NEW REVIEW: "The Illusionist" (2006)

MRMOVIESETC REVIEWS:

“The Illusionist” (2006)

"I'm a cynical man, God knows. But if your manifestations are somehow real, 

then even I am willing to admit you're a very special person."

“Dante’s Peak” vs. “Volcano” = “Dante’s Peak” wins, but it’s close.

“Armageddon” vs. “Deep impact” = I’d say “Deep Impact”, but again, it’s close.

“Madagascar” vs. “The Wild” = Damn, Disney, sans Pixar, the 2000s were rough for you, huh?

“The Prestige” vs. “The Illusionist” = ?

*** 

Okay, we all knew the answer to that question beforehand, and this was the first time I had seen “The Illusionist”. I’m not sure why it took me so long either considering that Paul Giamatti could probably sell me ice in a Midwestern blizzard (yes, even roleplaying as Cleveland Heep). Casting-wise, “Prestige” held a slight advantage with Bale, Jackman, Caine, and even David Bowie as Nikola Tesla, because the other three names just weren’t enough. But hey, Nolan just came off one of the best Batman films ever made, for at least three years until 2008, so one could say the scales were tipped from the get-go, leaving “The Illusionist” somewhat in the shadows.

Really that’s kind of a shame, because while it’s had plenty of time to finally reach a bigger audience, “The Illusionist” has many of its own charms to appreciate. Rather than be loaded with twists and turns like “The Prestige”, “The Illusionist” banks all of its efforts on building up to one central conceit, and it’s not half-bad at all.

Per legend, and before he became the popular illusionist known as Eisenheim (Edward Norton), Eduard Abramovich (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) was the lower class son of a cabinet maker in rural Austria-Hungary before he met a lone magician that strikes a fascinating chord with Eduard. Before long, he begins mastering the art of magic and illusion at a remarkably young age, and soon catches the eye of Sophie (Eleanor Tomlinson), a girl of greater wealth and class whom he is forbidden from socializing with. After breaking said boundaries and being forcibly separated from Sophie, Eduard leaves his village and travels abroad to gather an audience with his talents.

Around fifteen years later, he returns home with his new name of Eisenheim, and is gaining considerable popularity at the local theatre. He even catches the eye of Chief Inspector Walter Uhl (Paul Giamatti), whom would love nothing more than to figure out how Eisenheim conducts his illusions. One evening, he performs in front of the highest of guests, Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell), a wicked, proud, and violent man whom is not at all thrilled about Eisenheim being able to push his buttons without being to pinpoint how he does his magic. He’s especially bitter about how Eisenheim seems to have an eye for his bride-to-be, the now Dutchess Sophie von Teschen (Jessica Biel). The closer the two former childhood lovebirds come to rekindling their romance, the more dangerous the Crown Prince becomes, to the point that both Eisenheim and Sophie become targets of his deadly rage that Eisenheim must use his powers against.

As I say most every time with these kinds of films – copy and paste – there’s considerably more to the plot than this, but I’m starting to lean against the SPOILER wall, so that’s my queue to stop.

I’ll get to the other particulars in a moment, but I wanted to start with what really stuck out to me the most, and it’s kind of minor, but I absolutely loved the editing in this movie. During the flashback scenes, the coloring was made to look faded with noticeable framing transitions like something you would have seen back in the early silent film era. I’m glad it was not used for the film’s entirety as that would have gotten hard on the eyes with all the dark and dreary backdrops the set pieces had already. It’s certainly not something they needed to do, but it was a really crafty touch that I wish more modern filmmakers would embrace. Then again, we are getting “The Lighthouse” soon, and that appears to be going all out on this aging method, so there you go.

As I said in the beginning, “The Prestige” may have had the advantage bolstering a hugely talented cast, but “The Illisionist” has its own set of guns, too. The accents were a little shaky, if I were to be perfectly honest, and I am fairly positive I heard Norton’s crack a few times, but overall everybody carried it well enough. Norton’s turn as Eisenheim was well done and quieter than most of his lead performances, Giamatti as the not-quite-fully-corrupted Chief Inspector was solid like everything the man does in his career, and Biel does not have the high presence that the cast list invites one to think, but she plays a believable Juliet to Eisenheim’s Romeo. All three actors are fully in to sell this, and as one can picture with a premise like this one, poker faces make all the difference.

I would have liked to have seen Sewell’s Crown Prince be a better-written antagonist. Sewell’s characters tend to get this way in some of his past features regardless, but he is a full-on cartoon in this movie, especially in the second half. Far be it for me to suggest Director Neil Burger not let him off his chain; he’s just not as intimidating as he should be and really is when he is more subdued and hissing in an almost whispered tonal authority. I will say that his arc comes to an intriguingly dark peak that I did not see coming at all for reasons I wish I could say.

I do wonder how long the mystique from “The Illusionist” is going to stay with me. When I was reflecting on it afterward, I wanted to compare it to a nice fireworks show: A purposefully steady buildup of drama, suspense, and mystery that concludes with the Big Spectacle finish, and then it’s over. The whole experience was a good time and had all the right pieces, yet it starts to fade from memory once the adrenaline wears off.

While that may sound like a slant against the film, I want to emphasize that it is not – at least not entirely. “The Illusionist” is good and there is plenty about it to enjoy, but it is not quite great either. If this and “The Prestige” were placed in front of me and I were asked to watch one or the other for a total of ten viewings, I’d likely pick “Prestige” eight of those times. Timing may have been against “The Illusionist”, but that can’t shoulder all of the blame; “Prestige” is the superior.

Still, if you are like me and haven’t given this one a shot over the past decade for one reason or another, I do recommend it as a stream or rental. It does certainly deserve a fair shake.

“The Illusionist”: 7.5/10

RAPID FIRE REVIEWS: September 13th, 2019

MRMOVIESETC REVIEWS:

“John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum”

John Wick has returned yet again to deal some unapologetically copious amounts of ass-whoopin’. Actually, though, he doesn’t literally kick many people, like, right in the ass. He does kick a lot of dudes in the junk, which many said dudes would argue is far worse than getting kicked in the ass; either way, right after he does that, he puts bullets in their skulls, so anything else prior is kind of moot.

The point is that Keanu Reeves is still awesome. Duh.

*** 

Those whom have avoided keeping up on the “John Wick” films aren’t likely to care about any of this anyway, but for the rest, “Parabellum” picks right after the events of “Chapter 2”: Wick is alive albeit badly beaten, and he is quickly trying to get medical attention and hightail it out of town as he is about to become excommunicado, which simply means he’s no longer to be in the company and protection of the league of assassins, and there will be an Open Season on his head with a hefty payout to follow for any killer thinking they can take him down. In the meantime, Wick desperately works through what few allies he has left to get to Casablanca, home of the “Elder Above the High Table”, so he can plead his case and hopefully get the High Table off his back.

While John is off trying to get his affairs back in line, an officer of the High Table called The Adjudicator (Asia Kate Dillon) is going around making threats with her own army to anybody that has assisted John Wick during is “crimes”, including Winston (Ian McShane), The Director (Angelica Huston), and the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne). Suffice it to say, Wick & Co. will need to accumulate their highest body count yet in order to survive.

That’s pretty much it. Now, that doesn’t sound like it could even fill an hour of movie, and conventionally speaking it probably wouldn’t, but considering that Wick has to punch, kick, slice, and shoot through horde after horde of henchmen like a video game on crack, the film pads out the two hours pretty smoothly. As expected by now, the fight scenes continue to be awe-inspiring for a man that is well into his fifties and still does all his own damn stunts. Of course, Director Chad Stahelski can’t be having John kill people the same way all the time, so there are some new additives of killing on horseback, killing on motorcycles, killing martial artists in a room made of practically nothing other than glass, and killing alongside Halle Berry at one point so she and her two fearless canines can mess the shit out of people, too.

There’s really no room for error in any of these “John Wick” movies. The plot(s) are kept functionally simple so Keanu can do what he does best, and I imagine fans of this series could not care less about much else. As much as I do enjoy them in the moment, the first two, and now the third, are mainly just that – fun in the moment. I like them, and I respect the Hell out of them, although they have always been and always will be one-time watches for me. That being said, I will keep on watching the new ones for as long as they keep on making them, even if they are really starting to bleed together to the degree of only being memorable for the best deaths.

“John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum”: 7/10

“The Dead Don’t Die” (2019)

Huh. Hmmm.

Well, damn, this one was kind of a disappointment.

Stylistically-speaking, “The Dead Don’t Die” has all the Jarmusch-isms that have made Jim Jarmusch great throughout the years: A solid cast, minimal plot mechanics, dead-pan comedic delivery, and an ingenious pacing method to mirror the tone and narration of the film.  Unfortunately, between a social commentary that is so dead-on-the-nose that it is almost cringe-worthy, and the not great comedy used to drive that commentary, the whole thing felt depressingly empty and nothing more than a finger-wag to humanity. Then again, maybe that was the point, but one would hope that Jarmusch hasn’t reached the level of Lars Von Trier narcissism. That guy has enough of it to cause cancer through the TV waves.

In the rural town of Centerville, the normal routine of Police Chief Cliff Robertson (Bill Murray), and Officer Ronnie Peterson (Adam Driver) gets turned upside down when the Earth suddenly shifts its axis due to world governments fracking excessively at both poles, causing daylight hours to get completely out of whack, wildlife to behave strangely, and, because reasons, reanimate the dead. Like most zombies, these creatures crave the flesh of the living, but also the things they loved most when they were alive – chardonnay, coffee, baseball, toys, comics, wifi, etc. Being a simplistic small town setting, none of the residents fully know how to react to the invasion despite some of their clear knowledge of needing to “kill the head”, so the infection begins to rapidly spread, with remaining survivors becoming increasingly stranded.

I don’t want to say that, even though I felt mostly let down, that there were no redeeming qualities to “The Dead Don’t Die”. Having Bill Murray as the star is already a plus seeing that deadpan is his bread and butter, and Adam Driver is becoming one of my favorite newer A-list actors. The two don’t have amazing chemistry, but that looked to be by design to showcase a generation separated by technology and popular culture. Driver’s character is also the only one that is “in” on the entire plot from the start, which is supposed to be one of the long-running jokes of the whole thing, but sadly one of the many that fell flat. Nonetheless, I did at least get some grins and chuckles out of it, if nothing else, thanks to the banter between the two leads.

Giving credit where it’s due, I’m always glad to see Jim Jarmusch attempt new things and different genres whilst still staying true to his craft. Sometimes, though, there are going to misfires, and this one was a straight wash.

“The Dead Don’t Die”: 5/10

“Being Frank” (2019)

Once, just once, I would love to see a screenwriter and/or director take one of these “person living a double life” stories and go completely left field with it. Whether it’s uproariously funny, risqué, off-the-wall-bizarre, or whatever else one can possibly conjure up, I don’t care, just be something different. Leave my jaw on the floor, that’s what I would like to have happen.

To my experience, that hasn’t happened yet, and with “Being Frank”, the dream is still only a dream.

*** 

If there’s one thing I really respect about Jim Gaffigan outside of his standup – I do really love his standup – is that he hardly ever brings that persona onto the big screen. I certainly do not see him as some transcendent actor, and I have a feeling he agrees with that if you have ever listened to his standup routines before, though he’s never been afraid to test his acting abilities with dramatic roles. “Being Frank” is yet another one of those.

Even though I was armed with this information in the back of my mind, I sat down to “Being Frank” fully expecting a mostly silly comedy based off of the trailers, and that is not the case at all. There are certainly funny, silly, and outright hilarious moments, maybe even enough to call it a dramedy, but with Gaffigan especially, there was more seriousness in the actual core of this than I initially expected.

Taking a closer look, Frank is a middle-aged man that inherited a successful ketchup business and has a lovely family with his wife Laura (Anna Gunn), his son Philip (Logan Miller), and daughter Lib (Emerson Tate Alexander). Due to being atop the family business, Frank must frequently leave home for weeks at a time so he can go to Japan for business purposes. What is family doesn’t know is that when Frank means he’s going to Japan, he really means he’s going to be with his secret second family, consisting of his other wife Bonnie (Samantha Mathis), his other son Eddie (Gage Polchlopek), and other daughter Kelly (Isabelle Phillips). What sends Frank’s secret into a tailspin is when Philip goes against his parents’ wishes and sneaks off to Florida for Spring Break and happens to catch Frank in the act of being with his second family.

Philip is able to infiltrate this other home by pretending to be the son of Frank’s closest friend that nobody mysteriously has ever met, and uses the situation as black mail so Frank will let Philip go to the university that he really wants to go to that Frank opposes. Soon thereafter, Laura discovers Philip has disobeyed her, and she shows up in Florida as well by surprise, making Frank’s situation all the direr and humorously chaotic.

I don’t intend to spoil the ending or anything like that, but if you’ve stuck with me this far, you know exactly where this is going, because this type of film always goes that way. The path to getting to t

hat point is hit-and-miss, however there are some fruits along the way. Easily the most entertaining side-plot of the whole film is when Kelly starts falling in love with Philip, seeing that she has no clue whom he really is in relation to her life. Speaking of, Miller is really the big star of the whole show. He has to go through multiple different cycles of vengeful, hurt, playful, funny, and heartfelt, and I would say he carries the load nicely. Gaffigan is certainly fine too in the old “guy running around in circles trying to save his ass” routine. In fairness, it’s pretty hard to screw that up.

In the end, this is a film that could have easily been twenty minutes shorter for what it was trying to sell, and while it’s completely predictable and unoriginal, there’s enough starpower and good notes to get it where it is going without too much fatigue.

I can’t exactly say I recommend it, but if you get a free rental or something and there’s nothing else, go for it.

“Being Frank”: 6/10

NEW REVIEW: "Destroyer" (2018)

MRMOVIESETC REVIEWS:

“Destroyer” (2018)

"I know what it's like to grow up bad, jealous, hungry, scared. I didn't want that for you."

You know, if I had to pick just one favorite recurring line that has been used numerous times in the entire history of cinema, I think it’d have to be the classic “ENTERNAMEHERE is back”. I mean, I don’t know about you, but nothing else quite makes my ears perk up than when I feel like I’m about to be vaguely introduced in a chilly, quivering voice from a protagonist or side character to some unknown badass that makes time stop everything he/she/it is in the room. Sometimes they do not even have to be in the room, but can still haunt based solely on reputation or the threat of action. No matter which way it ends up going, usually the trick works really well, and while “Destroyer” approaches it differently than most that I have seen recently, it leans towards the latter of the two.

Truthfully, I hesitate to get into the story of “Destroyer” much at all in this review, because it has the type of narrative structure that basically equates to two-hours-worth of baiting. It is established almost immediately that something big and terrible - actually that plus a lot of little things - has already happened, and the film is going to spend most of its time gradually uncovering what those things were mostly in the present time, so it can properly build up to the Big Finish. Granted, that’s not anything new in storytelling, but, as they say, “If it ain’t broke…”

Officer Erin Bell (Nicole Kidman) is inwardly (and outwardly) a hardened cop with alcohol consumption issues, to put it lightly, whom arrives on the scene of a murder already being handled by some of her colleagues. Clearly sleep-deprived, they tell her the scene is under control and that they don’t need her there. Insisting to examine the corpse anyway, Erin notices a piece of evidence next to the body – a one-hundred dollar bill splattered with purple ink. While she never reveals anything about it to the other on-duty cops at the scene, it is made clear to the audience that this holds personal significance to Erin before she leaves to go back to the office.

Upon arriving at her desk, a postage envelope is there waiting for her holding similar cash that also has the purple ink. This is the where the aforementioned “too well. Now, back in the present, Erin must follow the trail of her past so that she can get to Silas first before he can cause all sorts of trouble for her and her family.

is back” reference comes in when Erin reports the taunt to an FBI confidant and tells him that Silas (Toby Kebbell) has returned and has quite possibly marked her as a target. Over sixteen years prior to that moment, the film shows a younger Erin and her partner, Chris (Sebastian Stan), preparing to infiltrate Silas’ gang of drug dealers and bank robbers. Flashbacks show that the partners meld into the group successfully, and perhaps a little

Obviously, there’s a shit ton more going on here, but I’ll leave it at that.

Sigh – it may finally be time for me to admit that I kind of, maybe, sort of, possibly, probably, and/or reluctantly like Nicole Kidman as an actress now. I am extremely unapologetic when it comes to absolutely not liking much, if any, of her earlier work. Try as I might, I can never seem to nail it down to anything more than how I think she came off as really fake and pretentious in her constant quest for award nominations. She does still seem to pick those kinds of roles these days, although something about her effort seems far more genuine now. “Destroyer” may very well be one of the most demanding roles she’s had in recent memory, and considering that this film is all about her character, she positively kills it. There’s no other real description that fits. She transforms Erin Bell into a relatable, yet totally no-bullshit mother and police officer that has long since thrown caution into the wind and will do what she must to make things right, even if that goal is seemingly impossible.

This is definitely a film that gives the impression that it’s going to be wickedly gritty and violent, and while it does have those things, it was surprisingly quiet and introspective most of the time. I would have been more than okay if Director Karyn Kusama had decided to make this a 90s throwback and have Erin go full guns-a-blazin’, yet I’m kind of glad it had more realistic roots than that. A plot as morally grey as this one, or, Hell, let’s just call it black, needs more substance than style for what it is trying to accomplish, and I think Kusama did that and then some.

“Destroyer” also has some remarkably good pacing for a film that continues the recent Hollywood trend of non-linear storytelling. It’s become such a gimmick anymore that most filmmakers and editors don’t bother to put much care into the craft, but with this one, there is the right amount of back-and-forth between past and present to make for a truly heartfelt climax. For a film that’s not really trying to dazzle in any way except for compelling character drama, it makes the two hour slow(ish)burn worth the trek.

I do wish a couple of the subplots in this film involving Erin’s family and current police partner had been given better closure, especially considering how much emphasis was put on them along the way. I also would have liked to have seen Silas end up being more interesting than he really was, but I guess for both complaints, not having them be too prominent was kind of the point. The story isn’t about them; it’s about Erin’s trials and triumphs, and how these side characters happen to be connected to her physical and psychological scars. That being said, the slightest bit of enhancement to either one of those would have made the ending payoff that much better for the time spent getting there.

Sorry to be more vague than usual on this one. Some films demand the full experience, and “Destroyer” is certainly one of those. It’s too bad Annapurna didn’t, or couldn’t, push this project out to the masses on a bigger scale, because this is easily one of the better suspenseful dramas of 2018. If nothing else, it’s definitely worth the watch to see Kidman take the shape of a person almost unrecognizable to the rest of her filmography.

You should give this one a shot. It’s currently streaming on Hulu.

“Destroyer”: 8.5/10

NEW REVIEW: "Booksmart" (2019)

MRMOVIESETC REVIEWS:

“Booksmart” (2019)

I’ve always found comedies to be the most difficult films to review at length, unless they’re terrible, because at least then I don’t need to feel too guilty about digging a bit deeper into what failed and why. Good comedies, on the other hand, I almost prefer to leave alone or keep vague at a maximum so as to not ruin the setups of the best jokes. I’m not sure how this one is going to turn out since I am obviously not there yet, but if it does end up being on the short side because I felt it necessary, my apologies in advance.

*** 

It’s not really at all surprising to me that Olivia Wilde would choose “Booksmart”, an R-rated teen comedy, as the platform for her directing debut. To my knowledge, I don’t believe she’s actually starred in many outright comedies in her still-growing career, but she’s always had this dry wit to her that I’ve loved. Couple that with a team of writers that have either directing experience of their own and/or are good at writing from the female perspective accurately and humorously, I can see why a film like this that has been done many times before with various levels of success received buzz on the indie circuit.

The story for “Booksmart” is about two best friends, Amy Antsler (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly Davidson (Beanie Feldstein), on the Eve of their high school graduation. As the title aptly implies, both girls are extremely classroom intelligent with incredibly bright college futures ahead of them. Naturally, this means they perfectly fill the “nerd” stereotype: All work and no play outside of hanging out with each other. In the beginning of the film, neither one is bothered by this as they believe, or at least Molly believes, that they are step above the rest of their classmates whom never outwardly cared about studying nearly as much as they cared about partying and all other forms of socialization. The twist in the plot comes in when the realization is made that – oops – many of said classmates excelled equally as well despite having a work/play balance that both Amy and Molly thought to be impossible. Now, they feel must immediately drop all previous inhibitions and party the night away before the next chapter of their lives begins the following day.

Of course, the full narrative is significantly richer than that, especially with the character development. I really loved how, instead of making it a full-blown event, Amy is a lesbian that is already out of the closet, although she’s never had a romantic relationship yet, so there’s awkwardness and shyness with both her own insecurities and interactions with her parents that proves to be hilarious material. All of that is also ushered along with Molly’s extroverted nature that creates both intentional and unintentional embarrassment for Amy. It also goes without saying that many plans for the night go awry and that’s where the bulk of the funny comes in. The film isn’t wholly original in that regard, though execution has always been more critical than anything else with these kinds of movies.

I cannot say for sure if it was by design or the production simply lacked the funds, but assuming it was the former, I got a lot of appreciation out of how there wasn’t an A-List name on the marquee for “Booksmart” to act as a lure for audiences as opposed to letting the two main leads shine on their own terms. Jason Sudeikis does a make a few brief appearances, and that shouldn’t be shocking given that he’s the significant other of the director and all. Outside of him, Devers and Feldstein run the show, and they are spot-on perfect for this film. I’ve been watching Devers act for a handful of years when she was a regular on the initial run of the “Last Man Standing” TV show, and to me, she was always the standout with her dry humor delivery; a bulk of which translates over “Booksmart”. I’m not able to say the same about Feldstein, but that shouldn’t diminish anything about her ability because she shows exactly why she deserved her role.

Low and behold, “Booksmart” manages to miraculously be another comedy from 2019 to make the token vulgarity trope work to its benefit rather than against it, and no, not just because girls are doing it this time, therefore, funny. It’s amazing how much better humor like that performs when its situational and took its time in the build-up instead of randomly seeing how loud genital terms can be shouted in a typically derogatory fashion. That’s not to say that kind of shtick is without a home, but it’s become a staple that has been beaten into the grave thrice over.

If I have any complaints, and they are few, they would mainly be regarding the transitions from comedy to drama. Said transitions are entirely warranted as the narrative does go into the heavy, mostly with Amy, but when they do come along, I feel they could have used fleshing out and less easy resolutions. There is also one giant plot convenience that instantly makes no sense if allowed to be reflected upon for more than a few seconds. Fortunately the film does move at an expert pace that it truly is easily forgotten once a few minutes go by. None of these things are nearly as jarring as those descriptions make them sound; I just can’t think of a better way to put it out there.

I think I will leave it at that for “Booksmart”. While I didn’t find the more heartfelt moments to be as effective as they should have been, this is still one excellent debut for the two leads and Wilde as a director. It is refreshingly funny all the way through with a mix of silly and clever, and none of the antics feel forced or out of place. I recall feeling slightly astonished at how long it’s been since I have seen a new comedy flow as well as this one does. Don’t be at all surprised if this one turns up on a lot of Top Ten lists come December.

Absolutely recommended.

“Booksmart”: 8.5/10

NEW REVIEW: "IT: Chapter Two" (2019)

MRMOVIESETC REVIEWS:

“IT: Chapter Two” (2019)

"No one who dies here ever really dies."

WARNING: This review contains exceptions and excuses that would normally not be awarded to other films.

I thought I should get that out there, because it’s bound to come up one way or another.

***

It’s a strange feeling to me to have been this excited for a new horror film, especially seeing as that hardly ever happens anymore. I was literally counting down the days over the past few months for September 5^th to finally arrive so I could channel my inner, younger dork and go see a scary movie late at night. Yet, at the same time, the Voice of Reason in the back of head told me to keep some reasonable expectations for reasons we Stephen King fans already know well enough – the second half of “IT” just isn’t the greatest.

I’m of the mindset that, going clear back to the novel, “IT” could have ended with the kids. Don’t get me wrong, the adult side of the story has its positives in both the book and the miniseries, but to consider how good the first half is, the same tricks are not as effective from the grown-up perspective. It didn’t work great then, so it didn’t shock or disappoint me that this half, once again, still fell short in some areas with the same old issues. That being said, Director Andy Muschietti (returning from “Chapter One”) and a ridiculously well-placed cast –more on that later – did the best they could with what they had to work with. “IT” may be iconic, and for good reason, but it has flaws and it always has.

“Chapter Two” picks up twenty-seven-years after the events of “Chapter One”, where Mike (Isaiah Mustafa), whom never left Derry after the events of the first film, has been slightly obsessive in his quest to figure what Pennywise/IT is and where he/it came from. After doing some snooping around and discovering that Pennywise has returned as promised and is up to his old murdering ways, he calls in the Losers Club to enforce the promise they all made back when they were kids.

The film offers a brief look into the lives of the now fully grown Losers, and soon, Billy (James McAvoy), Beverly (Jessica Chastain), Richie (Bill Hader), Ben (Jay Ryan), and Eddie (James Ransone), make their return to Derry confused as to why Mike has called them there. Due to some strange cosmic occurrence, or perhaps their own mental repression, all the Losers that left town cannot really remember anything that happened while they lived there – good and bad.

When Mike finally tells the rest of the gang why he summoned them back to Hell, naturally most become terrified and/or pissed off and immediately try to get back out of town faster than they arrived - except for Bill. Bill still appears to be suffering from a deeply-seeded guilt from feeling responsible for the death of his little brother Georgie because he feigned illness that left Georgie one-on-one with Pennywise. Between Bill being the former leader of the group, and Beverly revealing that she’s been having premonitions about all their deaths due to having contact with Pennywise back in the sewer all those years ago, they all reluctantly stay and hear out Mike’s plan to use the ancient “Ritual of Chud” to destroy the evil entity that is Pennywise.

According to Mike, the only way for this to work is for the Losers Club to split up and find important “tokens” from their childhood that can be brought together to strengthen the ritual. Sure enough, as each member of the Club branches out, Pennywise reveals himself to all of them. This time, since the Losers are no longer kids, he seems less interested in so much scaring them by triggering the innermost fears, but instead, taunting their innermost insecurities in an effort to ultimately drive each Loser to their death, mostly by insanity; a feat that he successfully achieved with Stanley (Andy Bean) prior to the Derry reunion. Through these fears and reopened wounds from old skeletons in the closet, each Loser find themselves inadvertently on a journey of self-healing on the road to one final Battle Royale with Pennywise.

In a lot of ways, again, hearkening back to pre-viewing expectations, I’m pretty content with the decisions made with the storytelling in this film. It’s not entirely faithful to the novel, but nor is it completely unfaithful. Yes, it’s true that the pacing isn’t perfect, particularly in the shifts between present and past, but personally, I loved the incorporation of flashbacks that filled in some holes and created some new scenes not found in “Chapter One”. Of course these snippets in time present occurrences and character traits already learned in the first movie, though from where I sit, that was a necessary move to enhance the plight of the adult characters whom have never been more interesting than the kids. Granted, with some of the changes in story arcs for each character and the cuts back and forth, Muschietti was able to use that as a good excuse to make this cut almost three hours long so he could try and enrich material that is already weaker by default.

Honing in on that topic for a second, I’ve been reading and watching a lot of fans of the first movie whom said that they really felt this runtime, and not in a good way. I frankly did not have that experience. The pacing isn’t perfect, not by a long shot, but to me, “Chapter Two” didn’t feel grueling or really any longer than “Avengers: Endgame”. Admittedly, there’s not a ton of story or extra character development in this film, yet it still manages to feel like it went by decently fast for its long runtime. I had heard some rumors that Muschietti has a four-hour cut of this film out there somewhere, and I sincerely hope that’s true, because, if anything, this film’s plot could have used some cleaning up and expansion to drive the stake in a little deeper.

Switching gears over to the acting now – my god – this is hands down the best ensemble casting I have seen made perhaps in my lifetime. Not only for their acting abilities, though they all do a fantastic job with Hader and Skarsgard being the standouts, but also with how well they line up with their younger version counterparts. I don’t know right off hand what awards are out there for casting, but give all of them to this crew. Good grief, it’s the closest thing to perfection as one film is likely to ever get.

I also appreciated how the character screentime had better balance in this one. In the first film, Mike and Stanley especially, got pushed to the back. This time, each character had a more important part to play to start tying up all the loose ends. Hell, if anyone got it shorter, it was Skarsgard; then, that does line up with the book and the mini-series pretty well.

In terms of the scariness scale, no, “Chapter 2” doesn’t have nearly as much going for that as “Chapter One”. I am sure I’m starting to sound like a broken record at this point, but I wasn’t expecting a lot of scares because the first adaptation wasn’t and nor was the book – blah blah blah. However, I did still have a need to see some modest creepiness and suspense, and I did get both of those. There is a heavier use of CGI monsters in this one, and I will say some of them were not great. I appreciated the good intentions, but like the hatching fortune cookies in the First Act for instance, some were snicker-worthy. The rest were, for the most part, creative and well-executed for the sake of jump scares.

Sadly, the Ending, which I won’t spoil though I’m sure most of you already know what happens, doesn’t get much improvement over what has been attempted in the past, and honestly, was just as anti-climactic here. Obviously, with a better budget and technological advancements over the last thirty years, it sure looks better than before, but that only carries it so far. I won’t say more than that, but if I could pick only one thing to be most disappointed about with “Chapter Two”, it was the resolution of the final fight; although, the rest of the scene was pretty entertaining. I don’t know, maybe “too easy” is the phrase I’m looking for.

Anyway, I feel I could write a review half-as-long as the novel, but I think I’ll end it here. “IT: Chapter Two” is going to divide audiences and fans of the book even more than the first film did. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like it as much as “Chapter One”, so I didn’t feel any letdown. I think what the film did well, it did very well, and that’s what is going to stick with me the most.

Putting both films together, I have to say that Andy Muschietti did one Hell of a great job adapting a gargantuan novel, from one of the biggest novelists of all time, and did it perhaps the best justice that any filmmaker is going to be able to. It’s far from perfect, “Chapter Two” shouldering most of that blame, but this is a set of films I know I’m going to enjoy watching for years to come.

“IT: Chapter Two”: 7.5/10


**Before I forget: Stephen King's cameo in this film is one of the funniest cameos I've seen in years. Loved it!**

NEW REVIEW: "MA" (2019)

MRMOVIESETC REVIEWS:

“MA” (2019)

 "Oh. Okay. Now I see what's going on. A man sending a girl to do his dirty work."

Whenever I try to draw a comparison to the talents of Octavia Spencer, the only other actor that comes to my mind is Paul Giamatti. I’m not saying they are both two sides of the same coin as they are both uniquely their own, but rather they are both outstanding actors whom are great in all the films they are in, while not every film that they are in are always all that good. For instance, Giamatti had “TMNT 2: Out of the Shadows” – I still don’t understand that one – and Spencer has “MA”. There are others to be sure, but those two stand out as the biggest question marks to me in terms of the stage not matching the player’s abilities. Still, it’ll forever be a curiosity to see such consistent actors go outside of their comfort zone.

“MA”, despite its good intentions as a thriller, doesn’t work very well and likely would have been dead on arrival if not for Spencer thinly holding it together. The other characters check off every one-dimensional stereotype checkbox, and each are cast with actors that have done some good things elsewhere, but are completely phoning it in here. The plot has some interesting side-streets that don’t get fully fleshed out, though I won’t spoil them because there is some seriously twisted-ass shit going on that keeps things vaguely interesting from time to time. Additionally, the dialogue also takes some really random turns in an effort to create some much-needed tension and make the teenagers seem “bratty”, but wow, is it ever awkward in delivery. Not even the biggest douchebag I can think of would carry conversations in this way.

Aside from the aforementioned side-streets, the main storyline and character arcs struggle during “MA”. It’s almost as if Scotty Landes’ screenplay couldn’t decide whose and what story to tell. Regardless of the fact that the concept of getting the backstory of both the protagonist and antagonist is nothing new in books or movies, both in this film are entirely too weak and start to run out of gas before the ninety-nine-minute runtime expires.

The story (sort of) centers around Maggie Thompson (Diana Silvers), and her mom Erica (Juliette Lewis), after they move back to their Ohio hometown following the divorce of Maggie’s parents. Maggie gets quickly approached by a group of friends in her new school, and while she doesn’t act too terribly shy or desperate, Maggie is passive about going out to party just yet. With Erica now being a single parent and learning the ropes of her new job, she’s away from home regularly, and Maggie eventually gives into her soon-to-be new friends.

In order to help her become more “outgoing”, they dare Maggie to post up outside of a convenience store to see if they can bribe a legal adult to by them alcohol. Enter Sue Ann Ellington, a.k.a. “MA” (Octavia Spencer), whom happens to be walking by with her dog and catches Maggie’s eye. At first she is reluctant to give in to the innocent-looking pleadings for booze, but eventually Sue Ann caves after ultimately assuming that the kids seem trustworthy enough. Soon this leads to more rendezvous’ for liquor and hangouts in Sue Ann’s basement that she has opened up as a safe haven to throw parties. 

It becomes abundantly clear in a hurry that Sue Ann has some deep-rooted issues that she thinks will be solved by becoming the “cool adult” and integrating into this crowd of high school students. Eventually, Sue Ann starts getting entirely too clingy and stalker-esque, thus making the kids uncomfortable and they begin avoiding her. Add that to the other spoiler items from before, and that’s when the film starts making its dark turn hinted at in the trailers.

I really don’t want to be hard on this movie, because once it does finally get going in the last thirty minutes or so, it gets pretty entertaining. I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s scary or suspenseful, because you will see a bulk of the gruesomeness a step ahead of when it arrives. Still, it is fun to see Spencer go full crazy and terrorize a bunch of kids in true “Fuck the World!” fashion. Heck, there were a few instances where I was almost more on her side due to not giving a crap about any of the other characters’ fates, and some of her rage was warranted. In that regard, I did like the film’s moral ambiguity, as fleeting as it was.

Still, I can’t help but assert that it is the writing that keeps “MA” from being any sort of memorable. Budget, I assume, might have come into play as teases of good ideas were hiding just out of sight only to get partially inserted and never fully cooked. It was either that or the only ambition of this project was to get a good sell out of Octavia’s name and move forward with the presumption that nothing else needed to be elevated to match her skills, i.e., treat the audience like idiots. I hope it is the former, because the latter is starting to get really old.

Maybe even at its best, “MA”, as an idea, could only be an average movie. That’s not a philosophy I subscribe to, but with this one having so many pitfalls in so many places, it seems unlikely that it would achieve anything higher.

Sadly, I cannot force a recommendation for this one even for the sake of its excellent lead. Bummer.

“MA”: 4.5/10

NEW REVIEW: "Crawl" (2019)

MRMOVIESETC REVIEWS:

Due to a much needed Labor Day weekend getaway, I didn’t get a chance to take any films off the watch list for a review. I’m trying to get a steady Mon-Wed-Fri regimen going, so to fill today’s slot, I’m going to reach back to a film that came out mid-summer.

I hope you enjoy!

“Crawl” (2019)

I imagine I’m not the only one that felt some giddy excitement when the trailer for “Crawl” dropped last spring. Killer alligators haven’t been a mode of creature feature that has gotten a wide theatrical release in quite a few years, or Hell, made it off the Syfy Channel at all. By default, quality-wise, the only expectation one would reasonably need to have is something that was going to look marginally better than, say, “Sharknado”, and has about the same amount of self-seriousness without skimping on the cheese.

Then again, “Crawl” presents some eye-catching talent behind the scenes. For one, Director Alexandre Aja is no slouch behind the camera. His re-imagining of “The Hills Have Eyes” back in 2006 is easily the better of the two versions, in my humble opinion. “Piranha 3D” back in 2010 was blood, beasts, boobs, and Christopher Lloyd, so go ahead and try and act like that wasn’t a good time. Additionally, Sam Raimi is credited as one of the producers on this film, and he definitely doesn’t require an introduction.

The story is an expected simple one. Kaya Scodelario plays Haley Keller, a gifted competitive college swimmer at the University of Florida in the middle of tryouts when a powerful hurricane is expected to rock the Florida coastline. After receiving a phone call from her concerned sister regarding Haley’s estranged father Dave (Barry Pepper) not answering any of her messages, Haley reluctantly agrees to go and try to track him down at his home in Coral Lake that is in direct path of the storm. Upon her arrival, the hurricane has already begun its rampage with city streets beginning to rapidly flood. Haley is quickly able to find Dave in the crawlspace under his home; however, he is unconscious and badly injured for initially unknown reasons. As Haley tries to carefully move him out to safety, sure enough, a pair of alligators invades the crawlspace via a drainage pipe that leads down to the nearby swamp. And from there we have our movie.

To start, really everything about this movie is way better than it should be. How many times has a concept similar to this been made on the cheap with very little effort to make a quick dollar off an audience hungry for thrilling escapism? Aja and Raimi do not operate like that, no matter how chuckle-worthy the material, so instead, “Crawl” turns out to be one of the most satisfying thrillers of the entire summer. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, nor does it try to make more out of a premise that needs to be claustrophobic and non-stop. “Crawl” successfully hits both of those notes.

What really caught my eye – unsurprisingly for anyone that knows me – was how realistic the alligators looked on-screen, especially up close. Sometimes the distant and overhead shots of the CGI wasn’t as good, but down in the crawlspace where they were much more right in the face, they could have passed for photo-realistic a few times. I couldn’t say for sure how realistic they were in terms of scale in that region of Florida, but whatever the case may be for that, they weren’t obnoxiously huge like they were on reptilian steroids.

I was impressed with how up to task the two main, and really only, actors were for this, too. I’ve known Barry Pepper from a few of his works in the past, mainly “The Green Mile”, and while I don’t know Scodelario quite as well, both pulled off two people in the middle of abnormally perilous circumstances. The writing for Haley’s character was an additionally clever touch with making her an experienced swimmer to take the scenes that would call for that to the next level.

The film definitely does take its fair share of conveniences in stride, to be sure. Haley and Dave do take one Hell of a beating in this movie, some of it pretty hard to watch, and yet there were a few instances that make you think almost out loud, “Yeah, that would make you bleed out…and so would that…and also that…”

Other than that, I had very few faults that I could point out with “Crawl”. It’s a legitimately suspenseful thrill ride that never quits once it gets passed all the obligatory set up. Frankly, I can’t help but find how criminally below standard the promotion was for a film that deserved much better. I think it ended up doing marginally okay at the box office, but regardless of that, if you were on the fence before, absolutely give this one a chance when it hits the physical and streaming platforms. This film far surpasses all of its genre standards and was a blast to watch.

“Crawl”: 9/10