Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
The latest installment in the DC Extended Universe is a mixed bag. Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn remains the only good thing to come from Suicide Squad, and this movie picks up some time after that, following Harley’s messy break-up with the Joker. In this movie, everyone is after Harley, seeking revenge for her misdeeds now that she’s no longer under the Joker’s protection — and everyone is also after a priceless diamond, the main narrative thrust of the film. Seriously, we’re in Gotham City, the craziest place on Earth — why is this plot so boring? Forgettable villain once again, but at least this time he’s played by Ewan McGregor. Girl power galore: in addition to starring Robbie, this movie features many an ass being kicked by a delightful cast of women (Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, and feisty teenage newcomer Ella Jay Basco) — such a refreshing change from the testosterone party brought by Batman, Superman, Aquaman, et al. I especially liked the clever storytelling and editing device which has Harley telling the story badly, then having to circle back and fill in details that she forgot. Yay for the DCEU finding a sense of humour! Terrific costumes, sets, visual effects. Emerging director Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs) has such a fresh, energized style, but her work is dragged down by Christina Hodson’s dud of a screenplay. Robbie is so much fun here, and the movie so entertaining, that I’m tempted to inflate my grade a bit, but this is not a movie I’ll remember a few weeks from now.
Grade: C+
Brahms: The Boy II
Some years after the events of the first film, a family from London goes to the countryside to rent a house and get away from the city following a violent home burglary that has rendered their young son Jude (Christopher Convery) mute from trauma. Their rental home turns out to be on the same estate as the manor house from the first film, and Jude soon discovers Brahms, the creepy porcelain doll, buried in the woods and claims it as his own. OK, so this is fundamentally a terrible movie. It’s reasonably well directed and performed — but director William Brent Bell and writer Stacey Menear, both returning from the first film, have essentially chosen to burn their own mythology to the ground, resulting in a film whose storytelling is nonsensical and absurd. Spoilers now, in case you’re planning to watch this (but please don’t): though the first film established that the doll was ultimately just a doll, and the real Brahms was a mentally ill adult man living inside the walls of his home, this sequel decides that the doll has actually been an evil monster all along, which repeatedly possesses children and coerces them into murdering their parents. As I watched this movie and saw the doll turn its head and blink its eyes by itself, my jaw dropped at the utter stupidity unfolding on screen. There’s using a sequel to further develop mythology, and then there’s this, using a sequel to change the established mythology to the point where neither the original film nor the sequel makes any sense whatsoever. Katie Holmes is quite strong in the lead role, though the film doesn't give her anything to play beyond “worried mom”. One of the worst horror sequels of all time.
Grade: D-
The Call of the Wild
The story of Buck, the naughty pet dog of a rich California family in the late 1800s, who gets kidnapped and sold into servitude as a dog sled mail carrier in the Yukon Gold Rush. Debut live-action film from director Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon). Live-action/animation hybrid visuals somewhat distracting at first — dogs and Arctic environments were created using almost-but-not-quite-photoreal CGI. Once you get used to it, marvel at how beautiful and detailed the dog animation is. These are deep, believable, three-dimensional characters with distinct personalities. Strong performance by Harrison Ford, as a grieving father who crosses paths with Buck. Ford excels here at locating this man’s emotional depth and vulnerability — such a delight to see him stretch beyond just playing grumpy. Other human characters not as fleshed out, especially Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) as a flamboyant, cartoonishly villainous American gold seeker bent on revenge. Superb costumes by Kate Hawley (Stevens’s red plaid suit stuns!) and sets by Stefan Dechant that bring to life a time and place seldom seen in films aimed at children.
Grade: B
Downhill
Adapted from the award-winning Swedish film Force Majeure, this follows a family (headed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell) on a ski vacation in the Alps who face a crisis when an avalanche hurtles towards them — and the dad grabs his phone and runs to safety, leaving his family behind to die. When the avalanche proves to be nothing serious, they must all face the ramifications of his split-second choice. Very strong performances here — Louis-Dreyfus brings comedy laced with deep, palpable pain; the scene where she finally confronts her husband and puts into words what exactly he’s done is some of the greatest screen acting of the year. Ferrell, meanwhile, so good at playing sheepish fear, too ashamed to acknowledge what he did. This is intense, painful drama very well done — but writer-directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (The Way, Way Back) undercut the seriousness with an excessive dose of absurd comedy that doesn’t belong here. Everything featuring Mirando Otto as a rich, sexually aggressive woman on the prowl at the ski resort, for instance, is straight out of a Hangover-style dudebro comedy. Total tonal whiplash. Also, the irritating Glee-like score comprised of enthusiastic non-lexical vocables seems to mock the realness of these characters’ pain. The symbolic ending, meant to be a meaningful moment of illumination, unfortunately suffers from being badly shot, so whatever effect it was meant to have is lost.
Grade: C+
Blumhouse's Fantasy Island
Intriguing idea to reimagine the premise of the 1970s TV series as a horror film — except the storytelling here totally goes off the rails about halfway through, leading to a twist and climax that require too much suspension of disbelief to succeed. Shot in Fiji, though, so the scenery is nice. Director and co-writer Jeff Wadlow (Truth or Dare) has a polished but rather pedestrian aesthetic. Compare this to the spectacular recent work of new horror masters Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us) and Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar) and this film just feels like the impersonal corporate brand exercise that it is. It’s basically just Lost, minus the complex storytelling and character development. Cast filled with familiar TV faces (Lucy Hale, Maggie Q, Portia Doubleday, Mike Vogel, Michael Rooker) being reasonably interesting, though Michael Peña’s Mr. Roarke is bland. With this film following just one month after Like a Boss, Ryan Hansen (Veronica Mars) and Jimmy O. Yang (Silicon Valley) seem to be Hollywood’s unlikeliest new comedy team. A fun watch, but it’ll honestly fade from memory within a week or two.
Grade: C
The Invisible Man
Elisabeth Moss stars as Cecilia, who begins the film by narrowly escaping from her abusive boyfriend, Adrian, only to discover several weeks later that he has been found dead. But when an invisible presence begins to stalk her, she becomes convinced that it’s somehow Adrian. Writer-director Leigh Whannell (the Saw and Insidious series) delivers an ultimately uneven film that is nevertheless genuinely scary, unpredictable, and emotionally fulfilling. Exquisite opening sequence — Cecilia’s escape is tense and terrifying, anchored by Moss’s stunning performance. Moss honestly does Oscar-worthy work in this film, and with the state of the film year as chaotic as it is due to this pandemic, she could very well be nominated. It would be richly deserved. The first half of the film is very strong — dealing with Cecilia’s domestic trauma and struggle to readjust to life outside Adrian's control — but the second half kind of slides into generic thriller territory and sci-fi gibberish. Still, Whannell has valuable things to say about toxic relationships, and how abuse and gaslighting damage people. May all studio horror movies be this fun, thoughtful, and satisfying.
Grade: B
The Photograph
Romance about a journalist (LaKeith Stanfield) who meets and begins a relationship with the daughter (Issa Rae) of a photographer he’s researching as part of a museum retrospective. African American love stories are quite rare in Hollywood, so I appreciated seeing this; however, there could not be less at stake in this film — our two young lovers fall in love and go about their lives without a single obstacle standing in their way. Stanfield (Short Term 12, Get Out, FX’s Atlanta) and Rae (HBO’s Insecure) are great, emotionally deep actors — but they feel out of place in something this generic. Supporting characters exceptionally underdeveloped. Fun jazz score is used strangely — is this a mystery thriller? As far as cinema goes, this is about as low-ambition as it gets. That's not necessarily a bad thing; however, writer-director Stella Meghie’s (Jean of the Joneses) heartfelt message about how family trauma echoes into subsequent generations gets lost in such formulaic storytelling.
Grade: C
Sonic the Hedgehog
Surprisingly very good! For a film based on a video game, this is so much more heartfelt and sweet than the soulless corporate exercises that we typically see. Touching message that family members of all ages will appreciate about how important it is to have a best friend and how lonely it gets to spend all your time alone — though the point about how it’s better to stay in your small town instead of moving to the big city seems like strangely bad advice to me. Ben Schwartz (NBC’s Parks and Recreation) finds so much depth and humour in his lead voice performance. The ageless James Marsden as likeable as ever as Sonic’s human friend — and let’s take a moment to appreciate the degree of difficulty in this performance; Marsden makes acting for an entire film opposite a cartoon co-star look easy. Jim Carrey (welcome back!) intensely committed once again as a megalomaniacal evil genius determined to steal Sonic’s power. Visual effects frankly unimpressive, especially considering the CGI standard that Hollywood has set — though first-time director Jeff Fowler is clearly aiming for a cartoon/live-action hybrid aesthetic, so I’m not mad. This is such fun that the plot holes and outrageous cartoonish contrivances ultimately don’t matter. You will spend the whole film smiling and laughing.
Grade: B
