Tag: mildly recommended

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The Invitation

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How to make a movie about Dracula feel new, or at least new-ish?  The Invitation addresses this by telling a very familiar story about a very familiar character through the eyes of Evie (Nathalie Emmanuel), an African American toiling away in the States as a waitress.  Her job sucks and with her mother’s recent death, misses having connection to a family.  The answer to her ennui arrives when she completes a DNA test and discovers she’s actually a long-lost relative to the white-as-can-be Alexander family in England.  Her best friend Grace (Courtney Taylor) cautions her not to go, but nobody ever listens to their best friend’s advice in these movies.

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Thor: Love and Thunder

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What if all Gods are jerks who couldn’t care less about the suffering of the faithful?  For Gorr (Christian Bale), the sole surviving member of an extinct race whose daughter just died, the answer is simple: kill ‘em all!  If I didn’t know better, I’d accuse Thor: Love and Thunder (or Thor4) of appropriating Nietzsche’s most famous quote (God is dead) for a plot device.  Not to worry, this is the only deep thought the movie has to offer over its two hour run time.

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The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (quick take)

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One day before I die, I hope to see a definitive movie (autobiography or documentary) on the life and times of the actor Nicolas Cage.  A movie that, like Cage, is intense, free-wheeling, insightful, irreverent and a bit off-kilter.  One that provides a suitable retrospective of all phases of Cage’s extraordinary career (gonzo indie performances, critically acclaimed dramas, big-budget action movies, straight-to-video wasteland and the current resurrection).  One that acknowledges Cage’s personal faults and eccentricities.  Unfortunately, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (or Unbearable) is not that movie.

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The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Long Take)

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In The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (or Unbearable for short) presents, actor Nicolas Cage stars as Nicolas Cage, a well-known but struggling actor who is desperate to land his next breakthrough role.   The character Cage portrays is not actually himself, however, but a version of himself that plays on our collective media awareness of him, both as an actor and celebrity.  This type of “meta acting” pops up every now and then in movies and television series.  Recent examples include Being John Malkovich (with Mr. Malkovich “as himself”), Harold & Kumar go to White Castle (Neal Patrick Harris), The Trip (Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon), This is The End (Seth Rogan, James Franco et al).  In these and other examples, the actors involved get to have a bit of fun tweaking their public in for laughs at their expense.  How funny the exercise is for the audience is directly proportional to how far the actor is willing to be skewered for the sake of entertainment.  In this particular movie, I found the return to be modest.

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Morbius

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If you’re not terribly interested in seeing Morbius, here’s all you need to know: Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) is a scientist who, in seeking a cure for his blood-borne illness, turns himself into a vampire-like being.  Similar to a vampire, he has super strength, speed and moral ambiguity.  And like other Marvel heroes, he’s paid his dues at the gym, sporting a nice set of pecs.  Since he’s actually a human-bat hybrid, he’s not bothered by the usual vampire afflictions (daylight, holy water, etc.)  Although he’s essentially the villain in his movie, the history of his character in the comic books indicates he sometimes plays the hero, depending on his moods.  Similar to Venom, Morbius exists mainly as the cinematic introduction of Morbius to the Spider-Man universe of villains.  Credit cookies point to a future collaboration (team-up!) with Michael Keaton’s Vulture, who was introduced in Spider-Man: Homecoming.  (Spider-Man does not make an appearance in this movie, unfortunately.)  Even though Morbius is a small-stakes movie, it’s decently made and reasonably entertaining.  I enjoyed the movie’s breezy, gothic-lite sensibility, its unique visualization of vampiric powers and Jered Leto’s intense performance.  Mildly recommended.

If you’re still interested in learning more about the movie, read on…

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Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar

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Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar is one of the strangest comedies I’ve seen.  Written by Kristin Wiig and Annie Mumolo, the movie feels like two SNL skits mashed together and then filled out with a lot of comedic bits that range from quirky to inspired to hallucinogenic.  I’m really curious as to what drug(s) Wiig and Mumolo were on while writing the script, because I find it difficult to believe they wrote it stone sober.

The titular characters are a couple of middle-aged single ladies from Nebraska, portrayed respectively by Mumolo and Wiig.  With their Fargo-esque accents, drab outfits and helmet hair, I’d be hard pressed to categorize their characterizations of typical Midwestern women as affectionate.  Personality-wise, they’re a couple of dim bulb oddballs with a penchant for talking, and talking, and talking some more about ridiculously trite subjects (people in the 1800s stunk!).

When their dream jobs at the local Jennifer furniture store come to an abrupt end, they take a vacation at Vista Del Mar to add some spark to their lives.  After arriving, they hook up with the hunky Edgar (Jamie Dornan), the henchman of the evil Sharon Fisherman (Wiig, in a dual role).  Fisherman, a villain who owes much to Dr. Evil of the Austin Powers movies, has sent Edgar to Vista Del Mar to help carry out her plot of revenge against the city that wronged her as a child.

Barb & Star is chockablock with gags (sight, visual and physical), and most of them land.  The movie has a busy feel to it, a result of trying to do too much.  As is typical for screwball comedies, the art is in separating the wheat from the chaff.  The script would have resulted in a shorter but much better movie.  For example, the entire Fisherman subplot never takes flight and should have been cut out entirely.  Additionally, Barb and Star should have been given some differentiating characteristics (think Lloyd and Harry in Dumb and Dumber).  As it stands, they are so similar as to be interchangeable, and their shtick becomes annoying at times.  Still, Barb & Star has enough inspired comedy (and weirdness) for me to recommend it.  You may suffer from mild brain damage from the experience, however.  Mildly recommended.

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Nightmare Alley

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Nightmare Alley is director Guillermo del Toro’s follow-up to his Academy Award winning film The Shape of Water.  That movie, a love letter to the monster movies of the fifties (particularly 1954’s The Creature from the Black Lagoon) was infused with modern themes of inclusion and acceptance, took home the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director.  Del Toro’s latest is a remake of the 1947 film directed by Edmung Goulding and starring Tyrone Power.  If you’re seen it before, this version will feel very familiar.  (If you haven’t, I recommend watching it either before or after you see the current version as a fun film study exercise. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did!)

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