the fingers of familiar cliche that Shane Black can build on with his typical mixture of rye wit and unraveling mystery that makes the paying audience’s time worth it. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe’s unbelievable chemistry and the attention to detail Black has to the period makes it all so vibrant. The buddy comedy that comes about is consistently entertaining in typical Shane Black fashion, but it serves as a tight backbone that the rest of the story develops. Despite the fact that both of these screw ups are coming from very disparate places in their lives, they engage each other in hilarious yet meaningful conversation that develops these characters over the course of their running time. The Nice Guys doesn’t reinvent the wheel on buddy comedies, but it reintroduces the idea that it can be done without the necessity of an established franchise. Black knows how to build these characters on his own terms, something many modern screenwriters lack. Hopefully, we can see more original stories like these in theaters instead of an adaptation of an app about throwing birds around.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Party Mermaids

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“Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising” (2016) – Sisters Are Partyin’ For Themselves

Posted on by Thomas Mariani

Comedy sequels are tough. Extremely tough. The lightening in a bottle nature of comedy is already hard enough in an initial entry, having to subvert expectations and knock a solid amount of jokes out the park enough to entertain audiences. Luckily, writer/star Seth Rogen & director Nicholas Stoller managed to turn 2014’s Neighbors into a bonafide hit that made over eight times its budget in the US alone. So… how do you follow that up? One can’t just have a retread of a frat moving in, falling into the comedy sequel trap that made the concept a dry well for solid hits. Well instead of focusing on a bunch of bros partying at a frat, why not focus on a few sisters trying to fight for an equal right to party without – to paraphrase another Beastie Boys song – being treated as girls to just sexually objectify? Thus, we have Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising.

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Universal Pictures

With the first Neighbors, the most consistent elements revolved around the disgruntled confusion of Zac Efron and Dave Franco as they dealt with the end of college. Sure, Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen were funny, but had the more dry contradiction element of being parents while being irresponsible without progressing in a genuine way beyond the acknowledgement step. Franco and Efron in particular were much more the heart of that film as their childish antics held together a crucial moment in a young person’s life where things become hazy. Now for Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising that crucial moment is the start of college, where three freshman (Chloe Moretz, Kiersey Clemons and Beanie Feldstein) want to find their own way as friends wanting to expand their horizons comfortably in a system that means to objectify them. It’s a modern spin on the lovable partying films of Animal House, one represented by the old guard in Efron mentoring them in how to run a Greek house. This contrast allows for Efron to shine as the film’s greatest asset, with an affable idiot charm that’s far more consistent for hilarious jokes and an oddly – if slightly truncated due to a disappointing lack of Franco – arc about finding yourself in a post-grad slump.

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Universal Pictures

Then, we have Rogen and Byrne. Their antics become far more oppressive here, given Rose Byrne‘s real life pregnancy bled into the plot in a way that doesn’t allow for her to do much of the fun raunchy behavior of her first outing, instead being relegated to a few one off jokes or a speech to rally people. On the other side of this coin, Seth Rogen is further turned into a moron, including being sent on a rather poorly CGIed wild goose chase that wants to be a humorous bit of a cat & mouse game, but feels like a lame brained stab at a cartoonish gag. Speaking of which, the rather poorly implemented over the top slapstick from the first film returns in spades to even more diminishing returns. Rogen has proven himself far more competent at dialogue based character humor rather than slapstick, which here constantly seems like visually augmented retreads of Jackass stunts. Add in even more of the intolerably obnoxious Ike Barinholtz and you’ve got a plot that draws the joke train to a sudden halt during the second act.

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Universal Pictures

There’s a conflicting nature to Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. The progressive edge is far more endearing than anyone would expect out of a comedy sequel, one that shines a light on an actual unjust rule against young women being able to enjoy themselves on their own terms. Yet, it’s constantly countered with a storyline focused on our older characters that seems to regress its characters and the easy fixes to their issues for the sake of cheaper laughs. An entire film centered around these girls seeking frat wisdom from Efron would have probably been for the better, as any sort of vehicle with far more Zac Efron would honestly be in their best interest. Between his incredible dancing skills and flawless comedic timing, the former High School Musical star has far more potential to spurt out like roast beef grease all over his gorgeous abs. His gorgeous… gorgeous abs. So even with its issues, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising can at least say this much: it crosses the incredibly low benchmark of being a tolerable comedy sequel.

Rating: 3 out of 5 Hard Boiled Eggs

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“Sing Street” (2016) – Warranted Nostalgia

Posted on by Thomas Mariani

Nostalgia has become an obnoxious buzzword in the last few years. Overt nostalgia has often been a kiss of death reasoning behind the sort of cyclical nature our entertainment has been driven by, particularly with the extreme love for the 80s era films, music and television that has been dominated box office records with films like the Transformers film series. Sing Street is the exact type of film to break that more cynical pattern of overly pandering blockbusters, using the setting in an authentic fashion. Sing Street utilizes aspects of a time period to give its characters genuine motivation rather than merely gawk in loving memory of the past. It’s on level with writer/director John Carney‘s most consistent directorial trait: use of song, both existing and original.

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The Weinstein Company

Much like his brilliant musical masterpiece Once or even his middling Hollywood indie retread Begin Again, Carney crafts excellent songs to fit the individual story he’s concocting in Sing Street. Better yet in this case, the original songs from the titular band perfectly match the period with varying styles. Some of it is New Wave, some of it is Glam Rock and it even dips into the era’s own nostalgia for 1950s era Rock. Carney also taps into the then new concept of music videos for these kids to dip into, both as a nostalgic wink to the audience and – more importantly – as a key facet of our youthful lead Cosmo (played endearingly by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) creative spark. When he forms a 50s inspired music video for one of his songs in his own mind, it links the height of his vision with his true understanding of the power his song can produce when put to image. Something he carries over from his relationship with his brother Brendan (portrayed with a nuanced stoner vibe from Jack Reynor), using the knowledge of music as a connection between the two.

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The Weinstein Company

The familial bond between Cosmo and Brendan serves as one of many great bonds that build throughout Sing Street. Their tight relationship helps Cosmo escape from the destructive world of his home life, along with the relationship he builds with his bandmates and the mysterious Ralphina (played with wonderful nuance by Lucy Boynton). Seeing how these kids quickly form this group for the initially selfish purpose of getting Ralphina’s attention, but slowly morphing into this wonderful unit thanks to inspiration from the then-modern glow of MTV’s music videoes. These kids constantly destroyed by bullies take out their frustrations through music, with their self actualizing through a remnant of the past that seems nostalgic to the viewer serving a genuine purpose for the characters. It’s only a shame that Sing Street does lose sight of some of its peripheral bandmates after awhile. Sure, the story is still primarily about Cosmo and his search for acceptance, but the fun personalities of the other bandmates are drowned out far too early.

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The Weinstein Company

Sing Street is an endearing musical marvel. While not on the emotionally soul crushing level of John Carney’s brilliant Once, it still manages to give the audience more depth with its musical premise than the lesser forgettable copy Begin Again. What could have easily been an irksome exercise is empty nostalgia ends up being a celebration of creative ingenuity in period piece form. The nostalgic aesthetics that recall The Cure or Duran Duran end up being a driving force to stand out from the normalcy of this depressed Irish era, full of sad cover bands and older folks that are too wrapped up in their own bitter regret to accept the new. It’s a story truly from the perspective of disaffected youth, full of potential and growing a willingness to embarrass in order to find out what they can get out of this world. Even in an era with thirty years of separation, it still holds nuggets of inspiration that hold true. Plus, you get to see Aidan “Little Finger” Gillen dance. Worth the price of admission alone.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Riddles of the Model

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Retrospective Reviews #13: Once More With Hot Ninja Feeling

Posted on by Thomas Mariani

Summer Movie season has come and it’s time to get some prep done. Here are a few films I’ve watched in anticipation of their upcoming follow ups. The most interesting factor is that this the anticipation line-up is all over the place, ranging from a new franchise entry to a cult comedy to a subdued musical. And who says that all the movies coming out are all the same?

05/08/16: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

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Paramount Pictures

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the last franchise I expected to live on as long as it has. Starting out in comics as a darkly satiric take on the grim Frank Miller’s version of Daredevil, it became a money making juggernaut in the late 80s and early 90s that many dismissed as a fad that would fade into obscurity. Yet, there have been multiple incarnations of the Turtles in their three decades of existence. So, to commemorate the 30th anniversary, Paramount produced the first live action cinematic adaptation of the concept since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III killed any chance of another sequel with people in turtle suits playing Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo & Raphael. Now we’ve got motion capture versions of those turtles and their master Splinter – along with Johnny Knoxville of all people voicing Leonardo and Tony Shalhoub as the rat sensei – who didn’t have to be constrained by a living person in a mechanical suit. Honestly, aside from some lesser facial designs, this stab at the Heroes in a Half Shell is pretty on point in terms of their personalities, with Raph’s loner angst, Leo’s excessive need to lead, Mikey’s constant wisecracks and Donny’s extensive tech head wizardry all intact. That brotherly back and forth is still kept in tact in this incarnation, particularly during some energetic and lively action scenes that made me question if Battle Los Angeles director Jonathan Liebesman actually helmed them or if the second unit/special effects team did more of the leg work.

So, it’s a shame that the rather wooden performance from Megan Fox and some needless reshoot changes to the Shredder character had to bog things down. The weird origin story change that circles both Megan Fox’s April O’Neal and William Fichtner’s Not Shredder  Eric Sacks have to be connected to the Turtles in a “Joker-Killed-The-Waynes-Batman-1989” fashion feels underplayed, depleted of any sort of thematic tension when a bland Asian guy in the shadows is The Shredder instead of Fitchner. There’s also plenty of non-Turtles related jokes that feel more sitcomish than cinematically funny, mainly from previously known funny people like Taran Killam and Whoopi Goldberg. Clearly, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is such a massively mixed bag, mirroring Will Arnett’s own uneven record for jokes within the film. For every fun interaction between the brothers there’s a scene of Splinter learning Ninjutsu via a book he found in the sewers. Yet, what’s established here isn’t unsalvageable for a sequel, despite what many a Michael Bay over-hating internet fanboy may say. We’ll just have to wait until Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows comes out this summer to see how that turns out.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Mikey Innuendos

05/09/2016: Hot Rod (Re-Watch)

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Paramount Pictures

Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island cohorts Akiva Schaffer & Jorma Taccone are masters of short form comedy. Their Saturday Night Live Digital Shorts helped reinvigorate interest in SNL for the youths of the new millennium. Shorts like “Dear Sister”, “Lazy Sunday” and “Dick in a Box” blew the internet up when they were released through catchy, lively and masterfully timed pieces of comedy that people devoured gleefully. Personally, the more enjoyable short films were always the more subversive and surreal entries like “Jack Sparrow”, “Stumblin'” or “Great Day” were the ones that stuck out as the more daring examples of experimental comedy that the trio could pull off. Somewhere in the middle lies their first feature film effort Hot Rod, a play on coming of age romps of the 80s that prides itself on taking a “save the rec center with a fundraiser” style story and morphing it into a depraved tale of a young man’s deep seeded issues with his lack of a positive male role model. It’s something he carries into his would-be leadership role of his gang, which members Bill Hader, Danny McBride & Taccone, who just want to hang out and be their own weird selves with their fellow oddball on their way to the top… of being associated with a local daredevil.

The darker elements of Samberg truly come to light in the spiteful interaction at the heart of Hot Rod, which is when he misconstrues the concept of kicking his stepfather Ian McShane’s ass with earning true respect in a darkly gut busting twist on a father/son arc. Samberg’s oblivious self centered idiot archetype can get a bit grating at points, especially after Samberg showed far more shades on projects like Brooklyn Nine Nine or Jesse and Celeste Forever. It doesn’t help that he often plays off of Isla Fisher, who isn’t even given much interesting subversive material for her love interest role. Yet, there’s a clear dedication to the absurdist goofy gags that was key to the Digital Shorts that made Lonely Island so successful. When a triumphant musical montage occurs, it turns into a riot. When two characters reconcile, it turns into a remixed beat. When there’s a triumph, Ebenezer Scrooge gives everyone a giant goose. Each ridiculous moment has a huge commitment from most of the actors involved, making each bizarre escalation worth watching. Lets hope their long delayed cinematic follow up Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping lives up to the dedication while furthering their comedic surrealism.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Faulty Ramps

05/14/16: Once 

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Summit Entertainment

This one is anticipation for a more low key summer release. Director John Carney’s Sing Street is currently in limited release, but I had never seen the film that sort of became his big breakout Once. Both of those films and the American film Carney made in between Begin Again are all musically themed, with Once mainly deriving its sound from Irish folk music. Fittingly enough for the style, the film is rather small scale and limited in its scope. Centering on two musicians who find inspiration in each other, they slowly grow to have a wonderful bond that is punctuated by the soundtrack. The script was apparently written around the songs of stars/real life musicians Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, resulting in one of the better examples of a modern untraditional musical. Each number is performed with a refreshing sense of authenticity that contrasts the cute Irish mumbling of their normal conversations. The raw talent and beautiful belting mirrors the type of bombast in Gene Kelly musicals, but through the guise of performing as a key way of unleashing their emotions through their talents.

Each of the songs has this endearing sense of earnestness, whether it be a bitter improvised ditty like “Broken Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy” or the emotionally heart wrenching Oscar winner “Falling Slowly.” Like any good musical, one gets lost in the power of the performance, but the lack of flash and down to earth nature of both the musical style and the performers gives the songs – and by extension their relationship – a genuine connection to even the least musically inclined. Yet, the connection between Hansard and Irglová still manages to be endearing outside of the songs, as their interactions show so much interpersonal conflict without saying too much. John Carney’s camerawork is also very minimalist, allowing the performers to belt out or merely stare at each other for the desired effect. It’s visual storytelling through patient attention to how people interact and how inspiration comes to artists. Once is the type of low-fi story that doesn’t require flash to engage. Instead, it allows people to speak honestly and proudly without the veil of flash. Tender, raw and gushing with pride.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Broken Hoovers

“Captain America: Civil War” (2016): The Avengers Earn Their Team’s Breach

Posted on by Thomas Mariani

There’s a rather explicit reference to Empire Strikes Back in Captain America: Civil War. In context, it’s an unconventional yet effective battle tactic during a rather impressive fight sequence. Yet, it’s also a knowing nod from Marvel to the rather dark entry in the Star Wars saga, a nod that instantly puts one in the mindset of a dark sequel that raises the stakes. It’s a bold comparison to make, especially when so many sequels that make such a comparison often fail miserably in living up to such a high standard. Captain America: Civil War is one of the few films to put itself on that pedestal and earn its place wholeheartedly, turning the events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on their head with a story that truly shakes everything up, leaving total irrevocable changes in its wake. Oh, and unlike another recent superhero confrontation, the reasons make sense and they don’t sacrifice some rousing fun along the way.

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Marvel Studios

Yes, one couldn’t really talk about this venture without bringing up the elephant in the room that is Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice. I won’t spend most of this comparing the two, but the big thing to note is that this isn’t merely a one-upmanship in terms of action. Sure, this series has a large roster of heroes available to kick ass over DC’s limited cinematic ones they’ve brought to the plate for the sake of mere visual eye candy and that action is full of incredibly inventive moments to gawk at in wonder. There’s an amazing foot chase amongst traffic with superpowered beings. There’s an opening confrontation that utilizes the combined powers with catastrophe results. The airport fight sequence alone is one of the most energetic and fun action sequences in any of these Marvel films or amongst recent blockbusters in general. Directors Anthony & Joe Russo know just how to turn these characters for and against each other during a sweeping action sequence, which this film consistently ups the ante on ever step of the way. But all that is superficial in comparison to the most superior aspect of Captain America: Civil War: the actual ideological conflicts at play.

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Marvel Studios

Captain America and Tony Stark over the course of the 8 years span of the modern timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have had some deep changes. Since coming out of the ice, Steve Rogers has wanted to uphold the American ideals he strove for as a kid raised in early 20th century Brooklyn, ideals which he feels have been compromised by modern opportunism. He wants some sort of compromise, but doesn’t want to answer to people who could bend The Avengers to their whim. On the other side, you have Tony Stark. The billionaire inventor/Iron Man protector has been shaken from his playboy persona to a man racketed with moral guilt. After years of reckless activity both in and out the suit, Stark has realized that major repercussions have taken place thanks to the actions of The Avengers and wants to prevent any further damage through government supervision. It’s a very rough conflict to see take place, but one that makes total sense for the characters we’ve seen evolve over this elaborate cinematic saga. These men who have had issues yet fought alongside each other have now reached an turning point in their friendship, one that ropes in the rest of these people to take sides, both sides with honest good points and no easy option to resolve. You know Captain America: Civil War is a great face off when there’s no easy side to root for, as each conversation that plays out with each character making reasonable arguments that fuel the action based fights rather than hinder them.

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Marvel Studios

It’s a testament to the cast Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has assembled. Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr lead with just the right mixture of human error and believable heroic ambition that makes this struggle so nerve wracking. After seeing them evolve, it’s hard to take a side. They’re both such endearing likable heroes that their darker moments here are earned by years of build up. This tension rolls over into all of the familiar faces of the universe that show up, from older favorites like Scarlett Johannson‘s conflicted Black Widow & Don Cheadle‘s loyal War Machine to fresher faces like Elizabeth Olsen‘s guilt ridden Scarlett Witch and Sebastian Stan‘s manipulated Bucky “Winter Soldier” Barnes. Yet, Captain America: Civil War still manages to introduce new characters to the MCU with the perfect amount of screen time even with such an ensemble cast. Chadwick Boseman‘s Black Panther is an refreshingly serious non-quippy character who shows the direct result of the international relations of the universe breaking down. In contrast, Tom Holland‘s endearingly earnest & geeky Spider-Man provides a wonderful heart for even the limited amount of time he’s onscreen. Hell, even Daniel Bruhl‘s villain character has a rather limited onscreen role and a plan that’s rather elaborate, but manages to morph into one of Marvel’s most compelling, sympathetic and successful villains… which is to say he’s one of the very few worth remembering outside of Loki.

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Marvel Studios

Captain America: Civil War is spectacle with equal parts brains and dazzle. It balances out the heartfelt character interactions with intimidating implications of a universe crumbling under its feet. Much of that weight does hinge on the building of a larger story that has been going on for eight years, but the major conflict of the hero registration act is fully developed on its own terms. Each blow is wonderfully executed in these visceral action sequences, but there’s plenty of story and character to back it up. We want to see the glorious spectacle unfold, yet we don’t want to see these team mates fall at each others’ hand. It’s a rare modern summer blockbuster that has actual consequences and weight to it. There are no easy answers in Captain America: Civil War, except for this one: it is the best MCU film to date and is definitely a crowning achievement in the genre overall.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Vision Sweaters

captain-america-civil-war-poster

Retrospective Reviews #12: Does Whatever A Spider-Man Does

Posted on by Thomas Mariani

This summer’s Captain America: Civil War will feature a great many characters. Captain America and Iron Man will face off directly, with Ant-Man, Black Widow, War Machine, Vision, Black Panther, and Scarlet Witch caught up in the heated battle. But we’ve seen them in Marvel Cinematic Universe movies before. Someone we haven’t seen in that mix is a hero we’ve ironically seen multiple times on the big screen: Spider-Man. The web crawling Peter Parker’s MCU debut will be brought to life by Tom Holland, the third (and youngest) man to wear the blue and red spandex & crawl around New York City. But before getting involved in a war amongst heroes or whatever the hell Andrew Garfield became tangled in during his limited run as Peter Parker, there was Tobey Maguire bringing the character to life under the direction of insane horror film veteran Sam Raimi. Before we see where Parker will be now, let’s see how he was back in the days when superhero movies were just making their comeback.

04/23/16: Spider-Man (Re-Watch)

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Sony Pictures

Spider-Man is the Superman: The Movie of its time. Taking an auteur known for genre filmmaking and applying his aesthetics to the broad strokes of a beloved comic book character, the original 2002 film pretty much created the blueprint for how do to a modern superhero origin story on film. Sure, this would yield mixed results when applied by lesser filmmakers, including those who would attempt to reboot the character a decade later for Sony. Yet, despite some elements that feel very much of its time like Green Goblins’ Power Rangers suit or the random appearance by Macy Gray, the core facets of the mythology are left intact, taking the time to develop Peter Parker’s nerdiness through familiar yet endearing actions. He’s not really the quipping Spider-Man of the comics – he’s honestly at his worst when he attempts to be – but Tobey Maguire still manages to create such a likable earnestness to him that’s on level with Christopher Reeve’s portrayal of Superman. The supporting cast ranges from the sublimely well suited Kirsten Dunst, Cliff Robertson or Rosemary Harris to the all out mad scenery chewing of Willem Dafoe as Norman Osbourne’s Green Goblin. The aforementioned mentioned plastic toy suit aside, Dafoe’s gnashing voice and bombastic physicality elicits the right amount of menace and hilarious overacting that has made Dafe such a treasure, putting him in line with Jack Nicholson’s Joker or Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor as an almost kabuki theater level madcap insanity. The action built around these characters by Sam Raimi is at its best when Peter is on his own, either working out his skills or simply swinging around trying to save others. Once we get to the Goblin heavy elements, the early 2000s CG shows & over edited fight scenes show their ware and tear. Yet, the rough element don’t outweigh the sincerity Raimi and crew have for the character & gave mainstream audiences a fun if occasionally laughable introduction to the character onscreen.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 “HEARTS, OSB0RNE! FIRST WE ATTACK HIS HEARTS!”

04/25/16: Spider-Man 2 (Re-Watch)

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Sony Pictures

Sam Raimi is a filmmaker who knows how to up the ante with a sequel. Following the ground work of his first Spider-Man film, Raimi decides to contrast the wondrous sense of discovery with a harsher crash of reality that weighs down on our hero as he realizes what it means to juggle being a superhero with real life responsibilities. Much of it hinges on the flaws of the characters getting in their own way, whether it be Peter Parker’s progressive lack of confidence and time management hurting both his normal life & powers or Doctor Octavius’ lust for scientific progression being what corrupts him under the influence of the arms. The psychosomatic nature of his powers leaving him can be a bit inconsistent at times, but the emotional consistency of Peter struggling with his life and even considering a world where he doesn’t have to be New York’s protector manages to ground the webslinger. He’s more than just the dork from the first film, evolving him into a young man looking for purpose and realizing how crucial the resolve & gumption of Peter Parker is to the heroics Spider-Man, which Tobey Maguire displays with relatable frustration and optimistic resolve that shows how Spider-Man appreciates the people of New York and how grateful they can be to him. Spider-Man 2 doesn’t forget about the side characters either, giving Kirsten Dunst a more engaging forward progression as MJ, Alfred Molina a tragically flawed take on Doc Ock and Rosemary Harris one of the endearingly heartbreaking moments to bring home Parker’s resolve. Even J.K. Simmons’ J Jonah Jameson has a few moments of genuine doubt… before his brilliant comic ego settles back in. If anyone suffers, it’s James Franco’s Harry Osbourne, who goes on a much more one dimensional sort of bitter display of rage for the death of his father that finally culminates towards the end, but only leaves things open for… what’ll happen next. It helps that these more impressive moments of character growth are surrounded by some of the best action sequences in superhero history. Sam Raimi’s extreme camera work was already shown to work perfectly for Spider-Man’s webslinging, but he completely tops himself with moments like the train sequence or Doc Ock’s transformation that feels like it was ripped straight from an Evil Dead entry. Despite the mistakes Sony would later make with the character, Spider-Man 2 is still a crowning achievement in crowd pleasing entertainment that actually cares about its characters.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Doc Ock Arms

05/02/16: Spider-Man 3 (Re-Watch)

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Sony Pictures

Following up Spider-Man 2 isn’t an easy feat for anyone. It doesn’t help that Sam Raimi was ordered to shoehorn in a popular villain by producer Avi Arad that he wasn’t even that big a fan of. The results are clearly muddled and lackluster, but not for the reasons people often complain about. The biggest sins of Spider-Man 3 on a more public scale tend to be related to Peter’s cheesy actions while under the influence of the black suit, particularly his fancy dance moves. That honestly isn’t that out of the question for a dork like Peter Parker to think something that silly would be edgy. The issue is that the actual progression of Peter from this dancing cool cat to beater of his girlfriend is so rushed, much like the rest of the film’s several plot lines. Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman has a decent enough motivation, but disappears for a solid thirty minute chunk of the movie before returning in any form to make his motives feel that investing. Harry Osbourne’s amnesia stunts any meaningful development for his character for most of the first and second act, feeling like an exercise in time wasting and James Franco face making. Even the Peter/MJ relationship has strong moments that are destroyed by a contrived lack of communication. Seriously, so much of this plot would be resolved if people had the common sense to talk to each other, which was sort of the progression after Spider-Man 2. At any time, Peter could tell MJ about his initial fight with Harry, Mary Jane telling Peter about her losing the Broadway play, Mary Jane telling Peter – the incredibly experience superhero crime fighter – that the inexperienced Harry was holding her basically at gun point to say things, Harry’s butler telling him that convenient exposition about his father YEARS ago. Any of that would easily lead to a resolve of these problems that seem more petty and moronic than anything else in execution. This lack of decent progression is what destroys so much of Topher Grace’s potential as Venom, leaving his creepy storyline of following a non-character version of Gwen Stacy to wither on the vine as all these other things happen. Yet, with all of these problems, there are glimmers of a solid Spider-Man movie to be found. The action sequences are still top notch, moments of comedy (mainly centered around J.K. Simmons and Bruce Campbell) are still uproarious and the effects work on Sandman manages to hold up wonderfully despite nine years having past. Even some of the resolves to these bigger moments feel wonderfully executed. The bigger problem is just that this story doesn’t deserve to have them. Spider-Man 3 is clearly a mixed and disappointing note to end this trilogy on… but I’ll still watch it over Amazing Spider-Man 2 any day.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 James Franco Faces… seriously, look at these faces!