RBG (2018)

I have two tests for a documentary; do I learn something and am I emotionally moved? If a doc can make me say “yes” to both then I am satisfied.

RBG gives a fairly good career overview of Ruth Baer Ginsberg’s accomplishments, but that isn’t really what the film is about. RBG is about showing us the human behind the legend. It is easy to see public figures as something less than truly human, something that amounts only to the public statements and actions of that person. It is easy to forget there is a living breathing human behind it all.

RBG starts with comments by Badger Ginsberg’s detractors calling her all sorts of names but quickly leaves that behind to focus instead on the woman herself. The film decides not to go in the direction of making a case against her detractors. Very much like RBG herself, the film instead makes their case for her. It trumpets her accomplishments but mostly focuses on her personally. She is a charming, professional in RBG and impossible not to fall for.

The film spends a great deal of time on her relatinoship with her husband and partner who was one of her greatest cheerleaders. The film skips over quite quickly the sadness of her life, the loss of her mother and sister early in her life, the challenges of being a woman in a male dinubated profession. The film remains overly optimistic and glowing.

But despite the rose colod glasses approach the film certainly taught me a lot about the woman behind the robe. It also truly inspired. It makes it clear to anyone watching, just how special a person she is, regardless of whether you agree with her or not. In fact her film spends time giving a voice to those who oppose her yet still sing her praises.

So as a fan of her work, RBG was even more inspiring. It is nice to be reminded of the person who has done all that good work for America.
                                     
RBG
Directors: Betsy West, Julie Cohen

Solo a Star Wars Story (2018)

The bloggers tried their best to make us all think Solo was a disaster. But Solo is exactly the fun adventure backstory Star Wars fans have been waiting for. Irreverent, rollicking, sassy, and filled with enough easter eggs to make the fans happy, Solo is the kind of popcorn cinema that is perfect for summer at movies.

I was a bit guarded after all I had read. And in the first act there are a few jarring moments, a few convenient plot jumps which feel a bit false, but soon this fades away as the story, the characters, and the world of Star Wars takes over and we can relax and have a good time.

Alden Ehrenreich nails it as Han, capturing the spirit of Harrison Ford all the while making it seem effortless. Same with Joonas Suotamo who has already taken over the role of Chewie in Episodes VII and VIII, one doesn't even notice a new actor is playing the part. Another stand out is new character L3 played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, a droid who starts a rebellion. But the real star is Donald Glover as Lando. He is as charismatic as Billy Dee Williams and takes up the entire screen whenever he's on camera. Let's all hope there is a Lando movie one day.

And did I mention easter eggs. Oh there are some doozies. I don't want to spoil it but Solo has a few surprises to watch for, a big part of the fun for fans and they don't get in the way for more casual viewers.

Ron Howard, a director whose work I rarely ever enjoy, has crafted a different feeling for Solo, filming it more atmospherically, more stylistically, than a typical Star Wars film. The film has rougher edges and is shot in a more roughshod manner. Perhaps this has something to do with the production but it fits the story and character.

The verdict is that I hope Solo isn't a one shot, that perhaps this story isn't over yet and we'll get a bit more of what Han and Chewie do before they are hired to take Skywalker to Alderaan.

Solo
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover, Emilia Clark, Woody Harrelson, Joonas Suotamo, Thandie Newton, Pheobe Waller-Bridge, Paul Bettany, Jon Favreau, Warwick Davis
Director: Ron Howard
Writers: Jonathan Kasden, Lawrence Kasden

Batman Ninja

Batman has become like Shakespeare, endlessly adaptable into varying forms, remaining identifiable while also offering new experiences. This Japanese production on the Batman mythos does a radical redesign of all things Batman yet captures the essence of the character and his themes producing a truly unique way to experience him.

And it is a wild ride. Director Junpei Mizusaki sticks true to his anime roots, eschewing western animation rules as he hijacks the Batman universe for a very eastern spin. Audiences who don't embrace the styles, the moods, the tropes anime relies on will likely be jarred by how un-western this film is in its presentation. Much of what would feel "silly" in a western film, but can be made glorious in anime is on display here. The story is wacky but that can be embraced by those who are ready for it.

The film is a gorgeous piece of cinema. Utilizing two distinct animation styles throughout, Batman Ninja is unlike most "superhero" animation out there. It is lush and rich, making it distinct from the more succinct and sparse art styles we're often used to in these adaptations. Most of the time I couldn't believe what I was seeing, both narratively and visually.

My only nitpick (and it is nitpicky) is I wish the story had simply started with the familiar characters living in feudal Japan and didn't feel the need to "time travel" them all to the setting. It could have, like another Batman animated film Gotham by Gaslight, which set Bruce Wayne and his cast of characters in a Victorian era Gotham, just had the characters exist in that era. The time travel parts felt wonky but they are minor and truly just there to get us to the divine spectacle of seeing Batman lead a ninja clan.

This is not going to be everyone's cup of tea but it is a special treat for those open to the experience.

Batman Ninja
Director: Junpei Mizusaki
Writers: Kazuki Nakashima, Leo Chu, Eric S. Garcia

Cargo (2018)

Logic would dictate that there aren't any more good zombie stories to tell. There has been such a deluge of zombie stories that one would assume the genre has been over-saturated. Which is why I am always surprised that good ones keep getting made. The Girl With All The Gifts, The Battery, and Maggie, are all examples of how the genre remains alive (undead?) despite the plethora of titles. Cargo is now another.

Martin Freeman is a man with a baby who has been bitten and has a couple of days before he turns. He spends the film searching for someone to raise her before he succumbs to zombie life.

Freeman's performance is touching and the film smartly focuses on the pathos more than the scares giving him a great opportunity to show off his thespian skills, especially at the end when he says goodbye. Like the best zombie films the story in Cargo is an analogy, in this case for parenting, how parenting is an exercise in preparing your children to be independent of you, the letting go involved in that. Cargo uses the horror inherent in the essence of zombie stories as a tool to express just how horrifying being a parent is.

Cargo sometimes feels a bit too succinct. It has an episodic nature as Freeman goes from one encounter to the next, and many of them feel a little short. Time could have been taken to flesh out more of these vignettes and this could have given each more weight. The film feels like it's trying to be economical and sometimes that has the effect of watering it down a bit. But despite that Cargo remains a strong film.

I guess the zombie genre will never die as long as good movies like this keep getting made.

Cargo
Starring: Martin Freeman, Simone Landers, Anthony Hayes
Directors: Ben Howling, Yolanda Ramke
Writer: Yolanda Ramke

Deadpool 2 (2018)

Deadpool 2 is one of those sequels where you pretty much get what was in the first film but more. If the first Deadpool worked for you, then Deadpool 2 will work as well. The film makers don't make any missteps and deliver exactly what one would expect and want from a Deadpool sequel. I laughed a lot, I enjoyed the story, and grimaced at all the gross bits. Leaving the film I felt very satisfied with what I got. But perhaps in all that established shtick, there was a bit of me that missed being taken a back like I was the first time. I guess you really can't go back to your first time.

Like the first film, the magic here rests on star Ryan Reynolds' endearing performance. His blend of overtly obscene sarcasm mixed with slightly ironic yet earnest sentimentality is so delightful its hard not to smile all the way through. He is Deadpool and Deadpool (the film) is him. The script (or is it often ad libbed?) offers him plenty of fourth wall breaking quips and NSFW bon mots. It's pretty much impossible not to just sit back and enjoy it all (unless you're a pearl-clutcher who gets offended by these sorts of things). Perhaps one day it will be tired but not yet. He's got a winning formula here.

And perhaps that's the one thing that was unnerving for me at Deadpool 2. The idea that some of this genre busting irreverency was starting to feel a bit formulaic. The first Deadpool had me squeamishly gleeful at all the ways the film shocked me. But now I was expecting it and the shock and awe has worn off. I still enjoyed it. I still laughed wholeheartedly. I guess it just didn't feel as rebellious any longer, less edgy. It was almost if I was daring it to blind side me more.

Still, there is much to enjoy about Deadpool 2, even beyond Reynolds' performance. Zazie Beetz is a standout as the lucky Domino and Julian Dennison is also great as the angry Firefist. I think I enjoyed the new additions more than the returning cast, many of whom feel wedged in here (Negasonic Teenage Warhead) just so we can see them again, and another (guess who) is used solely as a plot device for our hero. Brolin is pretty good as Cable but the film doesn't give him much to do because really everyone is there for our star to play off of. Which is exactly what one would expect from a Deadpool sequel.

So yes, Deadpool 2 is exactly everything a Deadpool sequel should be. Perhaps I was hoping it to upend our expectations more. But even though it didn't what it did deliver was solid fun and I have to admit I'm up for another chapter if Reynolds is.

After some further reflection I do have to express some frustration I have with the film. While I was disappointed the first film erased, or perhaps trivialized, the main character's bisexuality, I still managed to give the film a pass. Rightfully or wrongfully I let it go that Deadpool was not present clearly as bisexual. I made the same excuses everyone else made about the film being an unknown property prior to release, and demonstrating the main character was queer was too much of a risk for this sort of a property. Yes, perhaps that was bullshit but I participated in it knowingly. The caveat that justified it for me was that now that the first film was such a runaway success, I expected the sequel to address it. If you were going to have a comic accurate Deadpool he needed to be presented as bisexual. And once the movie was a hit, the sequel could take that "risk."

Well it didn't. Similarly to the first film, any potential references to Deadpool being sexually attracted to all genders (and they are barely potential, nothing clear or explicit) are all jokes which can be clearly read as Deadpool making a joke about sexuality. That way the bros, who may be uncomfortable cheering on a queer superhero, can see it as him being funny in a mildly homophobic way instead of actually being queer himself.

And the film tries to cover it's bases by making Negasonic Teenage Warhead queer instead. As if this has the same power or as if it solves the problem. It just simply does not.

I believe Deadpool 2's lack of recognition of its character's queerness is a serious failing of the film that takes away from the ability to enjoy the film. Representation matters. Producer/star Reynolds knows this and has acknowledged this but yet still chose not  to address it in this film. It is a major disappointment for me and keeps this film from being as good as it should have been. 

Deadpool 2
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, T.J. Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapicic
Director: Jason Leitch
Writers: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Ryan Reynolds

Disobedience (2018)

For his first English language film, writer/director Sebastian Lelio's has made a very subtly powerful film. Instead of doing something more flashy to appeal to a western audience, he has crafted a quiet piece which he shoots in hushed colours which mask the intensity of the emotions of the characters. He builds his narrative slowly and lets it grow in strength as it progresses.

His lead, Ronit (Rachel Weisz), returns to her former community where we are slowly introduced to her and her native world as it unfolds around her. But as she gets more time with her former lover Esti (Rachel McAdams), both characters bloom into fuller relief.

Like his previous films, Gloria and A Fantastic Woman,  he focuses on the experience of women dealing with the limits men have put around them, a particular strength of his as a film maker. His female actors have often talked about his way of giving them a strong voice on film and both Weisz and McAdams have said so about this work. In the audience one certainly feels the strength of their performances.

Disobedience follows a fairly familiar queer film arc where there are a pair of lovers, restricted in their ability to fully be together, who choose different ways of dealing with those restrictions, one running towards freedom while unable to wholly separate themselves from their former world, while the other complies with the limits of the community and finds a way to make it work for them. Again, familiarly, the characters' relationship is tested by their differing priorities and choices. What makes this stand out from the more typical queer film is a combination of the powerful performances by the two leads and Lelio's rather gentle hand in telling their story. Does he sometimes stay a little too removed? I'm not sure I know the answer.

Like films before it such as Blue is the Warmest Colour, Disobedience tackles the problem of how to tell an authentic lesbian story with a combination of a male director and two (as far as I am aware) straight actors. For all the hype about the film's pivotal love scene, it is rather brief (especially when compared to Blue, but then what wouldn't be?) and instead strikingly intimate. Time will tell if Disobedience manages to overcome that specific challenge, but as a moment in film the scene is lovely and powerful. Perhaps I cannot judge its authenticity but I can certainly feel how I was affected by it. It feels designed to get inside the characters' pent up passion for each other as opposed to explicitly depicting their sex act. I felt more connected to what was motivating each character after the scene, more connected to who they were.

Nivola's Dovid is also a strong character, devoted and moral his being in the way is not about repression, it is about his attempt to do what is right. Another strong performance make this not a villain role as it could have been but the struggle of those not involved to make sense of what they cannot make sense of. And Lelio's approach at the climax is not to give him the power to grant freedom, but the grace to offer his reluctant blessing.

Disobedience is lovely and profound. It holds a space for reflection on numerous ideas at the same time without watering down the story that belongs to these women. It is a film to sit with and reflect on.

Disobedience
Starring: Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, Alessandro Nivola
Director: Sebastian Lelio
Writers: Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Sebastian Lelio

Terminal (2018)

Every now and then a film comes along which looks like it's going to be an exciting game changer... and then just ends up feeling stylishly tired. Writer/director Vaughn Stein's Terminal (not to be confused with the more famous Tom Hanks movie which also did not live up to the hype) is one of those films. It has an it-cast and a flashy look but can't muster the enthusiasm necessary to carry it through. It even has the kind of cool-twist-dark-plot vibe to its story which should have delivered a more satisfying punch. But it all just sort of falls flat.

It was hard to maintain the energy to carry it through. It's characters were just not there enough to make us care and despite Stein's heavily stylized approach, he never tied his swanky visuals to the narrative in a way that compels us through the story.

While the charismatic Margot Robbie's femme fetal character has all the hallmarks of the sort of protagonist we should love to follow, the film's reliance of sleight of hand keeps all characters' backstories at more than arm's length making it hard to connect with any of them. Once we finally get to what should have been a devastating twist it is just hard to care.

Stein's work here reminds me of Alex Proyas and how often his glamorously lovely films didn't have the story to match the style. That is what is terminal for this film.

Terminal
Starring: Margot Robbie, Simon Pegg, Dexter Fletcher, Max Irons, Mike Meyers
Writer/Director: Vaughn Stein

Life of the Party (2018)

"In the motion picture industry, a star vehicle, or simply vehicle, is a film written or produced for a specific star, regardless of whether the motive is to further their career, or simply to profit from their current popularity. It is designed to optimally display that star's particular talents or personal appeal."
- Wikipedia

Like most A-listers Melissa McCarthy must keep her star ratings high by churning out these sorts of vehicles which highlight her specific brand. In Life of the Party McCarthy plays just another variation on the Melissa McCarthy character we've seen her do in The Boss, Spy, Tammy, The Heat, Identity Thief... and on and on. Sometimes these work out well (a la Spy) and sometimes not so much. This is more the latter. 

Life of the Party has very little story to it and leans on the predictable side. But it is all just there to showcase McCarthy and her incredibly likable persona and shtick. I venture that perhaps this, another in a line of vanilla, predictable comedies showcasing this persona and shtick, the persona and shtick might be starting wear thin. There is little of merit to this film except the moments when McCarthy's humourous riffs take over. Although some of those riffs were starting to feel a bit tired, not quite as funny as she has been. 

McCarthy has proven herself a real talent and quite a good actor when she wants to be. Perhaps it's time to leave these sorts of bankrolls behind and take the risks that take a talented performer like her out of the box she's in and up to a higher level. Perhaps it is time she graduated. 

Life of the Party
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Molly Gordon, Maya Rudolph, Gillian Jacobs, Julie Bowen, Matt Walsh, Jackie Weaver, Stephen Root, Luke Benward, Jimmy O. Yang, Chris Parnell
Director: Ben Falcone
Writers: Melissa McCarthy, Ben Falcone

Tully (2018)

Tully is one of those great films which isn't about what you think it's about. The team behind Juno and Young Adult once again veers of the typical path to bring us an insightful story which gets under the difficulties with parenting in this age. Theron adds another excellent performance to her repertoire. Overall Tully is a sweet success.

Tully is one of those films which is hard to talk about what makes it so good without spoiling it. What I can say is I appreciated the understated nature of the film. Director Reitman films the story is the hushed tones of the evening, contrasting small moments of stress, making those parenting moments stand out even more for the contrast. Tully is about finding oneself as one is being lost in the sea of adulting, parenting, and spousing. It's about holding on to who we are. Writer Cody's approach is once again brutal in honesty but gentle in grace. And Theron is a striking portrait of parenting, reminding us of the human being in the mom.

I'm not sure Tully doesn't rush its climax a little but I remained satisfied. Perhaps the end is a bit optimistic. Yet I think Tully is reaching for that. Theron's Marlo is going to make it, her whole family will. And this is a window into how and why.

Tully may surprise you. It also might make you slightly uncomfortable. And all of that is good.

Tully
Starring: Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, Ron Livingston, Mark Duplass
Director: Jason Reitman
Writer: Diablo Cody