Well with four films to mention this week ...let me get started!!
CAPTAIN AMERICA CIVIL WAR
Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
Screenplay by Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely
Starring Chris Evans; Robert Downey Jr; Scarlett Johansson; and a bunch of Superheroes
Captain America Civil War is the story of the Republican Party in 2016. Oh...no? Oh okay.
"For the second film in a row I felt like I was watching a video game for more than half the film while buildings get destroyed (with out mentioning in the real world people live and work in them and most likely died as the fight continues)."
The above was part of my review of The Avengers Age Of Ultra. Which was not a very good film but I wanted to note the above because it is a major plot point in this film. The film divides the Avengers, with one group agreeing with the UN on a policy that The Avengers need okay by governments before moving in to fight evil, The other side thinks waiting causes more deaths.
This film is the best superhero movie I have seen in years. In fact this is what Batman vs Superman should have been.
The screenplay is very good and happily does not rely heavily on fight scenes. It relies heavily on..if you fight bad guys and hurt or kill others while doing so without government okay are you then a criminal.
A very interesting premise.
Another highlight of this film are the performances. Every performance is well done. I will highlight a few:
Chadwick Boseman as the Black Panther is introduced. He come across as a classy superhero which is kind of cool. I liked him a lot.
Elizabeth Olsen returns as the Scarlet Witch, and she has a much bigger part and she is a kind of a down to earth superhero which I like.
Paul Rudd as Ant-man adds a lot of humor.
Tom Holland is wonderful as Spiderman. I always thought the past Spidermen came across as young obnoxious assholes. Holland, at least for now, came across as smart and funny. Also the hottest Aunt May played by Marisa Tomei.
Roberty Downey the veteran of all these superheroes has a very interesting part here. Tony Stark who use to be cocky, he comes across as old and humble and wise in this film. His character is changing a bit and is no longer one note.
As for the battles. I feel they were not overdone and I felt often they were hard to watch. It is like a family picnic and you are standing on the sidelines while a fight breaks out and you hope it just stops. You care for all of them and you hate to see anyone get hurt. Even though in this film Captain America comes across as close minded and a little bit of a jerk.
Negatives?
I felt the Captain America story line with Bucky was annoying and I struggled to really care. Even though I understand it is necessary for the Civil War story line.
The ending. I note often when there is a series of movies like this, I feel there should be a solid ending. Here again the ending left too much open. In fact the ending made the Bucky storyline a little...bit of a waste.
And the reason for the Bucky storyline reveal at the end as almost using him as a guinea pig was almost lazy and silly.
4 out of 5 stars for Captain America Civil War.
A BIGGER SPLASH
Directed by Luca Guadagnino
Screenplay by David Kajganich and Alain Page
Starring Tilda Swinton; Matthias Schoenaerts; Ralph Fiennes, and Dakota Johnson
The peaceful vacation of Marianne Lane (Tilda Swinton) an aging rock star on vocal rest and her boyfriend Paul ( Matthias Schoenaerts) is disrupted by Harry an old friend (Ralph Fiennes) and his daughter Penelope (Dakota Johnson).
Many people loved Luca Guadagnino's I Am Love. Me? Not so much. So I come to his A Bigger Splash. As I follow my No Spoiler Review rules this will be tough. I walked away from this film thinking....did I miss something....at the same time...oddly I like it and I think it was because of the performances. So I will start there:
Tilda Swinton as Marianne. She is an aging rock star who is on vocal rest vacationing with her boyfriend on the beautiful Italian Island Of Pantelleria. In Fact Pantelleria itself is a character in the film. Pantelleria is gorgeous!! It is a wonderful performance by Swinton because she does not speak. Every emotion from her is by facial expression. Which kind of leaves me or you as the viewer with some loose ends. You cannot get a sense of what she really thinks of the visitors that crash the retreat.
Matthias Schoenaerts as Paul, Marianne's boyfriend. Lets face it he has never given a bad performance. In this film oddly he talks about as much as Swinton's character. You really do not know what is going through his mind. You feel he does not trust or like Harry, but then they sit down for drinks often. You also see him watching Penelope quietly. Is he "in to her" or just he does not trust her? So speaking of Penelope...........
Dakota Johnson as Penelope. I looooove Dakota. Even before she became famous in Shades Of Grey. I think she is a wonderful actress.While watching this I thought often....what is she up to? Is she just a narcissist? Whatever she is, I think she was up to something. I still have no idea what her motives were. I even went on IMDB Message Boards to read what other people thought of her character. It is even debated on that message board. I do know this..that this Penelope character is the type of Character her mom, Melanie Griffith would play in her younger days. See Something Wild.
Ralph Fiennes as Harry. So you have three people who rarely talk. Do not worry..Harry makes up for that. He does not shut up. Fiennes is so great here. He plays against his type. Usually we see his characters being quiet and thoughtful. Not here!!! There is one fantastically embarrassing and wonderful scene as he sings and dances to Emotional Rescue by the Rolling Stones. He is either being rude, singing, running around naked, yes naked, Did he show up with ulterior motives? You judge when you see it.
Four wonderful performances. With a very confusing script. I walk away from this thinking maybe that was the point. It is open ended, maybe that was the goal to make us keep thinking what the heck was Penelope up to. What was her plan. Why?
Well 3 1/2 out of 5 stars for this odd beautiful; well acted film. Strange thing is when I walked out I thought 3 stars, but after a couple days I raised it a bit. I cannot not stop thinking, again, what was Penelope up to. What was her part if any in all this? If you get a chance to see it you can message me your thoughts
One last note....this film has a lot of nudity. All four stars are nude often. If that offends you this is not the film for you.
POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING
Directed by Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone
Screenplay: Andy Samdberg; Akiva Schaffer; and Jorma Taccone
Starring: Andy Samberg; Akiva Schaffer; and Jorma Taccone
A mockumentary about the life of a popstar Connor4real. The camera follows him from his time as being a fixture in a boy band to being a solo popstar.
What is odd is when I saw the trailer I had no interest in seeing this film, then I go see the film and it is so much better than the trailer.
It is the modern day Spinal Tap. However it also touches on issues that Spinal Tap could not touch because Spinal Tap did not have social media to poke fun at.
I am not a huge fan of Samberg, I always find him not as funny as what he thinks he is. Here, he brings back together the team that brought us the underrated Hot Rod, and it worked.
This film pokes fun at:
Social Media
Unintelligent popstars who think they are intelligent
TMZ
Live music that is really just prerecorded music on an IPOD
The followers, entourages, and groupies of Popstars
The screenplay by Samberg and his best buddies Schaffer and Taccone is hilarious and sometime cringe worthy ("You mean 30 seconds to Mars does not mean it takes 30 seconds to get to Mars").
So this 90 minute film is rolling along like as a smart and funny classic and then at the 60 minute mark it hit a wall. Not only hit a wall, the film was torn apart by the wall. It went from possibly being a comedy classic to a pool of mush (No Spoilers here). Picture Spinal Tap with a mushy huggie ending, it would have not been the classic that it is. Spinal Tap stayed brilliantly funny to the end.
A bad decision by the three writers.
Quick note: This film has many wonderful funny small little roles by many a star but none better, and or funnier, than Justin Timberlake. Every time I saw him as a chef I laughed.
3 1/2 stars out of 5 for Popstar: which sadly stopped being funny after 60 minutes in.
THE MEDDLER
Directed by Lorene Scafaria
Screenplay by Lorene Scafaria
Starring Susan Sarandon; Rose Byrne; and J.K. Simmons
Marnie (Sarandon) a widow from New York City moves to California to be near Lori (Byrne0 her daughter and maybe start a new life.
Sarandon is very good even though her dialect is a bit over the top. Her character is a lost soul who is trying to find her way. She is kind, if not too kind, to everybody she meets. Her daughter is frustrated with her because she has a tendency to meddle. I see it again as being over the top kind. She is always trying to be helpful and fix things.
So you have a pretty good performance but the film seems off. Like something is missing. I walked out trying to figure out why this film seemed to just lay there.
There is no character development of any other person other than Marnie. Byrne is barely in the film and the previews make it seem she is. We only know she just left a relationship, that is all.
There are many other characters Marnie bounces around town and "helps". However we never get to know them either. J.K. Simmons arrives into the film doing his best imitation of Sam Elliott. I would have loved to know more of his background.
Speaking of Sam Elliott!!! Maybe I have seen this film before. Blythe Danner in I'll See You In My Dreams. A widow finding her way and finds Sam Elliot on his bike. MMMMM!!
Well it is not fair to compare movies. I am just saying it may have seemed flat because it has been done before.
There are a lot of good performances, small performances, in this film. Again we really never find out much about these characters, but they do wonders with their small parts.
It is fun, and also cringe worthy to follow Marnie around. This has me give The Meddler 2 1/2 stars out of 5.
From the shadows as always thanks for your time.
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