Megalopolis

Hollywood has delved into films that has centered on utopian situations and its resistance thereof through the years. It's not exactly an uncommon premise, however "Megalopolis" has put an odd, bizarre twist on that premise. Utopian societies typically and ultimately end in a dystopian situation and therefore doesn't work as this film outlays. 

The city of New Rome is the main conflict between Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a brilliant artist in favor of a Utopian future, and the greedy mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito). Between them is Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), her loyalty divided between her father and her beloved. Catilina's uncle Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight) and Catilina's brother, Clodio Pulcher (Shia LaBeouf) attempt to help Catilina in his intense struggle with the mayor, but it clearly becomes more and more difficult as even others are thrown into the mix of this overblown soap opera.

Others to round out the cast are Aubrey Plaza as Wow Platinum, Laurence Fishburne as Fundi Romaine, Talia Shire as Constance Crassus Catilina, Jason Schwartzman as Jason Zanderz, Kathryn Hunter as Teresa Cicero, Grace VanderWaal as Vesta Sweetwater, Chloe Fineman as Clodia Pulcher, James Remar as Charles Cothope and D.B. Sweeney as Commissioner Stanley Hart. 

This was directed by the incomparable, seasoned Francis Ford Coppola ("The Bellboy and the Playgirls" '62, "Finian's Rainbow" '68, "The Godfather" '72, "The Conversation" '74, "The Godfather Part II" '74, "Apocalypse Now" '79, "One from the Heart" '81, "The Outsiders" '83, "The Cotton Club" '84, "Peggy Sue Got Married" '86, "Tucker: The Man and His Dream" '88, "The Godfather Part III" '90, "Bram Stoker's Dracula" '92, "Jack" '96, "Twixt" '11, "Distant Vision" '15) plus other films, a TV movie, TV, shorts and a video. By his very resume, this filmmaker is a legend in Hollywood and has proved it many times. This film, as with his other projects, is no exception of the talent this man has demonstrated. His ability to bring the characters to life through these actors is pure genius, as well as his ;pacing. Not sure if he has any more films he'll be able to direct since he is 85 years old, but who knows. It was also written by Coppola ("Tonight for Sure" '62, "Is Paris Burning?" '66, "Patton" '70, "The Godfather" '72, "The Great Gatsby" '74, "The Conversation" '74, "Apocalypse Now" '79, "Rumble Fish" '83, "The Rainmaker" '97, "Twixt" '11, "Distant Vision" '15) plus other films, TV, a short and a video. This is where the issues arise with this film, because his writing, although an interesting premise, was convoluded, choppy, and was attempting to find a film when approaching each scene, however couldn't light anywhere with specificity. It has a running time of 139 minutes and clearly was too long, so I believe he would've been able to get to the story quicker if the running time had been a bit shorter. The last 45 minutes of the film became more interesting and, after enough 'searching', found the film and it then took off. I realize that these characters in this film have extreme issues, however it was next to impossible to feel sorry for any character in this. The acting by Driver, LaBeouf, Esposito and Plaza were all meaty and deserve praise. It was beautifully shot by Mihai Malaimare Jr. asc utilizing warm tones to give it that futuristic feel of it and could possibly be nominated come Oscar time. Oh, and it is rated 'R' for a reason--it's basically gratuitous throughout.

Certainly if you are a Coppola fan, you'll be right at home with this film, however if you're searching for a well scripted screenplay, you might want to pass. Coppola is usually better with his writing--bad day at the laptop? Not sure, but this does scream to view on the large screen for the grandiose of it. It is also presented in an IMAX format if you like. 

Out of 4 Stars: 2                                             Rated: R                                        139mins.

The Wild Robot

Considering we are in one of the two 'dead zones' of the calendar year, it is interesting that the last last two review postings-- "Transformers One" and this review, "The Wild Robot", both being animated, are released at this point; animated films being a common staple of the summer film season, or it being part of the 'dead zone', "The Wild Robot" simply rocks!!

After a shipwreck, an intelligent robot named Rossum 7134, or simply called Roz (Lupita Nyong'o) is stranded on an uninhabited, remote island. To survive the harsh environment, Roz bonds with the island's animals including Brightbill (Kit Connor), Longneck (Bill Nighy), Pinktail (Catherine O'Hara), Paddler (Matt Beck), Thunderbolt (Ving Rhames) and Thorn (Mark Hamill), and ultimately cares for an orphaned baby goose (Boone Storm). As Roz investigates the island, she comes across a wily fox, Fink (Pedro Pascal), and as they get to know one another, they stumble, but end up taking care of Brightbill. 

Others to round out the cast are Stephanie Hsu as Vontra, Alexandra Novelle as Snowdown and Raphael Alejandro as Peck.

This was directed with heart, humor and adventure by Chris Sanders ("Lalo & Stitch" '02, "How to Train Your Dragon" '10, "The Croods" '13, "The Call of the Wild" '20) plus a short. This filmmaker has the innate ability to encourage his actors to bring these characters to life, even though their respective characters are animated. The pacing and staging in this film was incredible and was sequenced perfectly. It was also brilliantly written by Chris Sanders ("Beauty and the Beast" (story) '91, "Aladdin" (story) '92, "The Lion King" (story) '94, "Mulan" '98, "How to Train Your Dragon" '10, "The Croods" '13, "The Croods: A New Age" '20) plus TV, shorts and video games, based on the book by Peter Brown. The way this screenplay was sequenced where each scene organically melded into the next scene was absolute perfection. Chris Sanders is a phenomenal writer (and director) and will undoubtedly receive more work. This was created by Dreamworks Animation and has to be one of their best--certainly orchestrated to where this will probably be nominated for for best animated feature come Oscar time. These different characters were developed with incredible precision and showcases all who had any input of the making of this amazing film. This is undoubtedly one of the best films of the year!

This film has it all: discovery, fear, adventure, humor, commitment and love all rolled up in a breathtaking story and amazing focus and clarity.The only negative to this was that I didn't want it to end. If you like that up, close and personal feel to the film, it's also presented in an IMAX format as well. 

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                        Rated: PG                                            101mins.

Transformers One

Since the inception of the "Transformers" back in 2007, the number of films have been many. Of course, the franchise is based on the action figures created by Hasbro, "Transformers One" is the first animated film of the franchise. This film was truly meant to be animated, which is curious of why it was ever produced as a live-action film. 

This is the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends, Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry), bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever. So, as the two embark of righting wrongs, they enlist fellow coworkers Elita 1 (Scarlett Johansson) and B-127 (Keegan-Michael Key) to help them in their search for the truth. 

Others to round out the cast are Steve Buscemi as Starscream, Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion, Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime and Vanessa Liguori as Airachnid. 

This was phenomenally directed with precision by Josh Cooley ("Toy Story 4" '19) plus videos. All of his experience has been incorporated in the animation realm. and with this project, it truly is showcased. His sequencing, staging and pacing were amazing. Even though he has only one feature film to his credit, that, and his videos have served him well. It was written with cohesiveness, clarity and a healthy element of heart and humor by Eric Pearson, Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, based on a story by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari. All are seasoned writers here, especially that of Pearson and this script proves it. However, there were a couple of very small places of slowness, it certainly wasn't enough to detract from the story at hand. ILM (Industrial, Light & Magic) who created both the animation and visuals of this production were seamless. Both Hemsworth and Tyree Henry were incredibly effective in their performances of Orion Pax and D-16 respectively, which definitely helps so as to work well off of one another. 

If you like the 'Transformers' franchise, you'll especially revel with this. I'm not especially a fan of the franchise, however this even blew me away. As with other productions, stay until all end credits have rolled since it looks to be a sequel in the works. I know, what a shock. If you prefer to see this film in something other than a standard format, it is presented in a 3D version as well. 

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                        Rated: PG                                        104mins.

Never Let Go

Through the years, Hollywood has created the genres of horror and that of the thriller, however recently they have decided to couple the two genres to produce the horror/thriller genre. It's certainly the best of both worlds whereas it has a horrific premise, but the trek to get the audience through the film keeps them on the edge of their seats. Case in point is "Never Let Go" in where it delineates these two genres with precision. 

In this psychological thriller/horror, as a Evil takes over the world beyond their front doorstep, the only protection for a mother, Joba (Halle Berry) and her twin sons, Nolan (Percy Daggs IV) and Samuel (Anthony B. Jenkins) is their house and their family's protective bond. Needing to stay connected at all times--even tethering themselves with ropes--they cling to one another, urging each other to never let go, But when one of the boys questions if the evil is real, the ties that bind them together are severed, triggering a terrifying fight for survival. Which is it? Is this evil real? Is the mother simply confused and seeing things? Or is this all a bad dream?

Others to round out the cast are William Catlett as Joba's husband, Matthew Kevin Anderson as Cole, Mila Morgan as young girl, Stephanie Lavigne as the Evil, Christin Park as paramedic, Georges Gracieuse as old man and Cadence Compton as young girl. 

This was directed with extreme intensity and grit by Alexandre Aja ("Furia" '99, "High Tension" '03,"The Hills Have Eyes" '06, "Mirrors" '08, "Piranha 3D" '10, "Horns" '13, "The 9th Life of Louis Drax" '16, "Crawl" '19, "Oxygen" '21) plus shorts and a video. This filmmaker certainly knows his way around a horror or thriller hence his resume. I know when I saw his "Crawl", I was literally on the edge of my seat! He has the innate ability to pull his audience through the proverbial knothole emotionally and even phisically since one will feel drained after the film. It was effectively written by KC Coughlin ("Mean Dreams" '16, "The King Tide" (story) '23) plus TV and a short and Ryan Grassby ("Mean Dreams" '16, "The King Tide" (story) '23) plus TV. The premise of this, in some ways, is reminiscent to the earlier film this year called "Arcadian" with Nicholas Cage, which is about a father with his twin sons, is attempting to survive an apocalyptic time striving to survive monsters that come out at night, but are absent during the day. The difference of the two films is that with this film, there is an evil that will attack always, day or night and the other, they attack at night and are monsters, otherwise there is a fair amount of similarities. With this film, there were more than one instance where situations didn't add up and where there were things that simply couldn't have happened, but otherwise was a tight script and definitely put the 'I' in intensity. 

If you like horror or thriller type films, you'll revel with this. Believe me, I'm not specifically a huge fan of horror, but coupled with the thriller aspect won it for me. And this is truly an incredible role for Berry. Her fear, protectiveness of her sons, anger and other emotions were off the charts, but emotions that one would certainly understand. 

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                      Rated: R                                            101mins.

The Killer's Game

As with many other genres that Hollywood has produced, the genre of assassins and mercenaries have grown over the many years. Most of these films are typically written as a straight drama, but the director Guy Ritchie produced a number of these films with a comedic overtone to them. Now we are offered "The Killer's Game" that also has the same humorous overtone which definitely worked well.

This film follows veteran assassin Joe Flood (Dave Bautista), who is diagnosed with a neurological life-threatening illness with only three months to live, and so authorizes a kill on himself through the handler that's gone rogue, Antoinette (Pom Klementieff) to avoid the pain that is destined to follow. After ordering the kill, Joe finds out that he was misdiagnosed and must then fend off the army of former colleagues, including Angus Mackenzie (Scott Adkins), Rory Mackenzie (Drew McIntyre), Lovedaal (Terry Crews), Goyang (Le Hoon) and others, attempting to kill him for a two million dollar price tag. 

Others to round out the cast are Sofia Boutella as Maize Arnaud, Joe's girlfriend, Ben Kingsley as Joe's handler, George Somner as Money, Alex Kingston as Sharon, Lucy Cork as Ginny, Marko Zabor as Emilio 'El Botas' and Daniel Bernhardt as Radovan. 

This was slickly directed with grit by J.J. Perry ("Day Shift" '22) plus 151 films performing stunts under his belt. Even though this filmmaker hasn't a plethora of directing experience, all his stunt work has certainly served him well. When viewing this film, I couldn't help but think of a Guy Ritchie film since this was edited and photographed  is a slick, high adrenaline, fast-paced sort of way, similar to that of Ritchie. I believe he studied Ritchie's work and assuredly succeeded in his development of this film. I have great respect for Ritchie's films, so this certainly worked for me. The way he was able to encourage Bautista to come across in a mild-mannered way while he's killing someone was interesting and gave it that comedy relief. If you like his brand of directing, his :Afterburn" is in post production. It was executed well by writers James Coyne ("Vikingdom" '13, "Puncture Wounds" '14) plus a short and Simon Kinberg ("xXx: State of the Union" '05, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" '05, "X-Men: The Last Stand" '06, "Jumper" '08, "Sherlock Holmes" '09, "This Means War" '12, "X-Men: Days of Future Past" '14, "Fantastic Four" '15, "X-Men: Apocalypse" '16, "X-Men: Dark Phoenix" '19, "The 355" '22) plus TV movies and TV, based on the novel by Jay Bonansinga. Certainly with the amount of experience in the writing realm here, this script was fairly well put together. The only aspect that seemed to have not worked well was that there were a few areas where what was happening in a particular scene truly couldn't have worked, otherwise the screenplay was well thought out. The stunts by Troy Robinson and Justin Yu were incredible, but with a director that has a plethora of stunt work under his belt, the stunts should be good. 

Not to take away from this director--he certainly directed this with intense clarity, but if you like Guy Ritchie films, you'll love this. It has it all: action, comedy, high-adrenaline, explosiveness and even heart all rolled up in this roller coaster ride. Dave Bautista has certainly proved once again that he can hold a film together just by his presence, and with a good script. 

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                        Rated: R                                      104mins.

Am I Racist?

As with commercial films, documentaries come in all types of genres: dramatic, comedic, satirical and even musical, but when it comes to a powder dry, satirical documentary, there's nothing that beats "Am I Racist?" It is so powder dry that it looks to be, at surface, a straight on in-your-face documentary until it starts to unfold. 

From the white guys who brought you "What Is a Woman?" comes their next great question, and America's next great movie, "Am I Racist?"Matt Walsh goes undercover in the world of DEI, hilariously skewering the absurdity of race hustlers. Prepare to be shocked by how far the grifters will go and how much further Matt Walsh will go to expose them. In this film, Matt Walsh transforms himself into a certified diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) expert, only to uncover a world where profit, not principle, drives the agenda. 

Others to round out the cast are Robin DiAngelo as herself, Benyam Capel as himself and Jack Marino as Uncle Frank. 

This was directed with wit and deadpan humor by Justin Folk ("Great Men of History: Behind the Screen with Jamie Alexander" (TV movie) '11, "No Safe Spaces" '19, "Right Makes Might: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates" '20, "What Is a Woman?" '22) plus a video. The droll, deadpan wit was showcased here with clarity and political verve whereas unless one knew Walsh's political leanings, one might conclude this was a serious documentary. Folk's ability to convey Walsh's presence as a serious investigator was unbelievable as it was informative. It was written with acerbic wit, however with a direct underlying meaning by Justin Folk, Brian A. Hoffman and Dallas Sonnier. As I've mentioned in other reviews, the genre of satire is my favorite side of comedy because the writer can drive their point of the information in the film, but outlay that info in a humorous, satirical approach. Since Justin Folk was co-writer of this along with directing and he directed "What Is a Woman?", this film clearly had that similar feel to "What Is a Woman?". This, like "What Is a Woman?" is an exhaustive expose of the politics of the past four years, 

No matter what side of the political aisle you reside, this film will assuredly be a film for all to see. It's informative yet all the while showing the absurdity of a society going bananas. All's I can say is, where is the common sense in our society? 

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                      Rated: PG-13                                            101mins.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Thirty-six years ago, "Beetlejuice" was released with an unbelievable following--so much so, that a sequel was talked about for a while. Finally, with all the hoops that different individuals had to jump through to get this made, we now have "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice".

After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetljuice (Michael Keaton), Lydia's (Winona Ryder) life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid (Jenny Ortega) discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it's only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice's name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem. 

Others to round out the cast are Catherine O'Hara as Delia Deetz, Justin Theroux as Rory, Willem Dafoe as Wolf Jackson, Monica Bellucci as Delores, Arthur Conti as Jeremy Fraser and Amy Nuttall as Jane Butterfield. 

This was brilliantly directed as well as its predecessor by the odd and weird Tim Burton ("Pee-wee's Big Adventure" '85, "Beetlejuice" '88, "Batman" '89, "Edward Scissorhands" '90, "Ed Wood" '94, "Planet of the Apes" '01, "Big Fish" '03, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" '05, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" '07, "Alice in Wonderland" '10, "Dark Shadows" '12, "Frankenweenie" '12, "Dumbo" '19) plus other films, a TV movie, TV, shorts and videos. The best thing about Burton is his ability to give his audience a sense of oddity and originality that is increasingly absent from an abundance of films today. He typically gives you what one wouldn't expect--just look at his resume and you'll see my point. Whether the production is live or animated, there is an element of surprise in his films, and this film is no exception. It was executed well by writers Alfred Gough ("Double Tap" '97, "Made Men" '99, "Shanghai Noon" 2000, "Showtime" '02, "Shanghai Knights" '03, "Herbie Fully Loaded" '05, "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" '08, "I Am Number Four" '11) plus other films, TV and TV movies, and Miles Millar (see resume above), based on a story by Alfed Gough, Miles Millar and Seth Grahame-Smith, which is based on characters created by Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson. Obviously, by their very resumes, these two writers are a team which certainly helps in the creation of a tight screenplay, however, this rendition of this sequel, albiet was delineated well, seemingly came across with the belief that they were attempting to top the original, so it was written with a bit too much going on which created some complexity. The premise was interesting, but they needed to keep it as simple as its predecessor. But even with this, the music by Danny Elfman who reprised his music from the original as did costume designer Colleen Atwood were familiar as they were refreshing. Of course, the film was Michael Keaton who reprised his role as Beetlejuice and others from the original--Winona Ryder as Lydia, Catherine O'Hara as Delia and Amy Nuttall as Jane Butterfield as the realtor were nice to see so as to have that connection with the original. 

The film leaves us open-ended--will there be a "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice"? Certainly if this makes a truck load of money we could see a part 3 in our future. Hey, after all, Hollywood is a business, but suffice it to say, it seems like they've squeezed as much out of this story as they could outlay. Certainly, if you do see this, it is presented in an IMAX format, but definitely see it on the large screen. Direction by Burton, Keaton as Beetlejuice and Elfman's music is well worth the price of admission. 

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                       Rated: PG-13                                      104mins.