Skyscraper (2018): written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber; starring Dwayne Johnson (Will Sawyer) and Neve Campbell (Sarah Sawyer): Die Hard meets The Towering Inferno meets the Age of Social Media in this preposterous, vaguely enjoyable piece of crap.
Duane Johnson is the one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest, security consultant to the world's newest tallest building in Hong Kong. Criminals take over! His family is imperiled!
Virtually every heroic action Johnson's character takes is applauded wildly for by hordes of onlookers nearby with their smartphones raised to the air, and by what I assume is one hell of a worldwide TV audience. It's like Skyscraper included its own audience in the movie! Jesus, there's probably a paper in this!
As seems to happen in every movie starring that former Rock, the human antagonists are underwhelming. Arnold Schwarzenegger was willing to be pummeled by T-1000's and Predators for his Art. The Rock only faces inferior humans, earthquakes, giant fires, giant monsters, and Egyptian gods. Is Duane Johnson insecure? Because this seems like the insecure choices of an insecure man. Get beat up by a Predator already, Rock! Not recommended.
Deadpool 2 (2018): written by Paul Wernick and Rhett Rheese and Ryan Reynolds; based on characters created by Fabian Nicieza, Rob Liefeld, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Len Wein, David Cockrum, Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, and others; directed by David Leitch; starring Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson /Deadpool, Josh Brolin as Nathan Summers /Cable, Zazie Beetz as Neena Thurman /Domino, T.J. Miller as Jack "Weasel" Hammer, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Stefan Kapičić as Colossus (voice), Julian Dennison as Rusty Collins /Fire Fist, Morena Baccarin as Vanessa Carlyle, Shiori Kutsuna as Yoiki, and Terry Crews as Bedlam:
Deadpool 2 pretty much picks up where Deadpool left off, sarcastically and metafictionally trashing superheroes in general and the X-Men in particular as it follows the adventures of super-assassin Deadpool. The X-Men's Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead are back, along with characters familiar to comics fans and unknown to the general public from the time-travelling Cable (Josh Brolin, relaxing after playing Thanos) to such early 1990's Marvel superhero duds as Bedlam and Shatterstar.
Is it better than Deadpool? Probably, at least for people acquainted with much of the source material. It's still desperately sentimental when it comes to the love story involving Deadpool and Vanessa despite all the sex-toy jokes. On the other hand, it makes better use of time travel than most movies, though all the really good use comes in the credits sequences at the end of the movie.
The whole project suits the ineffable weightlessness of Ryan Reynolds. Atlanta's Zazie Beetz makes a nice impression as the super-lucky Domino, while a mostly CGI Juggernaut helps us forget the terrible use of that iconic comic-book villain in X-Men: The Last Stand, in which Vinnie Jones played a Juggernaut in a goofy foam helmet. Recommended.
The Wandering Earth (2019): written by Gong Ge-Er, Frant Gwo, Liu Cixin, Junce Ye, and Yan Dongxu; directed by Frant Go; starring Wu Jing, Li Guangjie, Chuxiao Qu, Ng Man Tat, Jin Mai Jaho, Qu Jingjing, Mike Sui, Arkady Sharogradsky, and Lei Jiayin:
A somewhat lunatic Chinese blockbuster mashes together the apocalyptic world-saving shenanigans of films that include Armageddon and Deep Impact with many micro-lessons in being a good Communist.
The sun has gone crazy, so the people of Earth team up to build 11,000 11-km-high rockets to push the Earth out of the Solar System to safe haven in the nearby Centauri system. OK! 70 years into this escape attempt, the Earth starts getting pulled into Jupiter's gravity well because Jupiter's gravity has "spiked." What is the deal with gravity in this movie?
Much heroic action on the part of Chinese soldiers, scientists, and Common People must be taken in order for Earth to escape Jupiter and get out of the Solar System. The CGI is pretty good, especially in depicting the space scenes.
You really can't subject The Wandering Earth to even a cursory scientific analysis. It's ridiculous. Oddly, in the midst of all the astronomical and physical impossibilities, the film uses the term 'Roche Limit' correctly. Hurray for science! Recommended.
Captain Marvel (2019): based on characters created by Stan Lee, Arnold Drake, Jack Kirby, Gene Colan, and many others; written by Nicole Perlman, Meg LeFauve, Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck, and Geneva Robertson-Dworet; directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden; starring Brie Larson as Carol Danvers /Captain Marvel, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Ben Mendelsohn as Talos, Jude Law as Yon-Rogg, Annette Bening as Supreme Intelligence/Mar-Vell, Gemma Chan as Minn-Erva, Lee Pace as Ronan, Mckenna Grace as Young Carol Danvers, Djimon Hounsou as Korath, and Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson:
What's weird about Captain Marvel is that it's more like a Joss Whedon project than Whedon's two Avengers movies. Relentlessly light in tone, Captain Marvel is basically a buddy comedy featuring Carol 'Captain Marvel' Danvers and a young, mid-1990's Nick Fury, played by a CGI-youthanized Samuel L. Jackson.
Disney seems to have spent all the de-aging CGI money on Jackson, as a de-aged Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) often looks like a nightmare from the Uncanny Valley.
This is the first Captain Marvel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though the Carol Danvers Captain Marvel is the third or fourth so-named hero in Marvel history (and not the original Captain Marvel -- that is the 'Shazam'-uttering Fawcett Comics hero soon to appear in a movie called Shazam; after DC acquired the rights to that Captain from Fawcett, they forgot to trademark the name, thus leading to Marvel debuting their then-male Captain Marvel in the late 1960's).
It's a mostly fun, light snack. It's overly long in the climax department, as pretty much every blockbuster now is these days, relentlessly ticking off items on a Checklist of Closure. Brie Larson is fine as the good Captain, though she's not given much to work with beyond a surface jokiness. Jackson seems to be delighted to be doing comedy work, as do Jude Law as Marvel alien Kree mentor Yon-Rogg and Ben Mendelsohn as the alien Skrull leader Talos. Recommended.
Glass (2019): written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan; starring James McAvoy (Kevin Wendell Crumb), Bruce Willis (David Dunn), Samuel L. Jackson (Elijah Price), Anya Taylor-Joy (Casey Cooke), Sarah Paulson (Dr. Staple), Spencer Treat Clark (Joseph Dunn), and Charlayne Woodard (Mrs. Price):
In this sequel to 2000's Unbreakable, M. Night Shyamalan returns to his own private world of super-heroes, super-villains, and the ordinary people all around them. A very subdued Bruce Willis reprises his Unbreakable role as reluctant superhero David Dunn, 19 years older and now getting an assist from his now-adult son playing Oracle on the earpiece.
Samuel L. Jackson's Elijah Price -- aka Mr. Glass -- has been doped up in a psychiatric wing for the last two decades or so after Dunn handed him over to the police for his role in the deaths of hundreds. A third super-powered piece has been added, however -- James McAvoy's super-powered multiple personality/Alter The Beast from Split (2016). Dunn is on his trail for the kidnapping and murder of a couple of groups of teen-aged girls, racing the clock before The Beast kills his next kidnap victims, a group of cheerleaders.
M. Night Shyamalan manages some pretty interesting twists here, though many found them obnoxious or off-putting. His take on super-heroes seems to me to be a complaint against the homogenized corporate movie-super-heroes who took over the box office since the release of Unbreakable. Indeed, the first 'contemporary' superhero universe movie came out the same year -- Bryan Singer's X-Men (2000).
M. Night Shyamalan's heroes and villains mostly have to obey the laws of physics, More importantly, he posits them -- especially his superheroes -- as Folk Figures about whom the classic superhero comic books were myths and legends once-removed. Does this mean that there's a sinister global conglomerate that seeks to control those with superpowers as if they were just some sort of product?
Well, we'll see. Glass may have a controversial ending, and M. Night Shyamalan as always does some things that seem, well, a little goofy. Nonetheless, this is a fine film both featuring and about superheroes, supervillains, and the idea that in a world of crushing media conformity, magic may still exist -- real magic, dangerous magic, and maybe the real hero of a piece doesn't become apparent until the very end. Highly recommended.
Cold Pursuit (2019): adapted by Frank Baldwin from the film Kraftidioten written by Kim Fupz Aakeson; directed by Hans Petter Moland; starring Liam Neeson (Nels Coxman), Laura Dern (Grace Coxman), Micheal Richardson (Kyle Coxman), William Forsythe (Brock Coxman), Nicholas Holmes (Ryan), Elizabeth Thai (Ahn), Glen Gould (War Dog), Julia Jones (Aya), Tom Bateman ('Viking'), Tom Jackson (White Bull), and Emmy Rossum (Officer Dash):
A very enjoyable bit of black comedy dressed up as one of Liam Neeson's revenge dramas. Neeson's Nels Coxman is a laconic small-town Colorado snowplow driver who just won Citizen of the Year for that town. But the murder of his son by Denver drug criminals sends him out in search of revenge using his very specific set of skills... snowplow driving!
Well, OK, there's maybe not as much snow-plow-related mayhem as I would have liked (though the last one is a doozy). Neeson seems to have a bounce in his step throughout as he's given something more than revenge to deal with. Coxman is out of his depth at times when it comes to killing, kidnapping, and general mayhem. But he keeps trying. And his revenge sets off the sort of cascade of criminal death epitomized so brilliantly in Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (Or Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, if you wish).
Director Hans Petter Moland is remaking his own film here, Kraftidioten, relocating it from Scandanavia to the Rockies. He does a nice job for the most part -- the snow sure looks great, and I really like a recurring bit showing how Coxman disposes of the bodies early on. And it's nice to see Tom Jackson in this and Season 3 of Cardinal because everybody loves Tom Jackson. Recommended.
First Reformed (2018): written and directed by Paul Schrader; starring Ethan Hawke (Reverend Toller), Amanda Seyfried (Mary), Cedric the Entertainer (Reverend Jeffers), and Philip Ettinger (Michael): Ethan Hawke plays a pastor in upstate New York who's lost most of his faith after the death of his son and his wife's subsequent leave-taking because the son died as a military chaplain because his father urged him to join the service.
Hawke's Reverend Toller presides over a historical church with few parishioners but a groovy souvenir ship, with that church owned and operated by a nearby MegaChurch run by Cedric the Entertainer. Whew!
I'll leave you to look up the stylistic influences on writer-director Paul Schrader. Suffice to say they result in a lot of long shots in distance and duration, very slow camera movement when the camera moves at all, and a lot of symmetrical and near-symmetrical shot compositions. It can all be almost overwhelmingly slow, especially in the first half. Stick with it, though, and the cumulative effect is affecting and somewhat mesmerizing.
First Reformed tackles several big questions in a serious way. The acting is stellar across the board. Ethan Hawke holds the whole thing together with his grim, increasingly haunted priest. Cedric the Entertainer is a revelation as the reverend of the MegaChurch, a man who can deliver a toxic sermon about anxiety while nonetheless being portrayed overall as a decent man. Amanda Seyfried is also solid, especially as she has to work with being a pregnant woman named Mary in a movie about Christianity...
How this wasn't nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and several Acting nominations... well, that's the Oscars! It's a fine, nuanced work that nonetheless manages to intelligently shock the viewer. Bonus points for having a choir sing a 2014 Neil Young song at a funeral. Highly recommended.
