Thursday, April 22, 2021

Soul

 


RATING: A

Soul is Pixar's newest and was also one of multiple unfortunate movie victims of the pandemic. Coming at a point when Disney was desperately throwing stuff at the wall trying to figure out how they could still make bank on their movies during a time like this (spoiler: they couldn't), one such result was Soul becoming a "straight-to-streaming" feature--which, much like "direct-to-video" before it, isn't usually a good thing (though perhaps not to the same extent). 

Soul also is Pete Docter's newest turn at the director chair, who has been considered one of Pixar's best. And... well, he did give us Monsters Inc and Up, both classics. Most would say the same about his most recent feature prior to this, Inside Out, though I am in the vast dissenting minority. There were more issues with that movie than most would care to admit, but part of it was limiting human emotion to five distinct ones and not much else--and the film not really reaching the heights of its ambitions. 

With all of that said, Inside Out was still very creative--considering that Docter was trying to essentially anthropomorphize abstract concepts at that point. He sticks to that formula for Soul, which takes things some steps further and asks: where do personalities come from? What "sparks" our souls? And some of that may actually sound a little similar to Inside Out (or at least the former question, anyway), and it's certainly not impossible that Docter is working with some concepts here he first came up with during the making of Inside Out. But this is a whole different beast in general. Instead of going into people's minds, we go to a whole different plane of existence where personalities and "souls" are created--or at least, the parts of their soul that make them who they are. (No explanation on where the souls come from *before* they enter this personality-creating plane of existence--also, despite dealing with things like the afterlife and souls, there's scarcely a hint of spirituality of any sort here.) 

This place is where jazz musician Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) ends up when he accidentally falls into a manhole, which seemingly kills him--and instead of going to the afterlife (here only called "The Great Beyond"), he ends up fighting his way into the "Great Before," the plane of existence where the personalities are created. Quite simply, Joe doesn't want to die yet--he's got a certain driven mentality beyond the usual. His adventure to try to reunite himself with his body leads him to cross paths with "22" (Tina Fey), a soul manifestation that, unlike most others, doesn't actually want to go to Earth. 

What follows is probably Pixar's most existentialist movie ever--not just because it asks questions about things like purpose or what makes life worth living, but because it goes to some different planes of existence--at least one of which is quite literally an abstract everyday metaphor made into a visible reality. There's even a scene where one of the caretakers of the "Great Before"--which appears to us as a 2-D presence made up of traced lines--tells Joe that it is manifesting itself in a form that "your puny human mind can understand." 

Delving into such topics and going to such places could've pretty easily turned out disastrous--in fact, it could've even come off as one of those movies where you ask what kind of drugs they were on. The result instead ranks among Pixar's most creative features ever, and arguably one of their more profound ones. Without giving too much away, the "moral takeaways" of this film are not too dissimilar to the likes of Cars or Monsters University. 

While perhaps there are certain things about this movie that are a little oversimplified, the movie does such a good job with the marks they're going for that it can be overlooked. Even if there's a thing or two I wished they'd touched on more or given a little more closure, the film ultimately reaches a satisfying conclusion all its own. 

There's plenty of other good qualities here. The film is quite hilarious, with some borderline meta humor at times or poking fun at real life figures or stereotypes (example: why the New York Knicks actually suck). The voice acting is also strong--Jamie Foxx is quite excellent here as he brings both the emotion and comic relief when needed. Also of note is the soundtrack, composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails, of all people--their more ethereal, very slightly techno-ish feel at times is often the completely correct vibe for the scenes in the different dimensions/planes of existence. (Jazz fans will probably be pleased as well, I assume--though jazz is not really my thing, so I'm not very qualified to say.) 

There are some things about this movie that are admittedly hard to explain without seeing the movie itself (or at least a trailer). Suffice it to say that it may just be best to take this reviewer's word for it--as well as all the other critics and fans who have showered praise upon this movie--and give it a go. Also suffice to say that while this obviously isn't the movie's fault, it deserved better than being "straight to streaming." This may not be saying much since most movies were postponed last year, but it's hard for me to see much else topping this for being the best film of 2020. 

Thursday, April 8, 2021

Godzilla vs. Kong

 

RATING: B

The MonsterVerse is up to its fourth movie now, and this is the one they've been trying to build toward--an opportunity for Godzilla and King Kong to be in the same movie together, and punch each other in the face. 

On its face, that premise may sound a little preposterous. Since when would King Kong even be big enough to go toe-to-toe with the massive Godzilla, for starters? To be fair, there actually was a "King Kong vs. Godzilla" movie made back in the days of the original Japanese Godzilla movies (back when it was just dudes in rubber suits), so there is at least a precedent. And they did set themselves up for a bigger Kong to begin with--he was definitely larger in Kong: Skull Island than usual, and they said he was "still growing" in that one. So, at least in this universe, this is plausible. 

Anyway, if the idea of these two juggernaut monsters fighting each other doesn't particularly appeal, you're not going to have a very fun time here--because that basically is the premise, and not a whole lot else. Of course, one frankly shouldn't have been expecting much of anything highbrow from this sort of movie anyway. 

What sets up the big fight is Godzilla suddenly going rogue and attacking a city--for the first time in the series. While some realize there must be a reason as Godzilla only attacks when provoked, others wish to simply come up with a way to fight back. The result is Kong getting released from Skull Island--and Godzilla immediately seeks him out, because apparently this world isn't big enough for two apex predators/titans. Turns out there's more going on here, though, as there's a conspiracy going on involving a mega-corp to wipe out the titans for good. Because this world also isn't big enough for humans and titans! Which, in real life, would actually be kind of true--but in this universe, they've established that it actually is big enough (somehow). 

This movie does indeed deliver on the premise, and then gives us more as well. Much like Batman vs Superman before it (except this is a lot better) and other such movies/events, once the two main characters duke it out a little bit, they then have to team up to fight an even bigger threat--which some already knew who that was, thanks to leaks. But let's just say that, for multiple reasons, this movie ends up going into more sci-fi territory compared to its predecessors than one might have otherwise expected. 

One big plus about this movie is that it knows exactly what kind of movie it is and doesn't try too hard to be anything else. One of the primary criticisms of previous movies has been underwhelming and uninteresting human characters--presumably in an attempt to make the movies more than just monster movies. The problem was, they tried a little too hard. The 2014 Godzilla movie actually sort of worked in that regard somehow, while King of the Monsters tried to do a balancing act between the awesome monster fights and the human backdrop that causes the plot--with quite shaky results. Here, the humans are not as important to the storyline--and while most of them still aren't particularly interesting, the movie is ironically a little better off for it, as it's not pretending to be something it's not. The movie knows what we're here for. 

And that's another thing--there's some improvements on the monster fights too. Another criticism of previous movies was the fact that most of them took place at nighttime. Not really the case here--only one fight *starts out* at nighttime, and it's still lit up by the neon Hong Kong skyline (yes, Hong Kong is the main city that gets laid to waste by the fighting monsters here). Otherwise, most of our other fights or general monster action takes place in daytime, and this definitely helps with the quite awesome battle scenes. These improvements alone might be enough to make it the best movie in the series so far, though it's close. 

Other pluses in the movie include a good soundtrack by Junkie XL, and among the human characters, the little girl Jia stands out due to her connection with Kong. Also, Rebecca Hall at least seems like she's enjoying herself. (Yes, Eleven's actress returns in this movie, but she feels oddly tacked on here.) Also, the visuals in this movie are superb; in particular, the Hollow Earth that's been briefly alluded to in passing in previous movies (it's okay if you forgot about it) is visited, and the scenery there is astounding. 

Godzilla vs Kong is a surprising success for the MonsterVerse--it delivers on what you should expect and gives some bonuses too, and isn't dragged down too much by the humans (save for the subplot involving Eleven and the conspiracy theorist hacker). Credit to Adam Wingard for making the kind of popcorn action movie that we all wanted, without dumbing things down much or dramatizing too much of things we don't care about. It's not exactly an intelligent movie, but it's hardly brain-dead either and is quite a bit of fun. Fans of the franchise, monster/kaiju movies, or just fun escapist popcorn action movies in general will want to check this out. 

Saturday, April 3, 2021

News of the World

RATING: C+

This was one of the few semi-major releases of 2020 to keep its release date. That might have been because, despite being a Paul Greengrass directed-piece starring Tom Hanks, it wasn't going to be a blockbuster or anything and it had a low budget (probably most of which was spent on snagging Hanks, considering the lack of any other known names on the cast list)--it may have cost more than it would've been worth to delay it repeatedly/indefinitely. 

A neo-western drama/historical fiction piece, News of the World takes place a few years after the Civil War. One former army member from the south (Captain Jefferson Kidd) makes a living reading newspapers to town populaces, going from place to place--apparently, this is actually a lucrative venture due to it being a time when a good number of people were too busy to study the newspapers that much. 

Despite him reading the "news of the world" and that being the title of the movie, that's not really the centerpiece of the plot. That happens when he is en-route to another town when he stumbles upon an abandoned girl, who has been living with the Kiowa after her German-American parents died. Problem is the Kiowa are holed up in Oklahoma (while the story takes place in Texas) and no one seems particularly interested/able in getting her to her "home" in a decent amount of time. Cue a western road trip move of sorts with Kidd and the kid to get her someplace she can be taken care of. 

While the concept may not feel unfamiliar, per se--it's still an interesting story that's helped out by the historic backdrop of the instability of the first several post-Civil War years. As a period piece, this works pretty well. Tom Hanks brings his A-game, as per the usual. And while Helena Zengel (who plays the child Johanna) doesn't seem to be given as much to work with character-wise, she's not half-bad as a newcomer. 

As a result of the instability of the region, there's some obstacles along the road which help lend this movie to adventure territory--namely, would-be-traffickers and a stop in a town run by radical dissenters. The former encounter gives us a shootout which involves some creative ammo. 

The primary problems with this movie come after these encounters. The last third of the movie is surprisingly underwhelming. While there is a resolution of sorts (and a satisfying one at that), there's no real final act/climax--not even on a dramatic level, let alone in the western/adventure territory. The rest of the movie just kind of happens with very little fanfare--quite unusual for something in this genre. I'm not saying we needed another gunfight or whatever, but at least have some sort of noteworthy dramatic conflict to close your story. 

The other problems with this movie revolve around the lack of interesting characters beyond the main two. Everyone else is just a placeholder along their journey, be it for good or for ill. As a result, Tom Hanks is left to pretty much carry the movie by himself. This sort of works, but only to put it into "slightly above average" territory.  

One more positive, however, comes in the direction. Paul Greengrass, while a competent director, does have a reputation for relying on shaky-cam and jump-cuts during more fast-paced scenes. That is nowhere to be found here--this movie is very well filmed, has good cinematography, and never really leaves you with confusion as to what's going on. 

News of the World is nothing special, but it can maintain one's interest if they're into this sort of genre or if they're big fans of Tom Hanks. The movie's big slow-down in the last half-hour or so is what really hurts it--otherwise it might've been a little more memorable. But there's still just enough positives that it doesn't feel like a waste of time.