Review: Sicario: Day Of The Soldado

Image courtesy of Columbia Pictures.

On the one hand, it's great to see Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin get their own franchise - if that's how"Sicario" and its sequel, "Day of the Soldado," could be classified. On the other, this second film about government agents using any means necessary to battle Mexican cartels doesn't say or show us anything that its predecessor, which was directed by Denis Villeneuve, didn't do significantly better.

So, what we have here is a well-enough made, occasionally intense, often brutal and somewhat repetitive sequel. Yes, it's a, well, I'm not sure that delight is the word, but you catch my drift, to watch Del Toro and Brolin track down villainous characters running drugs and trafficking people on the border and bring them to justice. But the film's thoughts on the matter of border security are clumsy, to say the least.

The film opens with the type of sequence that could kick off a Donald Trump campaign video. A group of Islamic terrorists seemingly sneak across the border and detonate some bombs in a Kansas City grocery store - because, you know, that sort of thing just happens all the time. Or, at least, that's what we've been sold by those who want to close off our borders.

Next, we see Brolin torture a Somali man familiar with the terrorists by making him watch on a computer screen as the U.S. military bombs his home, killing his family members. And the manner in which the scene is filmed makes you question whether you're supposed to be unsettled by the barbarism of the whole scenario or cheering Brolin on. Later in the film, the picture takes on a "Zero Dark Thirty" theme of whether all of our government's pursuits - and the bloodying of its hands in the process - has been worth it, but unlike Kathryn Bigelow's film, this one is pursuing such themes in the name of exploitation, rather than serious discourse.

This sequel's plot is centered around the kidnapping of a cartel leader's daughter (Isabela Moner) by the U.S. government for the purpose of setting off a war between the cartels. Brolin takes his direction from a Secretary of Defense (Matthew Modine) and lackey (Catherine Keener) so sinister that they could probably get hired by the Trump administration.

Meanwhile, there's another plot thread regarding a Mexican American teenager (Elijah Rodriguez) living in Texas who assists the cartels with smuggling people across the border. His story only exists to provide two crucial plot twists, one in which he runs across Del Toro's character during a border crossing and another in which he is paid a visit at the film's end. In between, there's a lot of violence - people are shot in the face, carloads full of men are gunned down, a grenade is thrown into a passing car - and so on.

Villeneuve's "Sicario" was a tense crime drama that also followed a group of agents battling the brutal Mexican cartels. That film was also violent, and Del Toro and Brolin's characters were, in that previous entry, morally compromised. But it also had Emily Blunt's character to provide some sort of moral compass and it was, frankly, just a more accomplished picture. "Day of the Soldado" isn't bad. It's engrossing enough and features some good performances - Del Toro especially. But it feels like it's cashing in on an idea that was already better executed the first time around. In other words, it's your typical sequel.

Review: Leave No Trace

Image courtesy of Bleecker Street Media.

With "Leave No Trace," director Debra Granik tells another gripping story about people living on the margins in a part of America that is rarely captured on film. The picture marks her first feature in eight years - her previous one being 2010's terrific "Winter's Bone," which featured a breakout performance by Jennifer Lawrence that is matched by an excellent turn in her latest by another young woman, Thomasin MacKenzie.

In the film, Tom (McKenzie) and her father, Will (Ben Foster), live in a tent in a national park somewhere outside of Portland, Oregon. As the film opens, the two of them are taking part in a drill, which involves hiding amid the leaves and dodging park rangers. Tom and Will live in a shelter that they have constructed and where they do everything from cook to play chess. Nothing is said about Tom's mother, nor the exact circumstances as to why they are technically homeless. But their existence in the park feels less like the result of some tragedy, and more of a choice.

Although little detail is given regarding Will's military service, it is ever-present as he wakes up startled at night to the sound of helicopters or is incapable of dealing with strangers, even when they are attempting to be nice to him. He has withdrawn from society, and it is likely due to what he has seen at war. And yet, his relationship with his 13-year-old daughter is completely functional. In other words, he takes care of her and isn't off the deep end.

On the other hand, the park rangers and child protective services - when they finally catch up with the duo - seem to think otherwise. Tom and Will are kept at a facility and then taken to a home, where they are allowed to live together, in exchange for Will's helping cut Christmas trees - it is the Pacific Northwest, mind you - while Tom idles around and becomes friends with a local boy whose pet bunny rabbit fascinates the teenage girl. But eventually Will makes a decision about the pair's circumstances that lead them to various situations elsewhere, some challenging and others displaying the milk of human kindness.

Foster gives a tense performance as Will, a man who trusts no one outside his daughter and whose past is written all over his face. McKenzie's portrayal of Tom is a star-making performance and a difficult one to pull off. This is a girl who knows little about human interaction, at least seemingly since we know little about her upbringing, and McKenzie does a great job of creating a character whose interactions with others are slightly awkward due to the circumstances in which she has obviously lived for some time.

Much like "Winter's Bone," Granik once again provides a fascinating glimpse into a way of life that isn't often seen in American films. She is among the few filmmakers - despite her infrequency behind the camera - in keeping the regional micro-indie alive. And cinematographer Michael McDonough makes great use of Oregon and Washington's gorgeous wooded areas.

The film ends on a powerful note and one that seems inevitable, considering Will's constant need to move on and Tom's growing into young womanhood. It's a film that straddles the line between being gloomy and hopeful, and its ending captures that state of being beautifully.

Review: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Image courtesy of Universal Pictures.

Here's the thing: "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," the fifth entry in Universal Pictures' lucrative franchise, is bursting with special effects - the majority of them impressive - and acts as a nearly nonstop thrill ride - and it's occasionally thrilling. The thing is, you've seen this all before - say, four times.

Once again, the question of whether man should interfere in nature is posed - as usual by Jeff Goldblum, whose character is only briefly seen, much to the movie's detriment - and a group of baddies posing a good guys attempt to use the dinosaurs for their own nefarious purposes. As always, there are chase scenes involving children fleeing from monstrous creatures. There is, as expected, a new breed of dinosaur that is even more deadly than all the others. And so on and so on. The details may vary, but only to a minor degree.

As the film opens, Bryce Dallas Howard's Claire Dearing is placing calls to senators to plead with them to save the dinosaurs as Goldblum's Dr. Ian Malcolm testifies something to the opposite effect before congress. Claire woos back Chris Pratt's Owen Grady, who is of Malcolm's mindset at first, for a mission to travel to the dinosaurs' island to remove them and transfer them to a sanctuary.

This is all done in the name of Sir Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), one of Jurassic Park's original founders, but what Claire and Owen don't know is that a man named Mills (Rafe Spall), who has been tasked with taking over Lockwood's work, has made plans to sell the dinosaurs to the highest bidders, rather than continue any type of scientific work. This leads to the introduction of a whole bevy of bad guys - most of whom we know will all be eaten at some point - played by Ted Levine, B.D. Wong and a phalanx of disposable soldiers under Levine's character's command.

There's a particularly impressive sequence involving lots of special effects near the film's beginning as a volcano conveniently erupts, sending Claire, Malcolm and scientist pals played by Justice Smith and Daniella Pineda - along with a bunch of dinosaurs, large and small - running for the cliffs and then plunging into the ocean. There's also a pretty scary and very large underwater dinosaur that pops up a few times.

In terms of the script, "Fallen Kingdom" not only doesn't reinvent the wheel, it follows the playbook to the letter. Characters who were once bickering will make amends. All of the characters who you think are bad will end up being so. I had a pretty good hint at how the scary new dinosaur - which is unleashed in Lockwood's private estate near the film's end - would die and, wouldn't you know, I was correct. So, while "Fallen Kingdom" has some impressive moments due to millions of dollars being spent on special effects, it doesn't show us anything new - which, for the summer movie season, isn't surprising at all.

Review: Tag

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

"Tag" is the type of film for which the expression "What will they think of next?" was tailor-made. Yes, this film is actually about an ongoing game of tag and, supposedly, it was based on a true story, although I think it's safe to say that liberties were taken. The film assembles a fine cast and resigns them to crashing into things while attempting to tap each other on the shoulder. More than once in the film, a character asserts that "we don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." Or, at least, that's the excuse for the characters' juvenile behavior.

"Tag" isn't as bad as you might think, but it's not particularly good either. As Sable, Hannibal Buress gets some of the best lines, including one about being lactose intolerant and an even better one about time being a construct. He is one of five men who, as boys, vowed to continue to play tag throughout their adult years, but with rules: The game is only played in May and no girls are allowed, although Anna (Isla Fisher) is the overly enthusiastic semi-sixth participant. She is married to Hoagie (Ed Helms), who is obsessed with tagging Jerry (Jeremy Renner), a master of the game who has never been tagged in the group's 20-some years of play. Jon Hamm is Callahan, a successful businessman, who is in a longtime competition with Randy (Jake Johnson) for the love of a woman (Rashida Jones) who knew the group as youths.

Although much of the picture is comprised of ridiculous stunts revolving around the four men attempting - and failing miserably - to tag Jerry, whose ability to outsmart them and set elaborate traps for them dashes way over the line of being ludicrous, the film occasionally stops for a sentimental moment - especially one near the end that uncomfortably follows all of the silliness that comes before it - as the players consider how the game has enabled them to remain friends for so many years.

"Tag" has its moments. I couldn't help but laugh during an early scene when Hamm makes a failed attempt at escaping from Helms' character. But there are just as many sequences - for instance, a ridiculous chase through the woods and not one, but two scenes, that revolve around a possible miscarriage - that fall flat.

On the one hand, it's refreshing to see that Hollywood studios are willing to gamble on a concept during the summer season - which, these days, is mostly littered with sequels, prequels and comic book movies - that doesn't involve world building or existing characters whose stories have been milked to death. On the other hand, "Tag" isn't exactly the most exciting gamble. The film has a great cast, all of whom are a pleasure to watch - but in movies better than this one. In other words, if you're looking for an original reprieve from the blockbuster madness, "Tag" isn't it.

Review: Incredibles 2

Image courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.

With the exception of the terrific "Inside Out," Pixar Studios has spent much of this decade cranking out sequels, most of which have been good, but none on par with such imaginative entries as "Wall-E," "Up" or "Ratatouille." Pixar's latest, a long-awaited follow up to 2004's "The Incredibles," is among the better sequels from the studio in recent years. It doesn't exactly mess with the formula of the original, but it offers up a storyline - that of Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) playing the role of superhero, while her hubby, Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), stays home and tends to the kids - that feels fresh and timely.

As the film opens, superheroes are underground and the Incredibles' family is frustrated. Into their lives walk a mogul, Winston Deaver (Bob Odenkirk), with a knack for caped crusaders and his technologically gifted sister, Evelyn (Catherine Keener). I don't think I'm spoiling anything when I say that the two didn't strike me as wholly trustworthy during their introduction. Meanwhile, the city is being terrorized by a villain known as Screensaver, who preys upon that ever-present human weakness - addiction to screens of various sorts, from iPhones to computers.

Deaver says that he wants to reboot superheroes with new branding and offers Elastigirl the job of fighting crime while cameras record her every movement and, therefore, showing the public that superheroes are to be trusted. Mr. Incredible, all the while, finds his hands full as he tends to the children - the overly enthusiastic Dash (Huck Milner), brooding teenager Violet (Sarah Vowell) and baby Jack-Jack, who turns out to not only have super powers, but more than one, and a few rather dangerous. Also, Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as family pal Frozone.

"Incredibles 2" is a fast and fun Pixar movie. There are some great set pieces, most notably one in which Elastigirl chases a runaway train and another during which she enters the lair of the villain. There are some surprises and plot twists - although ones that you can probably see coming - and the film follows the trajectory of your typical Marvel movie, only better.

While I still prefer original content - such as the somewhat recent "Inside Out," which was bursting with imagination - over sequels to Pixar's most beloved properties, "Incredibles 2" is a well written action comedy with an emphasis on the family dynamic. It also happens to be pretty funny, from the jokes regarding Jack-Jack's powers - which one might think would get old, but remain amusing - to others involving a roster of superheroes compiled by Deaver and Evelyn. So, while "Incredibles 2" isn't as trailblazing as some of Pixar's previous works, it's certainly an enjoyable one and, so far, the best studio movie of the summer.

Review: Ocean's 8

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

"Ocean's 8" is a lean heist movie that gets right down to business, from the setup to the actual heist, and yields modest results. It's a moderately amusing, albeit mostly unnecessary, film that features a roster of great talent, all of whom appear to be having a good time. It's just that a fourth film - although one with a new cast - in the "Ocean's 11" series was not something for which many were likely clamoring. Similar to the recent "Ghostbusters" reboot - which wasn't half bad, truth be told - "Ocean's 8" begs the question as to why a studio can't round up a great group of women as it has here and give them some original material.

As the film opens, career criminal Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock), sister of Danny (once played by George Clooney, who never makes an appearance, but is referenced enough times to likely warrant his name in the credits), is getting out of prison after a five-year stint. She has an ex-lover to thank - and later frame - for her time in the big house. Debbie also had five years to come up with a perfect heist that involves convincing Cartier to loan a $100 million necklace to a celebrity to wear to the Met Gala, where Ocean and a group of associates plan to swipe it.

If Bullock is the Clooney character in "Ocean's 8," then Cate Blanchett is the Brad Pitt figure - smooth, stylish and the right-hand woman to the lead character. The rest of the team is an assortment of supporting actors, including the wondrous Helena Bonham Carter (playing a fashion designer who's in on the scheme), Mindy Kaling (as a jewels expert), Sarah Paulson (as a fence), Awkwafina as a pickpocket and singer Rihanna as a computer hacker. I know, that makes seven, not eight - but the final character in Ocean's crew would require a spoiler alert.

The ladies' heist involves stealing a six-pound necklace made of diamonds from the neck of an actress (Anne Hathaway) with a bloated ego. But their scheme first involves getting Cartier to agree to loan the piece to the actress, getting one of the crew hired to work the Met Gala and finding other creative ways to ensure that all eight members of the crew are on the premises for the event.

There's little in the way of characterization, outside of brief introductions to each character early in the picture. Instead, "Ocean's 8" jumps right into the heist and the focus here is on the fun involved in the numerous sleights of hand. When all is said and done, the picture is breezy and amusing, but forgettable. Steven Soderbergh's original "Ocean's" movie was the best of the bunch, but the numerous sequels all feel like variations, this one included. If you're tired of comic book movies and expensive-looking explosions, "Ocean's 8" is a welcome reprieve. But there's likely something better to see - "Hereditary," for instance, if you're into being traumatized - at the multiplex right now.

Review: Hereditary

Image courtesy of A24.

Ari Aster's debut, the horror movie "Hereditary," has been cited by many as the year's most terrifying film - and that it may very well be, albeit not for exactly the reasons you might think. This is a film that features several grueling scenes that feature gruesome images, but it's the picture's emotional violence that is even more unsettling. Aster has less interest in jump scares and things popping up out of the dark - although there are one or two instances of that, plus several heart rate-inducing moments of figures appearing in dark corners and a verbal tic from one of the characters that becomes increasingly sinister and caused me to nearly jump out of my seat at one point - than he does observing the terrors involved in grief and emotional distress.

In other words, this is one intense movie. From the opening shot of a treehouse through a window to the bonkers finale, "Hereditary" has an aura of dread that never lets up. At times, the picture plays as a Greek tragedy - and indeed, there is a classroom discussion on the topic during the course of the film, in which a group of teens discuss a Greek hero who failed to read the signs pointing toward his downfall and pondered whether it was more tragic to bring about one's own ruin through free will or be irrevocably doomed.

As the film opens, the Graham family is burying its matriarch, a woman whom we learn wasn't particularly warm and fuzzy and had a knack for private "rituals" and "secrets." Her daughter, Annie (Toni College in a staggering performance), has seemingly suffered through bouts of mental illness and we are told that during a sleepwalking incident some years before, she found herself standing over her two sleeping children, both of whom were doused in paint thinner, with a lit match.

Now, Annie - an artist who works with miniatures that come to act as microcosms of her family's predicament - wonders whether she is sad enough that her mother is dead. Her husband, Steve (Gabriel Byrne), is the stalwart type who likes to sweep family problems under the rug, while her eldest child, Peter (Alex Wolff), is a stoner high school student who harbors suspicion about his mother. Annie's tween daughter, the withdrawn and creepy Charlie (Milly Shapiro), was the only family member close to grandma, and she has a penchant for composing creepy drawings, cutting the heads of dead birds and keeping them in her pockets, sleeping alone in the backyard's treehouse and making clicking sounds with her mouth that become increasingly disturbing.

The film's first half plays more as a gloomy familial drama about grief and depression. Annie sneaks out at night, telling Steve that she is going to the movies, when she's actually taking part in a grief therapy group. It is there that she meets a woman named Joan (Ann Dowd, great as always), a self-proclaimed spiritualist who lost a son and grandson and claims that she can make contact with them, offering to do the same for Annie. Everyone other than Annie realizes that this is probably not a good idea.

Approximately 30 minutes into the movie, a second tragedy strikes the family, and it involves a particularly horrific sequence that culminates with an image that you likely won't soon be able to block from your mind. It is at this point that the film takes a turn toward the sinister. Annie discovers a book of incantations and a note from her late mother that is, well, not encouraging to say the least.

Although "Hereditary" wears some of its influences on its sleeve - "The Shining" in terms of a character being unable to protect their family from their own disintegrating mind-state, "Rosemary's Baby" in some obvious ways and Nicolas Roeg's creepy "Don't Look Now," which also involved a character unable to foresee his own fate and featured a young hooded girl - Aster's debut has a unique vibe of its own. And several scenes - most notably, an emotionally grueling one set at a dinner table - have more in common with the work of John Cassavetes or Mike Leigh than your typical horror movie.

But "Hereditary" is a horror movie and, yes, an eventual explanation - which also indicates how much free will the characters actually have while under the seeming observation of a sinister higher power - bring the genre elements dramatically out into the open in creepy fashion. At the same time, the picture focuses on the emotional horror of all-encompassing grief, and is expertly acted by all involved, especially Collette, whose range of emotions here is astounding, and Wolff, who gives one of the better slow burn performances of recent memory.

Although not for the feint of heart, "Hereditary" is a terrific showcase for the numerous talents involved. It deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the 21st century's best horror films - "It Follows" and "28 Days Later." It's also an impressive debut for Aster, who with one feature film proves that his is a distinctive new cinematic voice. "Hereditary" is well worth seeing, that is, if you don't mind feeling as if you've been gut punched.

Review: Upgrade

Image courtesy of BH Tilt.

Leigh Whannell's "Upgrade" is a gory, fast paced, often amusing and mostly ridiculous sci-fi thriller that channels "Robocop," but minus the conflicted conscience. The film peddles in extreme violence, but the story surrounding it is often so silly that it's hard to get too put off by it. This is the type of B thriller that could become surprise hit or cult success, but only somewhat deservedly.

The film is set in some distant future, where mechanic Grey (Logan Marshall-Green) and his wife (Melanie Vallejo) are first seen during a trip to sell a custom-made vehicle to a visionary inventor named Eron (Harrison Gilbertson, who gets a chance to really ham it up here), whose work involves a program known as STEM that can help the physically disabled to gain control over their bodies via an implant.

Sure enough, no sooner than Grey leaves Eron's house, he and his wife are accosted by a group of thugs, who murder Grey's wife and leave him a paraplegic. He agrees to allow Eron to implant STEM in his spine, and Grey is soon unnerved to find that the operating system - for lack of a better word - actually speaks into his ear in a voice that sounds eerily similar to HAL in "2001: A Space Odyssey."

Grey immediately dives into attempting to solve his wife's murder, despite warnings from the detective (Betty Gabriel) on the case. He tracks down the men and when faced with violence, he is surprised to learn that STEM can take over his body and protect him, all the while inflicting maximum damage on his attackers. There's a pretty gruesome scene early on when Grey slices a guy's face in half, only to be topped later by a nastier one in which he slices and dices a bad guy's face to get information out of him.

One of the elements that makes "Upgrade" darker - and more unsettling, although I'm not sure this was the filmmakers' intention - is that, unlike Robocop, Grey's early moral qualms about smashing and bashing his opponents into pulp soon give way to his need for information and, therefore, he's willing to resort to torture to get it.

There's a plot twist toward the film's end that I probably should have seen coming - and this is because "Upgrade" doesn't really tread new ground, despite its seeming attempt to provide a warning about enabling technology to become smarter than humans. Better movies - the first two "Terminator" pictures - have done much more with similar material. But "Upgrade" isn't without its pleasures. It's a summer movie that doesn't take itself too seriously, it's engrossing and visually capable. It's also fairly goofy. But for those seeking a reprieve from summer sequel-itis, it might do the trick.

Review: How To Talk To Girls At Parties

Image courtesy of A24.

There's a line of dialogue about halfway through John Cameron Mitchell's "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" that aptly sums up the picture. Enn (Alex Sharp), a punk rocker in 1977 in south London's Croydon, has taken home a girl named Zan (Elle Fanning) whom he met at a party. As it turns out, she's an alien from a conformist race that is spending time in England before it plans to carry out a ritual in which the adults - symbolism alert! - eat their young.

Enn is describing a fictional cartoon character that he has created known as Virus Boy that he draws in the zine he writes with his two mates, John (Ethan Lawrence) and Vic (Abraham Lewis). After Enn describes the nature of the zine and what Virus Boy stands for - nonconformity - Zan tells him, "There's contradiction in your metaphor, but I am moved by it." To an extent, this is how one could describe Mitchell's film, although my being moved by it varied from scene to scene.

In terms of being energetic, "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" delivers in spades. There's an opening scene in which Enn and his two pals ride through their neighborhood, drawing shouts from neighborhoods and eggs from bullies. The frenetic, jerky camerawork is accompanied by The Damned's "New Rose" to open the picture on a note of hyperactivity - or, as Zan calls it, "the punk."

Enn and his pals start their night at a punk rock show where a band known as The Dyschords go wild and Queen Boadicea (Nicole Kidman) watches over the realm. Despite a decent supporting nod from Kidman, hers is the only character that feels a little, shall we say, forced.

Following the show, Enn and company stumble upon a bizarre party taking place in a large house filled with groups of people - who turn out to be aliens - wearing matching Spandex-like outfits. Some of them are taking part in peculiar acrobatics, while others sit and talk and a third group engages in some kinky copulation. It is here that Enn meets Zan. She is a member of one of the less outrageous groups of extraterrestrial beings and she is immediately taken with Enn, who promises to introduce her to "the punk." She flees with him, much to the chagrin of her alien overlords, and spends the next two days in his company.

One of the issues with "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" is that it's a bit all over the place, without ever landing on a guiding theme or concept. It has a lot of energy, but seems unsure what to do with it. Mitchell's directorial debut, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," also focused on music - glam rock - and was flashy, but more focused. His latest picture is more similar to "Shortbus," which took a unique approach for a movie about sex, although its pieces never quite added up.

"How to Talk to Girls at Parties" is occasionally sweet, often raucous and frequently funny - my favorite moment was watching Lawrence's character observe the strange goings-on at the original alien party, but there's also a good laugh to be found when Kidman's character and a group of punks raid the aliens' house, only to be stopped by the acrobatic group.

The picture also features some interesting imagery, some of which appears to have been inspired by the acid trip hallucinatory visuals from "2001: A Space Odyssey." One disappointment is that for a film about punk rock, all we get is that opener from The Damned, one Velvet Underground song and, otherwise, just a bunch of Dyschords tunes. All in all, Mitchell's latest picture is fitfully entertaining, but tonally inconsistent. There's much to like, but it never successfully comes together as it should.