Deciding to See a Movie (Searching)

by D. on 14 September, 2018 at 03:45

Torn between a few well reviewed titles, we decided to see Searching in theater last night. It was a gimmicky movie with a compelling story that strikes at the core of modern experience. It warrants seeing in a place where you can consume the film without distraction, but it rewards such dedicated attention. There are some decent twists in this one, so we’ll be trying to avoid spoilers in this review – that there is a twist shouldn’t be a surprise, one trailer boldly claims: “you won’t see the twist coming.”

The story is straightforward. A man (John Cho) and his wife (Sara Sohn) have a daughter. The wife dies of cancer, and the man and daughter soldier on having the sort of single parent + only child relationship one would expect. Until one day when the daughter doesn’t come home. The story quickly unfolds to reveal that he doesn’t really know anything about what his daughter has been up to.

The gimmick of the film is that the entire story is told through the screens of the various computers used by the family and, eventually, the police. It’s an easy to follow narrative, despite the gimmick, because we are now at a point where we understand the windows and clicking. Fortunately for the audience and story, every character of importance is a video blogger and Facetime user. There are a few moments where more traditional camera work is necessary – fortunately there are news clips and dramatically placed nanny-cams.

Searching derives its title partially from the efforts to find the daughter but also from the quick jumps to Google to look up some term or social media site. It is the story of how the characters’ lives play out through their use of computers, but it is also the story of how society works today. The father searches through his daughter’s laptop to discover not only where she is but – in a way – who she is. (It’s not as cryptic as that… it’s more thematic than gratuitous shock twist.)

All of the characters are believable, though I did have some problems with Debra Messing as Detective Sergeant Vick. She doesn’t quite talk like a cop, and that led me down a path of unwarranted suspicion. In trying to explain it, I’m reminded of a quote from The Blues Brothers, “It’s got a cop motor… It’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. …” Police officers walk and talk like police officers. After you see Searching, you’ll tell me that it’s the role she’s playing, and she does that well. Sure, but it’s just not… “cop”.

This is the second major movie to use the gimmick of being told through laptop screens and iPhones. The “shock” movie Unfriended was the first, and Modern Family did an episode this way too. It works as a medium only when the story warrants this medium. A warning to Hollywood: there are only a few such stories, and Searching takes up two of those spots.

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Nic Cage is Superman (Teen Titans Go to the Movies)

by D. on 30 July, 2018 at 02:47

We think it’s fair to say that Teen Titans Go to the Movies is not a children’s movie. It certainly has all the hallmarks of a children’s movie. The main plot is easy to follow. The character rendering is highly stylized to appeal to a younger viewer. And, there is a fart joke within the first five minutes of the film.

Most modern movies targeted at younger audiences have some inappropriate jokes and references “sneaked in” for the sake of the parents. It’s a sort of acknowledgement that adults are getting dragged into the theatre. Teen Titans Go to the Movies is packed with so much “parent service” that it has more screen time than the “main” movie.

It is hard to be sure because the film is so hyperactively packed with jokes, easter-eggs, and obscure DC characters that they crossed over into making nods to other companies as well. There’s even a Stan Lee cameo (technically he did write a few special issues for DC). The result is that the few moments I spent not laughing were filled with identifying who that guy/girl/super-pet in the background is, or marveling at Power Girl’s breast reduction – Kypton’s most top-heavy heroine is now its PAWG.

Though, the award for Dirtiest Superhero Joke Ever goes to Supergirl. Walking the red carpet in a slick red dress she’s asked who she’s wearing. “Plastic Man” she replies delightedly as his broad, smiling face appears across her abdomen.

The red carpet event is one of the meta aspects of the film. It is ultimately a superhero movie about the abundance of superhero movies, with abundant superheroes all trying to get their movie made – the titular characters in particular. It works for this film, because it portrays superheroes not just as guardians but as celebrities. Instead of signs and billboards of obscure companies from the pages of the source comics, the city is plastered with advertisements for superhero endorsed products.

There is an odd emphasis on music in the film. Cyborg pops out his sound system more often than his laser cannon. There’re moments where it feels like they’re trying to present the Teen Titans as a Broadway Musical. Apparently dubstep would have saved the planet Krypton. The original Puffy AmiYumi theme song was unfortunately relegated to a small excerpt in the closing credits.

The film also has one plot-hole problem. That is, every problem the ’Titans couldn’t solve, they had Raven use her hole – er, portal – to dispose of. It got to the point where she would just ask “portal?” and the team would reply “portal.” The problem would be whisked away – or not, when her portal wasn’t quite big enough. As a power, it made us rethink our standing position that the Flash is the most powerful, underrated superhero.

Teen Titans Go to the Movies is definitely worth seeing. I don’t know that it requires the big screen, unless you’re trying to identify all the characters in the wide shots, then it is an absolute necessity.

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Fourteen Years and they Haven’t Aged a Minute (The Incredibles 2)

by D. on 24 June, 2018 at 14:16

The Incredibles was one of the best superhero movies ever made. It challenged conventions and clichés with complex characters, was easily understood by children and loved by adults. The sequel is the next part of the story and the next step forward.

In The Incredibles 2, the illegality of being a superhero is at the forefront of the plot. Instead of playing on heroes’ hopes of reliving past glory to further their schemes, a wealthy benefactor (Saul Goodman) hopes to reverse the laws that forced the heroes into hiding. Somewhat reluctantly, Elastigirl takes over the role of prime hero from Mr. Incredible (apparently role reversal is a thing in Pixar sequels). Despite being set in the mid 1960s, the villainous “Screenslaver” strikes at a decidedly modern societal problem: over use of screen technology.

I’m not dark and angsty – ooh a new Elasticycle!

On the subject of modern social problems, it seems everyone just noticed Elastigirl’s curviness – apparently there can’t be a female lead character without talking about how she looks. The thing is it’s not new. In fact, of all the characters in the franchise, Elastigirl is the one who changes the least.

Why?

Because Elastigirl is a strong female character. She was never just a stretchy ex-superheroine mom berating her husband with some snappy one-liners. Look at her in the first movie, and you see she had the brains, powers, and (prior military) training to compete with – and even out-do – her male peers.

Conversely, Mr. Incredible is reduced to a caricature of the stay-at-home dad, complete with all the typical tropes. He struggles with being sidelined, his children’s problems, and exacerbating every situation he tries to solve. He has a complete breakdown because he’s in a situation that he’s never encountered before – his own family. It’s a lazy sort of portrayal in a cast that is otherwise so fully developed and interesting.

Except that is the point.

Mr. Incredible is a cliché. He is a glorious demonstration of everything typical of and wrong with superheroes. The film opens exactly where the original finished – with Underminer bursting from beneath the city to do bad things. In attempting to stop Underminer, Mr. Incredible causes several million dollars worth of collateral damage – and Underminer still gets away. He – his method – is why supers are illegal.

There are a few jarring continuity errors. Violet has a date on Friday, but the kids are back in school the next day. With the film’s record long runtime, we’re guessing that scenes depicting the intervening weekend were cut so that Jack-Jack fighting a raccoon could go the full ten rounds.

It seems odd that everyone is surprised that Jack Jack has powers, since it was crucial to the resolution of the first film. Mom and dad didn’t see what made Syndrome drop Demon Baby, but it was so obvious to the audience that it makes them come off as oblivious.

It’s not the Fantastic Four sequel we think we deserve. It’s the Fantastic Four sequel we need, guest starring Iceman. See The Incredibles 2.

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Join Other Player? (Ready Player One)

by D. on 29 March, 2018 at 12:57

In a dystopian future, the whole of humanity apparently lives within about ten miles of each other and jump into a video game so they don’t have to look at each other. It’s not unlike the real world, except amplified.

2045 is a waking nightmare of abject poverty, corporate dependence, and debtors’ prisons. Respite comes by plugging into the largest, most diverse, and immersive video game/social network/escapism device ever devised, “The Oasis.” To make matters even more driving, the late inventor of The Oasis has hidden three keys (literal keys) within its many worlds. The first finder of all three of these keys can open a door and win the whole chocolate factory.

Aimed at young adults, Ready Player One is not a terribly complex story. Aided by friends who are more skilled than he, a low-class hero uses his true belief in the game’s purpose and devotion to its creator to take on the big corporate giant trying to monetize The Oasis. That simplicity gives this movie room to be an exciting, with genuine feel good action moments. It balances the two realities—the real world and the game world—well, giving the sense of imminent danger and elation in ultimate triumph. The real world threats are the typical evil corporation type. They lock people up (in online labor camps); they send assassin drones after the hero, et cetera. Death in-game, however, has the horrible consequence of losing all your stuff, forcing a player to start over from zero—and that online currency has replaced actual money.

Ready Player One is full of references and tributes to pop culture, with special deference given to the 1980s. The film is nearly hyperactive at times shotgunning fan services in action sequences reminiscent of “survival mode” levels—resulting in a gamer nerdgasm. Other than the characters and a little world building, the screen has almost no original content.  This isn’t a problem. It gives the audience a stream of feel good pills, which might be analyzed as a device to make statements about the addictive nature of game environments.

The biggest tribute/reference is the bad guy. Whether intended or accidental, the villain is straight out of a John Hughes film. He is a powerful authority figure, with unlimited resources, and yet he is completely undone by a collection of five “teenagers” (technically one of them is only eleven) and his own base level incompetence when fixated on a goal of questionable value.

The main characters shine though and are good strong characters. They are each two characters: their avatar and their real person. This duality of online life is reinforced throughout. The underlying societal message is clear: “Escapism is dangerous, and online life is explicitly designed to draw you in and keep you.” It is resolved in a YA reader kind of way, but that’s okay. This is a movie where you should feel good when everyone bands together for that moment when they do.

Take the time to enjoy Ready Player One.

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The First Order Strikes the Penultimate Jedi

by D. on 15 December, 2017 at 23:39

I thoroughly enjoyed Star Wars: The Last Jedi. It is worth seeing in the theatre, sooner than later.

I’d avoid spoilers, but the truth is there aren’t many spoilers to be had because there isn’t much in the movie that is truly unexpected. Instead of big reveals and progression of story, Episode VIII is a full-on explosive nerdgasm of Star Wars fan service.

There’s new walkers, cute creatures, an R2D2 and Luke reunion, BB8 acting like a badass, Anakin’s lightsaber hilt (inexplicably called a “laser sword” by Luke), and the Millennium Falcon saves the day. If you’re surprised, you probably haven’t watched 9 other Star Wars movies, 3 TV series, and a Holiday Special. If you don’t enjoy it anyway, then why did you watch 9 other movies, etc.?

Major character deaths were expected to the point where you’re sort of just waiting to see how they die. Leia’s thirty-five separate “omigosh they killed her” scenes were completely trumped for emotional impact by a single goodbye credit to Carrie Fisher.

Like The Force Awakens, the filmmakers made a point stuffing the ranks of the rebellion with female and ethnically diverse uniform fillers. Flashing to a cockpit to show that a craft is piloted by a black woman is only “progress” by Hollywood standards, because she moves a switch and is never shown again. Now, The Last Jedi does a better job because some of these—short lived—characters are minor heroes struggling for their last moment to give hope to the larger story.

Unlike The Force Awakens, Episode VIII is not just a retread of an earlier film. Though it has the same general theme as Empire—the rebels are perpetually on the run while trying to get Luke to be a Jedi—there is story progression which is unique to the series. They are definitely trying to establish a new path and conflict for new stories and characters. Kylo even goes so far as actually saying that Rey has to let all the old ways die for the new order to be good for the universe. I’m not sure if that was supposed to be written in the dialog or the script notes.

On the topic of new characters, Rose Tico (played by Kelly Marie Tran) is another janitor turned hero (like Finn) that really grasps the “epic seen by characters in the lowliest stations” that was the original film, and Benicio Del Toro’s “DJ” reminds us that scoundrels are still a part of Star Wars.

Modernization of dialog bothered me in Force Awakens. In The Last Jedi, I got over it and really enjoyed the throwing of shade and general nose-thumbing at the stuffier elements. Bathos prevails throughout the film. While that detracts from deep meanings about the force, balance, and the Jedi religion; Star Wars isn’t a story of deep lessons about humanity. It is the American myth about heroic triumph against impossibly overwhelming oppression—and jumping into an X-Wing and blowing things up.

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