Alice Through the Looking Glass

What was my life like six years ago? I had two dogs. I moved to Modesto. I watched movies on the big screen. One of those many was Tim Burton and Disney's take on Alice in Wonderland, one of the last movies I saw that predated this blog. And now, Disney hopes moviegoers will go down the Rabbit Hole again for Alice Through the Looking Glass.

Tim Burton left Alice Kinsleigh (Mia Wasikowska) a triumphant woman. She slew the Jabberwock, saved Wonderland (aka 'Underland), and asserted her independence in the normal world. Burton gave the director's chair to James Bobin, who opens with Alice in trouble. Alice is a sea-captain commandeering her late father's ship on a voyage to China. On her return voyage, she boldly outwits Pirates during a storm.

Back in London, Alice finds herself under the employ of the snobbish Lord Hamish Ascot (Leo Bill). Ascot, the man whom Alice left at the Altar to go down the Rabbit Hole, orders her to give up her ship or her house. Alice promptly takes a third option: follow the Butterfly Absolem (Alan Rickman) into a mirror that takes her back to Wonderland.

The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) is off the deep end, even for him. He's convinced that his family, who were vaporized by the Jabberwock, are still alive. His despair is literally killing him. So Alice goes off on a quest to find MacGuffin #1951, which the movie calls the Chronosphere, to retcon the tragedy. Time himself (Sacha Baron Cohen) gives chase, while the Red Queen (Helena Bonham-Carter) wants some vengeance. Time itself, meanwhile, goes out of whack. And Alice's Adventures in Time make things worse.

The change in directors is noticeable right from the start. The film's color palette is brighter than the first film's. Its sets are a lot easier on the eyes than the first film's Oscar-winning production design. Whether it's digital, real or real with digital enhancements, the work by production designer Dan Hennah amazes through out. Costume designer Colleen Atwood, who won the first film's other Oscar, comes back for the sequel. Her work is made more splendorous than usual thanks to the color palette.

While some may appreciate the new color palette, others may still accuse the film, like its predecessor, of putting style over substance. I found some substance that kept me through its 116 minutes. Danny Elfman's score is another memorable entry for his filmography. Alice's Wonderland friends, specifically the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), are funny and charming in their own weird ways. The Red Queen is given a sad backstory that makes one actually pity her. While Time himself is initially presented as an over-the-top villain, we see why he's actually necessary for universal functionality. It also helps that he's a likable antagonist.

Alice Through the Looking Glass was a pretty good belated sequel. The whimsical characters and tone are intact even with the new color palette. It's bound to please fans of the first film and infuriate the non-fans just the same. I find it better than the first film thanks to the aforementioned stuff. And even if Alice's adventures are done, Disney's fairy tale re-does aren't yet over. Their latest re-do, Beauty and the Beast, comes next March.

The Nice Guys

Don't let the name fool you. The Nice Guys aren't nice ... especially not to bad guys and each other. So don't expect anything placid from this movie. You can, however, expect a bizarre movie to get smarter by the minute.

It's 1977, and Holland March (Ryan Gosling) is a neebish PI who works any case he can in L.A. One day, old Mrs. Glenn (Lois Smith) gives him the case of her niece, Misty Mountains. Misty ... an actress of "high renown" ... drove her car through a house and died. But Mrs. Glenn is convinced Misty is still alive and one Amelia Kutner (Margaret Qualley) can prove it. Amelia is missing and Holland has to find her.

But Amelia doesn't want to be found. So she gets her own hired hand, the brutish Enforcer Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe), to drive away Holland. It turns out that some shady people want to find Amelia too. So Jackson and Holland join forces to find her first. Their trek down Hollywood uncovers a conspiracy involving Detroit automakers and a Political Protest Porn film.

(There, I said it. Porn. Alliteration is funny.)

Director/Co-Writer Shane Black, creator of the Lethal Weapon movies, brings another winning movie duo together with Crowe and Gosling. Their chemistry as they go from reluctant partners to willing ones is what makes the movie work. Gosling gets the best comedic moments while Crowe gets the best action. Meanwhile, Angourie Rice, as Holland's daughter Holly, makes for a great straight man and morality chain for the two of them.

About the story. It's like Abbot & Costello were in a film noir and the Hay's Office was asleep. The slapstick is hilariously brutal and John Boy (Matt Bomer), the film's main henchman, is legitimately threatening. Misty's death is all kinds of wrong but her last words make sense later on (it's the name of the MacGuffin movie). Amongst the family friendly laughs, there's one with coffee, another with a protest and a dream with a giant bee. The mystery story surrounding it all is a masterful one.

It's also a winner in technical aspects. The production and costume design are another vibrant representation of the 1970's. Joel Negron's editing legitimizes the humor, action and suspense. There was also a nifty original score, one provided by David Buckley and John Ottmann. There was barely an old standard in hearing range and it was cool for it.

My only issue, a minor one, is that the film should have been a few minutes shorter. Other than that, The Nice Guys runs smoothly for 116 minutes. It's an entertaining action comedy with a capable plot and great characters. It's the kind of movie that makes you want more like it. I do.

The Angry Birds Movie

It's the game almost everyone's played in one form or another. And now, Angry Birds has its own movie, "creatively" titled The Angry Birds Movie. The end result is one of the better video game adaptations out there.

Red (Jason Sudekis) hates his life on Bird Island. And yet, he's a party clown. At least he was, until he botches a gig and gets sentenced to anger management class. The class is hosted by Matilda (Maya Rudolph) and attended by Chuck (Josh Gad), Bomb (Danny McBride) and Terence. Matilda's goody-goody attitude makes Red feel lousier.

A ship of green pigs drops anchor on Bird Island - specifically on Red's house. Their leader, Leonard, brings the birds good tidings and gifts, like a slingshot. But that doesn't make Red any happier. Red's distrust is confirmed when he discovers Leonard and the Pigs are after the Birds' precious eggs.

And so, Red and his flightless neighbors must aim and shoot at the Pigs to get them back. And thus, I have described the entire movie.

The best thing going for it is its artistry. The animation, character detail and scenery are pretty good. I didn't mind that the characters now have limbs; the birds are still unique and the pigs are still green. Chuck's speed effects were pretty fun. This was pretty artistic for a budget of around $75 million.

It's story isn't as jumbled as Ratchet & Clank', but there are some issues. The film's 97 minutes are slowly paced; the first two paragraphs of my summary are about the first hour of the film. Red has a legitimate grievance with the Pigs that no one cares about. Then Red turns into the Chicken Little who really saw the sky fall. The toilet humor wasn't something I cared for, especially since one gag was unreasonably stretched out. Fortunately, the climactic assault on the Pigs was the best part.

The voice cast makes the most of their characters. They make their characters all lovable, even the bad guys. Special mention goes to Terence, whose deep growls are by Sean Penn, whose casting might be the film's best surprise.

The search for the great video game movie continues. But for now, The Angry Birds Movie, adequately fits the niche for video game movies. It could have been better, but let's not imagine how it could get worse.

Captain America: Civil War

The Star-Spangled Man is back for his third solo movie. This is Captain America: Civil War, which shares its subtitle and themes with one of Marvel's most infamous comic story-lines. The end result is one of Marvel's best cinematic outings.

Captain America (Chris Evans) and his Avengers thwart the supervillain Crossbones (Frank Grillo) from stealing a bioweapon in Lagos. Crossbones has an explosive surprise for Cap but Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) puts a lid on it. Unfortunately, she accidentally sends it at a nearby building. That incident finally inspires the UN to draw up legislation to regulate our heroes. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is all for it, but Cap is not. The meeting where the legislation is to be ratified goes south when somebody adds a truck bomb. The most high profile casualty is King T'Chaka (John Kani) of the African nation of Wakanda.

Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), the Winter Soldier, is the prime suspect of the incident. Captain America knows of Bucky's brainwashing, so he isn't convinced of his old buddy's guilt. Tony and the UN are convinced. So that leaves the Avengers choosing sides. Meanwhile, Col. Zemo (Daniel Brühl) of Sokovia (site of Age of Ultron's climactic melee) seeks to wreck the Avengers even further. Perhaps T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), the new king of Wakanda and the superhero Black Panther, can solve it.

Its premise of a superhero brawl and themes of superhero accountability and oversight will make one compare this to Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. It's just like that earlier movie if it was done more coherently. That's because screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely give both sides believable motivations. They have good points to make about their positions. They both believe they're correct while the audience ponders which one "really" is. It isn't conflict for the sake of conflict.

The film's new characters are memorable. Col. Zemo is one of Marvel's best cinematic villains, or maybe the best. He's not a superhuman, but he is dangerously intelligent. All Zemo has to do is make arrangements and watch some fireworks. Black Panther has the most compelling arc; it gets him from a vengeful warrior to a rational bringer of justice. Its most anticipated new character is Spider-Man (Tom Holland), whose wisecracks were welcome and acrobatics were Amazing.

Marvel fans expecting cinematic action and wisecracks will get their money's worth. Captain America: Civil War is a meaningful cinematic showdown that makes its 144 minutes memorable. Its consequences can't be undone with a magic reset button. Our heroes will be back together for the two-part Avengers: Infinity War, so we know they'll reconcile. But how?

Its prerequisite mid-credit and end-credit scenes give screen-time for Black Panther and Spider-Man, both of whom will have Marvel solo movies in the next few years.

Ratchet & Clank

One's a feline alien, and the other's a robot. Together, they fight Galactic crime. They've done it on Playstation games since 2002. And now, Ratchet & Clank are together on the big screen. It's an admirable adaptation of a video game, though nothing Oscar-worthy.

Ratchet the Lombax (James Arnold Taylor) is a mechanic on Planet Veldin. He's the only Lombax on this side of the galaxy, or perhaps ever. Employed and raised by Grim (John Goodman), Ratchet wants to leave the planet and join his heroes, The Galactic Rangers. What luck that they have open tryouts on Veldin just now. But he's immediately rejected by the Rangers' egotistical doofus commander, Captain Qwark (Jim Ward). So it seems Ratchet has to resign himself to mediocrity. It's not like adventure will fall out of the sky...

Oh wait, it does.

The evil Chairman Drek (Paul Giamatti) wants to make his own ideal planet. He sets out to build it with the help of his De-Planetizer space-station. But since it, well, blows up planets, The Galactic Rangers set out to stop him. But not if Drek and his War Bots can stop them first. A glitch results in one War Bot that's small and nice. This "defect" is Clank (David Kaye), and he escapes termination from Drek's henchbot, Victor Von Ion (Sylvester Stallone).

Back to the second paragraph...

Clank crash-lands on Veldin and is found by Ratchet. Ratchet and Clank join forces to stop the War Bots from killing the Rangers. They become instant celebrities, which threatens Qwark's stardom. That gives Drek some ideas on how to deal with the Galactic Rangers.

The plot sounds like a lot of animated movies. But its sense of humor saves it from banality. The captions which introduce a new location come with a joke ("Cue Bad Guy Speech in 3 ... 2 ... 1" took me by surprise). There's also a few bits of slapstick and referential humor here and there. Game fans are sure to find delight in the game references; meanwhile, I found Ratchet's Ranger crash course funny as Qwark gets exhausted by the weapon screwups. But the villains provide the best humor. In particular, the games' longest-running foe, Dr. Nefarious (Armin Shimerman), makes for a delightfully over-the-top scientist.

The problems come with the story. Its 93 minute runtime is paced both exceptionally fast and exceptionally slow. A certain character turns evil, realizes he's been betrayed, and is still evil until Ratchet tells him not to be (Was something jumbled in writing?). Ratchet gets blamed for the first attack on Drek going south for reasons that weren't adequately explained. Although they were voiced well, the characters felt too one-dimensional at times.

Like any good video game, Ratchet & Clank looks good. The animation and scenery is detailed and colorful. The character designs are good updates of the original PS2 designs. The new characters fit right in with established favorites. This was great work for a $20 million movie.

For all of its faults, Ratchet & Clank at least attempts to make a story out of a video game. It wasn't a great story, but it's the thought that counts. Newcomers to the franchise won't get lost in the shuffle. Longtime players will also find some fun out of it. Perhaps the great Video Game movie will come. But we'll just have to wait at its now loading screen.