Review: Avengers: Endgame

Image courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.

You'll have to forgive me for having approached "Avengers: Endgame" from a somewhat cynical standpoint. After all, the picture is the result of billions of dollars spent over a period of a decade to earn billions of dollars. The film's - for lack of a better phrase - endgame was to give the fans who have followed this series of Marvel films exactly what they want.

Also, after "Infinity War," which culminated with a cliffhanger that would clearly be resolved in the finale, I felt a little worn out of this entire universe, the very good "Black Panther" excluded. So, I'm pleased to report that "Endgame" is the best of the team films - that is, the ones with the word "Avengers" in it - since the 2012 original and, perhaps, even better than that one.

Yes, it's still a massive marketing ploy that has reaped a ton of money over the past few years - and will likely continue to reap more as the spinoffs continue. But "Endgame" included what some of the recent additions to the Avengers universe lacked - genuine heart and actual consequences for some of its characters.

It also helps that "Endgame" has assembled one of the most preposterously great casts in recent memory - Robert Downey Jr., Chadwick Boseman, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Brie Larson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Redford, Michael Douglas, Paul Rudd, Don Cheadle, Anthony Mackie, Tom Holland, Josh Brolin, Zoe Saldana, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Rene Russo, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tessa Thompson, Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Hiddleston, John Slattery, Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow, Natalie Portman, Marisa Tomei, Angela Bassett, Linda Cardellini, William Hurt and the voices of Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper.

In this case, too many cooks doesn't quite spoil the broth, even if the meal lasts a little too long - a whopping three hours. "Endgame" picks up shortly after the events of "Infinity War" - with half of the Earth's population gone and the Avengers looking to reverse the course set by Thanos (Brolin). I won't try to get into the science behind the so-called heist driving the plot, but Rudd's Scott Lang and Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark concoct a plan involving a time machine in which the characters can reclaim the powerful stones that Thanos used to kill everyone off last time.

Indeed, the plot of "Endgame" is a bit contrived, but it's the interactions between the numerous characters that makes it count for something. Downey Jr., a great actor who has done little but star in superhero movies for the past decade, finally gets the payoff his character deserves. He's quite good. Evans lends the film its gravitas, Renner's Hawkeye gets more characterization than he previously did in other "Avengers" films, Ruffalo's Bruce Banner/Hulk gets a nice twist to his character and Hemsworth provides some surprising comic relief. Rudd balances pathos with humor.

This is the most blockbusterish blockbuster of all time. It's loaded with characters from numerous other films, it includes a bevy of action sequences (I'll admit, I've long lost interest in numerous digital images waging war on vast fields of battle) and more than a few throwbacks to previous Marvel movies. There are a few genuine surprises - a rare thing for a summer blockbuster - and a few emotional sequences that feel earned. I predict there will be many more Marvel movies for years to come, considering that they continue to turn massive profits, but "Endgame" is a nice way to round out this particular series of characters.

Review: Under the Silver Lake

Image courtesy of A24.

David Robert Mitchell follows his superb sophomore film - "It Follows," a highlight of 21st century horror - with an odd shaggy dog story that melds L.A. stoner sagas, such as "Inherent Vice" and "The Big Lebowski," with David Lynch atmosphere (think "Mulholland Drive") and a throw-everything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-will-stick vibe (think Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales").

The result is an offbeat noir that leads up to a mostly unsatisfying conclusion, but remains consistently interesting along the way. Mood carries the film for much of its nearly two-hour-and-20-minute running time, even when its story veers in numerous directions.

Trying to sum up "Under the Silver Lake" is likely a fool's errand, but suffice it to say that it concerns the exploits of Sam (Andrew Garfield), a Los Angeles layabout who spends much of his time obsessing over nonsense and bedding various women. The film's nonchalant treatment of women as sex objects is its most displeasing factor.

Riley Keough's Sarah, the film's Manic Pixie Dreamgirl, catches Sam's eye as she lounges by the pool of the complex in which they both live, blasting music and upsetting the aging nudist who lives with her loud parrot across from Sam. Sarah and Sam spend a chaste evening together smoking pot and they seem to click, but he is disturbed to find her gone the next day - her apartment completely abandoned with an ominous symbol painted on the wall.

Sam learns that this symbol hails from "the hobo code" and soon he starts spotting signs everywhere, from numbers on traffic signs to messages hidden in records that are played backwards. His investigation leads him to strange places - for example, an underground layer to which he is led by the Homeless King (David Yow) and a mansion where a man known as the Songwriter apparently crafts all of popular culture on his piano.

All of this may or may not have something to do with a series of dog murders and the death of a mogul, whose body is found charred in a burning car. Sam becomes enamored with a zine known as "Under the Silver Lake," and he floats his numerous conspiracy theories to that publication's author (played with creepy zeal by Patrick Fischler, who is no stranger to L.A. noirs). The film's creepiest subplot - which involves a woman known as The Owl's Kiss - is unveiled by Fischler's character, and it pops up two more times in the picture's outright scariest moments, even if the subplot itself is, much like many of Sam's conspiracy theories, a road to nowhere.

"It Follows" was an uncommonly intelligent horror movie that was about much more than its designated storyline. It was also heavy on mood and featured an eerie score by Disasterpiece, which also provides the music for Mitchell's latest film. It remains the pinnacle of Mitchell's career at this point.

"Under the Silver Lake" has a fair amount going for it, even if all its various pieces don't exactly fit into a completely satisfactory whole. The scene with the Songwriter is somewhat groan-inducing, and the solving of the film's central mystery is a bit of a letdown. Regardless, "Under the Silver Lake" is worth watching - it's a swing for the fences that defies categorization and manages to remain compelling even as it begins to make less and less sense.

Review: High Life

Image courtesy of A24. 

Just as Claire Denis's "Trouble Every Day" was unlike any horror movie you'd likely ever seen, her "High Life" is similarly unique in the science fiction genre. This is not to say that the film is one of my favorite in Denis's oeuvre, but it's a good film and certainly different from most of the other pictures of its type.

Fractured in narrative and often visually stunning, "High Life" relays a somewhat disjointed chronicle about some prisoners who are being used as guinea pigs in a deep space mission that has something to do with utilizing the energy of a black hole. It's also a film abound in bodily fluids - blood, spit, semen, sweat and pretty much every other type you can imagine. It's a strange film that is often trance-like, even if its narrative is often too cryptic to decode.

Robert Pattinson plays Monte, a convict turned astronaut who is seemingly one of the most sane of the bunch on the spaceship. He spends much of his time tending to an infant, who at the film's beginning is the only other passenger on his ship. Juliette Binoche is Dr. Dibs, who appears to be the mission's commander. She experiments on the other passengers, and although her intentions are slightly unclear, her work appears to have to do with fertility. Mia Goth is a troubled woman who captures the interest of both Monte and Dibs, while Andre Benjamin (of Outkast) is a tranquil prisoner who tends to the ship's garden. Several other, more volatile shipmates also figure in the story.

For those unfamiliar with her work - and I'd highly suggest you familiarize yourself with it - Denis is one of Europe's most acclaimed directors of the past 20 years. Her work includes the cerebral colonialist dramas "White Material" and "Chocolat" (the 1988 one, not the Binoche film) as well as the arty Euro-shocker "Trouble Every Day" and the beautifully strange "Billy Budd" adaptation "Beau Travail."

"High Life" is full of the strange and gorgeous sequences you'd expect in a Denis film. One character steals a ship and dies a seemingly awful death while traveling too close to the black hole. In the film's most provocative scene, another character indulges in the pleasures of the, ahem, "fuck room," a space where humans can, well, get randy with a literal sex machine.

Little is known about the characters outside of the smallest details - Monte killed a friend on Earth over a dog, Dibs might have murdered her children and Benjamin's character finds peace by tending to the garden. There are long pauses in which characters stop to admire the cosmos. There are shocking bursts of violence amid the crew members.

Like I said, "High Life" is certainly of a piece with Denis's previous work. I greatly admired it and definitely liked it, even if it didn't reach the heights of "Beau Travail" or "Trouble Every Day." It's a science fiction movie in the vein of "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Silent Running" and "Solaris," but much more sordid and occasionally more violent. It's a strange movie that casts a spell. For moviegoers who enjoy dark, cerebral sci-fi movies, I'd highly recommend it.

Review: Ash Is Purest White

Image courtesy of Cohen Media Group.

Similar to his previous film, the very good "Mountains May Depart," the great Chinese director Jia Zhangke's latest movie is a story about relationships that change over three time periods - in this case, 2001, 2006 and the present.

The picture incorporates some of the themes with which this director has long been interested - globalism (previously addressed in "The World"), a changing China (seen in "Platform" and "Unknown Pleasures"), the effect of the Three Gorges project on the Yangtze River (a focus of "Still Life") and gangster stories (included in numerous Zhangke pictures, including "A Touch of Sin").

As this story opens, a woman named Qiao (an excellent Tao Zhao) strolls through an underground mahjong parlor as if she owns the place. She doesn't, but there's a reason for her self confidence - we soon meet Bin (Fan Liao), her lover and a gangster who rules with a soft touch, rather than an iron fist. When we meet him, he is attempting to squash a beef between two mahjong players after a gun is drawn.

We learn that another member of the underworld who is a friend of Bin has been targeted by younger competition. He meets with Bin and the two watch bemusedly as a group of young people dance to the Village People's "YMCA." Several days later, Bin's friend is stabbed to death by a group of young punks, and soon Bin himself is targeted.

While driving through town one night, Bin's car is stopped by a group of youths riding motorcycles. They attack him, but before they are able to severely wound him, Qiao steps out of the car and fires a weapon into the air. Illegal guns carry heavy penalties in China, so Qiao takes the rap for Bin and spends five years in prison.

It's 2006 when she gets out and finds herself traveling through the Three Gorges area. She hasn't heard a word from Bin and attempts to seek him out. He has since moved on, has a new girlfriend and does everything he can to avoid Qiao.

Early in the picture, the couple discusses the virtues of the jianghu, which denotes a particular code of ethics for outlaws. In the five years since they last saw each other, Bin has attempted to move on from a life of crime, but Qiao still carries with her the tenets of the jianghu, most likely, because she misses the lifestyle. But a conversation between them in a hotel after she finally tracks him down proves that their differences are likely irreconcilable.

Qiao then finds herself alone on a train, where she meets another man who is interested in UFOs. For a moment, it appears that Qiao has, perhaps, found a man who can replace Bin. But at the first chance she gets, she sneaks off the train. Another 12 years pass.

The film's final section - which similarly to the third portion of "Mountains May Depart" is the least potent, although the segment is critical to winding up the story, and does so in an effective manner - finds Qiao at the helm of her own mahjong game. She has apparently stuck to her code and is now in command. Bin shows back up, this time with a serious medical condition, and Qiao takes him in. There's a very good scene in which he is sitting in the room with his old cronies, including the men whose squabble he once broke up, but it's clear that he is no longer the top dog. The film finds the characters no closer to a resolution with one another than they were in the earlier chapters.

"Ash is Purest White" switches up visual tones to great effect throughout the course of its 140 minute running time. Zhangke's stylistic choices here are compelling - he often uses breathtaking overhead shots of wide expanses and jarring smash cuts - one particularly effective one goes from a starry night to a high angle shot of a train moving across a desolate landscape. The film's use of music and lighting is also effective, and there's one scene of mystery in which Qiao spots something in the night sky that is unexplainable, but feels of a piece with the rest of the picture.

Zhangke is one of China's finest filmmakers of the 21st century. Films such as "Platform," "Unknown Pleasures," "Mountains May Depart" and his latest tell the saga of an evolving nation, often at the expense of many of its denizens, but also stories about the effects of time and how relationships - much like a country - can have peaks and valleys. The director's latest is one of his best and one of the must-see movies of the year so far.

Review: Pet Semetary

Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

"Sometimes dead is better" is the oft-quoted line from "Pet Semetary," Stephen King's terrifying 1983 novel. The story was adapted for a decent enough 1989 film by Mary Lambert and has now been remade by Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer, who were responsible for the grim "Starry Eyes."

In the case of this film, that mantra is appropriate. Despite some decent elements - Jason Clarke's performance, John Lithgow's supporting role and some spooky cinematography - this is a story that didn't need to be told again. While this remake tries to set itself apart from the original - there's a twist in this one regarding which family member ends up terrorizing the others - it still feels too similar to the original film. The credits even feature the same song (which I've always liked, by the way), although this time it's performed by Joan Jett, rather than the Ramones.

In the film, doctor Louis Creed (Clarke) moves his family to a large, secluded home in a rural Maine town to have more family time together, although I'm not sure the end result is what Louis and his wife, Rachel (Amy Seimetz), had in mind. The Creeds' two children include precocious Ellie (Jete Laurence) and young Gage (Hugo Lavoie).

There are some early indicators that things aren't quite right. A particularly grisly emergency room scene leaves Louis unsettled, and soon the Creeds' cat, Church, is struck by one of the massive trucks that disturbingly fly by the family's property on an abandoned road at seemingly regular intervals. Louis's friendly neighbor, Jud (Lithgow, taking over the Fred Gwynne role), notes that there's a place where Louis can bury the beloved pet and get some surprising results.

Of course, Church comes back from the dead, but is less friendly. Shortly thereafter, a tragedy leads to Louis visiting the burial site - whose powers are never fully explained, but not to the story's detriment as it lends some mystery to the tale - a second time. As a result, the family unravels in horrifying ways.

King's book was especially terrifying, not only for the creepy supernatural element guiding it, but also because of how unapologetically dark it was. It was a more gruesome take on the short story "The Monkey's Paw," but it was loaded with ambiance and King's excellent use of characterization and sense of place. This new cinematic version of the story is an excuse for numerous jump scares - one of my least favorite filmmaking tactics - and a particularly bleak ending, which also differs from the book or original film version.

I appreciate that the filmmakers added some variety to the story, but they haven't really expanded it in any meaningful way - as Stanley Kubrick did with his remarkable adaptation of King's "The Shining" - or improved upon the original film. Rather, this "Pet Semetary" is merely one in a long line of mediocre Stephen King adaptations.