Wonderfully Terrible: Empire Records

In my experience cult movies develop a strong following for one of two reasons. The first is a unique viewpoint. Something that sets it apart from mainstream films and resonates with the audience in a unique way (i.e. the musical rock n roll sexual liberation of Rocky Horror Picture Show or the campy weirdness of John Waters' films). On the other end is nostalgia, or put more succinctly a movie you watched and latch onto in your youth thus making it far easier to forgive flaws and brush aside haters. I bring this up because nostalgia is the only reason I can imagine people latching onto today's Wonderfully Terrible movie: Empire Records.

The movie centers around the titular record shop during a troubling time. After a stupid attempt to double the managers profits in Atlantic City, the store is now in danger of being bought by a chain and losing its quirky flavor. However, financial troubles are just the tip of the iceberg as the employees deal with identity crises, unrequited romance, and a troubled shoplifter.

In case the intro didn't give it away, I was not a fan of this film. My reasons will become more apparent deep down, but I had a genuine interest in this one and found myself consistently let down. That said there's a handful of redemptive qualities.

The Wonderful

The Cast

It's hard to say that this movie is poorly acted since the cast is full of movie regulars. The most noteworthy players are the waifish Liv Tyler, who has always had an interesting mixture of innocence and sex appeal about her, and Renee Zellweger as her free-spirited friend. These are most noteworthy but you'll certainly recognize a ton of these folks including Robin Tunney (who's in another 90s cult film The Craft) and long term character actor Anthony LaPaglia. And holy crap is that's Tobey Maguire!

The Soundtrack

Remember when soundtracks had decent current music? Well here's a shining example with a collection of grunge fun used throughout the film. It's been awhile since I've heard Sponge's "Say A Prayer."

The Terrible

It's Not Terribly Funny and It's Oddly Melodramatic.....In General Just A Ton of Tone Related Problems

Empire Records biggest problem is a lack of focus or discernible identity. One on hand the movie seems to be about a band of outcasts banding together to "stick it to the man" (a phrase that is used far too frequently with a straight face) and save a place they love. On the other there's about seven different bits of teenage melodrama playing out all at once in problems that range from suicide, pill addiction, and a child literally bringing a gun into the establishment as a way of reaching out.

The movie is full of jarring shifts. For instance, one of the day's main events is the arrival of a Tom Jones-esque singer named Rex whom the employees spend most of the day mocking for being a gigantic douche. Not a hilarious bit for me, but mildly amusing. That is until Liv Tyler's character tries to initiate a sexual encounter with him (likely statutory rape?) and is humiliated right before being told by her long time male friend that he loves her and then her friend sleeps with Rex as a spite move and oh my god am I supposed to be laughing or crying right now? And that's just one character's storyline.

Movie's like this are the hardest for me to watch because the lows are so low that it dulls the highs. I'm still recovering from the last scene or reveal and the movie is telling me to laugh or get inspired. Sorry friends. I need some time. 

It certainly doesn't help that there's plenty of better films about either teen angst (see all the eighties John Hughes movies) and snobbish record store employees (High Fidelity). You can certainly mix and match your melodrama, romantic/friendship problems, and even financial stress into a single package, but you've got to balance things a bit better and give me characters I actually relate to and care about.

Verdict: Good For Nostalgia Bad For Folks Coming in Cold

While Empire Records may entertain and amuse nineties kids, I can't see much value for anyone who isn't already familiar with the film. There's simply not enough memorable moments or general amusement to be had. This is one you can skip.

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Trailer Talk: Spider-Man Homecoming

After some unimpressive outings in its The Amazing Spider-Man series, wall crawler fans breathed a sigh of relief once Marvel arrived on the scene. Not only because Spider-Man would now be more or less back in the Marvel fold, but it also meant he could included in the extended universe. Most seemed to enjoy his appearance in Captain America: Civil War and the first trailer looks amusingly action packed.

And now we've got a second trailer that shows more action, more characterization, and a better idea of the film's plot. So let's see what's new.

Iron Man's Role

Tony Stark appears to be in full mentor mode complete with tech help, that he's apparently willing to snatch away if Peter behaves recklessly. All "pot calling the kettle black" jokes aside, this is a nice throughline to Tony's journey in Iron Man 3 and looks like a great reminder for Peter that heroics are not about showboating. It remains to be seen whether or not he'll play a significant role in the film's final act but his influence is there.

Vulture's Motivation

While I've always been excited to see Michael Keaton as the Vulture, and was already a fan of his tech heavy design, I've been wondering what his motivation is. Based on this trailer he seems to have a grudge against the supposedly superior one percent, with a possible focus on Tony Stark. He also seems to want to have the now patented villain/hero heart to heart where he explains his reasoning to an unmasked Peter. A good start. Still wondering about Shocker though (I'm hoping for an Iron Man face off).

The Action Scenes Look Wonderfully Bonkers

When I first saw the boat scene in the first trailer, that felt like finale material (as well as a perfect knod to the Sam Raimi originals). But as it turns out that's a small part of the movie's bag of tricks. Peter's gonna web swing his heart out, visit some big monuments, and face off against average joes and big bads. What impresses me most though is the variety of locations including a middair battle on a plane, warehouses, beaches, there's just so many different ways Spideys powers can be used or limited in these locations and I'm all for it.

Verdict: All Aboard the Hype Train

The movie is still oddly light on Peter's actual characterization in the film, but everything else about the film looks delightfully melodramatic and over the top superhero fare. This is gonna be a first weekend affair for me.

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Tickled

Unless they're actively misrepresenting themselves, documentary titles usually give the audience perfect summary of the movie's material. For instance, a doc about a noted musician or band will tell you about their career, follow them on tour, or watch them create their latest album. I bring this up because today's fascinating film Tickled has one of the sharpest and darkest left turns I could possibly imagine.

The movie centers around New Zealand journalist David Farrier, a man with a reputation for amusing human interest stories in his native country. One such story includes the discovery of a "competitive endurance tickling" league complete with cash prizes, free flights, and more for participants. But as Farrier begins to shine a light on the "sport" he quickly enters an unexpected world of fetish video and unprecedented levels of online harassment.

Based on the title, you might amuse that this movie is all about what makes people ticklish, people who enjoy being tickled, people who enjoy tickling, etc. A deep dive into an interesting and previously undiscovered subculture. But as the description above indicates, the film is no laughing matter. Here's some of the startling takeaways and signature moments.

The Immediate & Horrifying Harassment

As Farrier explains, he initially intended to run the piece as an amusing one off, detailing the "tickling league" as an amusing and unexpected goof. What he's greeted with is a slew of threatening emails and letters threatening legal action (for what is never truly explained) full of gay slurs. It's the kind of thing you might expect in a internet comments section but this feels inordinately over the top. and as it turns out Farrier isn't the first person this has happened to.

How Deep the Rabbit Hole Goes

While you won't get bonus points for discovering the videos' true purpose, is it somewhat amazing just how much money, time, and effort goes into this company's video creation and harassment efforts. Only one former participant willingly identifies themselves and the rest are so afraid of retaliation (that gets the attention of the Secret Service...no really), that they clam up. It's terrifying.

The Predatory Behavior

Thankfully the movie isn't interested in making tickle video enthusiasts into monsters. They visit with a tickle video maker, watch a session and while it's clearly an acquired taste everything seems above board. It's clearly there to contrast the other tickle video group that uses lucrative monetary offers to desperate people and intimidation tactics to ensure silence. The combination of apparent shame, possessiveness, and denial is breathtaking in scope. Further reveals as the film progresses only make this worse.

Scary and fascinating, Tickled isn't what I expected but it is an undeniably engrossing look into the internet's dark side, the people who perpetuate it, and its victims. This is on HBO Go now and I highly recommend checking it out.

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The Handmaiden

When it comes to Korean cinema, one of the go-to names is Chan-Wook Park. Primarily known in the U.S. for his trilogy of revenge films, Oldboy being the standout, Park is master at making stylish, slick looking movies with potentially trashy premises. Sometimes it's vampires (Thirst) and other times it's sexy movie about sociopaths (Stoker). One way or another they're always interesting, but I could hardly have expected The Handmaiden, a period erotic crime drama, to reel me in like it did.

Loosely based on the novel Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, the films follows a young woman named Sookee who is tasked to be the titular maid to the niece of a local nobleman. Though carrying goals of her own, Sookee quickly finds herself taken by her charge's beauty and charm. Thus begins a intrigue web of attraction, tested loyalties, and hidden secrets.

I'm being intentionally vague with my descriptions about this movie because the less you know the better. What you really need to know is that Chan-Wook Park knocked this out of the park.

Everything about the movie works. The production design is intricate and beautiful, the cinematography is stunning, and the setup is a perfect mix of trashy noir and period-piece class. The thing that's probably the most impressive is how effortlessly it effortlessly drifts between completely disparate scenes and tones. At one moment we've got dramatic character moments or romantic tension that's immediately cut by a perfectly timed joke, visual gag, or curse.

And for all of the attention that will be paid to the movie's more lurid scenes, none of them feel exploitative. They are serve a purpose for their moment in the film and actually move the plot forward or demonstrate character development. This is something a ton of filmmakers struggle with, but Park knows all the right buttons to push and how to push them.

The cast all plays their parts beautifully, especially our leading ladies. Newcomer Tae-ri Kim nails the perfect mix of naivete and naughty for Sookee and Min-hee Kim Lady Hideko has a perfect face for hiding intent or interest. The men, admittedly typecast as bastards bring all of the sleaze that's needed with an added nod to Ha Jung-woo as the Count.

Still the film's best element is probably Park's masterful screenplay. My litmus test for a film as long is this, it runs about two and a half hours, is whether or not there's a notable lull in the action. Here there truly isn't. Just when you think you have everything figured out you get a new fascinating piece of information or a twist arrives or someone does something unexpected. It's a perfect blueprint for engagement and a middle finger to anyone who says that extensive genre hybrids like this won't work or that movies are too long.

The movie's best audience, is hard to pin down. The film's sexual content is risque enough to get an R-rated in any region (maybe not France) but the violence is relatively tame, and not just by Park's standards. Likewise, as engaging as the film is to someone with an open mind, anyone interested in a straight-forward narrative structure or the standard subdued romance of most English period pieces is going to be a bit disappointed.

That said, I'll recommend this movie to anyone. It's a marvel in filmmaking from top to bottom, and would have easily made my best of 2016 lists had I seen in that year. This one should arrive on Amazon Prime soon so check it out.

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Trailer Talk: Justice League

At this point everything I see from Warner Bros. DC universe, minus Wonder Woman, gets a shrug and a begrudging agreement that I'll watch the movie at some point. I know some people are really jazzed for Justice League, but considering that Zack Snyder is still directing and the dogpile of awful that was Batman v Superman. Still there's a new trailer so I should probably try to be optimistic and try to figure out what to expect.

The trailer is relatively standard assembling the team fare, we have an oncoming threat introduce the three remaining team members who don't have movies yet (Aquaman, Cyborg, and The Flash), and then start having people working together to fight said threat. It's a decent setup and I like the idea of Batman doing the recruiting (you'd imagine he'd be good at pushing buttons) and there's a nice emphasis on banter. It also looks like we've got some Mother Boxes so our ultimate big bad has to be Darkseid at some point and I like the look of the Flash's speed powers.

That said, this still looks like everything else Zack Snyder has done for DC. Lots of slow motion or ramped action scenes (slow then fast), muted colors, and orange explosions everywhere. I think the thing that bugs me the most is that the film doesn't even look like a comic book, it looks like a Transformers movie shot at night. Seriously put a screenshot of this next to anything Marvel does and you're gonna notice just how little emphasis there is on color. Also don't let this movie being coy fool you, Superman is absolutely going to show up.

Will this be any good? Really hard to say but it'll certainly be a regular Zack Snyder affair, for better or for worse.

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Train To Busan

After a decade of overexposure, it almost feels fresh to revisit zombie movies again. Sure The Walking Dead is still going and everything from boy scouts to cockneys have fought the undead in recent memory, but I feel like now's a perfect time to embrace a new kind of zombie movie. Enter the hugely successful Korean-import Train to Busan which just hit Netflix streaming in the U.S.

The movie centers around Seok-Woo, a financial market trader in the midst of a messy separation from his wife and parenting difficulties with his daughter Su-an. Eager to see her mother in the southern resort of Busan, the two person family unit boards a crowded bullet train to make a day trip. However, when a passenger with bite wounds enters the train, the serene ride will soon turn into survival of the fittest chaos as zombie hordes attack.

Like most horror movie monsters, your appreciation for Train to Busan will likely be determined by its take on the zombie genre. As such I'll pick out the four most important elements of the zombie genre and see how Train to Busan stacks up.

The Zombies: Speedy, Not Gory, and Dog Pile Happy

In terms of cinematic zombies, Train to Busan's walking corpses as reminiscent of World War Z's. They run at a dead sprint, it's hard to determine whether or not they ingest or simply turn their victims, and they push towards things en masse. While the scale doesn't quite match World War Z's Hollywood background, this does mean we get images like a pile of zombies pushing out of windows like loose beans or odd dog pile like scenarios where zombie bodies are used by other zombies as leverage. This set also adds a fun element of a random weakness that comes into play in some of the action sequences.

The Setup/Set Pieces: Close Quarters and Run For Life Chases

A lot of zombie movies seem to enjoy the violence or fighting the undead, but don't but a lot of effort into staging or action friendly camera work. Thankfully, Train to Busan is not one of them. Every small action scene is excitingly shot with a clear sense of geography and a pulsing score behind it.

The action is also nicely varied between stealthy back and forths, foot chases, and furious fights in the train cars. I'd really like to see director Sang-ho Yeon expand into big scale action and see what happens.

The Themes: Fear, Fatherhood, & Self-Interest

Much like zombie movies of its ilk, Train to Busan is all about the human response to an existential threat. Some people are naturally empathetic while others do all in their power to save themselves, other folks be damned. That's the film's central conflict as our lead character struggles with whether or not to be a good person while still maintaining his daughter's safety. Granted the film strongly argues that fearful non-empathetic thinking is not only reprehensible but is ultimately detrimental to an individual's survial as well. There's also an interesting throughline about parental connection and responsibility that builds throughout the film. 

The Characters: Well-Realized Arc for Our Lead

The moral questions of the film are perfectly realized in our Seok-Woo, played excellently by Yoo Gong. Based on his profession and his early behavior the audience probably won't like him and will view him as a selfish bastard who's only looking out for himself. But as the film progresses, we start to see how much he cares about his daughter, his cleverness, and the empathy he felt like he had to stow away for his daughter's sake. While the rest of the characters might be one note or stock, Seok-Woo's journey gives the film an investment and added weight as we move towards the finale.

Verdict: Solid From Top To Bottom

Train to Busan isn't revolutionary but is the very best of zombie movies all rolled into one. I highly recommend checking this one out.

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Pacific Rim

The upcoming Power Rangers movie is something I've remained skeptical about since it was announced. In theory it's awesome. Who doesn't want to see big time Hollywood production values applied to cheesy, hastily adapted Japanese super sentai shows sold to American kids in the nineties? By that same token, I remember how disappointed I was by the recent Ninja Turtles entries, and how many eighties kids want to shank Michael Bay for making the Transformers movies. Regardless of how the film actually turns out, I've decided that I've kinda already got a Power Rangers like movie in my collection: 2013's Pacific Rim. So to prep for Power Rangers, I'm revisiting the kaiju battling cult favorite.

It's the near future, and humanity has been beset upon by a series of gigantic monsters sent from a portal in the Pacific Rim. To combat them, humans have built massive mechanized robots called Jaegers to defend the costal cities and citizens from harm. However, as the threats continue to grow and humanity decides walls may be a better investment, the remaining Jaeger pilots will have to band together to stop their enemy once and for all.

There's a lot to be said about Pacific Rim, but if you're wondering whether or not you'll enjoy this movie there's only one question: Do you want to see giant robots punch monsters in the face? If so, please watch a freak the hell out. If not, get out....of my country like right now. Despite an easy reason for monster movie fans to love it, there's other reasons Pacific Rim stands out.

It's Sincerely Silly

There's a lot of blockbusters that seem ashamed of their insanely silly premises. So much so that almost every movie makes meta move to the camera where the lead actor shrugs and goes "This is super dumb right?" Not here my friends.

We're gonna dive into all of this robotic and monster nonsense hardcore. Big speeches? We got'em. Larger than life melodrama? Plenty. Time for silly asides in the middle of gigantic robot vs monster battles? You bet. This approach is adopted from the filmmaking style which aims to make everything look semi-functional in the real world to the acting which is all straight-faced and sincere. 

Aside from keeping the fun quotient up for the entire film, this also allows the audience to gloss over plot holes. Why did they pull out this giant sword now and not before the fight? Who cares this is awesome!

A Solid Female Character

For most movies the involvement of a non-white female lead in a big budget action movie would be enough. Thankfully Pacific Rim takes it a step further and makes her an honest to goodness character. She's physically capable, smart, inventive, vengeful and her gender is never brought up in regards to piloting. I'm sure some will point out that the main crux of her storyline is a bit of a female stereotype, a young woman attempting to move past her protective father figure's shell, but I'd say this has character driven reasons behind it.

Once she actually gets in the pilot's chair, Mako truly gets to shine as Raleigh's (Charlie Hunam) equal, because as it turns out they need to be completely in sync to operate the Jarger properly. No romance, just a good old-fashioned battle buddy complete with personal motivation to take up the fight.

Del Toro's Phenomenal Imagination

There are few modern filmmakers that are as good as Del Toro at creating living worlds for his characters to inhabit. The mixture of CGI and practical effects is stellar, the cityscapes are all vibrant and exciting, and the production design is full of bright colors. 

The same attention to detail also applies to the Jaegers and the monsters. Each Jaeger has it's own special abilities, nation, and look as do their monstrous opponents. From there we can just start creating fun scenarios and monster battles. With all of this in place you can sit back and enjoy the simple things in life, like a Jaeger using a shipping vessel like a bowstaff.

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Prometheus

If I was to categorize this era of filmmaking I'd say it's a combination of progress, superheroes, and nostalgia. For instance, looking at the movie Life all I can think is that someone really wanted to make an Alien movie crossed with The Thing with a more immediate threat to human kind. While it remains to be seen whether or not Life is a good Alien knock-off, it's hard to forget what happened thelast time the creator Ridley Scott went to the Alien well: Prometheus. So as preparation for Life, I'll dive into why Prometheus underwhelmed audiences.

Taking place in the not so distant future, before the events of Alien, the movie follows a team of archaeologists and corporate grunts searching for the birth of human life. Though their first survey of the moon appears to be unsuccessful, the crew quickly discovers horrors lying within an abandoned alien craft that threatens to destroy them and possibly the rest of humanity.

So despite being maligned by fans, who likely set their expectations way too high, there are elements of Prometheus that work. The special effects are astounding, the performances by the cast are great across the board (special nod to Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, and ice queen Charlize Theron), and there's a couple of truly terrifying sequences. I also think a lot of the nitpicks about the film come from our current ability to watch and rewatch small sequences at will (i.e. Charlize Theron's insistence on a straight line vs. moving to the side). Still there's a number of reasons this movie didn't resonate the same way with fans. Here's my two cents.

Too Much Rehash

Ridley Scott and company kinda painted themselves into a corner when they announced that Prometheus was an Alien prequel. As such, fans would come into this movie looking for answers like: Where did the alien come from? What's with the giant ship we found them in? What happened to the first crew that went looking for life for life on that planet?

While that all has the possibility to be interesting it also means that the majority of your locations, setups, and even your di facto "villains." are going to be very familiar. The movie doesn't help itself by creating slightly different versions of the signature monsters. Instead of the facehugger we've got a water snake like creature. The facehuggers transfer method is replaced by something more infectious and viral. It's all variations on things we've seen before, which is especially troubling in a sci-fi horror movie because....

There's No Big Surprises *Spoiler Territory*

So who's the real villain in the original Alien movie? I'd argue that the xenomorph isn't truly the villain. The corporation that sent the Nostromo crew to their death and put a malicious android on board with them is. So what's the villain this time around? A corporation that puts a malicious android nearby and makes them meet vicious aliens and the "Creators." I actually kinda like the "Creators" angle, i.e. what if the being that gave you life was a jackass and hated you, but the standard Alien stuff gets far more attention and is presented like something mind-blowing when the entire target audience has been waiting for it.

Leaves The Most Interesting Ideas Alone

I have no problem with philosophical sci-fi movies. I enjoy them. I also enjoy sci-fi horror movies. I don't recommend trying to do both. The problem with the entire "Creators" angle for this movie is that is opens up an entire world of questions, but the entire movie is structured like an Alien styled survival horror epic. There's a lot of interesting questions like what are the responsibilities of someone who can create life, the sacrifices that come with discovery, do we truly want to meet "God"? the list goes on and on. So while all of these ideas are running through my head, I'm watching a movie about a small cadre of astronauts trying to not die. The intellectual conflict of interest means the movie can't hit either of its major interests.

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Battle Royale

I'm always interested by what movies reviewers reference for their pull quotes. Case in point the main pull quote for The Belko Experiment, the latest film penned by Guardians of the Galaxy director/scribe James Gunn, has been sold as "Office Space meets Battle Royale." While the first of those two films has a dedicated cult following in the U.S., Japan's Battle Royale is arguably more obscure and less ubiquitous. And since cinema buffs have already compared the film to The Hunger Games, I thought it was high time I reviewed the violent dystopian movie myself.

The movie opens with some troubled school Japanese school children dealing with grief, suicidal depression, and violent outbursts. When one such outburst injures a teacher, the class, known as 3-B, is chosen for the following year's Battle Royale, a fight to the death between the entire class and some unknown outliers that must be completed in three days. Armed with a random weapon and limited supplies, the students begin a furious fight to survive and possibly get the best of the game's overlords.

So if the, school-aged children forced to fight to the death premise feels very Hunger Games-esque you're not too far off, however there are a number of stylistic and story choices that make this movie a different animal.

The Violence is Bloody and R-Rated

While there was certainly outrage towards The Hunger Games the violence on screen was fairly tame. There was some blood, but nothing you could truly describe as gory. As some cinephiles familiar with Japanese cinema might expect, that's vastly different here. The violence here is nasty full of face offs with firearms, blades, and even explosive devices, and there's squibs and plenty of blood-letting. While you can argue about whether or not this style is necessary or appropriate, the intended effect is quite obvious: make everything look as horrendous and terrifying as possible.

The Characters Are A Wider Spectrum

While the true villain in both The Hunger Games and Battle Royale is the establishment or government, Battle Royale has more clearly-defined bad guy contestants with no redeeming qualities. Since Hunger Games main thematic thrust was class-based, the villainous contestants are older athletic teens from richer districts with years of skills training to their advantage. You're not sad when they die per say, but even the lead antagonist has a change of heart before his demise about the futility of the Games themselves. In Battle Royale, the larger class-size and shorter introduction means that we've got a larger spectrum of contestants with differing goals that encompass the varied teenage experience. Some of the class opts for suicide instead to go out on their own terms, others split into factions including a lighthouse full of girls, a tech savy group looking to break the game, our di-facto heroic squad, and the big new addition: sociopaths.

While you could argue the sociopaths are there to both pick off weaker members of the class and give us the set up for a final showdown, I think their inclusion adds to the film's themes about the adults attitudes towards the teens. Because one of them behaved violently, the entire class is now being punished...by being force to inflict violence on one another...but because they may not be inclined to do it they ensure that amoral monsters are there to thin the herd.

It's All About Teenagers vs. Adults

As I indicated before, The Hunger Games main theme is economic class. The working class districts in particular are forced to participate in the games as a punishment for rebellion that's enforced by the rule of aristocrats. Battle Royale is clearly about adolescence and clashes with the adult world. The reason this class is chosen is a personal slight by their former teacher, and he seems to take great delight in running the game and watching his students, many of whom are emotionally troubled, perish.

Battle Royale also lacks The Hunger Games broadcast system which means that the outrage and push back from the class is more personal and localized. They've been singled out and abandoned.

As such, the fight against the system is more directly aimed at the adults and the teacher in charge. The majority of the scenes are filled with teenage specific scenes i.e. can you really trust your friends at this age or what would take to make a room full of teenagers with weapons begin killing each other. The entire movie plays out like a violent reflection on the highs and lows of teenage life and the system that wants them dead.

End Result: Ultraviolent Angst

While the premise behind Battle Royale is in line with The Hunger Games, Royale is more startling, violent, and angry tale about youth and misunderstanding. And it still packs a wallop. Check this one out.

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Moana

Moana is a movie I felt destined to like. Here's a brand new Disney musical, in the midst of their latest revolution, with a Polynesian princess, voiced by an actress of with similar heritage, featuring songs by Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda and a character voiced by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. That's a smoothie of things I love that I never asked for but still got. Regardless, the question is whether or not the disparate parts make for an entertaining and engaging movie.

The movie follows the titular daughter of a local chief. Despite a free spirit and natural connection to the water, Moana is discouraged from exploring or leaving her island's reef by her cautious father. However, when an apparent plague begins to kill the fish and plants, Moana seeks to revive the island goddess Te Fiti by seeking out the demigod Maui and returning the goddess' missing heart to its rightful place.

I loved Moana for all of the reasons I thought I would starting with the characterization of our lead. Though a lot of attention has been payed to the Disney "princess' that save themselves" angle, Moana takes this idea to another level. The guiding forces that push Moana toward her adventure? Female. The person that consistently saves the day? Moana herself. I literally can't think of an instance where the primary objective isn't completed by Moana. Her parents are even alive! There's a small element of tragedy that gives her the final push, but you get the impression that Moana was going to head out to save the day regardless. There's also no conflict in her community about her being the leader in training. It's quite refreshing.

The rest of movie's appeals come down to reliable Disney production values. The voice cast is phenomenal with new comer Auli'i Cravalho leading the charge as Moana. The Rock gets to stretch his acting muscles a bit by playing the energetic and moody Maui and even great character stand-bys like Jemaine Clement nail their bit parts.

Likewise, this is some impressive CGI animation on display. The thing that consistently impresses me is less the character design (that's typically kept less realistic and more cartoon-like) but the textures for water, hair, lava, or even plants.

Song-wise I have no other way to describe this other than it sounds like Lin Manuel Miranda's work. The funny song by The Rock is notably catchy as is Moana's ballad, though it may lack the typical Broadway bombast of Frozen's "Let It Go."

The film's humor is arguably a bit reliant on physical comedy (granted the use of the chicken Heihei was a complete clone of Becky from Finding Dory and I did not care because I was laughing so hard), but it knows which emotionally strings to pluck at the right moment.

By the same token I also understand why some audiences weren't blown away by it. There's elements of Disney's best work in here including Pocahontas, The Lion King, and the aforementioned Frozen, so much so that the movie even teases the formula mid-film (i.e. Moana says she's not a princess and people indicate they're about to sing before they burst into song). I'm also certain other folks won't find the songs as memorable as Frozen as well.

Regardless, in terms of characterization and representation Moana is an easy movie to recommend and celebrate. Check it out.

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Trailer Talk: Wonder Woman and Baby Driver

Well this week has been great for movie nerds as the latest from DC's last hope Wonder Woman dropped as did a trailer from Baby Driver, the newest project from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz mastermind Edgar Wright.

Wonder Woman

This trailer has a lot of things we've seen before, Wonder Woman in the trenches, beating up German soldiers, and Steve Trevor's arrival on Themyscira. It all looks fun and makes Diana look action hero awesome so I'm down. The big new thing this time around is an emphasis on Diana as a child and warrior in training and some sort of secret regarding her background. There's a lot of speculation going around including the involvement of Ares as the film's big bad, but a big concern is whether or not the God of War is actually her father. I'm hoping not and I'm actually curious if it might be Zeus considering some sorts of her either absorbing or reflecting lightening.

I also thoroughly enjoy the fish out of water sense of humor the film seems to angling for with Diana's arrival in London (i.e. women's roles with infuriate her and something like a rotating door will befuddle her). Still this is an action packed trailer for the DC's signature female superhero. 

Baby Driver

Considering I knew absolutely nothing about this film beforehand, the fact that I'm already amped for this movie tells you how good the trailer is. The story seems simple enough. A young getaway driver named Baby (hence the name) seems to be working towards his freedom from a mob boss played by Kevin Spacey. The heavy implication is that a job or two goes wrong involving Jaime Foxx and Baby is gonna have to drive and fight his way to freedom.

The premise of seeing a literal baby faced actor (The Fault in Our Stars' Ansel Elgort) play a Jason Statham typed wheelman is enticing enough but the film's hook is Baby's odd medical condition that gives him a persistent ringing in his ears which he drowns out through a never-ending supply of headphones and music.

This has all of the makings of Scott Pilgrim styled insanity with fast-paced humor, great action choreography (even some of the car stunts look unique), and a never ending soundtrack of moment appropriate tunes. Add in the killer cast that includes Spacey, Foxx, Jon Bernthal, and Jon Ham and I could not be more amped for this one.

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Trainspotting

When it comes to game changing movies, it's hard to undersell what Pulp Fiction did to Hollywood's outlook in 1994. Seemingly out of nowhere here comes a violent, dialogue driven film, that embraced the B movie sensibilities of seventies, discussions about pop culture, that jumped effortlessly through time and characters with an oldies filled soundtrack. As such there was an industry wide effort to embrace this new style that audiences clearly loved. Enter Trainspotting a British film from Danny Boyle about drug-addicted misfits with its own pulsing soundtrack. Since then the films main players, director Danny Boyle and Ewan McGregor have gone on to bigger more exciting things, but since they've decided to revisit these characters for a sequel, I thought now was a perfect time to hit up the 1996 hit.

The film is told from the perspective of Mark Renton, a heroin addict with a small and slightly crazed group of friends. Despite enjoying the high-life Mark finally decides to kick his habit and potentially join society, but his demons and his friends might mess up his chances.

There's a lot in Trainspotting to recommend. It features one of the best openings of all time with McGregor's pitch perfect voice over work matching his foot chase with police with Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" pulsing in the background. The acting, though notably over the top, is all pitch perfect with British character actor mainstays like Ewen Bremmer Jonny Lee Miller and Robert Carlyle who chews every bit of scenery he can gets his hands on.

The film is at its energetic best when our characters are going about their regular misadventures seemingly without consequences. Danny Boyle's camera work is quick and energetic, and the film uses a great series of music cues from British pop music.

However, the main attraction is Ewan McGregor who manages Renton's journey from agreeable anti-authoritarian junkie into a more responsible and thoughtful person exceptionally well. Typically in roles like this you get the impression that the lead might miss their old life, but both the script and McGregor's performance make it abundantly clear that the addict life is not only dangerous but also way less fun that advertised, even by the film's opening.

Since this is a movie about drugs and drug addicts we're also going to dive into some horrible stuff including some scenes that haunt me to this day (the baby hallucinations are the stuff of nightmares). The tone shifts in this one are notably daunting as he jump from a "devil may care" perspective into, holy god I'm the worst person that's ever existed, and quite a few brushes with death. The film's arc is all about how far some people have to be pushed before they reform, or don't/can't as the case may be, so we've got to get to some pretty terrible lows before our lead gets back on track. The film's resolution feels well-deserved but it always felt like a hollow victory considering how low Renton and company had fallen.

Which leads me to the curious question of how in the hell they made a sequel with any meaning out of this movie. Without spoiling the film's finale, everyone's path, especially Renton's, is pretty clear and it doesn't look like there's any wiggle room. I'm sure they figured out an angle that worked, but I doubt that the film can truly land in the same way.

Though I'll remain skeptical of the sequel, Trainspotting is an energetic dive into life on the edge with a standout performance from a young Ewan McGregor. Not for the squeamish, but definitely up the alley of your average Tarantino fan. Check it out!

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Reel Talk: Responsible Diversity

While it always seems to be baby steps, Hollywood blockbusters seem to be making steps towards a more inclusive movie scene. Whether or not it was a hit, the fact that Get Out and it's focus on the experience of black people, in particular black men, around supposedly progressive white people, got made and a giant release is a big deal, as are the multi-cultural casts of the recent Star Wars films and the Best Picture win for Moonlight. Still since there is plenty of work to be done, and film and television have a ton of influence in shaping public opinion and ideas, here's some guidelines for diversifying responsibly.

Cross-Check Your Casting/Concepts

Some of the most detrimental racism comes from people that don't even realize they're doing it. Which is why emphasizing diversity in your casting and your screenplays is a great place to start. Include women, non-white and LGBTQ characters in your scripts. Cast colorblind even if the script doesn't say so. You don't need to have a quota per say, but simply picturing other races in roles that would traditionally be white men is a good place to start. The easiest script hack you have is to give your characters non-American nationalities. 

Good Examples: Rogue One and The Fast & The Furious series both have diverse casts and women in leading roles. For TV I'll also include the CW's Arrowverse for bringing in LGBTQ characters (still working on diversfying those lead roles though).

Avoid Stereotyping

This can be best summed up as, whatever you generally associate with a particular race, ethnicity, or sexual preference, avoid unless absolutely necessary and/or honest. I think this along with casting is how you end up with a lot of unintentional but very obvious racism like ok we're fighting terrorism, time for a casting call of Middle Eastern men or the gay best friend with an endless supply of one-liners. You can have stock characters, every movie has one or two, but when you can break out of those stereotypes and provide depth.

Good Examples: Scott Pilgrim's gay roommates Wallace may be a sarcastic quip machine but he's not played fay and Dope's drug-dealer gives an underling a grammar lesson before delivering a beating. Also Mahershala Ali as a drug-dealer/father-figure in Moonlight.

Give Women Agency

By now you've likely heard of the Bechdel test, which a movie passes or fails depending on whether or not two women converse about something besides men. Nowadays even more tests based on famous stereotype defying female characters exist including Aliens' Ripley, Mako Mori from Pacific Rim, and Furiosa from Mad Mad: Fury Road. The main attribute that joins them all together? Agency. Each of these characters has a distinctive goal and use their awesome attributes to accomplish it, without a man carrying the majority of the load, without romance being the payoff. Ripley wants to survive and save as many lives as possible. Mako wants revenge and Furiosa wants freedom, redemption, revenge, and complete destruction of the patriarchy. Give'em hell ladies.

Good Examples: The three above are great as are Rey from The Force Awakens and Sarah Connor from Terminator 2.

Cast LGBTQ Actors Whenever Possible (Especially in LGBTQ Roles)

Jefferey Tambour famously said in his Emmy acceptance speech that he would be perfectly comfortable being the last cis man to play a transgendered person on television. I think this is a wonderful sentiment. Not only because people within the LGBTQ community are incredibly talented, but they can personally connect to roles in a way few others can. I understand that most movies with gay or transgendered characters have very good intentions, but when you have nothing but straight cis voices around that will filter its way into the finished product. Give LGBTQ actors their shot, their due, and most importantly a voice.

Good Examples: Laverne Cox on Orange is the New Black.

The Payoff: More Money and More Markets

I seriously doubt anyone in America rushed to see the latest XXX movie The Return of Xander Cage. But as of this writing that movie is the biggest box office hit of the year intertionally. Why? Because pretty much every character is from a different nation including two martial arts stars (Donnie Yen and Tony Jaa) and even a cameo from a famous soccer player. Turns out people really like to see Hollywood movies with people from their country of origin...

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