Mute

Alexander Skarsgard plays a mute, Amish bartender in a future Berlin (think flying cars and cyborg-replacement body parts) where it is strange to have a physical malady that is not repaired or augmented. When his girlfriend disappears, he dives into her underworld life to track her down. What he finds is all kinds of unsavory, and Paul Rudd's Cactus Bill character is always in the mix as an AWOL US soldier/surgeon doing work in the basement to earn money for a new identity. In many ways this is a traditional revenge-justice thriller, but the central conceit of Skarsgard as mute changes everything in subtle but essential ways. The entire film felt slower, more melancholy, and deliberate. Really a fascinating piece of filmmaking.
4 stars (out of 5)

Ready Player One

I did not read the book. I do not have any preconceived notions about what this film is, should be, could have been, etc. I loved it. Tye Sheridan and Oliva Cooke play Wade and Samantha in the real world, but more importantly, their avatars are Parzival and Art3mis in the Oasis. Real world in 2047 kinda sucks, but the Oasis is a fully immersive VR world where most people go to be something, do something, enjoy something. When the founder of the Oasis dies, he reveals an easter egg somewhere in the Oasis that, when found, will grant ownership of the Oasis to the finder. Of course, the corporations want this ownership. Parzival and Art3mis want it to protect it from the corporation. Let the race begin. Yes, this is a series of 80's and 90's cultural triggers (opening song Van Halen's Jump), and yes, at least 2/3 of the film take place in the avatar world of the Oasis. But it is not just an action orgy. It is well balanced in terms of storyline and pacing (no overload, no doldrums). The Oasis is fun (a la the Bazaar in Valerian) and while I am sure that the dedicated observed every single throwback reference, I liked when they snuck up on me or when I recognized something familiar, but couldn't put a finger on it. Overall, it was just fun...
5 stars (out of 5)

Santa Clarita Diet (serial)

Season 2

This is so goofy and cheesy, I think even more so than the first season. Barrymore and Olyphant have great chemistry, and even their over-the-top interactions play well off each other. The dialogue is so wink-wink aware of how silly it is that it is almost break the third wall blatant. And yet they play it straight, which gives the show a lot of charm. Balance this with the daughter (played by Liv Hewson), cynical and sarcastic as they come, and the neighbor kid (Skyler Gisando) who is so geeky, aware of his geek, and still going for it with the girl in the most unaware geek way possible. Just the parents, or just the kids don't work. But put the family together and the balance is spot on. And at 10 episodes, 30 minutes each, you don't even have time to get tired of it. Just want more.

4 stars (out of 5)

Operation Red Sea

A Chinese action, war film where the Chinese equivalent of US Navy SEALs are dispatched to a middle eastern country to rescue captured Chinese citizens during a political coup. My first thought while watching this film and immediately after is "Empire is Empire". It doesn't really matter that this film is from the Chinese point of view, or that the political system that undergirds the plot is different than the US system. The military story is one of patriotism, pride, projected power, and ethnocentrism. The number of deaths of "the enemy" and "non-Chinese allies" is dramatic. And the care given to these deaths is remarkable in its vacancy... exactly like the Hollywood equivalence. Seeing this film with the Chinese perspective was fascinating. Looking forward to the next Hollywood version, while remembering this, so see if I see differently.
3 stars (out of 5)

Pacific Rim Uprising

I went in with only mid-level expectations. I liked the original well enough, but it was pretty hole-y. And then to expect a sequel to be as good or better? Sequels of these action robot movies aren't ever even good. They just make bigger robots and crush more buildings right? But while there is plenty of that (big robots and building crushing) we also have some fun dialogue, at least an attempt at back story for Boyega, and new characters that have pretty good chemistry. Most of this is better than the original. The story starts 10 years after the defeat of the Kaiju and the world has basically rebuilt from the destruction. A global security council operates the Jaeger Corp and are considering the adoption of drone Jaeger's to replace the multi-pilot mind-meld requirements of the current batch. What could go wrong? Overall, this is a better balance of story-telling and epic battle than the original. Well done.
4 stars (out of 5)

Tomb Raider

By all accounts this is an awful movie. Not walk out awful, but oh-it-could-have-been-so-much-more awful. I can check believability in at the door with the best of them, and I appreciate an action sequence more than most. But when inconsistencies are reaching out of the screen in a 2D movie and slapping you across the face, that is next level. All I will say is that Lara Croft has a unique talent for running through perilous terrain... in a straight line. For all the things it could have been, this gets
2 stars (out of 5)

Lady Bird

Hmmm. A coming of age story of a high school girl who attends private, catholic school, doesn't get along much with her mother, and is just on the odd side of things. Maybe because I see these kids every day, this is not really novel. Just a fictionalized version of my reality. Kids have friends, but sometimes they don't, they despise a parent, but appreciate their support, they need to get away, but love their home, etc. Life at this age is a series of contradictions that range from trivial to apocalyptic. The writing was good, the acting was good, the story was good. Somebody tell me why this is better than average, or more important than films that make me think about compassion or fighting abuse of power or why to convert my belief system into action.
3 stars (out of 5)

Red Sparrow

Jennifer Lawrence plays a young ballet dancer, the prima in the Russian Bolshoi. When during a performance she breaks her leg, her entire life and financial support system is destroyed. In to the rescue is her Uncle, a high ranking Russian special police officer with an opportunity to make some money and provide for herself and her mother. It turns bad, and Lawrence is sent off to spy school (whore school) where she learns how to use any means necessary to get information from a target. The rest of the film then follows our newly minted spy as she takes on a job of finding a mole and protecting herself and her mother. In many ways, this is a traditional new-cold-war, spy thriller. But it wasn't fun. So even though films like Atomic Blonde and Baby Driver were equally graphic, they were fun and this was not. I think it has to do with how personal this film is. The violence (physical, emotional, sexual, etc.) is deeply personal here. There is no 'gamification', no sense that the brutality is comic, or stylized. Instead it was disturbingly close, bringing into the open a raw striving for power, and the traumatic effects that power and violence has on a person. Maybe the writing and acting here is stronger, the ownership by Lawrence of who this character is, and the life that has been put upon her, where often the actors are not given this opportunity. But if this is so, I might want more. Push me harder so that I have to think about this power/brutality relationship. Most people will miss this point and merely walk away dissatisfied. I nearly did.
3 stars (out of 5)