Power Rangers

In 1984, businessman Haim Saban was introduced to the Super Sentai TV series in a Japanese hotel room. He thought the concept of rainbow-spandexed super heroes with giant robots punching rubber monsters was a good concept. He just needed to re-contextualize the action scenes with new material starring American actors. After years of rejection, his concept became a 90's cultural legacy: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

It was a matter of time before Saban's low-budget concept became a big-budget reboot film. And with director Dean Israelite, the Power Rangers are back on the big screen for the first time since 1997. The end result is unlike anything you'd expect from the franchise.

Jason Scott (Dacre Montgomery) used to be a High School Football Star until a prank benched him in detention. He immediately befriends nerdy Billy Cranston (RJ Cyler), who invites him to explore the local quarry. Their trespassing attracts the attention of disgraced former cheerleader Kimberley Hart (Naomi Scott) and loners Zack Taylor (Ludi Lin) and Trini (Becky G). They soon find five glowing coins that make them stronger than before.

Further exploring leads them to a ship. They meet the ancient warrior Zordon (Bryan Cranston), who's now a face on a wall, and his robot helper Alpha 5 (Bill Hader). Zordon tells them they are the Power Rangers, who must defend Earth and its life-giving Zeo Crystal from evil. Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks), the treacherous Green Ranger, has risen to take the crystal for herself. The Rangers have to become friends if they are to morph and take on Rita and her giant minion, Goldar.

The film spends a lot of time developing the Rangers' personalities and relationships. The cast succeeds quite well. We get to know them well beyond their chromatic arrangements. They behave like teenagers with attitude than paragons of virtue. Their problems are understandable. They only morph within the last half-hour; their chemistry makes it worth it.

What about the supporting cast? Banks is certainly a standout as Rita. She's delightfully hammy and legitimately creepy, sometimes in the same scene. Cranston is reliable as always as Zordon, who has an ulterior motive for training the Rangers. Hader was nice as the voice of the snarky, yet nice Alpha 5. David Denman is also great as Jason's father, Sam.

There's a lot of effort in this production. The Rangers' new armored suits are practical costumes with CGI enhancements. You'll be fine with them once you see them in action. The same goes for their Zords and their combined Megazord form. In fact, the best visual effect scene of the film was the Megazord rising from the ground. It helps a lot that the action is coherently strung together by editors Dody Dorn and Martin Bernfeld. Matthew J. Lloyd's cinematography is also great. Brian Tyler's score is also worth a listen.

Power Rangers is a good mix of seriousness and silliness. There's some minor story nitpicks but they're minor in the grand scheme of things. It's story is a lot more profound than what you'd might expect from the franchise. It's a good way to pass the time before the latest incarnation, Power Rangers Ninja Steel, returns from its hiatus this fall. Its mid-credit scene promises another ranger in the sequel.

Beauty and the Beast

I was five when Beauty and the Beast came out. I still remember what trailers were on it (Father of the Bride and The Great Mouse Detective). So now, Disney's "tale as old as time" has gotten itself a live-action rendition. It's still effective even if we know the score.

Belle (Emma Watson) is the smartest girl in her "poor, provincial town" of Villeneuve. The townsfolks thinks she's strange, while the hunter and war-hero Gaston (Luke Evans) sees her as a prize. Her widowed father, Maurice (Kevin Kline), goes off to market. Maurice is redirected by happenstance to a snowy castle and is imprisoned by its beastly master.

Belle goes off to the castle. She meets The Beast (Dan Stevens) and trades herself for her father. Belle refuses to do anything with The Beast; she brings out his best qualities with time. Meanwhile, Maurice tries to get help for Belle and Gaston reveals his worst qualities.

Director Bill Condon works from a script by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos. It contains the familiar story beats and songs from the animated classic. It expands the story to provide backstories for the titular protagonists and fill in plot holes. The original's 84 minutes become this film's 129 minutes. It still tells a compelling story with capable leads. The ending is still emotional even if it's common knowledge.

The Enchanted Servants, like Lumiere (Ewan McGregor), Cogsworth (Ian McKellen) and Mrs. Potts (Emma Thompson), are still entertaining. Gaston is still a big creep and Maurice is a lot tougher than his animated counterpart. The best supporting character is Gaston's sidekick LeFou (Josh Gad), who's far from the sycophant his animated version was. LeFou is more of a character than a punching bag this time around.

Alan Menken's familiar music is still welcome after 25 years. The new orchestrations are as memorable as the old. The revised lyrics of a few songs weren't intrusive. The score adds new songs with lyrics by Tim Rice, filling in for the late Howard Ashman, just like the Broadway version. These new songs fit right in with the old standards.

Production Designer Sarah Greenwood and Costume Designer Jacqueline Durran perfectly visualize the animated film. They perfectly contrast the opulence/decay of The Beast's castle and the humbleness of Villeneuve. The makeup team's best work is Agathe (Hattie Morahan), the Enchantress who cursed The Beast, who grows younger with time. The Beast himself is visualized with pretty good motion-capture work.

Beauty and the Beast works just the same as the animated version. You've heard the story before, but it's still compelling after all these years. The characters are believable and the tone is earnest. It feels like seeing this story for the first time. A great achievement.

Nothing left to say.

Kong: Skull Island

The most famous big ape is back.

Peter Jackson followed his first trip to Middle-Earth with a three-hour recreation of 1933's 100 minute-long King Kong. Now, director Jordan Vogt-Roberts follows his debut feature, The Kings of Summer, with Kong's latest, Kong: Skull Island.

Bill Randa (John Goodman) has photographic evidence of an uncharted island in the South Pacific. He figures that strange and powerful creatures thrive there. He gets an expedition to "Skull Island" going just as the White House pulls the plug on the Vietnam War. Col. Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) is happy to get some work escorting the mission. Also on deck include geologist  Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins), tracker James Conrad (Tom Hiddelston) and photographer Mason Weaver (Brie Larson).

The expedition braves Skull Island's permanent storm-system to encounter paradise. They proceed to bomb it to see if the Hollow Earth theory holds out. King Kong immediately appears and knocks them out of the sky. They're all separated after this.

Meanwhile, freaky lizard things called Skullcrawlers emerge to eat and maim. Kong is the only thing keeping them in check and he's the last of his kind. Conrad and friends learn this from Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly), a stranded pilot from WWII. Col. Packard wants to kill Kong to avenge his fallen comrades. Our heroes have to keep that from happening if they want to get off the Island.

Since this King Kong is over 100 ft tall, don't expect him to climb the Empire State Building anytime soon.

The screenplay doesn't rehash the 1933 template unlike the other two remakes. It's just an expedition to Skull Island. It juggles the stories of the two groups quite well. The scientific explanations don't weigh down the film at all. Plus, it gives a profoundly prophetic line as Randa remarks "there will never be a more screwed up time in Washington than now." It also masters the mood whiplash cut: a soldier falling into Kong's waiting mouth cuts to another eating a sandwich.

What about the characters? Marlow is not only funny but one of the sanest characters in the movie. Conrad and Weaver were fine. Packard is likable even after he goes Ahab on Kong. A few other characters were hard to keep track of, but they were mainly the Red Shirts. Biologist San Lin (Jing Tian) could've used more characterization. It would've been nice if Gunpei Ikari (Miyavi), Marlow's enemy turned friend, was shown more.

What about the star? Kong appears in full in the first half-hour. He shows up more frequently than Godzilla in his 2014 movie. He's mainly angry or stern through out the movie. We get a scene where we see him sad and lonely. Kong and his fellow creatures are have great designs and realized by nice CGI. Kong is portrayed with motion-capture by actors Terry Notary and Tobe Kebbell, the latter of whom appears in the flesh as a Mauve Shirt.

Cinematographer Larry Fong shows off Kong's size and the Skull Island landscape with his great work. The visual style fits right in with Apocalypse Now as much as its story's tone. While Wagner isn't involved, a fine score by Henry Jackman and some old standards set the scenes. Editor Richard Pearson keeps the film going good for 119 minutes. The sound work is pretty good too.

Kong: Skull Island believes that bigger monsters are better than bigger run times. It also helps that it has humans that the audience can identify with. It gives a welcome fresh spin to the story of cinema's greatest big ape. It's a blessing in a world where remakes simply rehash a classic template. An awesome blessing.

Its prerequisite end credit scene gives us a glimpse for Kong's future, which involves the King of the Monsters and friends. Yay.

Logan

The Wolverine is back, again.

Once again, and perhaps for the last time embodied by Hugh Jackman, our favorite clawed mutant ditches his moniker for his real name in Logan. It's unlike any X-Men film you've seen before.

It's the future and it's terrible. Mutants are pretty much extinct. It's just Logan, Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and the tracker Caliban (Stephen Merchant). Professor X is senile and his mental abilities frequently go out of whack as result. Logan is a chauffeur and assists Caliban in taking care of Professor X. Logan's healing powers are also failing and his adamantium skeleton is killing him. Like I said, not good.

Logan is given a job by a nurse named Gabriella. His mission, that he begrudgingly accepts, is to escort her daughter, Laura (Dafne Keene), to a place called Eden. The evil corporation Transigen and its Reaver agents want Laura badly. She's a mutant test subject with much of Logan's abilities. Logan doesn't want to get involved but Laura won't let him quit. He'll have to fight the evil Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook) and his own degenerating health to get Laura to safety.

The film eschews all restraint in its superpowered action. Unlike Deadpool, it doesn't display blood and guts for laughs. Our heroes slice up the bad guys and get hurt themselves. Even civilians get in the crossfire. Every bit of carnage was impactful. The film's ending is especially powerful if you've seen the series from the beginning. That includes all the "bad" films.

The screenstory, by director James Mangold, defines our cast perfectly. Logan still fights like his old, reliable self, even if he's otherwise lost the will to live. He finds a purpose in fathering Laura. Laura is a killing machine but she's still a moody child. Their interactions were believable. Professor X is funny when in his harmless rants, warm in his sage advice and compelling in his emotional moments. Pierce is a perfectly despicable villain as is Transigen head scientist Zander Rice (Richard E. Grant). The actors had much to work with and pulled it off.

There's much to admire in the technical department. The makeup crew aged up Jackman and Stewart quite well and rendered many unique mutants. The sound designers make Professor X's psychic seizures perfectly excruciating for us as the characters find them. The visual effects once again conjure up an eclectic display of mutant powers. The film's best effect is the digital work that allowed Jackman to play the brutish X-24. You wouldn't think it was digital at all.

It's best to quit when you're ahead. Logan is a perfect exit for Jackman from the franchise. It's well-acted, well-scripted and nicely paced at 137 minutes. It's also a good finale for the X-Men franchise except I hear Fox isn't done. At least this makes a lot of hiccups in the franchise worth it.

The whole experience kicks off with a special short/teaser for Deadpool 2, which won't shoot till June. It's "coming ... not soon enough."