The Lego Ninjago Movie

Apparently, The Lego Batman Movie wasn't enough Lego silliness for one year. We now have The Lego Ninjago Movie to deal with. Lego Ninjago, if anyone wants to know, is Lego's Ninja Superhero brand best known for its Cartoon Network TV show, Lego Ninjago: Master of Spinjitzu. A movie was perhaps inevitable when The Lego Movie became a thing. It's not awesome but it's still cool.

The evil Lord Garmadon (Justin Theroux) wants to take over the city of Ninjago for some reason. The Secret Ninja Force, a team of color-coded ninjas with giant mechs, opposes him every single time. Lloyd (Dave Franco), the Green Ninja, is Garmadon's son. Everybody in town knows about Lloyd's relationship to Garmadon and hates him for it. At least not the highly-visible secret ninjas, their Master Wu (Jackie Chan), and Lloyd's mom (Olivia Munn).

One day, Garmadon finally overpowers the highly-visible secret ninjas and takes over Ninjago. Lloyd uses the forbidden "Ultimate Weapon" to stop him. All that does is summon a non-Lego cat named Meowthra whose destructive playfulness makes things worse. The ninjas are without their mechs and Garmadon's sitting pretty. Oh yeah, and Lloyd also reveals his true identity to Garmadon and rejects him.

So Wu and the ninjas go on a perilous journey to find an "Ultimate, Ultimate Weapon" to deal with Meowthra. Garmadon tags along too to provide some villainous assistance. And also to mend (somehow) his relationship with his son. It's just as weird as it sounds.

I can already see a lot of work went into this movie by the credits alone. There are three directors credited, a whopping ten people worked on the screen story and screenplay and five people were the editors. The Lego Batman Movie had one, five and three people in those positions. So how did all those cooks do in this kitchen?

There are plenty of funny bits in the movie. Garmadon's idea of firing employees is to shoot them out of his volcano fortress. The Ultimate Weapon that summons Meowthra is clearly a laser-pointer. The townsfolk's' ostracizing of Lloyd gets ridiculous with a cheerleader chant that goes Platinum. Master Wu himself is also a master of funny and awesome. Meanwhile, Lloyd's relationship with Garmadon is a strong dramedic parody of the same sort we saw in works like Star Wars. It was funny to see Lloyd's attempt to remind Garmadon it was his birthday end in failure multiple times. It was nice to see them bond when they escaped Garmadon's former minions (long story). Overall, the humor still works.

What about the weak spots? The other highly-visible ninjas, Kai, Cole, Nya, Zane and Jay, are just there. They have some personality quirks, such as Zane being an obvious robot, but are kind of flat compared to Lloyd. The only lesson they learn is to use their elemental powers more and not their mechs. On the other hand, it was awesome when they finally started using their elemental powers. The ultimate lesson about finding "a new point of view" or something felt sort of rushed. It was admirable but I've seen that sort done better.

There's much to admire on a visual scale. The Lego figures and their environments are still fun and colorful. The elemental powers were also nicely realized. The best visual effect was Meowthra herself, played by two real cats named Pearl and Ruby, who were green-screened into the Lego world. Meowthra was apparently played by a CGI cat in a few shots but I couldn't tell which ones. She looked seamless all the way through.

The Lego Ninjago Movie makes for a nice Fall family movie. It's not a surefire Oscar-contender but it's still an entertaining 101 minutes. Let's not imagine how this could be worse. It's a good matinee as you wait for some of the bigger films of the fall. I can name many of them now...

It

It's...

Either Monty Python's Flying Circus or one of the best horror movies ever. Or the set up of a silly joke.

Stephen King's iconic novel It already saw cinematic life in the form of a TV miniseries in 1990. It had Tim Curry as the most memorable monster clown since The Joker but some felt It could've been better. And now, with Bill Skarsgard in those demonic clown shoes, It has and will be done better. We'll discuss the "will" later after we float down to the summary.

It's 1988 in Derry, Maine. Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) makes a paper sailboat for his brother, Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott). Georgie enjoys it until it sails right into a storm drain. Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Skarsgard) leers out of the storm drain to give it back. But Pennywise is the It of the story who takes a bite out of Georgie and drags him into the sewers.

The next summer, Bill is downtrodden as summer approaches. Perhaps Georgie's alive? He wants to find out. He and his friends, Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer), and Stanley Uris (Wyatt Oleff) are harassed by psycho bully Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton) and his gang. They're also harassed by Pennywise, who takes the form of one's deepest fears before devouring them. Our heroes are joined by Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis), Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor) and Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs) to make The Losers' Club.

The Losers must band together to take out Pennywise before it does. Its easier said than done since Pennywise can appear before them anytime It wants. It knows how to push their panic buttons. It's time for the Losers to push Pennywise's panic buttons.

The original novel was over 1,000 pages and jumped back and forth in time. This movie only deals with the Losers' Club as kids, while the sequel will have them fight It as adults. The end result is a clear story as realized by director Andy Muschietti. It can easily stand on its own even as the film proclaims itself "Chapter One" by the end credits. It goes from terrifying to moving to hilarious and it still feels like the same movie.

The Losers' Club makes for a great bunch of characters. They're all likable and empathetic kids who have to face the horrors of their town by themselves. Richie the class clown gets the film's best lines and laughs. They all get awesome moments as they stand up to their fears. A few choice moments include the "apocalyptic rockfight" (as the book called it) where they stand up to Henry and his gang and their final takedown of Pennywise.

What about Pennywise the Dancing Clown? Skarsgard dances off with the show. He's darkly funny and legitimately threatening at once. He's a lot less verbose than past versions of Pennywise which only helps his creep factor. Strong makeup effects by Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. create Pennywise and a few of his incarnations. Good CGI creates a few more incarnations and enhances some of the practical ones.

There's a great technical crew making the film float. The first balloon goes to composer Benjamin Wallfisch's unforgettably eerie score. Like the film itself, it can go from soft and comforting to loud and terrifying. The next balloons go together to cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung, editor Jason Ballantine and the sound designers. They know how to set the mood for any scene. They can set up the horror, execute it or do the same for a good joke. As mentioned before, the visual effects and makeup crew deserve their praise.

It deserves its planned sequel. The film is an engaging 135 minutes which balances its moods perfectly. Be warned that it's legitimately scary. The Losers' victories make it more than worth it. While it's obvious Pennywise isn't done yet, you'll anticipate the final showdown rather than feel obliged to come back. That "Chapter Two" is set to come in the next few years. I'm ready.

Logan Lucky

Steven Soderbergh decided to leave the feature film industry after the Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra. But he decided to give screenwriter Rebecca Blunt her lucky break and produce her heist comedy, Logan Lucky. Yeah, more on her later.

Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) is a construction worker who gets laid off from his job at the Charlotte Motor Speedway due to his bum knee. His brother Clyde (Adam Driver) lost his lower arm in Iraq and now sports a prosthetic hand. There's supposedly a curse on the family that gives them bad luck. Jimmy's luck is about to get worse when his ex-wife (Katie Holmes) plans to move away with their daughter, Sadie (Farrah Mackenzie), and new husband (David Denman). Jimmy decides to do something about it by cooking up a scheme to rob the speedway's vault.

The Logans recruit convicted safecracker Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) for the scheme. Joe's brothers Sam and Fish (Brian Gleeson and Jack Quaid) and the Logans' sister Mellie (Riley Keough) join in. Their heist coincides with a big race on Memorial Day. A few of the participants have their doubts about the heist. So how will the brothers pull it off?

There is speculation that "Rebecca Blunt" is actually a pseudonym, presumably for Soderbergh's wife, Jules Asner. What is known is that Soderbergh edited and photographed the film under his own pseudonyms, Mary Ann Bernard and Peter Andrews. David Holmes, who is not a pseudonym for anybody, composed the fine soundtrack. Ain't that something?

The film gets going quickly in its 119 minutes. The heist is ready to go before the hour mark. There's plenty of entertaining gags which come out of the crew's relative inexperience. Meanwhile, a prison riot hinges on the last few A Game of Thrones novels, which have yet to be published. The film finds ways to keep things interesting after the heist. There's a strong moment when Sadie sings "Country Roads" at a Beauty Pageant when Jimmy arrives. There's a comically serious FBI agent (Hilary Swank) who investigates the crime; why wasn't she in the movie more?

The cast was great. They were likable Southern folks. Daniel Craig was especially awesome in an atypical role as the comically serious Joe Bang. The Logan brothers were a compelling duo. The supporting cast was populated by plenty of big names. There's Seth MacFarlane as a pompous British businessman, Dwight Yoakman as the overwhelmingly incompetent prison warden and Sebastian Stan as a harried NASCAR driver. They're all a memorable bunch of characters.

Logan Lucky is a nice film for the last days of summer. It's a good take on the heist movie that Soderbergh did so well with Ocean's 11. A few plot elements get abruptly driven off the road during the denouement but its amiable atmosphere speeds through. See it before it gets driven out of theaters.