Wendy Review

Wendy as you may have either guessed from the title or saw the trailer is a re-imaging of the Peter Pan story. For me this is more of using Peter Pan as inspiration for the story rather than calling it a re-imaging or as some call it a new interpretation of the classic story. Yes, you have characters named Wendy and Peter, yes there is the island where kids can not age and the idea of never losing your inner child. The movie starts where a young boy named Thomas wanders off and boards a train and skip forward several years, has never returned, when a young girl named Wendy and her twin brothers (Douglas and James) hop on a train in the middle of the night. Finding a young boy on the train named Peter they are kicked out of the moving train over water, where a boat awaits to take them to a mystical island. On this island are two populations, children who never grow up and old people who stopped believing. The two live on separate sides of the island as the children play and run about, with a fondness and protection of a large fish-like creature named 'Mother', while the older inhabitants are trying to get their youthfulness back by capturing 'Mother' believing eating her flesh will bring back their youth.

This is a hard movie to try and explain as it is one that to me has to be experienced to understand, It is very obvious that the filmmaker behind Beast of the Southern Wild is behind this from the look and feel of the movie once it starts it has that whimsical feel while still having a worn, rusty, aesthetic. There were times I felt this was a Peter Pan movie and other times if the characters had different names, I would just take it as a fantastical youth adventure film as there are enough changes to the story. What is still there though is the messages about keeping hope and youthful joy in your lives as your grow up that J.M. Barrie with his classic story instilled on the world. There are tons of messages, takeaways or symbolic meanings that can be interpreted from watching this if you sit and think on every thing. As with Beasts of the Southern Wild the children in the movie are for the most part all unknowns, however I can see one or two of them coming out of this into the spotlight as Quvenzhané Wallis has become a common name in the film world. As beautiful as the island is and the rich production design of combining fantasy with an almost dystopian aesthetic, there were a couple problems I had with the movie which are mostly pacing related, I felt the beginning dragged on a little bit and towards the middle it also slowed down as we waited for the conflict to start. There is also some use of handy cam work that results in shaky cam at times that I think other setups would have worked better. Though if you watch the making of this movie and read a little bit about it, the island they filmed scenes on called Montserrat was severely devesated from a volcanic eruptions in the 1990's and the remote locations made it hard to get to safely except for the more critical cast and crew, so, while I was not a fan of some shaky cam moments, I get that you have to the best with what you have to work with.  Most will say its another Peter Pan movie and skip it alone on that merit, which I can  kind of understand then you will have those that are put off by the trailers and the look of the film, those that have seen Beasts of the Southern Wild and enjoyed it or recognized the passion the filmmakers had to craft that one will enjoy Wendy. I do not think its worth going out of your way to  watch or pay the theater at home fee I did unless you are in the latter group I mentioned, I do feel though it will be worth a watch on a streaming service you subscribe to once it becomes available on it, if you are looking for something outside the mainstream studios. C.

Sorry We Missed You

  I heard about this film from listening to one of my favorite movie centered podcasts Breakfast All Day where they reviewed it. Searching for how to stream it, I learned this was another new release that I may have been able to see at my local art house or the AMC near me likes to show several small independents, however given we are still in the state of social distancing going to either one is of course not an option. But I learned the main art house in my area has joined a program call KinoNow where you can stream a movie and the art house actually gets a cut of the proceeds which lent me to absolutely pay to watch this film. In the review I listened to they said this is a movie that more or less is probably not the best thing to come out right now that it basically got the raw end of the release slate. I can absolutely see why that observation is accurate, the film takes place in the UK and follows a father of two as he starts delivering packages for a company very similar to say Amazon, where drivers are basically self employed franchisee operators. We see early on how he has to make a decision to use a company van basically paying for it daily or to purchase his own van, which he has to sell his wife’s car for the down payment and is the first of many decisions that are purely monetarily made for what could be the long term success of the family. His wife is a caregiver who used her car to go around to clients without a car she is forced to take public transportation which presents its own unique problems to her career situation. Mean while they have two children, one who is literally a school skipping, graffiti delinquent and the other wanting attention of her parents, trying to harness the family environment. We see this family that relies on this what is referred to as a gig economy how they struggle day to day to maintain a family lifestyle and the struggles of paycheck to paycheck lifestyle which is sadly how many and even now with the way social distancing guidelines have forced more to enter this kind of lifestyle. While I am not familiar with any of the cast in this, it works better for me than having someone I would recognize because it adds to the realistic look at this lively hood that Ken Loach is wanting to bring to the audience. If I took anything from watching this movie it is that when I can actually return to my day job its not to be a complete arse and treat my associates like people, having some empathy that relationships can often times outlast the pay. This will be a hard watch to get through for many at this unknowing term of events that has happened world wide, more so if you are currently working in this gig economy, though I think the message I took from this of don’t let work ruin your life is important, that what you may think is best for yourself and others, may actually be hurting more than helping. C.

Trolls World Tour

Trolls World Tour is a sequel to the 2016 Dreamworks computer animated film Trolls, which introduced the world to trolls like Poppy and Branch on their journey to rescue friends that were taken by the Bergens, who believed eating a troll was the only way to be happy. Well here we are Poppy is now Queen, every troll loves their hugs and break into song moments, what are the Bergens up to...well hope you don’t really care cause you will only see King Gristle and Bridget briefly. Now we have a whole lore that has never been mentioned until this movie that Poppy and her trolls are actually pop trolls and there is a huge world made up of troll societies all based around a music genre, at the center of their societies is a string that represents that music style. If you were to unite the six strings the player will have control over all the music in the trolls world, which is where Rachel Bloom’s voice character of Barb comes in. She is a hard rock troll that is out to gather all the strings and unite the world under rock. It will be up to Poppy, Branch, Biggie, Cooper and Mr. Dinkles to journey into the other realms and gain supporters to stop Barb from destroying the eclectic world they live in. 

I have not been a fan of the Trolls franchise since the first film, actually probably before even before the first one came out, I was not looking forward to seeing it. These were not the trolls I grew up with and collected, except for the little fake out at the tree in the beginning of the first movie which pays homage to the original Good Luck Trolls. To me this installment just creates even more confusion of the world and how its designed. Both these films to me are as if a camera was jammed into a large container of cotton candy with a speaker blasting through it. I am not the main demographic for this movie, this is clearly aimed at children under ten, I mean they made a real life character in the Universal theme parks that actually farts glitter at meet and greets. To be fair the first movie did try to have a story line with the Bergens and the message of you can find happiness within yourself, this one of course has a message of its okay to be different and the world is better with diversity, its just the way its executed. You have basically a fish out of water story with the pop gang going into other kingdoms, but, you don’t have that humor and there are missed opportunities to develop stronger characters or world build that get pushed aside as it seems we just blah blah until we can get to the next song moment. If you liked the first one or have kids that liked the first one, you will probably enjoy this. If you missed the first one or don’t have kids, skip this tour. C.

As you know as of writing this, we are still in the middle of the COVID-19, Corona Crisis, Pandemic or whatever the hell you want to call it. This is the first big tent pole film that a studio has released straight to a streaming service, yeah we had some others before this that his streaming too, but they all were either smaller independent type films or had at least a small stint in theaters  Honestly, I caught myself even saying $20.00 is not bad compared to what we as a family of three would have spend if we all went out to the theater. Though thinking it is just a 48 hour rental, where normally we would see it in theaters and then a few months later if we liked it pay and get the DVD combo pack with a digital copy for not that much more. But, I did miss the group experience with a movie like this and for a children focused movie, my son enjoys being in a theater and seeing other kids watching it and laughing or singing along with this type of movie. Did this work well as a straight to release right now, I think so because many families have been cooped up for a couple weeks now, this giving those families something new to experience together. For individual adults or couples without children, I don’t think that crowd is rushing to the couch to fork over to see this, maybe if they had like A-List they would have seen it in theaters as one of their selections. Like many others I am waiting to see what kind of numbers this does straight to streaming, it sounds bad, I hope it doesn’t do well, I want movie theaters to be around for a while. There is just something about the escapism of going out, I’m not as distracted by things like my phone or chores while watching and there’s just an energy that flows through an audience that some movies just play better with. 

Troop Zero

The year is 1977, NASA is going to send two probes into space on a constant search for someone out there listening, in fact they are still travelling farther to this day already in interstellar space, Voyager I & II. This a fictional story that is set against the background of those probes, on the probes were golden records that contained voices and information from the world at the time. Christmas Flint (Mckenna Grace) has been raised by her father (Jim Gaffigan) and his associate, Viola Davis, in a small rural town in Georgia. Christmas has always been enamored with space and seeking life beyond our own planet, when she catches wind that there is going to be a competition to have the chance to get recorded on the golden records that are going out to space where who knows what may be listening, she instantly jumps at the chance to win. The catch is its the winners of a Birdie talent contest that are going to be recorded, Birdie's are similar to Girl Scouts, Allison Janney presides over the local Birdies who are the plastics to Christmas' tomboy friends, okay she may not have that many friends. Which is one of the hurdle's she has to overcome in order to form her own Birdie troop to attend the talent show with a chance to win the contest, except Janney is out to do what she can to stop the ragtag troop.

Being a non-essential worker during this COVID-19 pandemic I have found myself rooting through streaming platforms for new films I have not seen, since theaters are closed and no mainstream films are being released at this time. This is one that I found going through such process on Amazon, just craving things to watch I have not been too adamant about what they are about or who is in them. Without being in what I feel is quarantine, I do not think I would have ever seen or discovered this film and I am glad that I did. It's not the most involved plot and the characters are not the most intense or have a great deal of depth to them but there is a message in this film about chasing your dreams and that it is okay to be different, that feels genuine. B.

Black Christmas (2019) Review

This is a movie that I did not see in theaters due to it getting some bad critiques from its just not good to its overly preachy about a societal message. I’ll just say it bluntly, I hated this movie thoroughly, it is extremely bad. This is actually a remake of a1974 film of the same name that also had a remake in 2006 which starred Michelle Trachtenberg and Mary Elizabeth Winstead that I am told is not very good either, I have never seen the original 1974 film, at this point though I am going to say maybe they should stop ever trying to make another version happen in the future. This version is directed by Sophia Takal (Has only directed a handful of films and none in the mainstream before this), starring Imogene Poots, Aleyese Shannon, Lily Donoghue, Brittany O’Grady as sorority sisters who at Christmas time find themselves fighting for their lives from masked hooded individuals out to kill them.

[Spoilers below]

If you read or watched videos about this movie, yes it is a highly feminist movie and does not shy away from letting it be known. I’ll save you the pain of having to watch this and let you know its basically the sorority girls going again the fraternity boys because of date rapes and then finding out that the fraternity is killing the girls that are trying to be in control and take over. We learn that Imogene Poots has a history with one frat boy that when she crosses his path will always make faces at her and she gets angry about it, this is because she was raped at party by him and no one believed her basically. She witnesses a ritual in the frat house where a bust of the campus founder has a black substance coming out of its eyes and the group uses this black material to initiate the members, we later learn that this is what controls the guys to do their bidding, the leader will get a personal effect of a girl that is empowered or wanting independence from men, then one of the guys who’s had this substance on them will seek out and kill said girl(s) sparing those that are willing to comply and be docile to men being superior. So, yes this movie is pushing a feminist agenda against males, but, there is a way to convey that in movies without making it blatantly obvious and ramming it down ones throat. The other issue with this movie is it looks horrible, the direction choices are like they were made from a knee jerk, the lighting is amateurish and the movie has been edited to stay under an ‘R’ rating to allow a wider range of younger females to see this movie, which creates gaps in the story from the edits. I do not know if it is true or not, but, I have heard this movie was literally shot, edited and in the can from June to December, which would explain the way it looks the way it does. I’ve never been a huge fan of Blum House films, some have been better than others, coming from what has become a major studio name like Blum House there are expectation of at least some quality of material and this comes way below par. You also have Cary Elwes playing a part role in it, with the bad script and direction even he goes wasted. I cannot think of a single redeeming factor in this movie to recommend anyone to sit through it and lose 92 minutes of their life even though many are stuck in their homes at this time. F.