Movie Reviews
Titled Covered: Free Guy, MCU Spider-man 3, Dune, Ghostbusters Afterlife, Encanto, The Hudsucker Proxy, Death on the Nile, Best Picture Winner 2021
Free Guy (****)
I can enjoy both dumb movies and smart movies, but my favorite type of movie is a smart movie that poses as a dumb movie. In other words, I love movies with childish or silly premises that turn out to have well-written characters, logical plot turns, and interesting questions underneath all the fun and goofy stuff. The better Pixar movies do this quite well..
Much to my surprise, Free Guy is this type of movie.
I say “much to my surprise” because I honestly don’t find Ryan Reynolds very funny, and making a movie about MMO video games seemed like a quick pop culture cash-in.
And yes, it starts out as a cheap gag, with Ryan Reynolds mugging for the camera oblivious to the explosions and CGI effects around him. Ha ha! He’s a dumb character in a dumb video game, you see! But then... he gets dragged into a Sneakers-style tech thriller that condemns the worst excesses of greedy tech corporations while simultaneously holding up a mirror to the target audience of the movie itself. But then… it gets a little deeper by revealing that Ryan Renolds wasn’t “special” at all. The divine spark was actually in everyone, but they needed help to break the “loop” of their societal routines to discover their true potential. There might even be an unintentional biblical allegory here, with the utopian indie game representing a lost Eden, and the programmer making a Messianic sacrifice to save her own creations.
Is that looking a little too deep? Maybe, but the ideas are there. I much prefer these sorts of movies, that encourage thought and insight, over the simple “what you see is what you get” themes that most movies beat you over the head with.
So yeah, I loved Free Guy. Maybe it’s tailor made for me, an old school gamer with some programming experience who pretty much hates Grand Theft Auto and MMO games. It’s the sort of movie in which a simple joke about actors pretending to be videogame characters could also evolve into a plot twist or an interesting character moment. And it’s also a very authentic portrayal of gamer culture, celebrating the good while letting us laugh and cringe at the bad aspects.
On the other hand… I didn’t believe for an instant that “Guy’s” exploits would ever get enough mainstream attention to become a question on ‘Jeopardy,’ let alone the attention of the entire world as he fights the end-boss. For that matter, I could have done without so many “Twitch” streamers (I’m assuming they were Twitch streamers?), who were mostly irrelevant to the plot and not very funny.
Free Guy is funny, intelligent, creative, and even touching. Whether you see it as an insightful comedy or just an entertaining fantasy, you’ll almost certainly have a great time with it. It’s probably my third-favorite movie about video games, after Wreck-it Ralph and Wargames.
Spiderman: Home Alone 3 (** and a half)
The original Spider-man played by Toby Maguire was a solo act, and he lived in a world similar to our own. If Marvel wanted to retcon that Spider-man into their movies, they should have done so in Captain America: Civil War (“Hey, whatever happened to that spider guy in New York? You know, the one who disappeared about a year before Iron Man showed up?”). Instead, we now have a Spider-man movie that’s actually a sequel to the earlier Maguire and Garfield Spider-man movies, but has to work within the expansive MCU. It also has to work with an amusing but hopelessly incompetant version of Spider-man (played by Tom Holland).
I’ve noted before that the cosmic scale of the MCU makes Peter Parker’s teenage issues seem petty and relatively inconsequential. This problem nukes the entire premise of “No Way Home,” which opens by insisting that the unmasking of Spider-man makes Peter Parker “the most famous person in the world.” Um… really? Isn’t this world already chock-full of mutants, aliens, norse gods, and other “supers” who don’t even bother with secret identities? Let’s also remember that the MCU citizens recently watched half of all people disappear. The entire world spent 5 years mourning the loss of countless friends and family. After such a dramatic turn of events, we’re supposed to be worried that one of the Avengers didn’t get into the college of his choice? Boo hoo.
Furthermore, it’s hard to empathize with Peter Parker when he’s constantly acting like a complete moron. It was cute to watch Holland repeatedly screw up in his first solo movie (Homecoming), but it’s getting really old. The choices made by villains in previous movies were more sympathetic and understandable than some of the stuff this dumbass Spider-man does.
But really, none of this matters, because the goal of this movie is not to advance Spider-man’s character or work within the lore of the MCU or even tell its own self-standing story. It’s to contrive some excuse to reunite actors from other movies. And yes, some of them are good! William Defoe effectively puts most of the MCU villains to shame, all the more impressive when the script gives him no goals or motivation. Meanwhile, Andrew Garfield redeems himself by giving a much better performance than he did in his solo movies. The others are… fine, I guess? I wished that they’d had a real story for Tobey Maguire’s older Spider-man (supposedly, the vague “it’s complicated” backstory was at Maguire’s request, so I won’t blame the writers). Into the Spiderverse handled the idea of a middle-aged Peter Parker much better.
Actually, Into the Spiderverse was infinitely better across the board. It explored different concepts of Spider-man, not just different actors who show up to invoke our nostalgia. It also had a story that kinda made sense and was driven by reasonable character motivations.
To be fair, “No Way Home'' retains the strong production values and slick directing of all the other MCU movies. It has its good moments, the action scenes are OK, and the second half of the movie (when the “old” characters completely take over the story) is pretty good. I don’t hate this movie, but felt very disappointed after all the hype and praise. On the whole, Spider-man: No Way Home is better than the two “Amazing Spider-man” movies, but worse than all the rest. And yes, I know I’m in the minority on this one.
Dune (rating withheld until they actually finish the movie)
For most of the movie, Dune is excellent. But, here’s the problem: it’s not a complete movie. When you reach the end of the run-time, it just stops, with no sense of climax, falling action, resolution, or even much of a cliff-hanger.
Seriously, why is this considered acceptable? I'd understand this if Dune: Part 2 had been filmed at the same time and released a few months later, but that’s not the case. The sequel wasn’t even greenlit when this movie came out. It used to be that a movie could tell a complete and satisfying story while also setting up further events that would be covered in later movies. Has the popularity of TV series and streaming removed the obligation to actually write endings?
OK I’ll turn off the negativity and acknowledge that the material offered is pretty great. Actually, it’s really great. The visuals are fantastic, wringing a lot of mileage out of minimalist designs such as desert landscapes and spaceships with simple geometric shapes. Most importantly, the film has its own visual style that avoids ripping off Star Wars or Star Trek. The music and sound design are equally excellent.
And as for the story? Well, it actually makes sense! I know I’ve seen the David Lynch version of Dune, but couldn’t tell you what it was about. This new version of the story flows exceptionally well, clearly establishing all the characters and factions while explaining the world the story takes place in. The setting of Dune is very strange and contradictory: an advanced space-faring civilization consisting of feudal lords fighting each other with swords. Yet, the world never felt artificial… just strange.
(I did have to look up why a non-Earth planet would have an “indigenous” people, though)
The actors in this movie are (frankly) not my favorites, but the director gets solid performances out of everyone. They are all distinct and memorable, and even Jason Mamoa is pretty charismatic. So I guess Dune is pretty great so far. I just hope they actually finish it.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (***)
Ghostbusters: Afterlife is the second-best Ghostbusters movie. That’s not saying much, but after the “mixed” critical response, I was pleasantly surprised.
Ghostbusters Afterlife is one of those sequels that ignores other sequels. It only explicitly acknowledges the original movie, while ignoring the 2016 reboot, the TV show, the comic books, and the 2009 video game written by Dan Akroid and Harold Ramis (which many fans considered “Ghostbusters 3”). Heck, I wasn’t even clear if Ghostbusters II is still canon.
The plot opens nearly 40 years after the original movie, featuring a descendant of Egon Spengler (we’ll get to that…) exploring her Grandfather’s legacy and trying to prevent the return of the evil Sumerian deity “Gozer.” The highlight of this plot is the new cast of kids. They replicate the roles of the original Ghostbusters (weird nerd, sarcastic cynic, oblivious enthusiast, and outsider), while finding their own voices and identity. In particular, McKenna Grace is an absolute show-stealer, bringing great humor and pathos to Phoebe Spengler. The new team also proves to be truly diverse, with kids of different ages, races, and genders.
As its own movie, the story is pretty decent, but I’ll admit the connections to the Ghostbusters canon are sometimes confusing. Some things really clicked for me, such as the backstory of Ivo Shandor, and the decline of the Ghostbusters themselves. On the other hand, Egon’s legacy was very confusing. Who was Egon’s spouse/girlfriend, and why does his daughter bear zero resemblance to him? Also, why didn’t anyone believe Egon about Gozer? Everyone acts like Egon became a babbling nutjob, which would be totally out of character.
Despite those nitpicks, I actually found the story pretty involved once it really got going. While not as fresh and humorous as the 1984 original movie, I’d argue that Ghostbusters Afterlife is scarier and more dramatic. Again, most of the great scenes revolve around McKenna Grace, and her poignant portrayal of a troubled pre-teen trying to understand her own broken family. I really felt for her character, which is something I didn’t expect.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife isn’t a great movie, but it’s good enough. If you like the original movie, this followup is worth seeing. Just don’t set your expectations too high.
Encanto (***)
The script for Encanto needed several more rewrites.
There is certainly much to like about Encanto. The overall aesthetics are colorful and whimsical, and I especially liked the animation on the living house. The main character is well-written and performed brilliantly both with spoken dialogue and song. There are certainly some great moments, such as Abuela’s flashback, and all the opening scenes. And yet, when the film ended, I just felt a profound sense of frustration. It could have been better. A lot better.
Basic premise: a large family is gifted with magical gifts, which they use to support their small isolated village. But Mirabel never got a gift, making her the under-acheiving sibling in a family of greats. She’s a good sport about it (which makes her an interesting character) but is nonetheless weighed down by her own failure. So far, so good.
Mirabel foresees that her family will lose their magic. Oh, so she has the gift of prophecy, like the exiled Bruno? Strangely, that explanation is never brought up. For that matter, it’s not clear what Mirabel needs to do, or what dire consequences await if she fails. That’s pretty basic story stuff! The “rules” of the magic are never established, nor is there any external threat to raise the stakes. If the magic were to leave (because “reasons,” I guess), our main character would be unaffected and the supporting characters would be… severely inconvenienced, I guess? Actually, aside from the healer mom and the strong girl, did any of these people use their powers for good? We really needed some higher stakes and a clearer quest here.
Speaking of the supporting characters, they’re handled poorly. This is a 90-minute kids film that also has to make time for gags, songs, and pretty animation. Juggling so many characters proves to be a problem. Many of the family members are essentially background gags until they suddenly have to be important, and this importance always feels unearned. The most striking example of Luisa, who barely has a single line of dialogue prior to the scene with her big song. Even Isabella, while having a much bigger role in the plot, felt underdeveloped. I didn’t believe that she and Mirabel were close enough to be sisters, let alone sisters who lived in the same house and had serious sibling rivalry. Meanwhile, the Dr. Doolittle kid disappears for about half the movie, and the shape-shifter never becomes relevant.
BTW, I loved the idea of each family member having a “room” that was basically a portal to a pocket dimension. If only we’d seen this idea pay off in the climax!
Overall, I liked Encanto well enough, but wished it was better. I’m well aware that writing a complex script with a large ensemble cast is really hard. But the end result is what it is: a movie that’s pretty good, but doesn’t quite stick the landing. Meanwhile, the simpler short film that precedes the movie (Far from the Tree) works perfectly as a bite-sized treat.
The Hudsucker Proxy (*** and a half)
I feel like I just got a glimpse at the Coen Brothers home planet.
The only PG-rated movie in their filmography, The Hudsucker Proxy is lighthearted, fantastical, and surreal. While watching it, I felt that all the oddities of the Coen Brothers made perfect sense. The unrealistic characters, awkward humor, broad stereotyping, and extremely repetitive dialogue all made sense in the context of a surrealist satirical fantasy. How might the careers of the Coens changed if The Hudsucker Proxy became a huge hit? Would their subsequent work have been more broadly appealing and less nihilistic? Perhaps they would have directed more than one movie to break $100M in the domestic box office (True Grit, in case you were curious).
In any case, The Hudsucker Proxy is a lot of fun. It’s silly, heartwarming, clever, and did I mention silly? Yes, it’s very, very silly. Perhaps a bit too silly to have much depth, but enough that you can just laugh along. It’s definitely a movie that creates its own insular world with its own rules, but illustrates them well enough that you can feel invested. In other words, it can suddenly introduce a nonsense concept like a horrific “blue letter” and then have you actually believing it.
I’m not a big fan of Coen Brothers movies, but this is one of the few I can fully recommend (along with Raising Arizona and True Grit). If nothing else, the scene with the two cab drivers narrating the plot is some of the best directing I’ve seen the Coens pull off.
Death on the Nile (** and a half)
Several years ago, Kenneth Braunaugh directed and starred in a flashy remake of the classic Agathy Christie mystery Murder on the Orient Express. It had an intriguing all-star cast, an interesting plot, and good dialogue. I was looking forward to the eventual sequel, Death on the Nile. And… it’s not bad, but it’s not great either.
For starters, the cast is not as good, despite the admirable effort of Branaugh himself and a surprising turn by Russell Brand. More crucially, the movie goes far too long without a single murder! The first hour of the film really drags, taking much too long to set up the pieces for the eventual plot.
The second half of the movie is much better, as the mystery gets deeper and the body count rises. It’s one of those “everyone is a suspect” stories, in which everyone (including the detective) has something to hide, even if they weren’t the killer. The characters are easy to keep track of, and the thrill of the chase is definitely present.
Oddly enough, the most powerful segment is unrelated to the main plot. There’s a black-and-white prologue set during WWI, and a later followup monologue that hits hard. Hercule barely holds himself together as he dismisses his famous detective career as a mere byproduct of his own tragedy. It’s a powerful moment.
Death on the Nile is pretty good, but significantly worse than Murder on the Orient Express.
Best Picture Winner, 2021
OK, I’m going to check out the Best Picture winner from last year, a movie that most certainly is a real theatrical feature film. In fact, I’ll bet it made lots of money in theaters, because it is so good.
“Domestic Box Office: N/A”
Wait, what? That can’t be right. Did I miss the theatrical release along with literally everyone else in the country? Well… let’s check out this movie on DVD!
“DVD Release Date: None”
Sigh… Guys, I’m done with streaming. I was fine with it when everything was on about 3 streaming services, but I’m not interested in juggling the plethora of subscriptions we’re now expected to have to keep up with current movies. This landscape is actually a big step back from the old video store, where you’d go to one place and have a healthy selection of most movies, past and present. Now, every media company on earth is begging you to sign up for their personal streaming service for their few “must-see” projects, hoping that you’ll forget to cancel your subscription afterwards. Count me out.
So… let's move on to a Best Picture Nominee that I was able to watch:
Belfast (****)
Belfast is good! Really good, in fact. It’s a simple and charming story of a boy growing up during the “Summer of Troubles” in Northern Ireland, when sectarian violence between Protestants and Catholics led to military crackdowns. It does a good job of showing the child’s perspective, putting the “kid” things in the forefront while showing the ongoing violence and political struggles in the background. It’s also a really sweet movie, with a healthy and honest portrayal of married life among older and younger couples. Boy I sure do love movies that actually bother to get released!