Weekend Movie Roundup- Spider-Man: Homecoming

Every weekend me and some friends gather to consume adult beverages and watch movies. We tend to end up watching the good, bad and ugly of what's currently available. This weekend it was Spider-Man: Homecoming. Being the comic book movie geek, I had already seen this on the big screen but was totally up for a second viewing.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is a thoroughly enjoyable movie free from the burdens of a hero origin story. Since this version of Spider-Man was introduced in Captain America: Civil War, we can skip the radioactive spider bite and the 'Oh wow I have super powers" phase . All of that can make for a crowded and rushed movie. I might say that I missed the Uncle Ben storyline that leads to the iconic "With great power comes great responsibility" theme.

The story picks up after the events of Captain America with Peter Parker back to his regular high school life and finding it an utter bore in contrast to duking it out with and against members of the Avengers. He impatiently waits for a call from Tony Stark that obviously is not coming any time soon. Through a series of nightly adventures that are not really that adventurous, he stumbles upon a group robbing an ATM and they are using what is obviously not technology of this Earth. For the uninitiated or those who just don't pay attention, this is a reference back to alien tech left behind in the first Avenger's movie. The villain of the piece is a working class anti-hero wannabe played excellently by Michael Keaton. You might be tempted to feel sorry for him in a populist sort of way until you realize he's really menacing and dangerous.

The rest of the story plays out with a good balance of action, humor and character building. Tom Holland is youthful and exuberant as he web slings through New York and faces serious threats he's not prepared for. Jacob Batalon deserves a new Oscar category for best sidekick as Peter's best friend who helps him keep his secret... So enjoy the past attempts at brining Spider-Man to the big screen for what they are but I think we"re now getting the story the character deserves.

The Foreigner

"A particular set of skills" - A whole new genre of movie seems to have been created when Liam Neason uttered those words on screen in 2008. Does that seemingly harmless person you pass on the street secretly possess the ability to turn into a precise killing machine when confronting the bad guys that also walk among us? Now it is Jackie Chan's turn to join this list of movies that range from the really well done to the "how did this get made?".
Quan Ngoc Minh (Chan) works hard, owns a restaurant in London, and does his best to provide for his daughter Fan. An everyday errand to pick up a dress sees her killed alongside a dozen others when a terrorist bomb explodes nearby, and a devastated Quan turns quietly towards a path of vengeance. A previously unknown faction of the IRA claims responsibility which draws the attention of Deputy Minister Liam Hennessy (Pierce Brosnan) who was an IRA member in his youth before serving time, reforming, and bringing the fight into the political arena instead. Hennessy knows more than he’s letting on but also doesn’t know it all, and while he’s handling pressure from the British government he faces an even bigger challenge from a tired old man grieving the loss of his daughter.
Based on Stephen Leather‘s novel, The Chinaman, The Foreigner packs a hefty amount intrigue, action, and double-crosses into it's nearly two-hour running time. It’s far from a usual Chan film both because he’s only in roughly half of it and because IRA-related plot turns are given equal attention, but the combination works well to deliver intimate thrills and satisfying beats.
Writer David Marconi (Enemy of the State) keeps a smart balance between the two halves ensuring neither thread grows stale, and while both are engaging separately things heat up when they collide. It’s maybe far too easy to identify which member of Hennessy’s crew is involved, but that’s far from the point as more layers are stripped away to reveal blame and motivation galore. Brosnan captures his anger as well as his growing frustration at the loss of control to both his own people and Quan’s determination.
Chan may still be thought of mostly as a “funny” guy, but he’s played these serious roles before, and he’s played them well. Chan’s strength will always be as a physical entertainer, but he more than acquits himself here as a man who’s lost everything. There’s a tangible pain in his all but defeated face as he lets go of the past and sets his sights solely on revenge.
The supporting cast is solid with memorable turns from the likes of Rory Fleck Byrne, Charlie Murphy (no, not that one), and others. The Foreigner doesn’t break the mold, but it never tries to — and doesn’t need to.

The Book of Henry

Jaeden Lieberher has built an impressive resume for his 14 years. When I think of him, the movies St. Vincent, Confirmation and Midnight Special come to mind and of course he is currently starring as the sad, earnest Bill in Stephen King's IT. In St. Vincent he really excelled at playing as a wiser than his years child who has to act as a guide for the flawed adult characters. The same idea plays out here to the nth degree. The title character of Henry is a child genius with a powerful intellect that allows him to see all of the possible scenarios that life may bring. To cope with the benefits and downside of such insights, Henry plots out plans for every outcome in the other half of the title - his book.

Henry's domestic situation, being raised with his younger brother Peter (Jacob Tremblay) by single mom Susan (Naomi Watts) is portrayed as quite idyllic and almost whimsical. You may notice though that Susan is just one of the kids too. She has handed over most of the "adulting" to Henry and honestly who wouldn't. She plays video games while Henry plans out the family's financial future and hangs with a work buddy (Sara Silverman) while Henry entertains his little brother in ways that only a true child genius could come up with. Now movies need conflict and here we are served up some dark fare. In his precise observation of the world Henry has discovered that his next door neighbor (also a single parent) is abusing his daughter Christina (Maddie Ziegler). He has tried to alert adults who are either clueless or intimidated by Christina's father who is (wait for it) the chief of police. In his book, Henry has detailed all the actions he could take and how they may or may not work and has come to a grim conclusion. 

At this point, I reach a difficult part of this review. I don't want to spoil anything so forgive the vagueness. The Book of Henry takes two unexpected turns. The first will cause confusion and make you distrust people who make movies trailers. The second can only be described as tectonic in that it shakes up everything.  How you react to these twists will probably determine your final thoughts on the movie. Will Susan continue to put so much trust in Henry's mind or will she step back and become the parent? The end is a bit too much of a pretty package for me but overall I was glad I stuck with it to see what would happen. 

The Devil Is In the Details Or Maybe In An Elevator in Philly.

2010 cannot be described as a good year for M. Night Shyamalan. The negative reaction to "The Last Airbender" was immediate and scathing. It went so far as to become an act of revisionist history with some critics dissecting his entire career and declaring it retroactively over after the phenomenal success of "The Sixth Sense".  So, I just had to check out "Devil", released a mere three months after "The Last Airbender", and thanks to some ITunes gift cards from Christmas, I could do so without risking my own money.

"Devil" opens with a suicide and details the story of five people trapped in a high rise elevator in downtown Philadelphia, who experience events that can only be explained by the supernatural. The "devil" aspect comes into play through a guard in the building whose mother puts Brothers Grim to shame. She told him bedtime stories as a child about the devil taking human form to trap, torture and kill those who will eventually end up in his(or her?) domain anyway. It's a bit of a locked room mystery with a police detective working the suicide who tries to decipher what is happening in the elevator via security cameras.

I'll start with my likes which are mostly about mood. The camera work, including opening credits over the upside down city, is excellent with sweeps and mirror perspective shots that keep the viewer constantly askew. The music, also key to the mood, is heavy handed enough to cue an edge or your seat tension throughout. I didn't have any problem with the acting but the characters are all like those found in a hour long Twilight Zone type show. You know, played by vaguely familiar actors and fleshed out just enough to make us pay attention for an hour minus commercials. 

My dislikes? The ending does have a few "twists" people expect from Shyamalan's work but they are fairly tepid.  The narrator is a mildly annoying piece of work also. His "my mama told me" declarations  about the devil are at best awkward exposition and at worst silly.  Why insert an otherwise rational character who earnestly expects everyone to shake their heads and say "yep it's the Devil, that's for sure"?

Verdict?  The reports of M. Knight Shyamalan's career suicide are premature and he will make more movies to love or hate I'm sure. "Devil" probably would have been viewed as C grade work but a minor hiccup if it had not come out after "The Last Airbender".

Love and Other Disasters

To call a movie cute often equals a death sentence in that it evokes fluff and a lack of substance. I just watched 'Love and Other Disasters" and cannot escape the dreaded word "cute".  Fortunately "clever" also comes into play. This movie which references romantic movies past and present does so in a way that is smart, hip and stylish.  Brittany Murphy who left the world stage too early excelled at playing two types of roles - troubled and damaged or wispy and flirty. Here we are treated to the lighter side with intentional nods to Audrey Hepburn. I had not heard of this movie before tonight and thought I would share.

Skyline - Pretty People, Pretty Lights, No Substance.

I've always been an easy fan of movies involving characters going about their normal lives who begin to notice that the extraordinary or possibly the horrific is sneaking in around the edges. This can take the form of natural disasters, biological threats or the quiet ( or not so quiet) arrival of hostile visitors from beyond. The recent release, "Skyline", takes on the alien invasion plot with the opening scene being luminous and ethereal blue lights dropping from the sky onto a sleeping Los Angeles. We flashback to the day before and meet our main characters of Jarrod (Eric Balfour) and Elaine (Scottie Thompson) who are traveling to L.A. to visit an old friend of Jarrod's who has made a successful go at fame and fortune in the movie industry. Very quickly we get the necessary but shallow set up for our characters. Jarrod is a knight in shining armor who helps strangers with their luggage on the airplane and Elaine is appropriately uncomfortable with the L.A. lifestyle they stumble into. Jarrod's friend, Terry (Donald Faison) has become a bit of a sleaze and has a girlfriend (Brittany Daniel) so instantly unlikable that you know attempts to humanize her later will fail. Terry throws a blow out party in his penthouse and we're  ready for the invasion scene this hungover group will awake to early the next morning.

I'll render my final judgement early and say that if the goal here was to create a group of vaguely unlikable characters and kill them off over 92 minutes, then they succeeded. There are obvious similarities between "Skyline" and 2008's "Cloverfield". I was a fan of the latter and despite any gimmicks used like the hand held camera work, I related to the characters and cared about them in the way an audience should.  That just did not happen during "Skyline". The first obvious issue I had was with the two leads. Jarron and Elaine have very little chemistry as an onscreen couple and the casting choice was odd. The actors have such similar and distinct faces that they look like siblings. It was as if they came from the same very pretty Eastern European, Calvin Klein "esque" family of models.

"Skyline" also lacks creativity and suspense. The aliens must be keeping up with Earth pop culture because they are a mish mash of creatures from "The Matrix",  "War of the Worlds" and the recent Terminator movie.  Out of the 92 minute run time there were only a couple moments that reached edge of your seat anticipation and those involved the decent special effects and an air battle that conjured a feeling of "hooray for U.S. military might"

"Skyline" should have ended with the forlorn scenes of the world's capitals in ruins and under the same type of attack as L.A. but instead we get an overly long ending that screams "SEQUEL".  In fact it is so long it continues in snapshot scenes during the credits. I'll spare you. You can exit the theater  as soon as possible because there is nothing left worth seeing.

Charlie St. Cloud - How not to make a I see dead people, drama, teen romance, semi-comedy.

 "Charlie St. Cloud" starring Zac Efron is the story of the title character and how he deals with the loss of his younger brother, Sam, (Charlie Tahan) in a car accident made even worse by the fact that Charlie is driving. Seemingly from beyond the grave or only in Charlie's mind, Sam shows up every day for a promised baseball lesson. We flash forward five years and Charlie has given up on college, his love of sailing and become the town recluse all to make his daily appointment with Sam.

From my title of my post you may have picked up on the fact that I think "Charlie St. Cloud" is a awkward mismatch of ideas that don't necessarily fare well in the same movie. Self-editing is a valuable skill that would serve the creative forces behind this movie very well.  There are three, possibly four distinct story lines going here including a missed opportunity at a supernatural drama. I don't think any of them succeed because it doesn't appear this movie knows what it wants to be.

As far as acting, Efron has a charming face and disposition that lends well to the humor but not so much the drama. You can practically see him straining in the first part of the movie to keep up with the movie's over the top dramatics. It's further proof to me that Hollywood finds us a bit dense and believes we need a trail of bread crumbs leading to the obvious. In this case the obvious is that the sudden loss of a young family member is tragic.
Of course you cannot have Zac Efron as your lead without some romance. Charlie attracts the interest of Tess (Amanda Crew), a young woman training for a round the globe sailing trip. I hate to be harsh but my biggest criticism is for Amanda Crew. She has a delivery so flat as to suck any spark or chemistry out of the scenes between Charlie and Tess. Since I'm really trashing this movie, I will give some props to Charlie Tahan who plays Sam. He is genuinely funny and at times conveys the sadness embodied by his character.
Have I made this sound so terrible?  There is an audience for this movie but I don't think that includes people like me who take a cynical view about the state of creativity in film.