Transformers: The Last Knight

Everyone's favorite Robots in Disguise are back for another pyrotechnic display from Michael Bay. This is Transformers: The Last Knight, allegedly Bay's last film in this franchise. It's got more of the same from this franchise and director. It may or may not break the film as usual.

Autobot Leader Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) left Earth at the end of the last film, Age of Extinction, to meet his makers. He meets one of them, the evil Quintessa (Gemma Chan), on the remains of the Transformers' world, Cybertron. She tells him he can help her restore Cybertron if he gets her staff. She can use her staff to drain Earth's energy. A bit of brainwashing later and "Nemesis Prime" is ready to help...

...with an hour or less remaining in the movie.

The rest of the movie deals with Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) as a fugitive savior of the fugitive Autobots. While scouring the remains of Chicago, devastated in Dark of the Moon, he finds a plucky survivor, Izabella (Isabella Moner) and a Transformer who gives him an unusual talisman. This gets the attention of the Transformer Cogman (Jim Carter), who summons Cade to meet his master, Sir Burton (Anthony Hopkins). The talisman is a relic from an order of Cybertronian Knights who served Camelot and Quintessa's staff was Merlin's staff. It also transpires that Earth is more than meets the eye. Only a descendant of Merlin can wield the staff and save the Earth from Quintessa.

The film mercifully scales back the franchise's escalating runtimes. It's 149 minutes, a minute shorter than the second movie, Revenge of the Fallen. Although it's shorter, the film's screenplay misses a few marks. I already mentioned how "Nemesis Prime" takes forever to show up oppose the Autobots and friends. It takes less than that for him to turn good. Izabella, meanwhile, is out of the picture for a good chunk of the movie despite being heavily featured in the trailers. She is a strong character in her fairly limited screentime, though. Let's not forget how Cade could've prevented a few conflicts if he showed the Cybertronian Knights his talisman.

The supporting cast gets some stuff right. Merlin, played here by Stanley Tucci, is portrayed as a drunk and a charlatan plagued by self-doubt who begs the Cybertronian Knights for help against overwhelming odds. His cameo was the best thing about the movie. Cogman and Burton were entertaining and endearing old folks, and never overstayed their welcome. The new Decepticon warriors were entertaining, even if most of them bit the dust after a scene or two. It's always something to see Barricade, the one Decepticon who won't die, prowling around.

The franchise continues its technical standards ten years on. The Transformers still look and move like real robots. They seamlessly transform into actual vehicles and other CGI-creations. Quintessa is an eerie CGI creation as is her gestalt henchman, Infernocus. The sound quality is as loud and forceful as always, though thankfully my screening didn't dial it up exponentially. The various locations, from London to Cybertron and the Knights' ship, all looked great when rendered by cinematographer Jonathan Sela. The crew hasn't lost its touch or its power yet.

The TV commercials are making it out like it's the last one ever. But it's not. There's a spin-off with the Autobot Bumblebee next year and an official sixth film the following year. The end credits even show a blatant sequel hook. They've got a lot of plans with this franchise even as the reviews get worse and worse. As for me, the film is fine as long as you don't think about it too much. I just hope that whoever takes over from Bay does more to fuel this franchise's spark.

OK, rolling out now.

Cars 3

Who knew there was still life in these Cars?

The Cars movies lacked the critical motor backing Pixar's usual output (Cars 2, even more so), but they still made money. So the inevitable Cars 3 was bound to drive in. It's finally happened. The final product is surprisingly the best of the mostly OK franchise.

Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is still the top race car of the Piston Cup circuit. Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer) is a new racer driving up to steal Lightning's thunder. He and a new bunch of race cars have the technical know-how to zoom past the old guard. So the old guard quickly retire, but not Lightning. One race against Storm ends in disaster for Lightning.

Lightning decides to get back to work once he gets well enough. He goes to a new training facility where cars like Storm get their simulated know-how. There's also some personal input provided by trainer Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo). His new sponsor, Sterling (Nathan Fillion), sees no future in Lightning's racing career, but sees one for him in advertising. Lightning decides to stake his career on his next race. Cruz is appointed to help him, but Lightning helps her realize her own racing dreams.

This marks the directorial debut of Brian Fee, a Pixar Storyboard Artist since Cars. Its story is a good one. Lightning's struggle to stay relevant is an understandable one. After all, what does an "old car" do after so many years? That's reflected in his flashbacks with his mentor, Doc Hudson (Paul Newman, via archive recordings). He finds it rewarding to do what Doc did and train the next generation. That's a great resolution. There's also a prevalent moral that technology is no replacement for real world experience (see Cruz's first time on the field).

Are there issues with the story? Yes, but probably minor. Jackson Storm isn't seen again after the final race. I would've wanted to see some resolution to that guy. And my suspension-of-disbelief nearly cracked when Lightning and Cruz tracked down Smokey (Chris Cooper), Doc's own mentor. Smokey is still alive when most comparatively aged humans aren't. How old are the characters? 

Cars 3 continues Pixar's standards of technical excellence. The car characters look realistically shiny and chrome. Their environments are equally photorealistic; the training facility is a real masterpiece of production design. The sound design and editing are suitably intense and clear. Composer Randy Newman's recognizable score is a good listen and a nice fit for the action.

Cars 3 relates themes universal for both humans and anthropomorphic cars. Its themes may sound overtly familiar, but it gives them some new spins. The new spins help make the final race a satisfying trilogy capper. It's also a good warm-up for Pixar's Thanksgiving offering, Coco.

The proceedings begin with Pixar's latest short, Lou. This one finds the animate contents of the lost-and-found box in an Elementary School dealing with a bully with kindness. It's another fun and emotional story even if you can't make out what Lou really is.

The Mummy

INT. MUSEUM - ANCIENT EGYPT WING

JETHRO walks around when he finds a MUMMY walking around.

JETHRO (nonplussed): Mummy, may I say something?

MUMMY: Yes, you may.

JETHRO: Rita Repulsa was scarier than you.

The Mummy chases him around. Jethro gives him the slip. The Mummy goes back into his sarcophagus.

JETHRO: Something like that.

Universal Studios went back to its ghoulery of monster movies for its latest financial crutch franchise. They've rebranded their classic ghouls and ghosts under the name Dark Universe. Their first resurrected ghoul is The Mummy, which already has a Brendan Fraser film series in distant memory. What does this have to make it a series? I don't know.

So the mummy herself is Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella) of Egypt. She was supposed to be the next Queen, but when she got a baby half-brother, she went all familicide. She also sold her soul to the god Set, who gave her a MacGuffin dagger to use to give him a human host. She got mummified alive and buried in Mesopotamia under ancient lock-and-key before she could use it, though.

Eons later, Mesopatamia is Iraq and a drone strike opens up Ahmanet's tomb. Treasure Hunters/Mercenaries/Thieves/Scoundrels Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) and Chris Vail (Jake Johnson) called the air support during a brutal firefight. Nick breaks Ahmanet's seal while archaeologist Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) explains the unorthodox tomb preparation. They load up the sarcophagus on the next cargo plane out of Egypt. On the flight, a zombie Vail goes stab-crazy while a murder of crows wrecks the flight. Nick gives Jenny a parachute out while he goes down.

Nick's still alive. He's now psychically linked to Ahmanet because he broke the seal. Her endgame is to use him to be Set's human host. She sets out to drain the life force from folks in the meantime. She also wants that dagger back. Jenny's part of a monster hunting organization that can stop The Mummy. It's called Prodigium and its leader is Dr. Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe).

Alex Kurtzman, co-writer and/or producer of many a blockbuster, such as Transformers and Ender's Game, gets to direct one of his own. It's not, however, his directorial debut; that honor goes to the box office dud People Like Us. Let's get that misconception out of the way.

The writing is credited to six people, including Kurtzman. It shows. Our main heroes are respectable, albeit forgettable character types. Vali gets to be Nick's decaying ghost buddy, an idea one's sure to recognize from An American Werewolf in London. Really? The Mummy herself is explained as a tragic figure, but is shown doing nothing but evil. Dr. Jekyll is the best character but only because he's unintentionally hilarious when he finally turns into Mr. Hyde. The story these characters take part in is interesting, albeit somewhat muddled, contains a few moments of astounding idiocy and its constant action is more routine than anything.

The visual effects and makeup department was fine here. Their best work took Ahmanet from a decayed mummy to an undead human. I couldn't tell if her zombies were by makeup or CGI, so that's good fx work there, I guess. The sandstorm across London was pretty nifty too; the sound design helped get its point across. Ahmanet's prison tomb was a good work of production design. Brian Tyler's score conveyed an eerie, epic tone quite well. The technical people did well even if the story didn't.

Universal already has Bride of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man to go next in its Dark Universe. They'll have to give their revamped monster movies more spark of life if they want audience involvement. That's supposing The Mummy doesn't derail the franchise from the word go. It's an average summer blockbuster worth only a matinee. That's also supposing you want to see it. Or not.

Captain Underpants

When Stan Lee introduced Spider-Man in 1962, he referred to superheroes as "long underwear characters" who are a "dime a dozen." I ask these questions. Who wears long underwear anymore? And I'm not sure underwear is kinda accurate.

But leave it to Dav Pilkey to create a literary hero who actually fights in his underwear, Captain Underpants! This incredibly silly concept is now a Dreamworks feature, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.

George Beard (Kevin Hart) and Harold Hutchinson (Thomas Middleditch) love to amuse themselves and their classmates at the dour Jerome Horwitz Elementary School. Their best mediums are pranks and comics. Their top creation is Captain Underpants, whose choice attire should be obvious. Their excessive pranks irks the ill-tempered Principal Krupp (Ed Helms) to no end. So he decides to end it all by putting the boys in separate classes. As a last ditch effort to stop him, George pulls a 3D Hypno Ring that he got out of a cereal box on Krupp. The Hypno Ring actually works.

The boys realize that Krupp resembles their creation and promptly make him Captain Underpants. Their real life super hero is a super pleasant nuisance who causes more trouble than he realizes. They can change him back with water, and revert with finger snapping, but why bother? Krupp will just split them up. They'll just have to find a way to keep their problem under control. But he'll be useful when the new science teacher (Nick Kroll) decides to take over the world by sucking the laughter out of it.

Director David Soren co-wrote the screenplay with Nicholas Stoller. The toilet humor might bury this premise under most interpretations. But not this one. The film is loaded with several sly meta-jokes, sight gags, slapstick, running gags, action scenes ... and profound messages. Yes, messages. To wit, kids must have fun and friendship in their lives or they'll be miserable adults like Krupp and the science teacher. The science teacher's motivation is to avenge the mocking of his name, Professor Poopypants. It does make one think of the real life stigma of having a "unique" name.

The voice cast also sells it. Ed Helms is great as the maniacal Principal Krupp and the pleasant Captain Underpants. Hart and Middleditch make for a likable pair of karmic tricksters who get in way over their heads. Kroll's Professor Poopypants makes for an entertaining villain; he discusses the brain in overly-long nonsense terms, badly denies being a secret supervillain and is legitimately threatening when he shows himself evil. Jordan Peele also stands out as Melvin Sneedly, George and Harold's grade school nemesis and the Professor's laugh-resistant assistant.

It's a miracle that this movie cost $38 million considering the cost of animation and movies and animation movies these days. The movie's colorful animation is a 3D translation of the original books' art style. The film also has comic book scenes in 2D animation in that same style. It even has an imagine spot with sock puppets! There's even a scene presented in flip book form, which the books called "Flip-o-Rama," which our heroes admit is a cost cutting measure. The changing art styles help cement the film's wacky nature. The unusually good sound design made it a nice aural experience.

Don't let the wacky title throw you off. Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is the smartest dumb movie of the summer. It knows how silly it is and lets the audience have fun with it. There's much to think about after its 89 minutes are done. I saw it on flatscreen matinee, but it's worth any price. That's how good it is.

Wonder Woman

Batman v Superman's biggest cinematic folly was putting its eggs in one basket. Everybody in DC comics crowded into what was supposed to be a simple Superman sequel. But Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) made a significant impression despite her fleeting presence. She made more of an impression in her own movie, also called Wonder Woman. Let's see why.

Diana is the princess of Themyscira, the secluded island of the Amazons. They defend humanity from the manipulations of violent beings like Ares, the God of War. Her aunt, Antiope (Robin Wright), trains her in combat against the wishes of her mother, Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen). Meanwhile, World War I is happening, and pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) is on the run from the German Empire. He crash lands at Themyscira and Diana fishes him out. His story of "the war to end all wars" leads Diana to suspect Ares is behind it all. So she arms herself and goes with Steve to London.

The evil General Ludendorff (Danny Huston) and his top scientist, Dr. Poison (Elena Ayana), have developed a super-advanced mustard gas. Steve has Poison's notebook with her formula. Diana has her eyes on Ludendorff, believing he is Ares incarnate. Steve and Diana head off to face Ludendorff's threat. They'll have to hurry as the Allies are drawing up the Armistice of Compiègne.

Director Patty Jenkins (Monster) works from a script by Allan Heinberg, who co-wrote the screen story with Zack Snyder and Jason Fuchs. It's a story that doesn't drown itself in CGI action or prioritize the upcoming Justice League movie. It's got action scenes, yes, and its framing device shows present-day Diana in touch with Batman. But the story is engaging and comprehensive.

Gal Gadot herself is engaging as Diana. She wants to do the right thing and is capable of doing so. Her not being allowed to frustrates her and the audience. We also feel her disillusionment with the world when she experiences war for the first time. It's also entertaining to see her experience contemporary life for the first time. Her relationship with Steve is also endearing.

And for the rest of the cast. Chris Pine is funny and serious and excellent as Steve. The same goes for his crew, Sameer (Saïd Taghmaoui), Charlie (Ewen Bremner) and Chief (Eugene Brave Rock). Lucy Davis is good comic relief as Etta Candy. The Amazons, especially Nielsen and Wright, were great. Huston and Ayana were strong villains, though her resolution was kind of abrupt. David Thewlis also made an impression as the kindly Sir Morgan, a man who's got more than he lets on.

The technical crew was also full of wonders. Production Designer Aline Bonetto and Costume Designer Lindy Hemming realize the various settings, such as Themyscira, London and the Western Front perfectly. Dr. Poison's partial face mask is a creepy sight. I don't know if that counts as costuming or makeup, but as for the makeup/hairstyling, it also works for the setting. Cinematographer Matthew Jensen gives each setting the appropriate color scheme. Edtior Martin Walsh makes the battle scenes comprehensive and forceful. The score by Rupert Gregson-Williams is also memorable and it makes good use of Diana's leitmotif from Batman v Superman.

Wonder Woman never loses sight of its goals during its 141 minute runtime. It's ultimately about Diana rising above the cruelty of reality with love, not hate. It does the world's best comic book super heroine proud. Her next appearance in Justice League is definitely anticipated now. And you might see a fleeting trailer of the biopic of her creator, William Moulton Marston, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, which doesn't have a release date yet.