Let's Go Out To The Movies: "Eddie The Eagle": Flies Above The Crowd

Directed by Dexter Fletcher
Written by Sean Macaulay and Simon Kelton

(PG-13 - 20th Century Fox - 1 hr, 45 mins) 

Alo Party Peoples.

I did not plan to have two inspirational sports films in a row. I planned to review Triple 9 this week... but it's impossible to find anything interesting or noteworthy to say about Triple 9. I saw it less than a day ago as I write this, and it's already faded from memory. And since there's no way I'm wasting my time with Gods of Egypt, we're doing this instead, anyway...

Eddie the Eagle stars Kingsman's Taron Egerton as Eddie Edwards, a British would-be ski jumper that dreams of becoming an Olympian, but his father wants him to abandon his dreams and become a plasterer like him. But he doesn't listen to his father and he heads off to Germany to train under Hugh Jackman as a washed up former Olympian that lost the magic long ago, but all he needs is a starry eyed dreamer to remind him of his love of the sport. It's playing off the same template as Rudy, it has the look and scenes and big moments you'd expect, but Eddie the Eagle works for the same reason that Crimson Peak or Fury Road work, it's not about reinventing the wheel, it's about making the best wheel possible, and Eddie the Eagle triumphantly rolls off into the sunset all shiny and chrome.

Taron Egerton is great in this, he's funny, he's charming, he's consistently compelling and on point, he has great chemistry with Hugh Jackman, this kid is a movie star in the making, I can't wait to see where he goes next. Hugh Jackman is also on point, this is probably his first role other than Wolverine where he's made a real impression, I want to see these two work together again, in fact, someone try and convince Fox to do an X-Men /Kingsman crossover, that'd be a fun time. None of that would matter if they didn't have a good director to capture that chemistry, but Dexter Fletcher makes it all work, channeling producer Matthew Vaughn's talent for earnestly on-the-nose big money shots into big stand-up-and cheer moments.

Eddie the Eagle is a perfect embodiment of exactly what it wants to be; backed by a solid chemistry between its two leads and skillful direction, it sets modest goals for itself and achieves all of them, and it flies above the crowd.

Have a nice day,

Greg.B

FINAL RATING: 4/5

Let's Go Out To The Movies: "Race"

Directed by Stephen Hopkins
Written by Joe Shrapnel
and Anna Waterhouse

(PG-13 - Focus Features - 2 hrs, 14 mins) 

Alo Party Peoples.

Race feels like a movie that could have been plotted by a machine, that's not a criticism as much as it's an observation. If you've seen one other inspirational sports movie in your life and you have any familiarity with the story of Jesse Owens, then you know what to expect from Race; it has the tone you'd expect, the look you'd expect, all the beats and scenes and big moments you'd expect. It only really exists so that the population of perpetually overworked grade school teachers can have one more movie to pop in the DVD player during Black History Month, but as far as these things go it's near the top end of such fare.

Jesse Owens led a long and interesting life, but Race focuses on the thing he's most famous for, running for the US Olympic Track and Field Team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, winning four gold medals and shattering ideas of white supremacy in the process. Even if you've never heard of Jesse Owens before, just from that you should have an idea of what to expect; racial hardship, uneasy teammates becoming friends and allies, unsure crowds slowly coming over to his side, it doesn't do any of these things badly, it does them quite well, but aside from being the only high profile retelling of Jesse Owen's life story, it doesn't really do much to set itself apart from the glut of inspirational sports movies.

I can't think of any reason that someone needs to run out and see Race unless you're the kind of person that goes to see every inspirational sports movie, and if you are then you've already made up your mind and you don't care what I or anyone else has to say about it. But for everyone else, let's call it a competent achievement and a noble effort that succeeds on it's own terms without any major problems.

Have a nice day,

Greg.B

FINAL RATING: 3/5

Let's Go Out To The Movies: "Deadpool" Your Father's Superhero Movie

Directed by Tim Miller
Written by Rhett Resse and Paul Wernick

(R - 20th Century Fox - 1 hr, 48 mins) 

Alo Party Peoples.

Deadpool shouldn't work as the main character of anything. Pretty much his only distinguishing trait is that he's a snarky jackass that can't die no matter what you do to him; he's a Looney Tune, and there's a reason that those generally don't last more than a few minutes. He's a comic relief distraction with a very specific shtick, and that shtick gets old fast.

Fortunately, Deadpool realizes that it can only really be a comic distraction, and thus it embraces that and becomes one of the most comic-booky films in recent memory, the entire story is that the Merc' with a Mouth is chasing down a bad guy, and he teams up with a couple of X-Men guest stars to find him. Really, that's it. All that stuff in the trailers with a red suited human cartoon spouting off really corny one-liners while slaughtering people is confined to two big action scenes at the very beginning and the very end, and they've been expanded out to a two hour movie via flashbacks explaining how Wade Wilson became Deadpool, and why he's trying to kill these specific people. The result is that we can feel like Deadpool is our focus the whole time, while also making sure that he doesn't stick around long enough for the shtick to get old.

It's all so much really crude, really cheesy Gen-X sarcastic snark, which makes a lot of sense for a movie that's been in development hell since just after the first X-Men movie that was only recently revived by positive reception on the part of thirty-something comic fans to leaked test footage, but the comic energy is infectious, and I can't help but respect how completely it embraces it's weird little niche. It all comes down to Ryan Reyonld's performance, he is perfect for the title character both in personality and on the meta level that he's doing a dirty sendup of the now standard superhero film; a form he tried once before to disastrous results that Deadpool is more than happy to make fun of "Just don't make the supersuit green, or all -and vein-y." If you're wondering what Colossus is doing here, the idea is that he's a stand-in for the morally upright superhero who has become fond of Deadpool for some reason and keeps encouraging him to drop the profanity and bloodshed to become more conventionally heroic, but the real standout in the cast is Brianna Hildebrand as X-Men trainee Negasonic Teenage Warhead. It's just short of inspired to include someone that "gets" Deadpool's thing... but doesn't find it particularly amusing, and Reynolds plays off her spectacularly as Deadpool is both frustrated and invigorated by a "kid" that's already too old for his shtick.

Deadpool is a "mature" superhero movie, and it's funny enough for long enough that you almost don't realize that it isn't really that bloody or perverse when you get right down to it. Sure, if you're one of the teenage boys sneaking into the theater with tickets to The 5th Wave that Deadpool was clearly made for, it'll blow your mind, but anyone old enough to see this alone will have seen genre material that is way more intense. It's difficult to tell which parts are aping the aesthetics of a 90s action movie for a laugh, and which ones are genuine flaws because this essentially is a cheap 90s action movie. Is the bad guy one-dimensionally evil as a joke, or did they just not try very hard with the villain? Does most of the action happen in stock locations like a highway, a back alley or a shipyard to call attention to its own cheapness, or were they just trying to save money on sets? Is Deadpool's weirdly dated reference pool and sitcom dad sense of humor supposed to be a joke, or are we supposed to find it genuinely funny?

Deadpool is a good movie; but it's not the revelation that many online have already begun to declare it. It's a disposable lark that succeeds on its own terms, and if you're looking for a slightly grittier alternative to the Marvel Cinematic Universe that isn't overly self-serious like DC's recent output, then you're probably going to have a good time. There are moments when it approaches greatness, but it's intent on undermining anything that approaches sincerity because it doesn't want to be great, and for once that approach works because it fits with the spirit of the character.

Have a nice day,

Greg.B

FINAL RATING: 3/5

Let's Go Out To The Movies: "Hail, Caesar!": Oh, Hell Yes!

Directed and Written by
Ethan and Joel Coen

(PG-13 - Universal - 1 hr, 40 mins) 

Alo Party Peoples.

The strange thing about Hail Caesar is how surprisingly unassuming and laid back it is. It has a wandering, improvised dialouge-heavy comic tone, most scenes feel less like scenes and more like a lavishly funded lampoon, and it's less interested in having overarching themes or character arcs than it is in providing an excuse for comic moments built around weird dialouge. But unlike certain other film makers that practice their craft solely to get a studio funded vacation for themselves and their friends, the Coen Brothers want the audience to have a good time as well, and for the most part they've succeeded, and even if Hail Caesar is an underwhelming film by their standard, for anyone else it would be a crowning achievement.

Hail Caesar is a day in the life of Josh Brolin as Eddie Mannix. It's 1950s Hollywood, and he's a fixer for Capitol Pictures. That day, implied to be no more bizarre than normal, involves arranging a publicity marriage for a pregnant starlet to preserve her family-friendly image, considering the prospect of a steady job with Lockheed over the chaotic world of show biz, fending off two competing gossip columnists (twins!) threatening to publish a scandal involving the studio's biggest star, and tracking down that star after he mysteriously goes missing just as their biggest production of the year "Hail Caesar: A Tale of the Christ" is set to finish shooting. That star, George Clooney as Baird Whitlock, has been kidnapped by a communist writers' union that demands a ransom of a hundred thousand dollars, and the clock is ticking because they're slowly indoctrinating him with a surface level understanding of their creed.

The entire film feels like everyone involved was doing it in between bigger projects, most of the top billed stars only have maybe one or two scenes total, and it feels like they spent less than a month on set, and most of their dialogue feels like it was made up on the spot; but they were months well spent, because every moment connects. Josh Brolin's "Wait, what? Are you serious?" reaction to virtually everything that happens is immediately relatable, Scarlet Johannson's sarcastic "I'm way too good to be here, everyone get out of my way." performance as the studio's sacred starlet is instantly compelling, Channing Tatum as a pretty face in a vaguely homoerotic big bombastic musical like a period version of Magic Mike is instantly hilarious, Jonah Hill's one scene as a mob accountant got big laughs out of the entire theater, newcomer Alden Ehrenreich as a Southern born cowboy heartthrob thrust into a classy period drama directed by Ralph Finnes is a hilarious moment and the two have great chemistry, and George Clooney as Baird is... essentially a caricature of George Clooney, but it's amazing.

Something this casual and seemingly effortless just shouldn't work, but the Coens' signature meticulous yet laid back direction ties it all together; it's less of a feature film and more of a collection of loosely inter-connected vignettes, like a collection of old shorts or a really good episode of Saturday Night Live, it takes its sweet time getting to its real gut busters, but once they land they land hard. Hail Caesar has some of the funniest moments I've seen in theaters in a long time...but the Coen Brothers are definitely an acquired taste. I can't imagine seeing the audiences that are genuinely excited for say, Zoolander 2 packing theaters to see a period comedy with a bunch of character actors riffing on the tail end of Golden Age Hollywood under the direction of the people that made Fargo, but this movie wasn't made with such audiences in mind.

Hail Caesar is a passion project in the purest sense of the term; a film made by people that really, really love movies for people that really, really love movies. It proudly displays it's starry eyed earnestness to the world and says "In spite of all the nonsense, I just really love the movies!" Perfectly encapsulated in the final words of the film, that the story has been "recorded in light everlasting", drawing a direct parallel between a spiritual experience and an incredible film. Hail, Casear! And All Hail Ethan and Joel!

Have a nice day,

Greg.B

FINAL RATING: 4/5