Story

In a galaxy far, far away lived an orphan called Han. He was running scams and cons for local underworld boss Lady Proxima. All he wanted was to escape this god-awful planet with his girlfriend and fellow orphan Qi’ra and become a pilot. His only hopes to achieving this was stealing highly valuable fuel called coaxium. And while his plan doesn’t go as planned, he and Qi’ra manage to evade Lady Proxima’s henchmen and reach imperial shipping yard. But Qi’ra is caught right before they can escape and Han has no choice to abandon her and run away, promising to return for her as soon as he can. As the only chance off the planet he joins imperial flight academy. Three years pass. Han is not a pilot, but he is still trying to make some money to buy his own spaceship to return after Qi’ra. That’s why he doesn’t hesitate a second when opportunity arises to join a gang of smugglers led by Tobias Beckett.

You know nothing, Han Solo (Ehrehreich)

Writing

I don’t know where to start with the problems with this film. I understand, taking the most beloved character from “Star Wars” universe and dissect his past is a huge undertaking. Not only because of crazy horde of loyal fans, but because Solo remains the most complicated and multi-dimensional character in whole saga. To me the whole storyline of the original trilogy is not about Luke or Leia, but about Han and his transformation from a criminal to a good guy. And since the start of the original trilogy is basically a logical conclusion of this film, he needs to turn into a bad guy by the end of “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”

And here it all goes to crap with this film. There is not enough of anything. Firstly, Solo in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and in “Star Wars” are neither physically, nor emotionally alike, by any means. Solo in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” tries to be bad, he says he is bad, but no one believes him. Not even other characters in the film. Saying you are bad is one thing, actually doing those bad things is completely different.

There is not enough drama. Solo dreams about getting to Qi’ra and turns out it doesn’t even matter. He is supposed to save her, that’s all that we hear but he is not really doing anything to achieve that. Towards the end he is facing dilemma that is so mellow, there is no logical explanation how it takes the whole third act.

Solo (Ehrenreich) is lecturing Chewie

Supporting characters come and go with no specific impact. They are powerful supporting characters. In the average ten minutes of movie time each of them gets, we receive a very rich backstory on them. But why does it matter how you define these characters if they will only disappear from plot and movie forever? For example, there is a weird droid with “droid lives matter” moment that can be totally eliminated from the plot and save us total runtime.

There are not enough laughs. Film is full with some random jokes and one-liners that are supposed to be funny, but you will not find yourself smiling for more than handful of those. There is a weird tendency to try to introduce comedic elements, like Lando’s stupid droid promoting robot equality and such. Solo tries to crack some one-liners to no avail. Sad really.

The bad guys are weak. In the devoted continuation of “The Last Jedi” the badness of the bad guys are heavily mentioned, but their badness is either never shown or is just blatantly bland.

Oh, but there are also twists. Multiple twists. Which are totally ruined by constant foreshadowing. If you literally listen and note everything that is being said in the first 30 minutes of the film, you will know how exactly this all is going to end. And it’s not subtle. Nor they are even good twists. Just some mediocre “Oh I knew it is going to happen, how awesome.”

What film has a lot though is that it tries SO HARD to get sympathy awes by referencing to most beloved things from original trilogy hoping to earn some nostalgia points. How Solo first met Wookie (aww), how he first set his foot to Millenium Falcon (awww), how Solo first sat piloted Millenium Falcon (awwwww). This is so in your face, so fake, no one in the audience actually cared. I remember people cheered and clapped for almost a minute first time we saw Millenium Falcon in “The Force Awakens”. In “Solo: A Star Wars Story” – nothing! “Star Wars” fatigue maybe?

Solo (Ehrenreich) is so happy to steer!

Directing

Ron Howard is one of my favorite film directors. Despite him making a lot of cliche films like “Apollo 13” and “Da Vinci Code”, he always brings in his style and charisma to them. His films are always a wonder to watch. They have that extra something that sets them apart. His “Rush” and “In the Heart of the Sea” have incredible character evolution and drama, combined with relentless action scenes.

But “Solo: A Star Wars Story” is the Ron Howard film that is not Ron Howard film at all. Maybe because he was brought in the middle of the production or maybe he was heavily influenced by producers. Not sure. But “Solo: A Star Wars Story” doesn’t feel like any Ron Howard film. Confusing action scenes are confusing. Cuts are weird. Ron Howard is famous for his cinematography and his incredible wallpaper/poster frames. In “Solo: A Star Wars Story” he has zero. His Formula 1 film “Rush” made everyone grab the armrests (including my wife, who hates racing and sport films). Chases in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” are plain boring.

Such a disappointment and waste of talent.

Lando (Glover) is winning

Acting

There was a lot of chitchat regarding casting Alden Ehrenreich as a younger version of Harrison Ford. I wanted to give him a chance, but he looks horrible as Han Solo. Not because he has nothing in common with Harrison Ford, but because he looks like One Direction reject than actually a badass intergalactic smuggler. Or rather smiling version of Jon Snow. And pairing him with Emilia Clarke‘s Qi’ra doesn’t help but reinforce that last comparison.

Woody Harrelson right now reached a badass level of acting masterclass akin Christopher Walken with movies like “Three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “The War for the Planet of the Apes“. No matter what he says or how he acts, there is literally nothing he does bad, wrong, weird or out of place. He is the only good thing in this film. And this is despite the fact that writers constantly tried to take it away from his character.

Donald Glover is another thing that stands out. His Lando Calrissian is charming and the only entertaining thing in the whole film. But, he is introduced too late into the film and is not given enough screen time. Rest of the supporting cast are disposable, unfortunately.

Summary

Strip “Solo: A Star Wars Story” from Star Wars connections and film will be just lame action film. Film doesn’t offer anything that will make you enjoy it to full extent. Not enough drama, not enough badassery, not enough adventure and not enough plot. Even Ron Howard can’t save this weirdly mediocre film.

The post Solo: A Star Wars Story appeared first on Kino-AZ.

Story

In 1996, game finds its new owner – teenager Alex. But he is not interested in the board games. After all, it is 1996, who plays board games anymore? He tosses it aside. But then game devises a plan to lure Alex in. It becomes a video game cartridge for a game console. And it works. Alex plugs it in and is sucked into the game. 20 years later, four high school kids get into Breakfast Club style detention – Spencer (shy nerd), “Fridge” (football jock), Bethany (Instastar) and Martha (social outcast). As punishment they have to clean old storage room. It is there they find abandoned old game console with a game cartridge called “Jumanji”. To waste time, they plug it in and each select an avatar. Next thing they know they are sucked into a jungle! But turns out they are not who they are but the avatars they have selected, which are complete opposite of who they are in real life. Spencer becomes Dr. Bravestone (big and strong archaeologist), “Fridge” – “Mouse” (Dr. Bravestone’s short sidekick and zoologist), Martha is Ruby Roundhouse (dashing assassin) and Bethany turns out to be Professor Oberon (fat and clumsy cartographer). Soon they find out that the only way to get out of the jungle is to win the game. The game called “Jumanji”.

Jumanji is now a video game!

Writing

Getting the film right was a difficult task and I think writers were able to accomplish that. Firstly, I really enjoyed originality of the plot. Board game idea in the first film was awesome, but why use existing material? Having characters play video game and be part of it opened new possibilities for story development. You are not bound anymore to our everyday world, you can explore and introduce all kind of crazy stuff of the world of Jumanji. This is something that was very vaguely mentioned in the first film and honestly I had a lot of questions of what exactly is happening in the jungle.

Second, they introduce new challenges when our original characters are transformed into totally opposite avatars. It makes them go on the journey of self-discovery among everything and also creates an amazing situational laughs. Third, “Jumanji” is a video game movie. Without even being based on a video game, creators were able to give a perfect look and feel of what a computer video game is. Starting from discovery of life bars and resurrections after death to explanation of game world mechanics, NPC’s, level designs, boss challenges and even the application of special skills and teamwork. All this literally makes “Jumanji: Welcome to The Jungle” best video game adaptation.

Our “Breakfast Club” members think they will just play a little video game

Directing

First film works so well because it had a weird balance of teenage action/horror with comedy and adventure. I mean, the film starts alarmingly, with little boy getting sucked into the game. And it goes on like that all the way until the introduction of Robin Williams’ character. His appearance is what gives otherwise pretty dark film a lighter side. Creators of the sequel went another route. They no longer had charismatic Robin Williams in their possession. Instead they use comedy elements straight from the start. It then goes to introduce the awkwardness of transformation and has main heroes interact with each and with their new bodies.

Everything works in Jumanji from directing perspective. Though action scenes seemed to be pushed a little to the second plan, I felt it was nice not to make them too invasive. There is enough of ass kicking and head punching and even body slamming. That is topped with some redundant puzzle solving and exploration. Director Jake Kasdan (long time collaborator of Judd Apatow) concentrates our attention on the interactions of heroes and I think it works the best from all perspectives.

The avatars

Acting

Big credit to actors, despite their appearance you can definitely see the people who are trapped in them. Dwayne Johnson (Dr. Bravestone) has a natural charisma of a comic actor with muscles and has amazing chemistry with Kevin Hart (“Mouse”). It’s not the first time they are partners in the movie, but I think so far it is their best. Both of them deliver solid performance. Jack Black (Professor Oberon) is very fun to watch, because he is given a complete freedom to clown around. He plays the girl stuck in the grown-up clumsy body and it is amazing how he does that. Karen Gillan plays Ruby Roundhouse – deadly karate expert who walks in short top and shorts (direct reference to Lara Croft from original series). She is sexy, strong and a total badass. At the same time she can easily portray insecurities, self-loathing and social awkwardness of the teenage girl trapped in her.

Summary

Despite all initial fears and expectations, “Jumanji: Welcome to The Jungle” turns out to be a very fun movie to watch. Decision to use the game in a new context and have avatars play the game pays off very well. By no means this film will be as close to the heart of modern teenagers as the first “Jumanji” was to teenagers of 90’s, but I am sure this film will deliver it’s own part of entertainment and be remembered as possibly one of the best video game adaptations. Especially since it was not even based on a video game.

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Story

It has been seven years since Lara’s father, billionaire and researcher Richard Croft has disappeared while on trip in Japan. Lara doesn’t want to believe he is dead. In that she refuses to accept her inheritance, as that will make her officially admit he has passed. Instead she is broke, lives in some rundown apartment and barely makes a living working as bike courier. Eventually she is persuaded by her father’s business partner Ana to accept the inheritance, as otherwise it all would be sold at an auction. While meeting with her father’s lawyer (and before she can put her signature on the paper), he passes Lara some weird device “to be given to Lara upon Richard’s death”.

Devise turns out to be a message box and inside she finds a key that leads her to Richard’s secret room. She finds out that Richard was in reality searching for some supernatural artifacts all his life. His mission to Japan was to find a secret tomb of Himiko, so-called “Queen of Death”. In his last message to his daughter, Richard begs her to destroy all his research on tHimiko as “bad guys” are looking for it. Lara instead decides to use his journal to find what happened to Richard. And she sets for Honk Kong.

Writing

Lara (Vikander) get her hands on bow and arrows

To better understand the issues this movie has you have to know the story of whole “Tomb Raider” series. Original game was critically acclaimed and influential to the third-person shooter genre. Story was rich, game design was groundbreaking and performance was outstanding. On top of that, to have a badass and gorgeous female character in sleeveless top, really short shorts and knee high boots run around doing rolls, jumps, etc. was an ultimate dream of teenage boys of 90’s. This supplemented with Indiana Jones style adventures made the game so popular among all kind of fans.

So it was no surprise that when Angelina Jolie appeared in “Lara Croft: The Tomb Raider” and it’s sequel, the main point was to emphasize the sex symbol aspect of the character. Thus we have 2 films that were more concentrated on Jolie’s breasts than anything else. “Tomb Raider” takes another approach. Based on the game series reboot in 2013, this version turns to the story and the action, instead of the physical appearance of the character.

In that it tries to replicate Indiana Jones films.  From one side it is good – Indiana Jones series is the best adventure films ever. So it is good trying to accomplish what they have. And to be honest, film does get this job done. On the other side, while replicating Indiana Jones it gets really annoying how much this film wants to be an Indiana Jones film. The plot of the film is literally amalgamation of all three Indiana Jones films (mainly, the last one). Full with cliche elements, weird dialogues, one dimensional characters, questionable choices, “Tomb Raider” leaves very little to imagination. That and Lara’s inability to get any bad injury in the whole ordeal, just like Ethan Hawke in Mission: Impossible.

That is until the last quarter of the film. In this section, film in my opinion redeemed itself. The resolution of the film and ending was properly done, well written and (most importantly) made total sense. I do have to give credit to writers here, to be able to bring the film back to be enjoyable and not just to be another brainless ride.

Lara (Vikander) hangs for her life

Directing

I have only good things to say about the directing. Done by Roar Uthaug, film actually capitalizes on the action sequences. They are masterfully done, don’t feel much like they have been filmed in the studio with green screen and they are surprisingly enjoyable. Of course, there are shaky camera shots and fast cuts, but at least they are not annoying. Action keeps you on the edge of your seat. There is another aspect to whole action-adventure genre that Indiana Jones does best is the sequencing of fast and slow scenes. “Tomb Raider” achieves the same. Crazy chase followed by puzzle solving. Fight in the forest followed by expositional dialogue. By manipulating and carefully staging this, director is able to keep us invested in the film. It never feels boring and it never feels comically crazy.

One more thing that director gets best is the to give as close video game look as possible, without diving into weird territory. The way Lara runs from obstacles looks exactly how it does in the games. One second off and you are dead. Minor details like bow and arrow sequences and snow axe were additions that made the game fan in me say “Yay!”

Vogel (Goggins) is happy to see Lara (Vikander)

Acting

Unlike Angelina Jolie, Alicia Vikander didn’t have to enhance her breath size to appease fans. She no longer wears ridiculously stupid and useless shorts. Yes, she still wears sleeveless top, but film doesn’t try to sexualize her looks. There is also absolutely no romantic subplot of the film. Which is actually against the #1 rule in Hollywood that at least one subplot should be romantic. Don’t get me wrong, Vikander looks gorgeous, probably best of all her other roles. But this gorgeousness is not because she runs around half-naked, but because she is strong, independent and relentless character. Vikander is very convincing both in dramatic parts and action sequences. Her badass mode Lara is a pleasure to watch. Walton Goggins (who I am a big fan of since his “Justified” days) plays the villain Matthias Vogel. Unfortunately, he feels very one-dimensional. There is some backstory and motivation to him, but it is so badly done. By no means, can you compare him to any of Indiana Jones villains. Which is a shame, because I am sure Goggins would have made that character very colorful.

Summary

“Tomb Raider” is a very good action film that tries to replicate Indiana Jones. Albeit having weak writing, film nevertheless keeps you on the edge of your seat. Alicia Vikander’s Lara Croft is a true badass and I can’t wait to see her again in this role.

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Essentially I had no idea about back story of Tintin and Co., and I’m sure 99% of my readers don’t know either, so here’s a short version of the plot. Movie follows young (teenage? adult? I have no idea, he looks babyface like DiCaprio) journalist Tintin and his loyal friend – dog named Snowy (who actually is smarter than everyone in the movie), as they discover an ancient ship model of a famous 17th century ship “Unicorn”, that according to the legend was sunk with “secret cargo” aboard. Out of the blue, this replica model gets into hands of Tintin and, like everyone was waiting for just this magic moment, an epic adventure including pirates, ancient treasures, puzzles, drunken escapades, crazy voyages etc. unfolds in alarmingly fast manner.

All this is done with the same precision and orientation as Indiana Jones movies. Well, at least it was intended that way. I don’t know how to interpret the acting, since its 100% animation. So I’m just going to comment on the animation and directing part.

Movie is 100% adventure, and in my opinion it pushes the boundary some times. I consider the best adventure movie to be first Indiana Jones (“Raiders of the Lost Ark“), and even there Spielberg used overlapping FAST-SLOW-FAST formula, which in return gave the viewer the chance to take a breathe from long action sequences and immerse into incredible puzzles. In “Tintin” the slow part was very small and the fast action part occupied much bigger section of the movie. I assume leaving the movie for the restroom break and coming back 2 minutes later, you wouldn’t be able to understand WHY, WHAT and WHERE is going on.

That being said, the movie is one great rollercoaster. 3D animation is on top, sometimes you can even confuse it with live action sequences, and the only thing that keeps you from falling for it is cartoonish characters. Very nice usage of 3D projection techniques actually makes “The Adventures of Tintin” the best one since “Avatar”. Although I would recommend to watch it carefully, I experienced some teary eyes due to concentration on 3D glasses like I never had before.

Overall I enjoyed it. I really wish there was something more to it, I kind of felt dissatisfied by the ending. So I’m giving 7 out of 10. Definitely a good movie to watch.

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First of all, there’s something you should know about Martin Scorsese and his recent movies. Having spent last 40 years trying to get his well deserved but oh so missed Oscar, he worked entirely on the movies that concentrated on pulling out the ecstatic tear out of the eyes of every single Academy member. And whether he achieved this he was always denied Oscar, either by chance or by a better movies. In some essence, this fact forced him to work more and more on his films, eventually making him create some incredible masterpieces on his way. But when finally he got his Oscar (for The Departed), I think, what happened is he just gave up all those ambitious crazy Oscar-bearing dramas and shifted his thoughts to old projects he has been sacrificing all this years. Same was with Shutter Island – some kind of horror/thriller, which in my opinion was just blah. And now we have “Hugo”.

Film tells a story of a little orphan named Hugo (yes! you found it!). His late father has been a clock master, and from him Hugo inherited his talent of fixing stuff. Unfortunately, what he does now is living in the central train station in Paris, where he secretly takes care of all the clocks, steals food from local pastry shop, and “borrows” parts from toy store to fix the only thing left from his father – metallic broken automoton. This automoton, he believes carries last message from his father, and is the only object that Hugo can relate in this world. Well, up until he gets caught by toy store owner (Ben Kingsley), and gets to know him and his granddaughter, with whom he embarks on an incredible journey to uncover past.

Hugo is played by a newcomer – young Asa Butterfield. He plays surprisingly well, his performance includes looking “orphanish” with tears in his big endless blue eyes and magic smile. I really would like to concentrate on the supporting cast, which in my opinion was just spectacular.

Sir Ben Kingsley plays toy store owner Georges Melies, and this is probably the best old man impression I have seen in recent years. Probably who don’t know Sir Kingsley, might think that this is how he actually is, but believe me this is the first time he actually does play a poor old man. And he does it with such a spectacular approach that you really fall for it.

Another notable performance lays on Sacha Baron Cohen. Known for the immortal roles as Ali G (not A, not B, C, D, E or F), Borat, and Bruno, he proves what I’ve been suspecting long time ago. There’s much more to his acting abilities that he shows on the screen. He plays Station Inspector, whose sole purpose is maintaining a solid control on the grounds of the train station. Nothing passes his sharp eyes and ears. And there’s only 2 things that can stop him – his long injured leg and flower girl Lisette.

Overall I have bipolar feelings about directing. Yes, the movie is shot in 3D, and watching it in regular 2D is probably the worst thing you can do. Its probably one of the best movie shot in 3D. So technically I do applaud the elaborate sets and impressive CGI. What I disliked was really long introduction, that lasted nearly an hour for some kind of action or progression of storyline to start. And then there’s this little creepy automoton, who is nothing more just a metallic toy resembling that crazy robot from “I, Robot” and all you expect is that creepy thing to look suddenly into the camera, grab a big butcher knife and start “Paris Chainsaw Massacre” of some kind. But no, Scorsese has some different plans.

And believe me when I say – you know how this movie will end, you have seen a thousand like this one before. I’m giving it 5/10.

PS: My brother (who disliked this movie more than I did) is betting this film will get at least 5 Oscars this season. I somehow agree with him.

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