Klaus

I should have seen Klaus, a Netflix animated film about Santa Claus, last month during Christmastime. But, nope. Don't ask me why. I finally saw it after it won the Annie Award for Best Animated Film last Saturday. Let's do it.

The story conceived by director Sergio Pablos and his co-writers begins with Jesper Johanssen (Jason Schwartzman), a slacker postman-in-training. His father, the Postmaster General, ships him out to the town of Smeerensberg with an ultimatum. Jesper will get disowned unless he posts six thousand letters. The town is populated by the feuding clans of the Krums and the Ellingboes. Neither side wants - or even knows how - to send letters.

One day, Jesper meets a reclusive craftsman named Klaus (JK Simmons). They join forces - Jesper, a bit reluctantly - to deliver a toy to a lonely Krum boy. Jesper's post office is flooded with letters for Klaus. The toy delivery business brings peace and goodwill to Smeerensberg. The clan leaders are abhorred by the niceness and they decide to do something about it.

It's a shame that this never got a full theatrical release. Its unique animation style would've been amazing on the big screen. Its style uses hand-drawn animation with digital shading. This results in characters who look CGI and behave like traditional cartoons. You'd only know the difference if you watched some behind-the-scenes footage.

Its screen story is an emotional tale. The Krums and Ellingboes hate each other so much that their feud is a proud tradition. That's funny. It's even more hilarious to see Jesper's Postman Training Academy treated like West Point for Postmen. It's also fun to see how Jesper and Klaus establish some of Santa Claus's quirks. A few highlights include the flying reindeer sleigh and the naughty list. It's so moving to see the toy delivery business brings about neighborly love. A few plot points seem like clichés - including Klaus and Jesper's temporary fallouts - but who cares? Its story is that endearing.

Now for the voice cast. Schwartzman as Jesper is sure to remind one of Kuzco from The Emperor's New Groove. Like Kuzco, his arc from selfish slacker to selfless hero is compelling. Simmons as Klaus is a soft soul with great deadpan humor, though he is scary when angry. Rashida Jones voices Alva, the schoolteacher turned fishmonger turned schoolteacher (long story) who warms up to Jesper. She's a great presence all around. Joan Cusack and Will Sasso voice Mrs. Krum and Mr. Elligboe, respectively, and are both effective villains. Pablos voices their hulking kids, Olaf and Pumpkin, who inadvertently help end the feud.

Again, it stinks that Klaus couldn't get a wide theatrical release. Its miniscule theatrical release got it an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. Its strong story and appealing animation give it a very plausible chance of winning. It's waiting for you to Netflix and chill with it. So see it before this year's way early Oscars on February 9th. You may not be disappointed.

Dolittle

20th Century (Fox) has an interesting history with Hugh Lofting's whimsical veterinarian Doctor Dolittle. Their first attempt was a 1967 musical that nearly bankrupted them. Their second attempt was a 1998 Eddie Murphy vehicle that took the barest concept to modern times. Universal gets its shot at the character just as 20th Century Fox drops the Fox in its name. The end result is Dolittle.

John Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr) talks to the animals. He was a veterinarian until his wife was lost at sea. So he and his animal friends shun the world in their gigantic estate. One day, Tommy Stubbins (Harry Collett) accidentally shoots Kevin the Squirrel (Craig Robinson) and brings him to Dolittle. The same day, Lady Rose (Carmel Laniado) summons Dolittle to Buckingham. Queen Victoria (Jessie Buckley) is dying and she needs Dolittle's help. If she dies, Dolittle and his animal friends will be thrown out onto the streets.

Jip the Dog (Tom Holland) smells that someone poisoned Her Highness with nightshade. The only cure is the fruit of the Eden Tree, so Dolittle and his menagerie set off to find it. Tommy tags along, too. Meanwhile, the movie doesn't even try to hide that Jip's right on the money. The evil Lord Badgely (Jim Broadbent) and Dr. Mudfly (Michael Sheen) are behind it all. Dr. Mudfly sets off after Dolittle while Lord Badgely waits for the crown.

The film's director is a peculiar choice: Stephen Gaghan, who won an Oscar for writing Traffic, and who directed George Clooney to an Oscar in Syriana. Needless to say, it's unlike anything in his filmography. He and his co-writers have some good ideas buried in a frantic tone. It favors non-stop action and humor more than pathos. The climax is a long, crass joke, though it does allow for Dolittle to do a little doctoring. Tommy and Rose end up together despite barely sharing screentime together. Oh yeah, and at one point, an orangutan with "dance fever" shows up for a single shot. Where did he come from?

Downey Jr. does OK as Dolittle. His tragic past is set up perfectly in the animated prologue. But he's a doddering fool when we first see him in the flesh. That's a bit of a disconnect. But he quickly regains his wits when Tommy brings Kevin. We do see him affected by his past a few times. But the frantic tone blunts most of the potential drama's impact. The end was more "meh, OK" than "how moving."

Some of the supporting cast did better. The highlights are Emma Thompson as Polynesia the Parrot, Antonio Banderas as Dolittle's ex-father in law, King Rassouli, and Ralph Fiennes as Barry the Tiger. Marion Cotillard and Selena Gomez make the most of their painfully limited screentime as Tutu the Fox and Betsy the Giraffe. A few funny bits come from Kumail Nanjiani as Plimpton the Ostrich and John Cena as Yoshi the Polar Bear. The best bit character is a precocious lion cub.

The animals are mainly CGI creatures. They look like real animals and express themselves much like humans. A few shots, mainly of Polynesia flying, are obvious CGI, but everything else was good. Danny Elfman's score was OK, while the production and costume designs were fine. Moving on.

A lot of Dolittle's problems are traced to a nightmarish and protracted production. That includes the obvious dubbing throughout the film; nevermind that I barely noticed it while others did. It's an amusing matinee and nothing else. If you want to introduce Doctor Dolittle, in his original setting and without its most problematic content, to your kids, this is an OK start. But I'll bet much that a lot of better family films will come later this year.

1917

Tick Tock, Tick Tock
Oscar nominations come
after five o'clock.

That's right. The 92nd Oscar Nominations are set for tomorrow. It's fitting, perhaps, that the last major film (I think) on my to-see list centers on a looming deadline. It's the war movie 1917 directed and co-written by Sam Mendes.

April 6th, 1917. British soldiers Schofield (George MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) are called before General Erinmore (Colin Firth) for an urgent mission. The 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, which includes Blake's brother Lt. Joseph, has seemingly routed the German Army to the Hindenburg Line. The Devons plan to rout the Germans some more in a daybreak attack. Unfortunately, the Devons are walking into a trap. Our heroes have to deliver the orders to call off the attack.

The rest of the movie follows our heroes as they travel the no man's land. Literally follow, for much like Birdman, the film is stitched together to appear as mostly one take. The mission pushes our heroes, one of whom bites it half-way through, to their limits. Will they get there on time?

Mendes and his co-writer, Krysty Wilson-Cairns, barely waste precious seconds. The film opens with our heroes woken up from a nap and going to get their mission. The film shows their encounters with such perils as a booby trapped bunker, barbed wire, a shellshocked pilot, a sniper, a broken bridge and skeptical soldiers. We see, as they see, how unpleasant war gets. We also get some cameos along the way. A few notables are Mark Strong as Captain Smith and Benedict Cumberbatch as the Devons's Colonel Mackenzie.

There are plenty of technical stars on the frontlines. Chief among them are production designer Dennis Gassner, editor Lee Smith and cinematographer Roger Deakins. The film's vision of war-torn France is perfectly nightmarish; it's best exemplified by its rendition of Ecoust-Saint-Mein at night. A city in darkness, momentarily lit by ominous light from nearby fires. An alluring, yet unsettling sight. The only obvious cut is when the film skips from late afternoon to way early morning. All the other cuts are practically invisible.

Our heroes, Schofield and Blake, are great characters. Blake is a nice guy, while Schofield is determined to impossible degrees. The camera barely lets them out of our sights. They're as present as Thomas Newman's melancholically score. It barely reprieves us of whatever sights and perils they encounter. We're invested in their mission and are relieved when it's over.

This year's speculations are almost over. The Oscar nominations are around nine hours from now. You will hear a lot about 1917 starting tomorrow. Its plot maybe thin and somewhat familiar, but it's rarely, if ever, boring. Its compelling leads and stunning imagery easily guides its audience through 119 minutes. See it on the biggest screen possible. See it soon. Its time in theaters won't last forever.

The Farewell

The Farewell was a film that I meant to see last fall. But I got lazy. It's time to catch up now that I saw it on streaming. It's been a few days since I saw it on streaming, but OK. Let's go.

The film is "based on an actual lie" recounted by writer/director Lulu Wang, which was previously told on This American Life. Lulu Wang is represented by Billi Wang (Awkwafina). One day, Billi learns that her grandmother - Nai Nai in Chinese (Zhao Shuzhen) - is dying of lung cancer. Chinese custom forbids the family from telling Nai Nai of her condition. Instead, the family bears the news alone.

The family organizes the wedding of Billi's cousin Hao Hao (Han Chen), and his girlfriend, Aiko (Aoi Mizuhara), as a way to secretly say goodbye. Much of the film has Billi stuck between honoring her family's request or spilling the beans. The quick wedding ends up bringing the family closer together; more than they realize.

The film lets us see the seriousness and hilarity of the situation. We see Billi and Nai Nai's endearing relationship and understand her dread over losing her. We also see the family's dread, too, even when they try to hide it. This leads to a lot of tension between the family. But we also have time to laugh during their family time. A highlight is a visit to their grandfather's grave and quibbling over what to leave him. The climactic wedding has plenty of laughs even as the ruse nearly breaks.

The standouts of the cast are, of course, Awkwafina and Zhao Shuzhen. I already mentioned their endearing relationship as Billi and Nai Nai. Individually, they're hilarious and moving characters. Lu Hong, Wang's real life Great Aunt, plays herself, and she's just as compelling as Nai Nai. Other highlights of the cast include Tzi Ma, as Billi's dad Hayan and Yongbo Jiang as Billi's uncle Haibin, and the aforementioned Han Chen and Aoi Mizuhara.

Now for a few technical highlights. Alex Weston's often somber score was recently shortlisted for the Oscar. It fits with the sentimental tone pretty well. Cinematographer Anna Franquesa Solano gives us some great views of Beijing and some stylish takes.

Who knows if The Farewell will be cited in next week's Oscar nominations. The original screenplay category, in particular, is pretty competitive this year. But Oscar or not, The Farewell is a captivating look at cultural differences in one family. Awkwafina certainly earned her Golden Globe for her strong performance. You can see why if you see it soon.

Uncut Gems

Here's the film that I thought about seeing on New Years Day.

Good thing I didn't.

Uncut Gems is a comedy of grievous errors. A lot of things go wrong for one Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler). Some of it is absurd. Some of it is intense. Even both. Who is Howard and what is his life story?

Howard's a jewel dealer in New York in debt to the mob. Specifically, it's to his brother-in-law, Arno (Eric Bogosian). His marriage to Dinah (Idina Menzel) is a sinking ship. His affair with Julia (Julia Fox), an employee, is only slightly better. He hopes to revive his fortunes by selling an uncut opal at auction. Celtics Super Star Kevin Garnett (as himself) wants the opal as a good luck charm. Howard agrees to let him have it for a while. But Garnett wants to hold on to it longer. Unfortunately for Howard, Arno and his two goons have very little patience.

This was directed by filmmaking brothers Ben and Josh Safdie. They and their co-writer, Ronald Bronstein, open their Kafka-esque comedy with a mining accident in Ethiopia. It leads to the discovery of the opal, a surreal trip inside it and then, a surreal trip inside Howard. Weird, no? The rest of the film's 135 minutes show Howard digging his grave with a series of stupid mistakes. He also gets into shouting matches with almost everyone. It proves unbearable after the third or forth argument.

Sandler is slightly compelling as Howard. Yes, he's rude to pretty much everyone throughout the story. But he knows he's a screwup and is trying to do better. Trying, anyway. He doesn't know when to fold it, which directly leads to his final mistake. Indeed, everything that happens to him is his fault. It's hard to care about his ultimate fate.

Among the rest of the cast, Menzel makes the most of her screen time as Dinah. Arno's two goons, Phil (Keith Williams Richards) and Nico (Tommy Kominik), prove even less likable than Howard. Arno himself starts off as a jerk, though we soon see his sympathetic side. Julia is the film's most likable character. Garnett is a standout as himself.

There are two technical standouts. The first is cinematographer Darius Khondji, for his gritty and colorful work. The trips inside the diamond's insides look like a trip through the cosmos. Howard's world is appropriately less colorful. The other star is composer Daniel Lopatin. His booming score makes Howard's dark life most obvious.

Uncut Gems is for anyone who loves the darkest of comedies. It's probably the funniest Kafka-esque comedy ever made. Maybe that's why I barely laughed at all. All the screaming didn't do it for me. See it if you can find some humor in the madness.

Or rather, a diamond in the rough.

Spies in Disguise

I wasn't in the mood for a serious film this New Year's Day. So I went for the birds. Fox's animated spy comedy Spies in Disguise is here for some family-friendly superspy action. Let's get on the case.

Lance Sterling (Will Smith) is the best secret agent of HTUV. On his latest mission, he's sent to take back an Attack Drone from arms dealer Katsu Kimura (Masi Oka). But it falls into the hands - one being a robot claw - of supervillain Killian (Ben Mendelsohn). To make it worse, Killian frames Lance for the theft. Lance goes on the run. Special Agent Marcy Kappel (Rashida Jones) leads the manhunt against him.

Lance tracks down HTUV teen genius Walter Beckett (Tom Holland), who he dismissed hours earlier, and asks him for his newest invention: "biodynamic concealment." The potion changes Lance into a pigeon. They immediately go on the run to find Killian. While Lance insists he flies solo, literarily this time, he needs Walter's help to find the bad guys and get un-birded.

The film credits Lucas Martell's animated short Pigeon Impossible as the inspiration. That had a secret agent, also named Walter Beckett, deal with a pigeon in his flying, laser-shooting, nuclear suitcase. That's not what the writers - Cindy Davis, Brad Copeland and Lloyd Davis - thought up here. It's still a silly spy spoof involving a pigeon. The best gags involve Walter's non-lethal inventions; among them, glitter bombs that summon images of kittens. I wasn't too keen on the crude humor, though. It still takes Killian very seriously.

Its non-violence moral is simplistic. Lance embraces explosive weaponry because other agents died. We don't get to know any of these agents, but OK. Walter gets it better because we know he lost someone: his mother, Wendy, a police officer. We understand why he embraces non-violent weaponry. Killian gets it worst. He also lost people on the job, but he was a bad guy then and now. If anything, Lance's prior fight with him made him worse. It's hard to empathize with Killian. But it's easy to laugh when the final fight has the good guys embrace Walter's inventions.

It's also easy to embrace these characters. Lance starts off as an entertainingly arrogant secret agent. The film makes his character development into a team player fun to watch. Walter is likable all the way through. Lance's fellow pigeons, Lovey, Jeff and Crazy Eyes, are a fun bunch of birds. Killian, as I already alluded, is a very formidable threat. Marcy and her team, Eyes and Ears, are a good bunch of misguided antagonists. Overall, there's nobody to hate but the villain.

Some gross gags aside, it's one of the best looking animated films around. The production design by Michael Knapp visualizes some stunning locals from bad guy lairs to HTUV headquarters. The first fight scene is a visually stunning brawl between Lance and many Yakuza men. The animated cinematography by Renato Falcao makes it worthy of the big screen. The opening and end credits are appealing homages to James Bond's title scenes. There's also a good score by Theodore Shapiro to set the moods.

Spies in Disguise isn't an emotionally demanding film. There's a few deep moments, but you'll notice the silliness even more. Fortunately, its gags are more hit than miss. It's a good family matinee for a slow afternoon. But if you want a more serious spy caper, wait a few months for Daniel Craig's final, for real this time, James Bond film, No Time to Die.