Film: Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

 

GENRE: Adventure Drama
RATING: PG-13 for strong violence content
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 37 minutes
PLATFORM: Movie Theatre
STARRING: Rachel Zegler (West Side Story, Shazam!: Fury of the Gods)
Tom Blyth (newcomer); Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore, Asteroid City)
DIRECTOR: Francis Lawrence (Catching Fire, Mockingjay, Slave 4 U)
WRITERS: Michael Lesslie (Assassin’s Creed)
Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3, The Force Awakens)
PLOT: It’s the 10^th Annual Hunger Games and Snow is tasked to be a mentor to a strong female from District 12.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Read and enjoyed the novel.

STORY STUFF: This is an interesting backstory for Snow. I found myself rooting for him some of the time. The pre-Hunger Games prep is always interesting with a number of different strategies at play. The actual Hunger Games is well done in its constricted arena with Snow on the outside. The last third of the film (like the novel) gets boring quick. The excitement is lost as they have to show Snow slowly transitioning to someone darker. I would have rather seen some political maneuvering instead of rebel stuff. A great first two thirds though.

ACTING STUFF: Blyth plays Snow well at the capitol. He looks like someone who would eventually become Donald Sutherland. I liked watching him figure things out for personal gain but also for the girl. Zegler is wonderful as Lucy Gray Baird. She has a beautiful voice and is full of energy and life. I hate Viola Davis. I just don’t like her in films. Even though I’m not supposed to like her, I’d rather someone else play the part. Peter Dinklage isn’t given much to do but be a pissy Tyrion Lannister. The real standout is Schwartzman as Lucky Flickerman. Every line out of his mouth is gold. You can tell he is having fun and that allows us to have fun. His comment on the drones is great and his mantra “See what happens when you do stuff?” made me laugh out loud. I still smile thinking about it.

ARTISTIC STUFF: The look of the film matches the high production value of the other Hunger Games films. The big fail however is Snow sporting a close shaved haircut, white shirt and blue jeans. Will the real Slim Shady please stand up? What were the costumers thinking? I half expected Snow to do a rap battle or something. What a shame, especially as most of the other costumes look great, like Lucy Gray’s dress.

VERDICT: Four stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You like The Hunger Games trilogy.
UPCOMING REVIEW:  Napoleon, Please Don’t Destroy film

Film: The Killer

 

GENRE: Crime Thriller
RATING: R for strong violence, language, and brief sexuality
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 58 minutes
PLATFORM: Netflix
STARRING: Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class, Alien: Covenant)
Charles Parnell (Top Gun: Maverick); Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)
DIRECTOR: David Fincher (Social Network, Zodiac, Fight Club)
WRITER: Andrew Kevin Walker (Seven, Sleepy Hollow, 8MM)
PLOT: A paid assassin needs to travel and tie up loose ends when a hit goes wrong.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I like Fincher’s style no matter how dark.

STORY STUFF: I found myself pretty invested right from the start. We get most of our information from visuals and our killer’s narration but both are very well done. Walker writes a lot of great inner monologue as the killer describes his process. I love how methodical the killer is but he is also paranoid and makes a number of mistakes. I know Fincher and Walker are making a point that no one pays attention anymore, but the killer’s various 70’s TV aliases not raising a single eyebrow made me roll my eyes. That seems like a pretty risky thing to do for an assassin.

ACTING STUFF: While actors like Parnell and Swinton give great short performances, this film is all Fassbender. He is perfectly cast as a strong, silent type. What he doesn’t convey in his steely looks, he makes up for in his pitch perfect narration.   

ARTISTIC STUFF: There is just something about the way Fincher shoots his films that keeps me mesmerized. Just beautiful angles, wide shots, dollies and light contrasts. I also highly enjoyed the playlist consisting of mostly The Smiths. Lots of great lyrics that comment on the killer’s situation. Vey fun stuff.

VERDICT: Four stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You like a sharp Fincher film
UPCOMING REVIEW:  The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

Film: The Marvels

 

GENRE: Action Fantasy
RATING: PG-13 for action violence and brief language
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 45 minutes
PLATFORM: Movie Theatre
STARRING: Brie Larson (Room, Fast X, Just Mercy, Captain Marvel)
Teyonah Parris (Wandavision, Candyman); Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel)
DIRECTOR: Nia DaCosta (Candyman)
WRITERS: DaCosta (Candyman); Megan McDonnell (Wandavision); Elissa Karasik (Loki, WeCrashed)
PLOT: Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan’s powers get entangled as they try to save the universe.    

FULL DISCLOSURE: Expectations were incredible low.

STORY STUFF: I like a good space saga but not in the hands of Marvel. I just found the film messy and I either didn’t know what was going on or didn’t care. Kree and Skrulls? Sorry, not my thing. I did like the Khan family getting involved. Other than Nick Fury one-liners, the saving grace of the film were the kittens, sorry Flerkens. Lots of laughs when the ship is overrun by kittens trying to save the day with their outrageous appetite. I could watch that scene over and over again.

ACTING STUFF: Larson and Parris do an okay job but don’t look like they are having much fun. Vellani is having too much fun at times. She gets a couple good reactions but it gets a little much, kinda like her television series. The Khan family trio is fun to watch. Samuel L Jackson gets all the great lines though. He’s much better in a supporting role as compared to the dull Secret Invasion series.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Lots of space stuff that didn’t wow me. There’s an odd singing land that made me exhausted watching them constantly dance. I like the Beastie Boys track and some of the other song choices. The first post-credit sequence might excite a few viewers. Luckily, a Cinplex employee warned us that the last post-credit thing is just a sound effect and not worth the seven-minute wait. We took his advice. So should you.

VERDICT: Two stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You feel need to watch every Marvel film.
UPCOMING REVIEW:  The Killer