Review: Wish Upon

Image courtesy of Broad Green Pictures.

"Wish Upon" takes a tiresomely familiar horror movie trope and does pretty much exactly what you'd expect it to do. The result is a movie that verges between gruesome death scenes that rely heavily on edits to avoid an 'R' rating and elements that are so wrong headed or jaw droppingly silly that even a genie in a bottle couldn't fix the picture.

The film opens with a young girl witnessing her mother's suicide and, some years later, suffering as an outcast at her high school. Clare (Joey King) does pretty much everything that heroines of these types of films tend to do - swoons over the hunky athlete, sneers at the snobby girls who go out of their way to mistreat her and pals around with two girls who act as the kooky sidekicks and are called upon for the occasional punchline.

Oh yeah, there's also Clare's father - Jonathan (Ryan Phillippe) - who, for some unexplainable reason, is obsessed with dumpster diving (and in front of his daughter's school no less, while all of the students are congregated outside) and, on occasion, plays saxophone solos in his living room that sound like the missing tracks from a 1980s Kenny G. record.

Clare discovers a music box with Chinese letters on it - so, naturally, she finds the one Asian guy in her class, who - of course - is friends with a tattooed Asian woman whose friend - naturally - is an expert in such things. If the title "The Chinese Connection" hadn't already been taken, this film might have qualified. They tell her to avoid the box as it appears to be haunted by a demon who grants wishes or some such thing.

Of course, Clare ignores them and proceeds to become an increasingly unlikable lead character - although, it would seem that we are supposed to sympathize with her - who continues to make demands of the music box, regardless of the fact that several people close to her have seemingly died as a result.

To make matters worse, the characters are constantly forced to regurgitate near-absurdist dialogue - for example, a scene during which a boy tells Clare, whom he's trying to seduce, "I just wanted to think of something dope to say before I kiss you." Also, Clare and her pals tend to refer to each other by names that sound better suited to the 1990s.

"Wish Upon" follows the well trodden path that you'd expect from this type of teen thriller, right down to the final shot. It's not particularly scary, its "villain" is woefully vague (some of the best horror movies include evil presences that lack an explanation, thereby making them more frightening, whereas this one provides a backstory regarding a ghost and then pretty much drops it) and many of the characters are wooden caricatures. If there's anything to recommend in the film, it's watching Phillippe go to town on those smooth jazz solos and, during one particular sequence, dodge a deadly flying tire. Such are the joys of "Wish Upon."

Review: War for the Planet of the Apes

Image courtesy of 20th Century Fox.

Matt Reeves concludes this remake trilogy in mostly high style as "War for the Planet of the Apes" doesn't disappoint as a thematically resonant film about the dark places that mankind will go to survive, but also an entertaining summer action movie. However, there is an ongoing homage in the picture to a specific Vietnam War movie classic that is, at times, so over the top that it threatens to knock the movie off its course.

This is - to be sure - a war movie and from the film's very first frames, we are thrown into combat as Caesar and his apes fend off an attack by soldiers who are led by a crazed military man known as The Colonel (more on him later). As Earth's population on all sides continues to dwindle, both Caesar and his kind and mankind wage constant war against each other, although Caesar (again brought to vivid life by Andy Serkis) would be content if man would simply allow the apes to live undisturbed in the woods. Unfortunately, The Colonel (Woody Harrelson) isn't having any of that and wants nothing more than to eradicate the apes.

The picture follows the time honored blockbuster scenario in which a film's hero - in this case, Caesar - must rescue someone and, in this case, it's his family and entire species, who are all captured while making a trek to safer land, kept in cages and forced to undertake back-breaking manual labor by The Colonel and his gung-ho men, who have no feeling toward their fellow creatures.

For the most part, "War" is a fun summer movie that is a little more thoughtful than you might expect. However, it takes a detour once Caesar and a few of his top lieutenants stumble upon The Colonel's well-guarded fortress. Harrelson - who, early in the picture is seen shaving his head with a razor blade because, well, that's what villains do, right? - is very clearly cut from the same cloth as one Colonel Kurtz.

So, not only do we get all of the "war is hell" speeches that you'd expect, but Harrelson plays Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe" on a boombox at one point in the picture and, most unfortunately, the words "Apocalypse Now" are literally graffiti'd on a wall. And this wall is shown at least three times during the course of the movie - you know, just in case somebody didn't pick up these overt references the first umpteen times around. There's also at least one other sequence that is a callback to Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket." It could have been conceptually interesting for Reeves to draw parallels between these classic Vietnam movies and the "Apes" pictures, but it's done so blatantly here that it doesn't have the intended effect.

But "War" manages to triumph elsewhere, most notably by using a digitally created character as the film's protagonist and giving it human qualities that make us empathize with it as if it were a flesh and blood actor. This isn't Serkis' first rodeo for this type of character - and it's been said before and let's say it again: the work he does is impressive. Caesar is a truly well rounded character. So, while 1968's original classic "Planet of the Apes" still remains the gold standard for me in this series, Reeves' two "Apes" films have been part of an impressive blockbuster trilogy and "War" is a fitting - and often powerful - coda.

Review: A Ghost Story

Image courtesy of A24.

David Lowery's "A Ghost Story" is a film that is likely to draw wildly mixed reactions. I've seen reviewers who loved it and others who wanted to pull their hair out - and I can understand both responses. During the film's first 30 minutes, it wasn't particularly working much for me, but the picture eventually settles into a rhythm and, ultimately, there's a fair amount to admire, even if not all of its pieces completely fit.

Yes, this is a movie in which Casey Affleck plays a husband who dies and then returns to the home where he and his wife (Rooney Mara) lived and spends the rest of the picture as a ghost wrapped in a sheet, observing how life goes on without him. But no clay is whittled and the Righteous Brothers are nowhere to be heard - in other words, this isn't a Hollywood drama in which a heartbroken widow makes contact with her dead husband and all is set right.

"A Ghost Story" alternates between melancholy, creepiness and mind-expanding theories about time. There are some haunting moments when Affleck's ghost wanders lonely through fields trying to make his way home or watching his wife pack up and drive away, only to be replaced by new tenants in the home where he once lived. It also features unsettling sequences when the ghost - always clad in that white sheet - paces back and forth through the house - and we have to remind ourselves that we're not watching a horror movie.

Late in the film, a party is thrown in the house, where Will Oldham ("Old Joy") expounds on the meaninglessness of life in a world where, one day, a masterpiece by Beethoven could be forgotten if human civilization crumbles. It's a speech that is by turns fascinating and pretentious, but it sets the stage for a curious series of sequences during which Affleck's ghost inexplicably witnesses how his home came to be constructed - from a scene involving settlers from many years past to the construction of a building in the future, where he is left to roam its halls. Then, time circles back again and he watches his own life with his wife pass by.

"A Ghost Story" is a film that requires some patience. Admittedly, I found mine tested during the film's early scenes. I recently praised "Twin Peaks" for an absurdist sequence during which a guy endlessly swept a floor, which felt right for the moment in which it occurred. In Lowery's film, there's a scene in which Mara eats nearly an entire pie in real time while Affleck observes her that might send moviegoers running for the exits. Eventually, the film finds its rhythm, but it takes more time than it should.

Lowery is an up-and-coming filmmaker who jumps back and forth between low budget indies and studio films - his debut was "Ain't Them Bodies Saints," a film also starring Affleck and Mara that I mostly liked, and the remake of "Pete's Dragon," which I missed. His third feature is daringly uncommercial and I can appreciate the abstract manner in which it ponders such themes as death and time.

It's not quite the triumph that some have proclaimed it, but I also wouldn't agree with its detractors. "A Ghost Story" is a curious item that initially frustrates, but ultimately absorbs, and could be a rewarding experience for those with a taste for the offbeat.

Review: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Image courtesy of Columbia Pictures.

On the one hand, there's not a whole lot of justification for a third reboot - and seventh film - following the adventures of Spider-Man in a period of 15 years. That being said, this latest upgrade of the superhero is enjoyable - mostly due to the fact that the lead actor (a spunky Tom Holland) is age appropriate to the character and the picture focuses just as much on Peter Parker as dorky teenager as it does on his being a Spandex-clad hero. Not surprisingly, the sequences that involve the lead character doing things that kids do tend to be more amusing than the ones loaded down with special effects.

However, the picture initially focuses on its villain, rather than its protagonist - that would be Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton, chewing the scenery), a blue collar construction guy overseeing the clean-up of some mess made by the Avengers at the film's beginning. He stumbles upon some sort of weapon in the rummage and - well, you know - absolute power corrupts absolutely and all that.

Years later, he has somehow managed to transform himself into a successful arms dealer and dons a costume that enables him to fly around and wreak havoc. Despite Keaton's commitment to the role, his Vulture character is underwritten. At a later point in the film, we see him as a dedicated father and husband, so there's a disconnect as to why he's so sinister in his spare time.

Meanwhile, Parker is a geeky high school kid whose pal, Ned (Jacob Batalon), has discovered his secret, while his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) is still in the dark regarding his web-slinging abilities. Also, Peter - thanks to his appearance in the previous "Avengers" movie - is now taking part in an internship (don't ask) with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Jon Favreau's Happy Hogan is his point-guy, much to the latter's chagrin.

Although the film is, on the whole, enjoyable, some of the aforementioned elements are what - at times - drags "Homecoming" down. As I've mentioned in other reviews of comic book movies, the whole notion of "world building" - that is, other Marvel characters wandering in and out of the proceedings and plot threads spanning across multiple pictures - is one that is supposed to create a complete cinematic universe. I get the concept - but, to me, the whole thing feels less like a storytelling device and more of an advertising ploy. It's the equivalent of Amazon or Netflix telling me, "if you liked this title...." And it's still annoying.

Regardless, "Homecoming" manages to make up for such elements by being charming and clever, due to the filmmakers' wise decision to allow Parker to be a teenager. So, while he exudes confidence while halting bank robbers and purse snatchers, he's a nervous wreck when it comes to talking to a girl on whom he has a crush. And literally every discovery that he makes regarding his own powers is - per his own description - "awesome."

There are a few sequences that make good use of Spider-Man's ability to fly through the air - most notably, a vertigo-inducing scene during which he climbs the Washington Monument to save some fellow classmates on a field trip. But there are also a few moments where the special effects are a bit out of control - namely, a scene during which our hero clings to the outside of a plane in which Vulture is attempting to steal some weapons.

All in all, "Homecoming" is a mostly fun attempt at rebooting a franchise that, frankly, could have been left alone for a while. Holland gives the character of Peter a lively makeover and the film cheerfully relaunches his story as a teen drama that just happens to feature some expensive set pieces. In other words, this is a mostly enjoyable summer movie and not as much of a retread as you might have thought.

Review: Okja

Image courtesy of Netflix.

Bong Joon-Ho's "Okja" is the heart warming, gloriously silly and completely bonkers giant pig story involving evil corporations, animal rights activists and the best use of John Denver in a movie that you never knew you needed. No, seriously, the film took the Cannes Film Festival by surprise and it's no wonder - it's difficult to adequately describe this picture, other than to say it's pretty wonderful.

Joon-Ho's films tend to flirt with genre, but they're also too unclassifiable to stamp them with one defining label. His marvelous "Memories of Murder" was a haunting serial killer thriller that had moments of outrageous humor, "The Host" was often funny but was also a monster movie, "Mother" was a mother-son relationship drama and a thriller and "Snowpiercer" was a futuristic science fiction thriller, but also a 99-percenter movie of the moment.

"Okja" can best be described as "E.T.," but with a massive grey pig. As the film opens, corporate monster Lucy Mirando (a wacky Tilda Swinton, relishing the villain role) announces a program to end world hunger that includes the breeding of a type of massive pig that was discovered in a far flung corner of the world. Chosen farmers from around the world will tend to the pigs - whose meat, Mirando promises, will be succulent - and ensure that they are treated in the most humane manner. In 10 years, one of them will be chosen as the winner, meaning that the farmer will be given the top prize and his pig will be the most likely to be slaughtered first.

In Korea, a young girl named Mija (An Seo-hyn) lives with her grandfather (Byun Hee-Bong) and her beloved friend, Okja, a massive pig that looks more like a hippopotamus, but is gentle and good natured. Mija and Okja play together in the forest and the pig enjoys it when the young girl throws pieces of fruit into her mouth. In an early sequence detailing the depths of their friendship, the young girl falls off a cliff and the pig puts its life in grave danger in order to save her.

So, when members of the Mirando corporation - including a wildlife TV host named Johnny Wilcox (played by Jake Gylenhaal with a comedic touch of which I wasn't formerly aware) - show up to award Mija's grandfather for Okja, we know that this doesn't bode well for the family. Needless to say, Okja is taken to Seoul - with plans to ship her to America, where she'll be brought on stage for an unveiling of the new brand of meat. Mija runs away from home to save her friend, kicking off a series of misadventures that are - to say the least - colorful.

First, Mija runs after the truck carrying Okja away in a virtuoso feat of cinematography. Joon-Ho's camera swoops and swirls as the young girl attempts to follow the truck on foot. Then, she finds herself allied with a group of animal activists led by a sympathetic Paul Dano, who is great here, and Rooney Mara. A sequence during which police officers armed with darts chase the girl, Okja and the activists - who use umbrellas to shield the beast from the darts - through a shopping center to the tune of John Denver's "Annie's Song" is one of the film's truly magical moments.

"Okja" contains more than a few laugh out loud moments as well as several others where you'll feel your throat tighten. There's a completely unexpected moment involving a bond between a pair of animals, their baby, Okja and Mija near the film's end that is absolutely stunning in the way the film manages to elicit emotion through the utilization of special effects.

For a movie that tells the story of a young girl and a gigantic pig, "Okja" has a fair amount on its mind - everything from corporate responsibility and the humane treatment of animals to loyalty and whether a cause that martyrs others can still be considered doing the right thing. The film is moving when it needs to be, silly and satirical at other points, exciting and suspenseful. Its special effects are impressive and always in service of the story. The film is, so far, the year's most pleasant surprise. It's currently available to stream on Netflix and in select theaters, so I'd encourage you to seek it out.

Review: The Bad Batch

Image courtesy of Neon.

Ana Lily Amirpour is one of the most exciting new voices in cinema - at least, based on her debut, the eerie and visually stunning "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night." With her sophomore film, "The Bad Batch," she is working with a larger budget, a few name actors and a more expansive storyline. For a while, the picture works in an offbeat way - it's an occasionally grim dystopian action-horror movie that often goes off on dreamy tangents and - at other points - slows the story way down. I have no complaints about any of this.

But, ultimately, the film feels as if it has less of a voice than her startling debut and its lead, Arlen (Suki Waterhouse), never materializes into a fully formed character. Then again, neither do the film's villain, Miami Man (Jason Momoa), or The Dream, an odd messiah-like figure played by Keanu Reeves who operates a run-down safe space in the desert known as Comfort. And the film's ending completely turned me off. Without giving too much away, the picture culminates in a scene that is the equivalent of a battered woman having Stockholm Syndrome toward her abuser.

However, until that point, "The Bad Batch" has some transfixing elements. As the picture opens, Arlen has been cast out into the desert as a member of the titular group - which are, essentially, society's outcasts, who have been forced to live on their own in the desert. We never get a glimpse of society, but we can assume its barbarity is equal, in some respects, to the desert's denizens by the fact that they have barricaded themselves and left others to fend for themselves.

No sooner is Arlen left on her own than she is kidnapped by a group of cannibals - led by Miami Man - who quickly saw off her leg and arm for food. She manages to break away and finds herself wheeling through the desert on her back on a skateboard. She's discovered by an old bum and he takes her to Comfort.

Arlen manages to get revenge on one of her previous captors, but as a result is stuck with a young girl, who follows her to Comfort. Meanwhile, Miami Man - the young girl's father - finds Arlen stoned out of her mind in the desert one night - don't ask - and tells her that she'd better find his daughter or else. Reeves' The Dream - who holds raves in the desert and surrounds himself with women whom he has impregnated and wear t-shirts that read "The Dream Is Inside Me."

All of this material could have made for a better movie and, for a while, the picture's combination of grim violence mixed with dream-like sequences equal an interesting concoction. But as I'd mentioned, it never adds up to much thematically, Waterhouse's character is severely underwritten and the ending left a bad taste in my mouth. But "The Bad Batch" is further proof that Amirpour has talent. Her films cast spells - especially her transfixing debut - and my hope is that her next venture puts her talents to better use.

Review: Baby Driver

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures.

Director Edgar Wright's films have been riffs on everything from the zombie movie ("Shaun of the Dead") to cop pictures ("Hot Fuzz") and video games ("Scott Pilgrim vs. the World") and each film has sought out the comedic aspect of each genre. But his latest, "Baby Driver" - which also happens to be his best - is the first film I can recall that shoots an action film in the manner of a musical.

Characters slide across car roofs, guns pop, explosions occur and car chases result in vehicles spinning around corners - and all in time to the film's extensive soundtrack, which features everyone from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Martha and the Vandellas to Young MC and Focus. There are only two sequences during which a character is actually singing - but, in this case, it's the lead character, Baby (Ansel Elgort) singing along to pop nuggets that are playing on his iPod. It's worth noting that it was these two scenes alone - which come early in the picture - that made me doubt whether the film would succeed.

But succeed it does. "Baby Driver" is easily the most fun I've had at a movie this summer and it's among the year's best thus far. And one of the elements that makes it such a joy is Wright's deep knowledge of film language. The characters move, talk, walk and skip across the sidewalk as if they know they're in a movie. As I've seen it pointed out, the characters also imagine themselves as how they - and, to an extent, we - might come across if their (or our) lives were a movie and scored to music.

Take, for instance, a sequence during which Baby has to do an errand at a junkyard. He sees a piece of scrap on the ground and, in slow motion, waltzes over to it and kicks it to the tune of the Commodores' "Easy." And it's exactly how Baby likely imagines such a movement would appear in a movie or music video.

Baby is a good soul in a bad business. As a child, he was in a car accident that claimed the lives of his parents. His mother is played by Sky Ferreira, whose love of music infected Baby. Left with tinnitus, Baby must listen to an endless loop of pop songs on his iPod, while acting as the - very talented - driver of a series of heists orchestrated by a man named Doc (Kevin Spacey) and carried out by a variety of thugs, all of whom are more sinister than the next. They are played with aplomb by Jon Hamm, Jaime Foxx, Eiza Gonzalez, Flea and Jon Bernthal.

But since this is an action thriller of the old school variety, there's a girl - and it's easy to see why Baby falls for her. Debora (Lily James) works as a waitress at a diner that Baby frequents and she looks like she just walked out of Twin Peaks' Double R. The two of them bond over music and there's an instant spark. Baby also lives with an elderly man named Joseph (CJ Jones), who is deaf and mute. After Baby takes part in his last heist, he is pulled back in again by Doc and his participation is solely concerned with the safety of his adopted parent and new girlfriend.

Many movies try to be all things to all people and fail. "Baby Driver" aims to be many things and it all comes together. The film's script is loaded with zingers, but also dialogue that deepens our understanding of the characters. The picture turns violent towards its end and is filled with thrilling car chase sequences, but it's also often very funny. But it's the use of music and the choreography of the actors that makes it such a wonder. There's a shootout between the group of thugs with whom Baby is working and some arms dealers that involves especially impressive timing between the violence and the music.

This is the type of movie that cries out to be a sleeper. In a summer filled mostly with movies that could best be described as focus-group corporate entities that deliver exactly what they advertise, "Baby Driver" is wholly original. Yes, I know the plot - which involves heists and a romance between a criminal trying to go straight to impress a young woman - doesn't reinvent the cinematic wheel, but what often makes a movie special is the how, not the what. And Wright's film has how to spare. "Baby," I love your way.