BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC - REVIEW

 

This weekend sees the release of another continuation of a franchise rooted in pop culture’s nostalgic past.  I am happy to say that BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC stands above most other attempts to recapture or sadly cash in on bottled lightning.

Their first outing was nothing ground-breaking.  While it did not ape BACK TO THE FUTURE by any means it did come off the heels of its success.  What makes the adventure excellent is of course Bill and Ted themselves.  Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter’s chemistry and charm elevated the magic of two idiots who possess endless positivity and good natured, fun loving attitudes.  There was no villain to speak of.  No second act “break up” where they go off on their own only to realize they need each other. Combine that with their strange ability to almost instantly win over each historical figure they come across, we couldn’t help but believe and root for the fact that somehow, these two simple minded teens will someday manage to put their heads together and create something profound and world changing.

Then they managed to do it again.  BILL & TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY was a rare sequel that actively tried to do something different while still treading familiar territory of the themes that worked the first time.  The filmmakers made actual additions to the series, rather than just send them off through time again for some contrived reason.  There are some missteps in the end, sure.  But William Sadler’s Grim Reaper is a hysterical imagining.  And it features a genuinely clever depiction of Hell.  Again, nothing spectacular, but it helped Bill and Ted’s “be excellent to each other” and “party on, dudes!” attitude maintain pop culture relevancy, instead of being the one people try to forget when they think of the series.

29 years later, they do manage to be ground-breaking.  Like Bill and Ted themselves, the movie isn’t trying to be anything other than what it is.  When digging into its past, Hollywood constantly trips over itself trying to force nostalgia.  They call it “fanservice” but it’s really just shamelessly throwing things it has already done into a blender and calling it a sequel.  Full credit, then, to series creators and writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon who decided to tell us instead simply what happens next as opposed to again.

As before, the filmmakers add elements to what works.  I was initially wary of the focus on offspring.  This easily could have been another instance of “new” younger “characters” who act the same and do the same plot again, while Bill and Ted stay in the background and “pass the baton”.  Happily, this is not the case.  The duo returns to center stage and remain series’ the driving force.  Before we only got a vague sense that the music of the Wyld Stallyns would just catch on and unite us as a society.  This movie focuses on exactly how and why the world needed the band.

The split focus is smartly done.  Bill and Ted go off on their own to acquire the music their future selves are destined to write, while their daughters round up the supporting characters to help.  As Billie and Thea, Bridget Lundy-Paine and Samara Weaving give pretty impressive performances.  They aren’t just imitations or “female versions” of the main characters.  They are their fathers’ daughters to be sure, but they have their own cadence and sway that let them stand apart.

As returning characters go, Ted’s Dad, Missy, and Deacon are used well to comedic effect.  I don’t want to give it away, but the running joke of Missy’s romantic endeavors is hilariously revisited.  And William Sadler returns to almost steal the show as Death near the film’s climax.  I’m glad to say that he isn’t shoe-horned in to have the same amount of screen time as the last film; while he also doesn’t just show up once only to disappear.  Again, no mere fanservice.  Death returns in this film to serve an actual purpose to the plot.

The new characters, however, are where this film really shines.  Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are just a blast to watch not only as Bill and Ted, but as different versions of themselves throughout the future as they try to hunt down their world saving music. Which was a smart choice on the writer’s part.  Not exactly the same time travel concept, but familiar to what makes the series cohesive in a storytelling sense.  It also plays to another staple, as it lets our heroes sidestep the whole “break up for about 15 minutes of runtime and then inevitably reunite” cliché.

It also helps the characters keep from getting stale, which even I admit is something they were absolutely in danger of.  That magic of their simplicity could have also been the movie’s downfall.  Bill and Ted are static characters. They pretty much boil down to “constantly upbeat” and “stupid”.  That’s it.  For two previous movies that is their entire character development or honestly lack thereof.  At the end of the first film the only real change they go through is they know a little bit more about history than they did at the beginning.  Which, humorously, was almost nothing.   Even by the end of Bogus Journey they still have no real idea what makes their music special and are pretty much in the same place they started.  They should NOT work three separate times.  Smartly, yet dangerously, 29 years later not much has changed.  They don’t come off quite as dimwitted this time, but they are otherwise the same as they always have been.

Now, I have almost actively been trying to avoid talking about another new character who is one of my favorite parts of the whole movie.  Played by Anthony Carrigan, THIS character steals the show and is just such a surprising delight it would be a disservice to spoil it.  SO let’s move on the Kristen Schaal, who plays Kelly, the daughter of the late George Carlin’s Rufus.  In a role that mostly pays homage to Carlin and the character he played; she feels a little wasted.  She is important to the plot, but comedically she doesn’t get a lot to do.  Ultimately the role could have been played by anyone.  Or maybe it’s just a case of impossible to fill shoes.  Rufus feels like a third lead when you think about the first two films, yet he is barely in either of them.  In fact, Schaal is probably in this one more than Carlin was in both previous movies combined.  Yet his is the bigger impact.

I guess my final verdict is obvious.  BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC is totally worth the wait.  It's everything you liked about the last two, while not leaning on, retreading, or wearing anything out from the past.  It’s just plain fun, with a lot of laugh out loud moments throughout.  In other words, it is totally bodacious, and most triumphant.

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN - RETROSPECTIVE

1992's A League of Their Own is a near-perfect film.  I could end my review here, but I don’t think you believe me.  It is masterfully directed, hilariously written, and features an all-star ensemble cast at the top of their game.  The film follows rival sisters Dottie and Kit Hinson, played respectively by Earth Girls are Easy’s Geena Davis and A League of their Own’s Lori Petty, who join the first all-women’s baseball league near the end of World War II.

After being recruited by a scene stealing Jon Lovitz (TV’s Saturday Night Live), Dottie and Kit are both put on the same team, the Rockford Peaches.  I’m going to just take a moment to make sure you know what I mean by scene stealing.  Jon Lovitz absolutely KILLS IT in his brief cameo as baseball scout Ernie Capadino.  He doesn’t just steal scenes in this film, but also from every other movie that bothered to come out in 1992; doing more with a roughly 10-minute cameo than many comedians can do in a lead role.

Unbelievably, his isn’t even the best performance.  Everyone in this movie is brilliant.  Tom Hanks (The Man with one Red Shoe) is a riot as Peaches’ manager/coach Jimmy Dugan, a disgraced, alcoholic ex-player who begrudgingly accepts this second chance. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention teammates Doris Murphy, played by Rosie O’Donnell (Another Steakout) and Madonna (Dick Tracy) who plays “All the Way” Mae Mordabito.  Yes, that Madonna, but hold on.  She is impressively funny and even has a surprisingly heartfelt moment about halfway through the film.  Yet another stand-out is Megan Cavanagh (Robin Hood: Men in Tights) who ALSO steals the show as Marla Hooch.

Impressively, Penny Marshall manages to give almost the whole team little memorable moments here and there.  From Shirley Baker, who humorously learns to read with “help” from Mae, to Evelyn Gardner who not only learns one of baseball’s top unwritten rules but also must impose her bratty child Stilwell on the rest of the team.  A lesser script might fail miserably to include an unnecessary-to-the-plot child, but Stilwell is yet another highlight.

As comedies go, this is a criminally underrated triumph.  Almost every single scene is quotable and the entire cast shines.  The film is also a great lesson in tone.  While not quite a dramedy, Marshall gives the characters some surprising dramatic depth.  The dynamic between Dottie and Kit that the film hangs on is played out well and leads to a bittersweetly happy ending.  The relationship between Dottie and Jimmy is both funny and endearing as she helps him overcome drinking and even come around to his new role in baseball he first rejected.  This leads to a pretty dramatic scene near the end when the war hits too close to home for the team, and Jimmy proves he is exactly the manager these women deserve.

Do yourself a favor and seek this one out.

ONWARD - REVIEW

Onward, directed by Dan Scanlon and starring Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Tom Holland (the most recent Spider-Man films) is yet another feather in Pixar’s cap.  While it doesn’t rank among their best, it continues their tradition of mixing humor and emotion for compelling storytelling.  Once again, Pixar manages to make a family-friendly film that can be enjoyed by both kids and adults.

Taking place in a land inhabited by all types of mythical creatures, including elves, centaurs, and pixies, the film follows two elven brothers, Ian (Holland) and Barley (Pratt) as they set off on an adventure to find a Phoenix Gem.  Doing so will enable them to perform a spell written by their late father, that will bring him back to life for one day. It’s a race against time, however, as the spell was inadvertently begun, only conjuring a pair of legs, and the brothers only have 24 hours to complete the spell before their chance to see their father again disappears forever.

While the land and creatures are all beautifully rendered, and the art style is striking, I was a bit turned off by its modern spin.  Even though it’s revealed early on that magic was too difficult to master, and so the land’s inhabitants instead advanced through technological means, a land occupied by gas stations, restaurants, and freeways feels a tad uninspired.  To be fair, the target audience, children, might not mind; but then again children are dumb.

As the adage goes, it’s the journey, not the destination, and Pixar once again puts its heroes on one wild and fun quest.  However, the adults might be a little too far ahead of our characters in terms of what they’re really after, and where they’ll ultimately end up.  Still, watching Ian and Barley discover what’s truly important, and what they’re made of, definitely makes for an entertaining ride well worth taking.  Pixar knows their stuff and is able to bring everything together for a satisfying conclusion that is both exciting and moving.

One thing Pixar always nails is the cast.  Holland and Pratt are great together, playing off each other wonderfully, easily pulling off the brotherly dynamic that the film is ultimately about.  Mel Rodriguez (television’s The Last Man on Earth) steals the show as a centaur police officer, who is also dating Ian and Barley’s mother played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus (TV’s Veep).  Octavia Spencer (The Help) is fun as Corey, an Manticore (another miss) who has shunned her adventurous past and instead runs a tavern-turned-family restaurant as a means to simply get by after magic was traded for convenience.

Again, not the best Pixar movie by any stretch, but that comparison is hardly fair.  It’s a funny, sweet adventure that I would recommend to any dumb child, and any adult who hasn’t let their inner dumb child die.

NATIONAL TREASURE - RETROSPECTIVE

Starring national treasure himself, Nicolas Cage, and released back in 2004, the film National Treasure is a surprising delight. Directed by Jon Turteltaub, yes, THE Jon Turteltaub who would go on to direct National Treasure 2, the film follows Cage as Benjamin Cage…er, Gates, as he searches for the Templar Treasure that has been forgotten by history.  Also starring Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Harvey Keitel, Jon Voight and Ned flippin’ Stark as the villain who, in perhaps the film’s boldest stroke, DOESN'T die.

We first meet Ben Gates as he is told the legend of the treasure by his grandfather, played by the voice of Viggo the Carpathian. Here we also meet Ben’s father, played by Voight, who has lost his way and is trying to live a normal, treasure-free life.  Not content with the grand accomplishment of growing up to be Nicolas Cage, Ben Gates recruits British Person Ian Howe, (Stark) and comic relief Riley (Bartha) to search for the first clue that leads to Gate’s dismayed discovery that in order to find the treasure, he’ll have to pull off a literal historic heist.

Now I admit, the whole idea of a treasure map being hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence is, in a word, shit-stupid.  However, I would argue that there is absolutely nothing wrong with that if it’s in the right hands, which, somehow, this film is.  Being British, Ian has no qualms with the idea of stealing the document leaving Gates with the notion that HE must steal it to protect it. It’s very hard not to make this movie not sound too ridiculous when describing the plot.

Suffice to say, Gates quickly ropes in archivist Abigail Chase (Kruger) and his father who we discover still has that treasure seeking spark.  Hot on Gates’s heels is FBI agent Sadusky (Keitel) and the movie is in full swing in a three-way chase to uncover the lost treasure.  Again, the plot is a fun disaster but is pretty well thought out, all things considered.  The heist in question is actually very well done, pitting Ian and his crew against Gates and Riley. It’s here that Abigail gets caught in the middle by trying to confront Gates and being captured by Ian.  Gates pulls off her rescue, and evades Ian, but due to a small misstep earlier in the caper is flagged by the FBI.  I won’t spoil how, but the scene is a good example of how each action leads to the next.  The script does pull this off nicely, cohesively guiding our heroes from one well-crafted action sequence to the next.

Chase is the better word.  Since the audience already has to suspend disbelief pretty darn far, the film wisely keeps Ben Gates a nerd, and never turns him into a one-liner spouting action hero.  Rightly, too, is Turteltaub’s decision to let Cage be Cage, but not allow Cage be CAGE.  Nicolas Cage is terrific in this, completely selling Gates’ eccentric passion and delight for all things history, while also displaying Gates’ personal stake in finding the treasure.  I cannot overstate how important it is that Cage pulls off making Ben Gates an easy character to root for.  The whole cast is good, actually, including newcomers Keitel and Voight.  Everyone seems in on the lighthearted tone of this silly movie which goes a long way in selling it.

While she needs rescuing early on, Abigail Chase is more than just "lady character" here, and instead is an invaluable member of Cage's rag-tag team.  Bartha also manages to make Riley not terribly annoying, with a few decent quips here and there.  Complete with the always reliable Sean Bean, Harvey Keitel and Jon Voight, the movie has a great ensemble cast making their way through a more than competent script that really elevates this above the absurd plot. 

There honestly isn’t too much to complain about.  If you’re looking for a light, fun adventure to escape in, you could do worse.  It’s breezy and fast paced with not a lot of fat. Clever, well-balanced and fun, complete with three dimensional characters.  Sometimes that’s enough.

THE EXPENDABLES 2 - Review

The Expendables 2 rises above and beyond it's predecessor in almost every way. I admit that's not saying a whole lot, but it's true. First off, the gang spends pretty much the whole movie on their mission, so things like “character development” and “plot” get either thrown right out or breezed over. I know that usually sounds like a bad thing, but not this time.

To be honest, I feel like those two things are what bogged the first film down because none of it really paid off. It was called The Expendables, but not a single character lived up to that dark promise; that's not to say I was rooting for these characters to bite it, but it was seemingly what the movie was headed toward and might have given the film more meaning if in fact ONE character actually died. With the sequel, however, “meaning” gets punched right in it's stupid face faster than you can say “oh look, the movie is starting!”

The plot this time out is stupid simple. Jean-Claude Van Damme plays the villain, Vilain (yup) and is after plutonium, and Sylvester Stallone and crew need to stop Van Damme before he gets it. There's also a side plot thrown in about our heroes having to save some villagers that Vilain is forcing into a mine to get said plutonium, but that stuff is really only there so the film can be feature-length.

Even though Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis have pretty small roles, when they are on screen I couldn't help but smile. Willis and Schwarzenegger especially were a ball to watch killing the shit out of people together and I hope they have much larger roles in the next one. But the real treat here is Van Damme, having the most fun I think I've ever seen him have. And man, oh man, it was worth waiting this long to see Stallone and Van Damme finally kick each other's ass.

The one liners, and frankly, most of the dialogue is clunky and stupid, but with the exception of Willis, these guys can barely talk anyway so it really isn't that distracting. While there are a few surprising laughs in the film, most of the time these guys are referencing each others movies in the most ham-fisted way possible and it gets old. Everyone is having a good time here, though, and playing off each other surprisingly well.

Pretty much every ten seconds, somebody is shooting something. I gotta take a moment here and really hand it to Stallone, because that man does NOT give one damn that bullets don't actually make people explode. The action scenes are fast and brutal and most of all, FUN! Especially in the ridiculous, blood soaked finale that unites all the heroes against some really unfortunate goons. Honestly, I feel silly having written so much about this film already because all I need to say that while the film is a complete and utter mess, I haven't had this much fun shutting off my brain and watching such lavish violence in quite some time.

THE BOURNE LEGACY - Review

While The Bourne Legacy DOES start a new chapter in the series, it does NOT ask you to completely forget about past events.  In fact, the first act of this film uses the last film as a direct catalyst.  Since Bourne went ahead and made a public mess for Treadstone, they decide to wipe the slate clean and start over. Unfortunately for our new characters, Aaron Cross, who is an agent in the program, and Dr. Marta Shearing, a scientist who treats the agents, “wipe the slate clean” means lots of murder.

Cross and Shearing are played by series newcomers Jeremy Renner (The Avengers) and Rachel Weisz (she deserves better, but, The Mummy), respectively, and both actors do a good job taking the reins for this new story arc.  I should clear up that this is indeed a Bourne sequel, not reboot or even stand-alone. It plays more as a parallel story that begins as a ripple effect of some of Bourne 3’s plot points. While there is no actual appearance of Jason Bourne, there is plenty reference to his name…well, “name” and brief appearances by the key characters from the series that look like they have bigger roles yet to play in future chapters whether or not Jason Bourne returns.

Tony Gilroy, who has written all four Bournes based on books by Robert Ludlum (haven’t read those, so that’s the last I’ll mention them) takes over as director for the first time and does a decent job. He is smart with the way he films the action.  Fans of the series will be familiar and quite satisfied with the kind of action on display, plenty of running/driving, punching/kicking with some bloodless shootings mixed in.  A big criticism with the last two films was the use of shaky-cam, but I didn't notice much of the nonsense here. Gilroy was smart enough to keep the geography of the chase scenes clear for the audience, while also making sure we know who is punching who in the face. 

The film does jump around a little too much, though, with transitions between scenes being a bit sporadic.  As a big fat “for instance”, the scene that introduces Weisz’s character seemed like a flashback the way it jumped from the previous scene, but that could just be me being a little slow.

While all the actor’s involved do good work, the film lives or dies by how well Renner can succeed Damon.  I’m happy to say that Renner pulls it off playing the hunted spy who may have all his memories, but, and not to spoil much here, is still hampered by the downsides that come with being a secret agent/lab rat in a hush-hush kill everybody involved when ANYTHING goes wrong experiment.

I will say Edward Norton feels a little wasted here. He plays the big bad but all he can really do is tell people to keep chasing the main characters.  There’s a brief flashback his character has early on that tells the audience he knows Cross personally, but that’s quickly dropped. That kind of leads to the biggest criticism I have.  It’s hard to tell just how good this parallel story arc is until we see where it’s going, and this movie only puts the bigger pieces in place to leave room for the next chapter. At best, we have a shot in the arm the series needed if it is to go on, and at worst, we have a decent filler until the series returns to following our favorite amnesiac spy.

THE GREY - Review

THE GREY

This weekend saw the release of The Grey, an action thriller directed and co-written by Joe Carnahan (Narc, The A-Team). The film stars Liam Neeson (c’mon) as JOHN OTTWAY, part of an oil drilling team whose plane crashes into the Alaskan wilderness.  Soon after the initial shock of falling out of the sky, the survivors quickly realize that now they have to deal with goddamn wolves.  This becomes apparent when they’re attacked by goddamn wolves.

I liked this film quite a bit.  The characters are not exactly varied, but they are not one note either; each one gets to display a little humanity (for better or worse) here and there, so you actually care whether or not they get ripped apart by these snow-demons.  Neeson simply nails it as a man who is deeply pained by events in his past.  Not to say this film stretches him as an actor, but there’s enough here to make the audience sympathize with the character.

Even with its two hour running time the film doesn’t really drag.  On the contrary, it moves along with a trim, terrifying fierceness; almost like a feral, angry dog of some kind.  After the opening with Neeson, we meet the rest of the food.  Once we do, the film smashes them down to the ground at plane-crash-miles an hour in a really cool sequence my words will only ruin.  Soon after that, wolves happen.  And each sequence with these creatures is frightening.  Carnahan uses any digital/practical effects really well.  I honestly can’t think of one instance of obvious Hollywood fakery.  Except when people get their throats ripped out, I think that was trick photography. 

As frightening as those wolves are, and there are times when you believe these are storybook monsters, the survivors are still in the middle of Alaskan no-man’s land during the snowstorm that brought down their plane in the first place.  I’d hate to spoil the rather cruel surprises this film rightly hides from the trailers, but suffice to say that Alaska must absolutely HATE these guys.

In fact, I was waiting for a flashback scene that revealed one or two of them had sex with Alaska's wife.  So, the film works, is what I’m getting at.  It’s packed with action, and each cast member holds there own, especially that Neeson guy.  Just see the movie already.