She Said

We started the month with Germany's entry for this year's International Feature Oscar race. We end it with the follow-up from the director of Germany's entry for last year's International Feature Oscar race. That director is Maria Schrader, her last film was I'm Your Man and this film is She Said. What can I say about it?

Rebecca Lenkiewicz's screenplay adapts New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor's book about their investigation (with Rebecca Corbett) into Hollywood bigwig Harvey Weinstein's sexual misconduct. The three of them are respectively played by Carey Mulligan, Zoey Kazan and Patricia Clarkson. The three of them get on the case when they get a tip into Weinstein's abuse of actress Rose McGowan (only heard on the phone voiced by Katie McQuail). They work their way down from Ashley Judd (as herself) and Gwyneth Paltrow (never seen) to several of Weinstein's lower-level employees. They find it imperative to publish it before Weinstein lawyers up.

The victims and witnesses make it compelling. We open up with one woman, Laura Madden, helping with a film shoot in Ireland. One cut later, she's running and sobbing down Dublin. "What happened?" lingers in our thoughts. An older Madden (Jennifer Ehle) answers that with vivid detail. Employee Zelda Perkins (Samantha Morton) earns the audience's respect for confronting Weinstein during a board meeting over his abuse of co-worker Rowena Chiu (Angela Yeoh). An ex-employee is more than willing to talk, but can't due to legal reasons, while another closes the door on Twohey and Kantor. Their traumatic pasts are palpable. John Mazurek and Zach Grenier are good as John Schmidt and Irwin Reiter, the CFO and ex-vice president of Miramax, whose testimonies help crack the case.

Mulligan and Kazan are good as Twohey and Kantor. Their friendship is nice, while their journalistic determination is admirable. They get some much-needed levity with their families (Adam Shapiro is funny as Kantor's husband, Ron Lieber). We never stop rooting for them as they unravel Weinstein's abuse. Clarkson and Andre Braugher (as executive editor, Dean Baquet) are great supporting players. Baquet's refusal to let Weinstein intimidate him also earns him the audience's respect. Their best moment is their joy when their main article is finally ready for print. 

The real Weinstein is heard in disturbing detail in a recording of one of his misdeeds. When he's heard on the phone, and seen from behind in-person, he's played by Mike Houston. What we hear about him perfectly sets him up as a Hollywood boogeyman. A nameless guy at a bar and another on the phone perfectly establish themselves as loathsome individuals with one scene each. Peter Friedman is much more cordial as Weinstein's main lawyer, Lanny Davis. Overall, there's a good cast at work here.

Add an unforgettable score by Nicholas Britell and you have a strong journalistic drama. She Said is a compelling portrayal of recent history. You'll be hooked whether you've followed up on the real-life coverage or not. You should hurry up and see it if you want to. It might not last much longer with these box-office figures. That's a shame because it's still a winner.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

 Hola, amigos! 

You're probably wondering why and how I'm reviewing Puss in Boots: The Last Wish weeks before it's out in theatres. That's easy! Thank Universal for giving sneak previews of the "upcoming film," no strings attached. And since Sr. Spielberg's cinematic life story isn't playing near me, this will substitute for that. This is the surprise I hinted at in my last few reviews. Let's go!

This time, Puss's (Antonio Banderas) nine lives have finally caught up with him. A battle with a tree giant has left him with just one life left. He tries to ignore his doctor's orders to no longer adventure. But a Big Bad Wolf (Wagner Moura) puts the fear of death in him. So, he gives himself a funeral and resigns himself as the latest in cat lady Mama Luna's (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) clowder.

But then Goldilocks (Florence Pugh) and the Three Bears Crime Family show up looking for Puss in Boots. It seems his expertise is needed to get a map to a magic Wishing Star that crashed in the appealingly named Dark Forest. Puss sees an opportunity to get his lives back. So, he and one of his fellow "cats," actually a chihuahua named Perrito (Harvey Guillen), decide to look for the star. They run into Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), and "Big" Jack Horner (John Mulaney), who both want the star. So, Puss, Kitty and Perrito join up in the Dark Forest with the bad guys in pursuit. That's the gist of it.

Puss's long-awaited sequel gives him a midlife crisis that's equally funny and sad. His montage of lost lives is comedic gold. We laugh and empathize when he eulogizes himself. His and Kitty's unresolved issues are quite endearing. The Big Bad Wolf is unquestionably menacing even before we realize who he really is. It makes perfect sense once we do. His final battle with the villains lets him come to terms with his last life in thrilling and moving fashion.

Meanwhile, Perrito doesn't realize his sad backstory is sad. He's a good boy throughout the film, especially when he joins in the final battle. "Big" Jack is as amusing as he is loathsome. He admits as such to his conscience cricket (Kevin McGann) and we don't doubt it with his callousness with his goons. Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Ray Winstone, Olivia Colman and Samson Kayo) are much lighter antagonists. Goldilocks gets her strongest moment when she realizes her crime family is her true family. And I've already mentioned the Wolf.

The film's CGI watercolor aesthetics are quite striking. It's especially noticeable in the action scenes when it goes by twos. The action scenes, from the opening mansion battle to the final battle on the Wishing Star, are all impressive. The locales are stellar, especially the Dark Forest, which shifts around throughout the film. The various magic items in Jack's possession are cool (the unicorn horns are a surprise). Heitor Pereira's score adds some welcome panache to it all. 

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish will make for a great holiday outing once it's officially out. Its animated midlife crisis story will entertain kids and move adults alike. It's as good to look at as it is to experience. Its 102 minutes are just right. Will I give you more surprises like this? It depends on what's available. 

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

 Yes, this happened.

 And let's give thanks on this after Thanksgiving Day that it did. 

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special dethrones Werewolf by Night as the shortest film I'll cover at a whopping 42 minutes. That's within the boundaries of what the Motion Picture Academy defines as a feature film (40 minutes). So, I'm good.

The Guardians of the Galaxy now have their own planet, Knowhere (long story?). But Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) is miserable considering Gamora is dead and her time-displaced past self is somewhere in space (long story). It's also getting to look a lot like Christmas in Knowhere. So, Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) decide to get Star-Lord the perfect Christmas gift. Who or what could it be?

Why, it's movie star Kevin Bacon as himself! Drax and Mantis stroll through Los Angeles to find the star of Star-Lord's favorite movie, Footloose. Their Christmas surprise is threatened when they discover he's an actor. But Kevin Bacon is a good sport and decides to help them "save" Christmas. There's also a familial secret Mantis is hiding.

James Gunn returns to the MCU by writing and directing this special. It's nothing but a loony odyssey and that's OK. There's plenty of fun in Drax and Mantis's adventure and only one bit was bewildering. That would be when Drax assaults a man cosplaying Cy-Kill from Go-Bots. Huh? But them getting to Bacon and their indignation over his profession was hilarious. Drax is delightfully goofy, as usual, while Mantis seems loopier than usual. That's still OK. Star-Lord learning the truth is a surprisingly strong moment. 

We get some flashbacks of one particular Christmas with Yondu (Michael Rooker). They're animated in the style of Marvel's What-If? show and they look good. It's especially nice when we see the-then Grinchy Yondu lighten up. Other highlights include a surprisingly buff Groot and the newly promoted bit character Cosmo the Dog, who now speaks with the voice of Maria Bakalova. The Knowhere set doesn't seem as elaborate as the films, but it looks great when decorated. There's a cool soundtrack consisting of Kevin Murphy's score and a few funny Christmas songs.

This should satisfy plenty of fans' time as they wait for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Don't expect too much drama in this special. It's a silly holiday film with a few endearing moments. It's ready for you to watch on Disney Plus as of today. But this isn't the surprise I promised you last time. The next film is.

Strange World

 Attention, moviegoers! Disney has for you an exciting and strange new tale to tell. It's Strange World, an adventure story unlike anything you've ever seen. But it's still like any tale you've ever heard. How can this be? Find out in this exciting review!

Epic narrator tone off.

Jaegar Clade (Dennis Quaid) is the greatest adventurer from the land of Avalonia. His son Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal) isn't. On one expedition, Searcher finds an electrical plant called Pando. Jaegar doesn't care, and he goes off into the mountains, never to return. 25-years later, Searcher's discovery is now the land's power supply. But the Pando plants are getting weaker and weaker. One of Jaegar's former expedition members, Callisto Mal (Lucy Liu), now the President of Avalonia, grabs Searcher for a journey to the center of the Earth. They hope to find whatever's killing the Pando crops. His family - wife Meridian (Gabrielle Union) and son Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White) and tripawed dog Legend - tag along.

The Strange World they find is full of, well, strange creatures. They also find Jaegar alive and crazy. Ethan, meanwhile, meets a blue blob called Splat, who becomes their tag-a-long mascot. Meanwhile, Jaegar and Clade have different ideas on Ethan's future. But Avalonia won't have a future if they don't hurry. It's especially so once they find out the true nature of their world and the Pando.

Let's get a few things out of the way. The Strange World and its creatures are as alluring as they are deadly. We have magenta pterosaurs, rock mollusks, walking cliffs and whatever species Splat is (there's also a red one that's there for like, one scene). The story is a checklist of familiar family film tropes. It's especially so with Ethan's story, who wants to answer the call of adventure, while Searcher wants him not to. Jaegar wants him to be an explorer, while Searcher wants him to be a farmer. The only thing they agree on is that they approve of his boyfriend, Diazo (Jonathan Melo), which is legitimately nice. The revelation of Pando and Avalonia's true nature gives the plot a much-needed jolt.

We get some good supporting characters amidst some average leads. Legend is the top star by virtue of being a tripawed. Call me biased, but I fostered one ((Hopalong) Cassidy) for a few months. His antics are as amusing as they are impressive. Splat is fun and quite sympathetic; it and Ethan get a nice bonding moment when he bandages its arm after it gets zapped by Pando. Amongst the crew, we have Caspian (Karan Soni), an amusing nerdy-type and the aptly named Ronnie Redshirt. Back to the mains, Callisto makes for a good anti-villain. Did I spoil it?

Strange World probably won't leave a cinematic footprint as large as, say, Encanto did last year. But it should provide a good family matinee for this holiday season. The story is average, but its visuals and supporting cast are superb. Anyone balking at Avatar: The Way of Water's 190 minutes will rest easily knowing that it runs just 102. But hurry up and see Strange World before that movie takes over the cineplexes. Stay tuned this weekend for a surprise.

Tár

I saw the French Film Irreversible in a film class in 2007. It's a film notorious for its nauseating infrasonic sound mix and telling its story in reverse-chronological order (among other things). I remember the reverse order but not its sound mix; due to a DVD error, we watched the film mute.

A year earlier, director and writer Todd Field made his second and seemingly final film, Little Children. He's back with Tár, a film that opens with the end credits, sans cast, in reverse. I almost thought it was going the Irreversible route, but no, it's chronological. So, what's it about?

Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) is the conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic and a musical icon. She was mentored by Leonard Bernstein himself and she herself mentored, among others, this film's composer, Hildur Guðnadóttir. The film opens with a lengthy interview with The New Yorker's Adam Gopnik outlining her life and musical philosophy. Her warm public persona contrasts with her cold private one. She alienates a student at her Julliard class (in an equally lengthy scene) and is distant with her wife Sharon (Nina Hoss), their daughter Petra (Mila Bogojevic) and her assistant, Francessca (Noémie Merlant).

One of Tár's former students, Krista Taylor (Sylvia Flote), kills herself. She leaves behind allegations that she and Tár had an inappropriate relationship. This comes just as Tár and the Philharmonic prepare to record Mahler's Fifth. Tár tries to deny the allegations but along comes a new cellist, Olga (Sophie Kauer). She tries to start an affair with Olga, but it doesn't end well. Neither does her career.

Yes, its titular character is pretty much an abusive predator. But she's a charismatic one thanks to Blanchett's performance. She makes a strong case about looking past one's homelife in appreciating their arts during that lengthy class. We can at least side with her when that class is later re-edited online into her Worst Behavior Greatest Hits collection. She presents Krista as an obsessed fan, and we're inclined to believe her. Her relationship with Olga does lend validity to Krista's accusations, though. It's quite shocking to see her discard her coldness when she assaults her substitute conductor, Eliot (Mark Strong), on stage. She's there in practically every scene of the film's massive 158 minutes.

Tár's supporting women are more sympathetic than she. Francessca and Sharon both feel equally unappreciated by the "supreme genius" in their lives. They both get to call her out on it. Their sympathy barely fades even if the film gives them some selfish subtext for leaving her. Olga is quite likable; her giddy reaction to making the orchestra is endearing. We soon learn she's not so easily manipulated by her conductor's advances. Krista only appears in several fleeting instances. What we learn about her lets us pity her, though.

Editor Monika Wili and the sound team let us into Tár's crumbling mind. We hear the same unnerving ambient sounds she hears, some of which are never explained. We see her nightmares, some of which involves Krista, and another has her in a burning bed in a swamp. Her real world is perfectly bleak thanks to Florian Hoffmeister's cinematography. It makes one want to almost sympathize with her. On a positive note, the film's set list, whether it's Guðnadóttir's compositions or pieces she arranged, makes for a crisp soundtrack. 

Whether or not you enjoy Tár depends on whether you can stand its villain protagonist for so long. A lot of its scenes felt excessively long (the two I mentioned make up a bulk of its first half-hour). But one can almost feel something for its titular character. Her final scene is supposed to show her at rock-bottom, but let's say she can get some fan points with her venue. It's still playing in theaters now, though you can see it on streaming for $19.99 (it'll be cheaper and on home media in a month or so). I'll leave it to you when and where to see it.

Disenchanted

 Once upon a time, Disney decided to bring its fairy tale style to the real world. I'm not talking about its live-action remakes, but Enchanted, its delightful self-parody of their animated films. It took ages, but we now have its sequel, Disenchanted, on Disney Plus. Let's see how it is.

The first film had Giselle (Amy Adams) of the animated Kingdom of Andalasia thrown into live-action Manhattan. After dealing with her evil would-be mother-in-law Narissa (Susan Sarandon), she and lawyer Robert (Patrick Dempsey) had their own happily ever after. We're now post happily ever after, ten years later. Giselle is stepmother to Morgan (Gabriella Baldacchino, tagging in for Rachel Covey) and mother to baby Sofia. Giselle decides Manhattan life isn't for her, so she and her family move to Monroeville, a suburb essentially run by Malvina Monroe (Maya Rudolph). Their new house looks nice but try living there...

Giselle tries to mend her family's unhappiness with magic. Her former intended, King Edward (James Marsden) and his Queen Nancy (Idina Menzel), gave her a MacGuffin magic wand. She uses the wand to wish for a "Fairy Tale life." Next thing she knows, Monroeville is Monrolasia, filled with giants, dragons, talking animals and group musical numbers. Her family is happy and content. But then she has moments where she turns wicked ... like a wicked stepmother! The wish is so powerful that Andalasia itself is falling apart. She has till midnight to reverse the curse. She has to contend with not just her wicked self, but Queen Malvina, who won't give up her power without a fight.

The sequel's best idea was turning Giselle evil. Adams gets much mileage out of turning the innocent Giselle into a scheming stepmother. It's even funnier when she switches personalities back-in-forth. The highlight is when she and Malvina engage in a villain song duet, the best of Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz's otherwise ok songs. The film beforehand felt like worn-out whimsy, but this picked it up and then some. If I had a sore spot with the screenplay, it's that it wasted a good opportunity to resolve the plot a few minutes faster. You'll see what I mean.

Morgan is a good dramatic center, even if the story fumbles it. A faulty circuit burns her clothes and her stepmom's ideal life isn't so. Her frustrations with Giselle are understandable. Her spell-induced happiness turns her into a different character, which makes the spell creepier. But when she's thrown into Andalasia, the spell reverses and she's essentially back again. But she remembers life in Monrolasia. Her reconciliation with Giselle is a strong moment, though.

Now for a few character highlights. Malvina, much like Giselle, hits her stride as a Fairy Tale Queen. She's equally funny and dangerous, especially by the final battle. Her toadies, Ruby and Rosaleen (Jayma Mays and Yvette Nicole Brown) are funny side characters. The wand's magic scroll (Alan Tudyk, reprising his Ed Wynn impersonation from Wreck-It Ralph) and returning chipmunk Pip (Griffin Newman), get some of the best lines. Robert and Edward are delightfully goofy, while Nancy gets a number that's sure to remind one of Frozen.

What else can I say? The production and costume designs are decent. Menken's orchestral score is good and the magical effects & 2D animation are great. It gets going well once you realize where it's going. That helped make its two-hours feel not so tedious. Overall, Disenchanted makes for a fine home matinee. If you disagree, at least you can pull up Enchanted on the same service. Either option's fine.

Slumberland

I saw two films that debuted today on streaming. The first of them is Slumberland, based on cartoon pioneer Winsor McCay's comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland. It was previously adapted as an anime film in 1989 (1992 stateside), but this is the first live-action take on the century-old strip. Is this a good introduction to the classic story? Maybe.

Little Nemo (Marlow Barkley) and her dad Peter (Kyle Chandler) live alone in a lighthouse. He always tells her tales of his time in the magical Slumberland with the roguish Flip. One night, Peter leaves to aid a troubled ship and never returns. Her boring uncle Phillip (Chris O'Dowd), a rich doorknob salesman, takes her in. He has no idea how to raise a kid and Nemo has no idea how to live in modern society.

Nemo eventually meets Flip (Jason Mamoa) in her dreams. He wants to find magic wishing pearls in the appealingly named Sea of Nightmares. Nemo agrees, hoping to get her dad back. They have a map that lets them dream-hop through Slumberland. All the while, they find themselves pursued by a nightmare squid and the harried Dream Cop Agent Green (Weruche Opia). Meanwhile, Nemo has to resolve her real-world problems.

Director Francis Lawrence and his writers, David Guio and Michael Handelman, create a fairly decent family film. They wisely bypassed some of the strip's most-dated aspects (Imp's design won't fly today). Their story includes some legitimate surprises, some of which involve a few dreamers Nemo and Flip meet in Slumberland. It's also a tad overlong at 117 minutes, but the twist involving Philip and the climax, makes this Netflix session worth it.

Now for the characters. Peter's living time is short, but it sells his and Nemo's bond perfectly. You'll feel it for Nemo when Peter is lost. You'll naturally side with her as she goes on her dream quest. It's a compelling quest all the way through. Philip seemed like a one-note dullard until the mid-film twist. He spectacularly rises to the challenge of dad-hood in the climax. Mamoa plays Flip as an expy of Beetlejuice. It's still a bit entertaining, though. Agent Green was OK, as is India De Beaufort as Nemo's school counselor.

The strongest technical star is production designer Dominic Watkins. He visualizes such impressive places as Nemo's lighthouse and the many realms of Slumberland. One of Slumberland's best locales is a glass city whose occupants are a garbage truck and its surprising driver. The sky there looks like an actual painting almost comparable to the matte painting cities of Dick Tracy. Slumberland shifting around to different locales is an impressive feat of visual effects. A few more impressive effects include its version of the strip's walking bed, a few touchups to Flips' getup and Nemo's pig toy sidekick, Pig. Flip's dazzling wardrobe was among many designed by costume designer Trish Summerville. It not only looks good but sounds good with Pinar Toprak's score too.

My strongest familiarity with the strip comes from the anime film and a few panels highlighting McCay's stunning artwork. So, I'm not annoyed with any liberties taken with Slumberland. Its visual style is sure to entertain kids for an afternoon. Its clever twists save it from being as forgettable as the average dream. I think this is a good family home matinee. Maybe the length won't be an issue for you.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Whatever a Black Panther sequel could have been died along with its star, Chadwick Boseman. So, Marvel and Wakanda find themselves dealing with the loss of its hero. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever proves that both of them are up to the challenge. 

King T'Challa dies after a protracted illness, leaving his mother, now Queen, Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) to mourn with their people. A year later, Wakanda finds itself under international pressure to share their vibranium resources. Shuri tries to clone the heart-shaped herb that powered the Black Panthers to help create a new one to defend Wakanda. They'll need it soon as the underwater nation of Talocan, which holds the world's only other vibranium supply, resurfaces. Their leader, K'uk'ulkan, better known as Namor (Tenoch Huerta), is especially unhappy that there's an underwater vibranium detector. He plans to go to war with Wakanda unless they help him find the detector's inventor.

The inventor is Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), a teen genius college student. Shuri and General Okoye (Danai Gurira) head off to find her, only to face the FBI, CIA and Talokanil forces. Shuri and Riri are taken to Talokan, where Namor is interested in forming an alliance with Wakanda. If not, then war. Unfortunately, war seems inevitable, and Shuri steps up to save her nation as the new Black Panther.

Director Ryan Coogler and his co-writer, Joe Robert Cole, return to tell this superhero tale. There's a lot that unfolds over its equally epic 161 minutes. We get plenty of subplots for returning favorites Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), Okoye, Nakia (Lupita Nyongo) and M'Baku (Winston Duke). Riri is a memorable new character, especially when she joins the final battle as the Iron Man-inspired Ironheart. A new Dora Milaje member, Aneka (Michaela Coel), and her relationship with Ayo (Florence Kasumba), is a bit lost in the shuffle, though. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss is just fine as CIA villain Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.

Ramonda puts on a brave and regal face, but cracks when the Talocanil warriors take Shuri. We sympathize with her even if we don't agree with her stripping Okoye of her command. Shuri, meanwhile, throws herself in her work. She's still in the anger-stage of grief, understandably, though Riri and Namor help her, directly or not, go through it. One of her strongest scenes is when she realizes that her latest cloned herb works. A few more include her debut as the Black Panther and her final battle with Namor.

Now for the antagonists. Namor is a compelling anti-villain driven by vengeance for the oppression of his people centuries ago. He's affable to his hopeful allies, like Shuri, when they talk in Talocan. His anger is terrifying as seen when he attacks Wakanda and, in a flashback, attacks a plantation. His warriors are equally terrifying in their first scene when they attack a mining vessel. They open their attack with a siren's song that drives people to jump off. Their own formidable fighting prowess cements them as legitimate threats to Wakanda. Namor promises we haven't heard the last for him. I'm quite curious to see how he'll factor in future installments.

The first film's Oscar-winning technical Marvels - production designer Hanna Beachler, costume designer Ruth Carter and composer Ludwig Göransson - return with equally Marvelous work. Talokan and its peoples' attire are equally impressive creations. The funeral march for T'Challa is quite emotional and the battle music is amazing. Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw's work is great, but her best scene is when the Dora Milaje emerge from the shadows to fend off an attack from vibranium-seeking mercenaries. Its three editors intercut between that attack and a United Nations meeting, which ends with the Dora Milaje dragging the mercenaries in. It's a masterstroke of a scene. 

The decision to not recast T'Challa has been a bit controversial. But for what it is, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, stands strong on its own feet. Its newly promoted supporting characters and new antagonist are equally compelling people. Its ending gives us a lot to think about Wakanda's future in the MCU. That's especially true with the mid-credits scene and its stunning surprise. I won't hint at what it is. You'll just have to see the movie for yourself. It's worth the long runtime.

One Piece Film: Red

At this point, trying to keep up with One Piece is a daunting task. Eiichiro Oda's cartoony world spans over a thousand chapters in both manga and anime form with a similarly gigantic number of characters. Their latest film, One Piece Film: Red, is their fifteenth, made for the franchise's 25th anniversary. For those who came in late:

Just before his execution, Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates, announced that his treasure, the One Piece, and his title, were up for grabs. Our hero, Monkey D. Luffy, and many, many others, want what Roger left. Luffy and his wacky "Straw Hat" crew sail around looking for adventure and often fight corrupt noblemen, the navy, evil pirates and other bad folks.

The Straw Hats enjoy some downtime at the Island of Elegia, where the world's most popular singer, Uta, holds her first concert. Luffy immediately recognizes her as his childhood friend and outs her dad as being Captain Shanks, his pirate hero. The reunion turns sour when Uta announces her concert's going to last forever. That's because anyone who hears her sing is sent to dreamland. That includes around 70 percent of the planet. The Straw Hats and a few of their friends and rivals join forces to find a way out of there. That's the basic gist of it.

The film is directed by Goro Taniguchi, best known for the Code Geass series and this franchise's first anime incarnation, the short Defeat the Pirate Ganzack. Tsutomu Kuroiwa's screenplay gives the uninitiated enough backstory to understand its self-contained story. The numerous established characters in supporting or cameo roles barely impair that understanding. There's some stunning twists and turns as Uta's masterplan unfolds. One concerns some mushrooms and another concerns Tot Musica, an evil dream demon. You'll be on edge once you understand the ramifications. Its resolution is the only part its story felt stretched.

Uta makes for a memorable anti-villain. Her history with Luffy gives the film a great crux. We see them laugh and play and even engage in eating contests. Bring up pirates, and Shanks especially, and her good nature cracks. We gradually understand just how dangerous her plan is. But we still have some fun; her musical numbers are delightfully trippy music videos worthy of a Bond film. The film is available in both subbed and dubbed versions, though the latter still switches to the Japanese audio for Uta's songs (all sung by the enigmatic singer Ado). The language switch may strike some as odd, though let's focus on the positives. These numbers range from peppy to emotional to creepy; all are memorable.

How else does this film look and sound good? Uta's character design is as dazzling as her reality-bending powers. Her trapping people on music staffs like flies on flypaper is merely a sample. Tot Musica's full form and its screams make it a menacing final boss. Yasutaka Nakata's score perfectly punctuates whatever action Uta isn't part of. If this is your first exposure to One Piece, prepare yourself for an eclectic cast of characters consisting of ordinary-looking people, an afroed skeleton, a bulky cyborg, a polar bear and even a dead ringer for Cap'n Crunch. It's a weird world and they're part of why it's fun.

One Piece Film: Red gives a musical twist to the Straw Hats' high-seas hijinks. Its central new character is menacing, entertaining and sympathetic all at once. Her story is compelling whether you've experienced 100 or zero percent of the franchise. Either way, you'll get 115 minutes of wackiness, action, music and drama. It's a weird mix, but the franchise is too. See it and you might get the appeal.

Till

Her last film, Clemency, barely had a theatrical release in 2019. I'm sure most only heard about it when Alfre Woodard got a BAFTA nomination for it. Director Chinonye Chukwu's newest film, Till, won't escape anyone's radar that easily. Let's see why.

It's 1955 in Chicago. Mamie Till (Danielle Deadwyler) sends her son, Emmett (Jalyn Hall), to visit his cousins in Money, Mississippi. She tells him to be on his best behavior around white folks. But he inadvertently offends shop-owner Carolyn Bryant (Haley Bennett) and a few days later, is lynched by her husband and brother-in-law. We only hear the crime in progress. But we eventually see the results.

Mamie dedicates her life to getting justice for Emmett. She gives him an open-casket funeral to let the world see what happened. She joins with Civil Rights leaders Medgar Evars (Tosin Cole) and T.R.M. Howard (Roger Guenveur Smith) to help get anti-lynching laws passed. Still, the Legal System in Money isn't interested in seeing justice done. She'll have to keep fighting anyway.

Chukwu collaborated with Keith Beauchamp, whose documentary The Untold Story of Emmett Till reopened the case in 2003, and Michael Reilly, in writing the script. It opens as Mamie and Emmett prepare for his trip. We see them in happier times as they dance to their favorite song and shop for nice clothes. We see Mamie as a loving, yet stern mother, while Emmett is a likable kid whose only flaw is naivety. It perfectly establishes their endearing relationship in no time. The foreknowledge of his murder is sure to make one ill at ease.

His corpse is revealed during the autopsy. This is easily the most disturbing part of the film between that and Mamie's drawn-out agonized screams. We soon see her deal with her grief and eventually channel that into activism. We stay on her side as the condescending (and worst) Money legal system antagonizes her. Although she leaves when she realizes "not guilty" is assured, she is applauded for her courage by the Black community. You will too. Still, while the trial was a joke, it's assuring to know that the killers lived as pariahs for the rest of their lives.

Deadwyler's performance is great, but there are a few good supporting players too. There's Whoopi Goldberg (one of the producers) as Mamie's mother Alma, a similarly loving and stern woman. John Douglas Thompson is Mamie's great-uncle Moses, whom Emmett was staying with, whose strongest scene is him defying witness intimidation to point out the killers. Jayme Lawson as Medgar's wife Myrlie (whom Goldberg played in Ghosts of Mississippi) has a strong scene with Mamie. Finally, the actors playing the racist townsfolks (especially the killers) perfectly play them as contemptable people. 

This is a tough film to sit through. But it's still a necessary one. Till's depiction of a vile crime will shock and anger you. It puts modern events in perspective as witnesses openly debunk the crime ever happened. I don't blame you if you choose to see something else. Anyone who sees it will get a compelling ensemble led by a powerful lead in Deadwyler. As for me, my next review will be something lighter.

All Quiet on the Western Front

 Now we go from fantastical horrors to actual horrors ...

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque was most famously filmed in 1930 as only the third film named Best Picture at the Academy Awards. There was also a TV movie in 1979 that's just a footnote now. It's more of a footnote now with this film version, the first made in its native Germany and its official entry in the International Feature Oscar race. Let's talk about it.

It's World War I. Paul Baumer (Felix Kammerer) is a new recruit to the Imperial German Army. He and his school chums are excited to fight for the Kaiser and the Fatherland. Their uniforms - all recycled from corpses of the opening skirmish - barely fit, but no worries. Their excitement disintegrates when they get their first taste of trench warfare. It's a chaotic ordeal which leaves one of the school chums, Ludwig (Adrian Grunewald), dead on their first night.

By November 1918, the war has gone nowhere, and an armistice seems imminent. Eventual Vice-Chancellor Matthias Erzberger (Daniel Bruhl) represents the Reich for the peace talks. Meanwhile, Paul and his friends try to survive the war's last few days. The odious General Friedrichs (Devid Striesow) wants a last-minute victory for the Fatherland. This will not end well.

This Netflix release was directed and co-written by Edward Berger. It opens in a majestic forest photographed by cinematographer James Friend as a vixen and her cubs rest. It's all quiet on their front. They're spared the carnage that the human soldiers endure for nearly two and a half hours. A few get smushed by tanks and scorched by flamethrowers. One makes good on his promise to not live a cripple. We get some levity whenever Paul and his friends have downtime. He and his mentor, Katczinsky (Albrecht Schuch), even raid a farm for food, though it doesn't end well the second time. 

Paul is a strong audience surrogate. Anyone expecting "War is Awesome," like he and his friends do, are sorely mistaken. His attempts to survive are tested when his friends are killed. We empathize with him as he finds Ludwig's body and later stabs a soldier who takes forever to die. The altered timeline of the film makes his eventual fate more tragic. Among his friends, Ludwig is the most sympathetic, Katczinsky is a cool old guy and Franz (Moritz Klaus) is fun. Erzberger is a compelling voice of reason, while Friedrichs is a War Hawk madman. 

The film's technical stars draw us further into the war. The editing and sound mix renders the battles as chaotic affairs. The sound design lets us experience Paul's momentary deafness from explosions. The cinematography and production design visualize an impressive Western Front. It's quite splendid when it's all quiet there. The makeup design gives us plenty of war wounds, mud-caked soldiers and world weariness. Volker Bertelmann's (aka Hauschka) score is as stunning as it is bleak. Its recurring bass motif is quite imposing.

All Quiet on the Western Front may drain your enthusiasm for future wars. If so, then it's gotten it's 93-year-old point across. Its grim portrayal of a mismanaged and destructive war puts modern events into perspective. I wouldn't blame you if you seek something lighthearted instead. But everyone else should see it on the biggest screens they can find. It's truly one of the best anti-war films of all time in any language.