Toy Story 4

Plot: It is little girl Bonnie's first day at kindergarten, and she makes a doll she calls Forky from a spork, pipecleaners, and a popsicle stick which she brings home. Bonnie is in love with Forky, but Woody can't convince Forky that Bonnie really needs her. Soon, Forky jumps out of the camper window during Bonnie's family vacation, and Woody goes after him. 

Forky and Woody end up at an antique store where they meets Gabby Gabby and several creepy ventriloquist dummies. After escaping, Woody ends up at a carnival where he meets Bo Peep, who was in one of the earlier movies. They team up to rescue Forky in a complex rescue plan that leads to the happy ending.

  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: I enjoyed Toy Story 4 as I have enjoyed the other three Toy Story Films. I liked it because of the story telling, and the way the toys care about each other.

Forky looks silly, but he becomes a likable childlike character. Reminding us the quality of the CGI is not what drives a movie. 

Woody is worried about becoming obsolete as Bonnie outgrows him. Bo Peep has come to grips with this, and has a developed Carpe Diem attitude. Bo Peep becomes the mastermind and action hero which provides a feminist vibe.

I got caught up in the story, and especially the ending. 

Directed by: Josh Cooley

Written by: 8 people, which is crazy. Still I liked the story.

The Music: Two pop songs by Randy Newman, who also wrote a regular orchestral score.

The Visuals: Exactly what you expected if you saw others in the series. The 3D imaging was good. I liked the scenes of the carnival, and I like the milky images during the closing credits.  

Rating: 3.0 stars: While it was good, I don't know that it was great. The carpe diem message is not so strong that it warrants another ½ star. 

More: Stay for the post-credit sequences.

Even More: I gave Toy Story 3 three and half stars back in 2010. The review is still online. I liked Toy Story Three the best.

.

.

Rocketman

Plot: Rocketman is a biopic about the singer Elton John (Taron Egerton), starting as a child piano player, becoming a professional musician, and then making it big. It tells Elton's story by illustrating his life-events with his songs and lyrics. The songs are cherry-picked to fit the story and are not chronological.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: This is a musical version of Elton's life with breaks for singing and dancing, and it gives the flavor of his life without nit-picking detail. I came to see Rocketman for the songs, and there were plenty of them. Several were well-staged, and made the whole movie worth it. For example, rocket man is sung at the bottom of a pool.

If there is a dramatic arc, then it is that Elton became a drug addict, and he dries out. Why are so many singers drug addicts?

I liked to see the relationship with writer Bernie (Jamie Bell,) clearly the most important relationship in Elton's adult life. Since Bernie wrote the songs, the lyrics are not as meaningful to Elton's personal story. This robs the story of emotion.

The story needed to have a love scene, and Rocketman's pushes the limit; it was the most graphic male on male love scene that I have ever seen.

Taron Egerton does a nice job with the songs, and a decent job acting. Of course, Elton sings better.

 I liked the wrap-up where figures from Elton's past appear at an AA meetings, and where he embraces his childhood self. Elton is an executive producer of Rocketman, and so this ending is like his personal statement to the audience.

Cast: Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard

Directed by: Dexter Fletcher

Written by: Lee Hall

The Music: Obviously Elton John songs sung by Taron Egerton

The Visuals: A few fun songs with clever productions, and some great costumes

Rating: 2.0 stars: It had a few good songs, but a lot of average ones.

 

More: I search my music library at home. It has no original Elton John song, but there is a saxophone-heavy instrumental version of Can you feel the Love Tonight? by John Tesh.

Even More: Director Fletcher says that Rocketman is "a story of Elton John unpacking all of his issues and baggage whilst in rehab."
.

.

.

Avengers: Endgame

Plot: In the previous installment, bad guy Thanos killed half the people alive including lots of superheroes. Here Ironman (Robert Downey Jr), Captain America, (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Antman (Paul Rudd), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) hook up to kill Thanos and resurrect the dead. The movie spends half its three hour length reminding us of the relationships between the heroes, and setting up their desperate plan to right all the wrongs. With help from Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) they make rapid progress, but the bad guy arises to make a fight of it. [imdb]  [photos]

Review: Endgame is satisfying because of all the relationships between the characters. We get to visit with our old friends and recall their stories.

The first part re-introduces the major characters and I enjoyed this part. In the middle they execute their plan, which has recaps of scenes from Avengers: Infinity Wars. OK, but not as imaginative as it could have been. In the end, we are back on Earth fighting the bad guys in a grand battle. The battle is well-staged with individuals fighting and talking -- still it is just a battle, and which superhero is stronger than the others is arbitrary. After the battle there are emotional goodbyes and foreshadowing of future films.

I had been dying to see how they brought everyone back to life, and now I know. It would have been more thrilling with a tighter, streamlined narrative. Yet it was more nostalgic and emotional this way. The characters were frequently sad and mourning, or attached to their loved ones. And many of these scenes were effective.

It is a goodbye for the oldest characters, and primarily for Robert Downey Jr, who is a great actor, and who the best scenes. 

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Paul Rudd, Jeremy Renner, Brie Larson, and most of the rest of Hollywood. 

Directed by: Anthony and Joe Russo

Written by: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFelly based on the comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. 

The Music: Orchestral music by Alan Silvestri

The Visuals: Top quality special effects including the new Hulk/Banner character who is great. I liked the special effects on Nebula/Karen Gillan's head. 

Rating: 3.5  stars: Good but not super. As mentioned not such a thriller, but more emotional. And I do want to see it again. 

and 1/2

More: It was three hours long, but it has more than enough plot for that length of time.

Even More: This wraps up a 22 movie cycle.

.

.

.

Bohemian Rapsody

Plot: This is the life story of Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek), the singer for the 1970's rock band Queen. It shows Freddy as a teenager with his Pakistani Zoroastrian family, and then joining Queen when they were a college band. The band gets a record deal, gets bigger, plays LiveAid in 1985, leading up to the end, which I am not revealing here.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: The biopic made me see the trouble in Freddie's life, his passions, and problems. The is told through his musically career.

It is a powerful story, and Rami Malek delivers a deep performance, but a little guarded, that keep the drama from really landing. He sings great though. 

Cast: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton (I did not recognize Mike Myers.)

Directed by: Bryan Singer and Dexter Fletcher, see the More section below

Written by: Anthony McCarten, Peter Morgan, Anthony McCarten

The Music: Good renditions of Queen songs, and Rami Malek sings well. Having just watched some old Freddie Mercury videos, Freddie emotion and phrasing is better. 

The Visuals: Some good rock video with good fan videos. I am not sure how they did the stadium scene. The movie version of the LiveAid concert was better than the actual concert video, except the real Freddie was sweating all over. 

Rating: 3.5 stars: I am a sucker for musical. No fourth star because Rami does not hit it out of the park. 

More: Dexter Fletcher replaced Bryan Singer because Fox did not like Singer's work ethic while singer said he needed to care for a sick parent. Gossip was that Singer was very emotional, crying on set, and not arriving on time.

Even More: Here is the real Queen.

.

.

Simple Favor

Plot: Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) meets her young son's friend's Mom Emily (Blake Lively), who is a free-spirit and not typical. After a few visits, Stephanie agrees to babysit, but the Emily goes missing. Emily reports this on her Mommy Vlog (which is a plot device to recap the story, and to communicate how nerdy Stephanie is.) Stephanie asks around about Emily, who  has mysterious past. Emily is not traveling on business, but really rented a car and drove to [location cloaked]. Stephanie tells Emily's husband Sean (Henry Golding), and in Emily's absence they start an affair. There are three good plot twists, and a final confrontation. In the end Emily puts it all on her Vlog. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Simple Favor is a darkly comic murder mystery. Not a lot of jokes or sitcom humor, but head-shaking absurdity instead. Director Feig gave the film a campy Noir vibe, and that kept the film from being too heavy. He called it Suburban Noir.

Anna Kendrick is likable and earnest, and earnestness is difficult acting. Blake Lively's role is strong and diabolical and anarchistic. Surprisingly, Henry Golding is only a necessary prop. Simple Favor is a two woman movie. I liked Gia Sandra as the hard-boiled feminist artist whose life was ruined by Emily.

Cast: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding

Directed by: Paul Feig

Written by: Jessica Sharzer based on the book by Darcey Bell. I checked it out on Amazon, and it starts just like the movie with a Vlog. I am tempted to read it because I like the absurdist tone of the movie. 

The Music: Jazzy orchestral music by Theodore Shapiro; more noticeable are the old-time French pop songs that give Noir mood, but still being foreign and out of place. 

The Visuals: Mostly talking inside in stylish kitchens. The giant raunchy picture of Emily that Gia Sandra's character Valerie painted is hard to forget. 

Rating: 3.0 stars, and maybe close to a 3.5. Likable and fun. I recommend it. No social message because caper movies never have a message. 

More: Director Paul Feng, known for Ghostbusters and Bridesmaids, says he likes to make genre pictures and then twist it. He likes to put extremely different people in genre-typic roles to watch the comedic contrast. He said that this movie is about booze and fine clothes, and that makes it his most personal movie (which I think is a self-depricating joke, but it's clever. )

Even More: Fieg said he read the book, and that he had to do it. " Here is more from the LA Times interview:

"Stephanie's such an A student," Feig agreed. "She's covering up this dark history she has by dressing really bright and fun and goofy. There's just something so nice about the contrast between what people think they're hiding [and how they present themselves]."

"I think it's kind of this beautiful metaphor for peeling back the layers of who someone is," Kendrick added. "In this movie, Emily has more literal secrets, but Stephanie has a lot of tricks up her sleeve that people who know her don't expect from her. The entire community thinks they have her figured out and it's nice to have a mystery as a backdrop via which to peel back the layers of her personality."

This is another poster design. I liked this one too. 

.

Searching

Plot: 16 year old Margot (Michelle La) disappears on the way home after studying with kids from school. Her Dad David (John Cho) isn't too worried at first, but no one can find her. Detective Vick (Debra Messing) volunteers to work on the case. David pokes around her computer looking at Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, and a YouTube knockoff. It looks like a murder by a vagrant, but just as they are having the memorial service, one of the YouTube friends turns out to be fake, and the movie goes down a rabbit hole that leads to a roller coaster ride. I didn't see that coming. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: This film is emotional and gripping even though it is (almost) entirely told in video chats, text messages, and search results. This gimmick is refreshingly different, but it worked great here.

Searching is a good mystery: you learn more and more about the crime, and then everything you thought you knew gets turned upside down.  It's emotional roller-coaster too. I liked how I gradually I became aware that something was wrong.

The writing and directing is the real star of the movie. That is what makes it different and suspenseful. Director Chaganty says the editing was also critical, the way the text appears and the its timing were critical to the emotional experience.

John Cho gives a good performance that is surprisingly wide ranging. Debra Messing is intense too. 

Cast: John Cho, Michelle La, Debra Messing

Written and directed by: First time director Aneesh Chaganty

Editted by: Nick Johnson, Will Merrick

The Music: A pretty piano-heavy soundtrack by Torin Borrowdale. I bought the the end credits track. 

The Visuals: Searching is mostly computer screens, but there are some interest stuff effects, for example the screen gets pixelly when they want you to realize you are looking at a computer.  

Rating: 3.5 stars: Emotional, well-made, creative, but not 4 stars because it is pure entertainment; it is an elaborate story that is just for fun.  

More: There have been computer-only movies before, such as the horror movie Unfriended.

Big time spoilers: When it comes down to it, this is a worst-case cyber-bullying story, where a quiet pretty girl is stalked by a nerdy, quiet boy, but when they meet IRL everything goes wrong and there is a fatal accident. Like idiots, the boy & his mom cover up the accident, and draw in an ex-con to take the blame, but he might talk, so now it's a murder.

Even More: This is the official poster with all the floating windows. It succinctly describes the film, but I don't like the way it looks.

.

BlacKKKlansman

Plot: In 1970's Colorado Springs, black undercover detective Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) begins to investigate the local KKK, and later recruits Jewish colleague Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) to go undercover with the group. Ron attends a lecture with Kwame Ture/ aka Stokely Carmichael (Corey Howkins) and meets cute student activist Patrice (Laura Harrier). Patrice becomes a love interest and the top local black-power activist. Flip goes to Klan meetings where they say outrageous things and plan for the coming revolution. Ron talks to David Duke (Topher Grace) the head of the KKK nationwide, and when Duke comes to Colorado Springs Flip meets him. Soon after this the local KKK gets violent, and this leads to the final scenes.  After the drama resolved, there are pointed images from recent events linking the KKK's hate mongering to recent events. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: A well-made film that builds to a strong anti-racist message: pro-police, pro-tolerance, and unmistakably anti-Trump. This is a cop story that illustrates carries a pro-civil rights story from the Black students, and a violently, hateful and racist story from the local KKK chapter. When the movie ends, there are scenes from the news that ratchet up the tension, and take the events from the 1970's to now. Director Lee deftly moves from outrage about the past to outrages of the present, and perhaps to thoughts of what to do about it. I left the theater very thoughtful.

BlackkKlansman has some slow stylish parts, for example, Patrice and Ron dance a long time, and Stokely Carmichael/Ture  gives a lengthy polemic that made me squirm, and that speech was intercut with artistic images of the audience members faces floating in darkness. The photography at the bridge with the FBI agent is beautiful. The interior meeting scenes were stylish with earthy costumes and round Afros.

Both Patrice and Duke are planning for revolutions, but quite different ones. Director Lee does NOT give us any solutions, but he does help us feel the problem more clearly.

I had the occasion to listen to Slate's series on the slavery and reconstruction. I never realized how badly the Union's reconstruction project failed and that southern whites assembled a culture with myths of Southern dignity, statues of generals, heritage marches, and white power groups. There is  link between slavery, Jim Crow, and today's voter intimidation, gerrymandering, building-the-wall, hatred of foreigners, even import tariffs. Slavery was a terrible thing, and even 155 years later, it's intrinsic evil and corruption linger.

Cast: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace

Directed by: Spike Lee

Written by: Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee; based on the book by Ron Stallworth 

The Music: Melodic orchestral music by Terence Blanchard intercut with some 70's oldies. 

The Visuals: As mentioned above, there are several stylish scenes, the dancing, the bridge, the floating faces. Laura Harrier's hair and costume are pretty great too. 

Rating: 4.0 stars: Skillfully made, always interesting, well-engaged in our political moment, and with a clear moral message.

 

More: I was surprised how few people were at the movie. People should go see it.

Even More: The real Ron Stallworth was born in 1953 in El Paso, Texas. More here.

.

.