The 97th Oscar Documentary Shorts

While everyone's making their Oscar predictions, I'll make one of the few that's actually guaranteed. I can guarantee that I'll have watched all of this year's nominees ... if not for the Documentary Feature category.

You see, most other critics have gravitated towards No Other Land, a film that is barely available theatrically due to its heavy subject matter. I could make an Amazon UK account to rent it, since it's available there, but I'd rather not. Porcelain War, meanwhile, was available theatrically near me, but I got lazy. The rest I'm not sure on.

Anyway, I didn't skip out on this year's theatrical package of nominated Documentary Shorts. Here they are:

Instruments of a Beating Heart (Director: Ema Ryan Yamazaki): At the end of her school year, first grader Ayame earns a spot in the ensemble of Bethoven's Ode to Joy in their school's upcoming entrance ceremony. As the cymbal, Ayame is expected to be a piece of her class's unified heart. She nearly falls apart from stress during the rehearsal process. As a part of the larger documentary, The Making of a Japanese, this short also gives you an interesting look into Japanese school life, particularly when it's affected by that pandemic.

I've seen quite a few reviews comparing this to Whiplash, but as hard as Ayame's music teacher is, he's thankfully nowhere near as brutal as Terence Fletcher. His reprimanding of her for her lack of practice is harsh, but that's balanced by eventual kindness from him. On a lighter note, it's quite cutesy watching her classmates support each other and eventually her. Her homeroom teacher's encouragement is especially heartwarming. Her eventual triumph is quite a crowd-pleaser, especially given the mostly heavy shorts to follow. 

Incident (Director: Bill Morrison): The 2018 police shooting of Harith "Snoop" Augustus, as shown on multiple bodycam and surveillance videos. It plays the actual incident in deafening silence, three times in fact, before it abruptly switches to sound for the aftermath. Although the officers involved feared for their lives, you'll be doubting their story by the second playthrough. Their cold, almost callous, justifications will leave you indignant as an angry crowd gathers around them (this was in the midst of a trial for another police shooting!). That barely changes when the third, and closest playthrough, happens in the closing moments. It might want to leave things ambiguous, but that playthrough lays bare the recklessness of that incident. I think I said enough.

I am Ready, Warden (Director: Smriti Mundhra): The last days of John Henry Ramirez, who was executed in 2022 for the 2004 murder of convenience-store worker Pablo Castro. The short chronicles his life before and after the murder, as well as a few people in his life. The titular statement, in case you're interested, are his last words.

It doesn't try to sugarcoat Ramirez's crime, as he contritely admits that he was messed up before it happened. His spiritual advisor, Jan Trujilo, and the district attorney, Mark Gonzalez, acknowledge it too as they tried to commute his sentence to life. You'll sympathize with Ramirez as much as Castro's son, Aaron, who understandably refuses to forgive him until the emotionally devastating climax. The actual sentence doesn't leave Aaron with any satisfaction; in fact, he mourns Ramirez as much as his dad. As much as Ramirez took away all that his dad could have been, the crime took away all that Ramirez could have been. That's sure to complicate any iron-clad support for the death penalty. 

The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Director: Molly O'Brien): Molly's aunt, Orin O'Brien, was the first woman to play in the New York Philharmonic, joining in 1966 as a double bassist under the direction of Leonard Bernstein himself. She retired in 2021, so Molly, her last living relative, made this short. All of this is set to an exquisite soundtrack by Laura Karpman.

It's another portrait of a fascinating life. She tells us she never sought the spotlight, which is why she took to the double bass, but it shines brightly all the same. We learn of her childhood as the daughter of movie stars George O'Brien and Marguerite Churchill, her "trailblazing" first years at the Philharmonic and her music classes in the present day. Her folksy humility is most evident with her warm relationships with her students and Molly. When they organize her retirement party, Orin wishes she brought more pumpkin bread.

Perhaps her most profound anecdote is of her father, desperate for work, accepting the villain role in Cheyenne Autumn. It's a bit more humorous when she rebukes some casually sexist write-ups from her day (They helped her with her luggage? No, they didn't.). It's all interesting stuff, and by the end, you'll be left wanting to learn more. 

Death by Numbers (Director: Kim A. Snyder): Sam Fuentes, a survivor of the Parkland School shooting, prepares to face her attacker at his sentencing. Her opening narration runs down the statistics related to the attack, including her own. She vows to remember them along with her attacker (whose face is scribbled out until the end).

Her narration, taken from her journal entries, paints a vivid picture of her recovery. Her physical and mental trauma are extensive, especially highlighted when we see her wounded face that day. It's quite profound when she highlights of her classmates, some of whom took the stand, while a few others took their lives. Equally profound is the focus on her teacher, Ivy Schamis, who's introduced visiting another of her student's memorial garden. Her own testimony is quite devastating.

As much as Sam hates her attacker, she acknowledges that the death penalty wouldn't work either. The financial resources, she says, are better spent elsewhere. That doesn't stop her from eviscerating his delusions of grandeur during her victim impact statement. It's narratively cathartic, but we're still left hoping that it helped her recovery even if somewhat. Overall, you won't forget Sam Fuentes and her story when it's all said and done.

That's it for this year's bunch of nominated shorts. Let's see how they do on Sunday.

September 5

I've been having some back pain recently. This was why my January wasn't as productive as I wanted it to be. In particular, this is why I skipped out on September 5 when it played theatrically last month. Well, now that my back is mostly healed, I'm finally able to check it out for myself on MGM +. Let's go.

It's September 5th, 1972, and the Summer Olympics are underway in Munich. Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard), president of ABC Sports, ends a seemingly ordinary night shift. As producer Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro) takes over, the crew seemingly hear gunshots coming from the nearby Olympic Village. They soon get word that the terrorist group, Black September, has taken the Israeli Olympic Team hostage, and have already killed two of their members. Arledge gets back to work, while Mason gets his crew ready to cover the crisis. But will their efforts make things worse?

Unlike Steven Spielberg's Munich, which depicted the attack in its opening, the Oscar-nominated screenplay co-written by director Tim Fehlbaum keeps it all off-screen. We're kept inside ABC headquarters as the situation develops only a few blocks away. Among their issues, Mason and his crew struggle for pivotal satellite privileges, sneak crewmember Gary Slaughter (Daniel Adesoun) into the Olympic Village and scramble to get the ever-changing word out. Its opening moments show them cover swimmer Mark Spitz's victory on the last normal day of the Games. It's all pretty fascinating to watch in case you want to know how a TV newsroom works. 

What glimpses we get of the crisis, from the gunshots to the televised masked man on the balcony, are sufficiently ominous. While Mason and Alredge see a major news story, operations manager Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin) sees a developing tragedy. Their differences are exemplified when they argue over the prospect of showing live violence. Later on, the crew realizes that if practically everyone is watching their coverage, then so are the militants. This gets them visited by understandably angry German police almost immediately. None of these scenes are as tense as the finale, when the crew inadvertently report the exact wrong news. The dramatic irony of the moment is immense, as is Mason's ensuing emotional devastation.

What else do we have here? Bader has a decent rapport with the crew's translator, Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch). Their early conversation over the state of post-war Germany is quite memorable. Jim McKay, who famously anchored the coverage, mostly appears in stock footage along with future anchor Peter Jennings. Outside of it, McKay is played by stand-in Matthias Schum, while Jennings is played by Benjamin Walker. The editing by Hansjörg Weißbrich helps makes the switches seamless. For some reason, I didn't notice Lorenz Dangel's score until the start of the crisis. It's an unusual mistake, and quite perplexing, given that his opening track in the control room is nice and exciting. The rest of the score is perfectly tense.

I saw Munich years ago, but I vividly remember McKay's declaration of the outcome: "They're all gone." That memory was still fresh as I saw September 5's perspective of that day in 1972. What will especially stick with me this time is the coda, in which Mason walks out the building alone, sobered by the day's events. The epilogue, which tells us the coverage got more viewers than Apollo 11, helps us think about the price of sensationalism. 

Both this film and Munich might make for an interesting double feature. But I'll leave it to you to watch one, the other or something a lot more light-hearted. As for me, I got to get ready for I have something mentally challenging to do: this year's Oscar-nominated Documentary Shorts. That review's coming up soon.

Elton John: Never Too Late

Did you catch Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour? Do you want to relive his farewell US performance at Dodgers Stadium? Did you miss the tour entirely?

If either answer is yes, then it's never too late to check it out with the Disney Plus documentary Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium. Those who want more Elton John will get it with another Disney Plus documentary, the recent Elton John: Never Too Late. That's what I'm reviewing today.

Much like Super/Man, RJ Cutler & David Furnish (Elton's husband) chronicle Elton's life on two different tracks. On one track, we get to see his early career up until his first performance at Dodgers Stadium. On the other, we see him touring until the final performance at the aforementioned venue. Along the way, Elton reflects on his life and career.

A lot of Elton's anecdotes are familiar to those who have seen Rocketman. To name a few, there's how he changed his name from Reggie Dwight; his abusive personal relationship with John Reid; his much better professional relationship with Bernie Taupin; and his drug-fueled suicide attempt at a pool. These points may be familiar, but they were anything but boring. His suicide attempt, for example, has a bit more elaboration than I remember in Rocketman. Listening to the older Elton talk about his mortality, especially when contrasted with the vibrancy of his younger self, gives this film some gravitas. 

It barely narrates anything between those two Dodgers Stadium concerts. A few prominent bits include him coming out - as bisexual - in 1980, as well as his substance abuse problems and his successful stay at AA. His deepest anecdotes, however, come from an aspect Rocketman never covered: his friendship with John Lennon. It's quite enjoyable watching them together, especially how they met while filming a weird commercial. Elton crediting himself for getting John and Yoko back together with one of his concerts is particularly amusing. It's a pity that it doesn't get into Elton's reaction to John's murder in 1980; that might have added quite a lot.

The contemporary Elton gives us plenty of compelling bits. We see him host a podcast, Rocket Hour, where he introduces young talent and spotlights a few old albums. Already, we can see how much of a cool old guy he is. We also see him as a family man with his aforementioned husband and their two young sons. We see them visit the Troubadour Night Club where he got his big break. He realizes that the break may be big, but the venue is actually small, which is amusing as it is enlightening. His family time is quite nice, especially when he introduces them during the climactic concert to a warm reception. 

Overall, this film is another good reason to listen to Elton's greatest hits. Yes, the contrast between his older and younger selves is noticeable, but he still proves himself a compelling showman in his old age. The concert footage of his stops up until Dodgers Stadium prove that point. Of course, there's plenty of great archive footage, as assembled by editors Greg Finton & Poppy Das, to showcase his prime. His songs in both timeframes are pristine. The Oscar-nominated title song, which Elton co-wrote and performed with Brandi Carlile, caps off the film rather well. 

It's been a while since I've seen Rocketman, but Never Too Late's reiteration of that biopic's bullet points brought back memories. There's a huge difference between seeing someone live their life in a biopic and hearing that same someone reflect on past events. Both films are a great test case for that point. If you learn something new from Elton in this documentary, then it's not redundant next to that biopic or even his memoirs. You can see what I mean on Disney Plus now.

The 97th Oscar Live-Action Shorts (Four of Them, Anyway)

Let's look at four of this year's contenders for the Live-Action Short Oscar. I don't have time to see this year's package film in theaters, which is the only feasible way to see the last short, The Last Ranger. If it does become available online, I'll review it with a few runners-up from the other short categories. As for this one:

I'm Not a Robot (Dir. Victoria Warmerdan): One day, music producer Lara Vermeulen's (Ellen Parren) laptop suddenly needs to update. Confronted with a series of CAPTCHA tests, Lara inexplicably fails them all, and even an online Turing test tells her she could be a robot. Maybe the internet wants to prank her or maybe the internet is on to something ...

This easily the funniest of the shorts, at least initially. Lara's frustrations with modern technology are relatable; the last question of her Turing test is a particularly cold joke. As the short goes on, we empathize with her as she grapples with her identity. Its eventual twist concerning her identity had me thinking of the recent Companion, a film that I would have seen if I wasn't too lazy. Its twists wouldn't work without Parren's compelling performance, especially its final shot. You can see what the fuss is about when you stream it on The New Yorker's YouTube page.

The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (Dir. Nebojša Slijepčević): On February 27, 1993, a passenger train is stopped at Štrpci railway station by the White Eagles paramilitary group. The White Eagles start inspecting IDs and they even take a few people with them. In one berth, Milan (Silvio Mumelaš) confesses to his fellow passengers that he is undocumented. When the White Eagles show up, it looks like Milan will be next, until another passenger, Tomo Buzov (Dragan Mićanović) tells off the soldiers ...

The short mostly centers on Dragan (Goran Bogdan), whom we're led to believe is the titular man. After all, he's the first person we see, and is the one who talks to Milan the most. He even contemplates helping Milan when the White Eagles show up. It's only near the end before we realize that the old man in the corner is the titular man. Dragan is alone in thought, perhaps reflecting on his failure to act, while we're left wondering what we'd do in a similar situation.

It doesn't take much to recognize the gravity of the situation. We're mostly kept inside the berth, which is made tighter by cinematographer Gregor Bozic, while a fantastic sound design keeps us on edge as the White Eagles march around. What makes it especially unsettling is the knowledge of the actual Štrpci Massacre, in which Buzov and 18 others were killed. The crime itself isn't depicted at all, so there's some levity. Keyword: Some. I won't blame you if you skip this one. But for those who don't want to, it's available to rent on Vimeo via its French Distributor, Manifest. Its subject matter alone could help it win, but I prefer the next short.

A Lien (Dir. David & Sam Cutler-Kreutz): It's a big day for the Gomez family. Oscar (William Martinez), an undocumented immigrant, is about to be interviewed for his Green Card. Oscar, his wife Sophia (Victoria Ratermanis), and their daughter Nina (Koralyn Rivera) rush through traffic to get to the Immigration Office. Unfortunately, as Oscar's interview proceeds, Sophia witnesses ICE officers arresting people in the lobby. And they're looking for Oscar ...

This is the one I'd go with if I was an Academy Member. If this was a feature, then editor Caitlin Carr should be in contention for the Academy Award. It may be fourteen minutes, but Carr keeps us on edge up until the last few seconds. Of particular note is the actual interview, in which Sophia frantically tries to get ahold of Oscar, who tragically - yet understandably - ignores her. The Gomezes are likable, and we're all for Oscar getting his Green Card, which makes it tragic when the rug is pulled from under them. It's made even worse when the epilogue says that this rug pulling is a common ICE practice. It still ends bittersweetly, but you'll have to see it for yourself on the short's website.

We now go with a Netflix short, and something lighter ...

Anuja (Dir. Adam J. Graves): In Delhi, Anuja (Sajda Pathan) and her sister Palak (Ananya Shanbhag) are employed in a sweatshop by Mr. Verma (Nagesh Bhonsle). Anuja is a young math whiz, which gets her scouted by Mr. Mishra (Gulshan Walia) for an entrance exam at a renowned boarding school. The sisters earn the entrance fee by selling bags Palak smuggled out of the shop. Unfortunately, Verma doesn't want Anuja to leave, and if she goes to the exam, Palak will be out of work ...

Of these four shorts, this is the biggest crowd-pleaser of them all. Its heavy-subject matter is somewhat softened by Anuja and Palak’s endearing sisterhood. Their bond is palpable from the first scene onwards, where Palak tells Anuja a morbid story. They hit the town as soon as they earn more than enough from their bags, and while they don't actually become millionaires, they feel like it. You'll feel like a millionaire watching them have fun, as well as how Palak made her bags in the first place. Anuja's escape from a mall security guard reminded me of the opening chase in Slumdog Millionaire; both scenes are impressively scored and edited. Not even its ambiguous ending nullifies the fun of its entire 22 minutes.

That's it for this year's bunch of accessible Live-Action Shorts. Next up is a feature film.

The 97th Oscar Animated Shorts

I found it emotionally exhausting to watch last year's bunch of Oscar-nominated Animated Shorts (I'll remind you why.). This year's bunch, which I saw through the annual ShortsTv theatrical package, is a lot more emotionally bearable. I'm particularly pleased with this year's selection because of one name in particular; it just so happens his short comes up first in the package:

Magic Candies (from Japan): That name would be its director, Daisuke Nishio, a longtime series director for the Dragon Ball anime. I was looking forward to watching this short when I looked it up after December's shortlists. It's a good thing it was nominated, for this year's package lacked some of this year's runners-up.

Based on a pair of picture books by Baek Hee-na, this short follows Dong-Dong (Haruto Shima), a boy who prefers marbles rather than human friends. One day, he buys a set of "magic candies" that happen to look like marbles. Each one that he pops in his mouth lets him converse with something new, like his sofa (Hiroshi Iwasaki) or his elderly dog Gusuri (Kazuhiro Yamaji). These new perspectives gradually help him open up to the world around him.

At 22-minutes, it's the longest of the bunch, but its story is simple and sweet. Its interesting concept is made memorable by what Dong-Dong learns from his "new" friends. A lost remote hidden in the sofa is tantamount to an itch, while Gusuri's perspective as an old dog is quite memorable (thankfully, he's still alive at the end). One of its most profound episodes lets Dong-Dong hear the thoughts of his comically strict father (Ikkei Watanabe). It's also quite memorable when a later candy gives voice to falling leaves. All of this is animated with excellent clay-shaded CGI that looks so much like real claymation. 

This might be my choice for the winner, but the next two other shorts in the package are viable alternates. 

In the Shadow of the Cypress (from Iran. Director: Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani): An elderly man, a sea captain long suffering from PTSD, has a tense relationship with his adult daughter. His prized ship is anchored close to their beachside home. They get their chance to reconcile when his daughter tries to rescue a beached whale.

The character designs are nice and simple, but it really stands out when it visualizes the old man's PTSD. At his worse, his skin turns gray, and he even shatters into a million pieces at one point. It doesn't take much effort to sympathize with him, even when he threatens to kill the "inconvenient" whale. It all leads to a heroic sacrifice that involves his ship. Overall, its storyline and visuals make this another worthy winner.

Yuck! (from France. Director: Loïc Espuche): A group of kids at a campsite observe the adults around them kissing and are grossed out by what they see. Two of them, Leo (Noé Chabbat) and Lucie (Katell Varvat), decide to try it for themselves. 

This is easily the most adorable story of the bunch, with two likable lead kids and a very memorable visual metaphor: peoples' lips glow the hottest shade of pink imaginable when they want to kiss. They may be young, but Leo and Lucie have started to understand the need for human connection. They get mocked for it, and you'll be rooting for them to reconcile, which they do in a memorable finale. How memorable? The whole campsite glows pink! I wouldn't be surprised if this ultimately won.

Wander to Wonder (mostly from the U.K. Director: Nina Gantz): Meanwhile, this is the short a few critics have gravitated towards. Let's see what I think of it.

Once upon a time, there was a man named Uncle Gilly (a live-action character played by Neil Salvage) who had a public access kid's show called Wander to Wonder. Nowadays, he lies dead in his decrepit flat, and his three "puppet" stars - Mary, Billybud and Fumbleton (Amanda Lawrence, Terence Dunn and Toby Jones) - try to carry on in his absence. They try their best, even as food and sanity begin to run scarce. 

Needless to say, its story isn't for everyone, even if I don't think it's the most unsettling nominee I've ever seen in this category (that would be Bestia, from a few years ago). Our three leads, who are apparently doll-sized humans instead of living toys, aren't the most visually appealing stop-motion characters. The state of Gilly's flat is even less appealing, though both aspects are done well by design. Mary's attempt to keep the show going are decently amusing as her optimism wears thin. It still ends on a profound image when an unexpected event frees them from squalor.

Beautiful Men (mostly from the Netherlands. Director: Nicolas Keppens): Three middle-aged brothers - Bart, Koen and Steven (Peter Van de Begin, Peter De Graef and Tom Dewispelaere) - travel to Istanbul for a hair-transplant. Note that I said, "a hair-transplant," for there's only room for one of the balding brothers in the hospital's schedule. Who will get the transplant? How will their relationship survive? 

All it takes to understand the brothers is to look at their stop-motion models. These puppet characters wear their melancholy on their faces; Bart, in particular, essentially has a cancer scare on top of his hair loss. He also deals with the possibility of being denied his transplant. The brothers' relationship is compelling, while their ultimate reconciliation one foggy night is rather nice, even with some oddness. It kind of falters at the end, which solves their hair trouble with a wild deus-ex-machina. Maybe that narrative issues will work better in a feature-length expansion; I'm kind of interested in seeing one.

That's it for this year's animated short nominees. Now, if you excuse me, I have to figure out how to watch the Documentary and Live-Action Short contenders. I think I can do that in a few weeks' time.

Paddington in Peru

Breaking News: Seven Years is Too Long for a Sequel.

That's especially true with Paddington Bear, whose delightful whimsy has been missed during his hibernation. His hibernation ends with Paddington in Peru, in which Dougal Wilson takes up the director's chair previously inhabited by Paul King (who was most likely preoccupied with Wonka at the time).

This time, Paddington (Ben Whishaw) and his human family, the Browns, are summoned to his native Peru when his Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) seems down in the doldrums. By the time they get to her retirement home, Lucy has disappeared into the Amazon, so Paddington decides to lead a rescue mission. Their only clue is a spot called Rumi Rock, which is supposedly connected to the fabled city of El Dorado. They hire Capt. Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas) to take them up-river to Rumi Rock.

Cabot, afflicted with a hereditary case of Gold Fever, semi-accidentally strands the Browns in the jungle. Paddington tries to echo-locate Aunt Lucy with his roaring, while the Browns look for him with the help of Cabot's daughter, Gina (Carla Tous). Meanwhile, the Browns' housekeeper Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters) discovers that the Retirement Home's kindly Mother Superior (Olivia Colman) is more than meets the eye. That's basically it.

Once the plot gets going, which it does quickly, it asserts itself as a goofy adventure film with some of its predecessors' charming whimsy. During their mission, the Browns contend with a driverless boat, ants, a purple spider and plane trouble, among other things. Cabot is haunted by the ghosts of his ancestors, all of whom died morbidly silly deaths in their pursuit of El Dorado. Paddington gets into a few silly perils, complete with a Buster Keaton homage. It even has time for a weird The Sound of Music parody for the Browns' travel montage. It's all good, even if I preferred its predecessors' deadpan jokes. The plot also teases Paddington's origins, but there's nothing much substantial until the finale teases us with Paddington staying behind. I thought they were serious!

Looking back at my previous Paddington film reviews, I realized I talked more about the visual effects that visualized him than Paddington himself. His personal visual effects are still good here, while Paddington himself is still that ursine model of goodness from the last few films. He only gets mean when he delivers a "hard stare" to Cabot, but he immediately turns polite right afterwards. It's hard to imagine any voice other than Whishaw's soft-spoken voice would fit this version of Michael Bond's most famous bear.

Once again, we have Henry Brown (Hugh Bonneville) learn not to be overly cautious. It’s a bit too familiar, but him parachuting from his new boss, Madison’s (Hayley Atwell) office is unique. His wife, Mary (Emily Mortimer, tagging in for Sally Hawkins), has a decent new subplot as she frets about being an empty nester. Mrs. Bird, however, gets the best subplot as she investigates the Mother Superior with some entertaining subterfuge.

Colman’s Mother Superior is the film’s surprise villain, a secret that not even she is good at hiding (she admits as much to Mrs. Bird). Her evil acts would make her detestable if not for her hamming it up. Indeed, her ultimate fate is both goofy and satisfying. Banderas, meanwhile, delightfully hams it up as Cabot and all of his ghostly ancestors, especially a nagging conquistador. The effects for Banderas’s singular double-act are impressive.

Finally, let’s acknowledge a major nitpick. Aunt Lucy is a nice old bear, but the film doesn’t acknowledge Paddington’s Uncle Pastuzo, save for a brief mention at the end. He’s not even shown in flashbacks when Lucy adopts Paddington. Did they not even want him voiceless after Michael Gambon’s death? That just makes Pastuzo’s absence all the more glaring, but I digress. If I nitpick any further, I'd be as old and bitter as Mr. Curry, who's also absent but not that missed.

Paddington's latest adventure may place him into new territory, but Paddington in Peru is still a fun time for all. Those too young or squeamish for even Raiders of the Lost Ark will certainly get their share of family-friendly thrills during its 106 minutes. Its ending would make a great finale for the series, except that there's a fourth film already in the works. Hopefully, that one will maintain its predecessors' charming optimism, even if it doesn't surpass them. That optimism is needed more than ever these days.

That's it for now.

Captain America: Brave New World

 The Star-Spangled Man with a Plan is back with an asterisk ...

Instead of Chris Evans's Steve Rogers, Captain America: Brave New World brings back Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson, previously The Falcon, who took up the mantle during The Falcon and Winter Soldier Disney Plus series. I never really followed the series - then again, I rarely follow TV shows anymore - so let's see if I can distill the plot of what is essentially its sequel.

It's also a sequel to Eternals, which ended when they narrowly stopped the gigantic Celestial Tiamut from waking up. A new element - none other than adamantium - has been discovered in Tiamut's fossilized corpse. The newly elected President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford, tagging in for the late William Hurt) wants to secure a treaty with the Japanese Government for "Celestial Island." He decides to announce this in a White House summit with Sam, his best friend Lt. Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) and Super soldier Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) in attendance. 

Unfortunately, Isaiah and a few others try to assassinate Ross during the event, with the Fleetwoods' Mr. Blue being the trigger. While Ross tries to salvage the prospective treaty, Sam and Joaquin (the new Falcon) look for the mastermind. Said mastermind is Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), a character not seen since 2008's The Incredible Hulk. While Sterns' evil scheme involves several sleeper agents, the biggest of them all is Ross himself, and he hopes nobody will like Ross when he gets angry. I think I got the gist of it.

This is a plot that requires a lot of homework. Besides plot threads from the aforementioned MCU instalments, the film also throws in SERPENT, a mercenary group with snake codenames (i.e. Giancarlo Esposito as commander Sidewinder). They're a collective case of "remember the new guy?" syndrome and are essentially irrelevant when Sterns enters the fray. It's mostly easy to understand the rest of the plot, even if its plot-threads would hit the hardest if you did that homework. A few examples include Isaiah's backstory as a mistreated Korean War vet and even its mentions of Gamma Radiation (the latter makes sense once you remember Stan Lee's cameo in The Incredible Hulk). Thankfully, the film helps bring viewers up to speed, even with a quick newscast, so new viewers won't be completely lost.

Another major subplot involves Ross tapping Sam to revive The Avengers. While some may question Sam going along with that, considering Ross's previous animosity with The Avengers, it's actually quite compelling to see Sam begrudgingly go along with it. He still believes in protecting the American Dream even if he seriously doubts Ross's change of heart. He proves his worthiness to Steve's legacy not only with his perseverance in battle, but just by advocating for Isaiah's innocence. It also helps that he and Joaquin have great chemistry together; even if you haven't seen The Falcon and Winter Soldier, you'll still feel it when Sam tries to help Joaquin when the latter is shot down during a dogfight.

Its strongest performance, by far, is Ford as President Ross. It's astounding how much his performance will make you sympathize with a character who, in previous instalments, was odiously belligerent. Previously, his boiling anger would symptomize his unlikability, but in this film, it's a tragic flaw that he desperately tries to manage. Not even the film's late twist that he and Sterns were in cahoots is enough to dampen that sympathy. His much-anticipated transformation into the Red Hulk is, however, dampened by some blatantly obvious effects for his initial transformation. Still, the final battle with him and Sam is pretty good, overall.

What else can I say about it? There's some pretty good makeup work for Sterns, better known as The Leader in the comics. I'm sure some might find it a rubbish look, but I thought it was decently creepy. He later proves himself more than an ugly face after he escapes his holding cell. Lumbly, meanwhile, has the second-best performance as Isaiah, who's quite sympathetic as he's swept up into The Leader's evil plot. Shira Haas makes a pretty good impression as Ruth Bat-Seraph, a former Black Widow and Ross's security advisor, who later helps Sam and Joaquin in their investigation. Besides the final battle, the film's standout set piece is the Battle of Celestial Island, where Sam and Joaquin save the US and Japanese fleets from destroying each other. 

Captain America: Brave New World apparently needed a ton of reshoots, which is evident with its five credited writers, including director Julius Onah. It's still a pretty coherent film even with its multitude of plot threads. Its political intrigue and set pieces help kept my interest during its 119 minutes, and it might help keep yours, too. If not, at least you'll have a few more Marvel films to look forward to. After a year starved of super heroics, those projects will give us more to look forward to, while this film is a good way to keep you busy until then. Well, that's what I thought of it anyway.

That's it for now.

The Six Triple Eight

For today's assignment, I'm to look at The Six Triple Eight, Tyler Perry's historical drama about the eponymous World War II battalion comprised entirely of black women. A documentary with a similar title (The SixTripleEight, notice the lack of spaces) came out in 2019, so how will you know the difference? Easy: Perry's movie is only on Netflix.

Perry's screenplay, which he adapted from Kevin M. Hymel's article Fighting a Two-Front War, formally begins in Philadelphia. There, childhood sweethearts Lena Derriecott (Ebony Obsidian) and Abram David (Gregg Sulkin) live as best as they can. Abram is deployed overseas, but he is eventually shot down. In fact, the film opens on Abram's last battle, and although his squad mates are too late to save him, they do save a letter in his pocket, now soaked with blood. 

That MacGuffin soon becomes lost in an ever-growing backlog of mail. With morale declining on both fronts, civil rights activist Mary Mcleod Bethune (Oprah Winfrey) suggests to the Roosevelts (Sam Waterston & Susan Sarandon) to dispatch the 6888 to help sort it out. A few racist officers agree, albeit with an impossible deadline of just six months to get the mail going.

Meanwhile, Lena enlists after Abram's death and is stationed with the 6888. Her commanding officer, eventual Maj. Charity Adams (Kerry Washington) isn't impressed with her lack of the right stuff. When they're shipped out, Lena tries to gain some closure, while Adams struggles to prove herself to the racist high command. They'll eventually come to an understanding as they complete their task. That's mostly it.

As you might guess from this summary, Lena and Adams get the most focus in the screenplay. Actually, Adams is pretty much the main character as she has the biggest stakes. When we first meet her, Adams is so strict that she chastises Lena for not giving her all at jumping-jacks. She starts showing her depths when she defends her troops from racist privates at a cinema. It's quite easy to sympathize with her when the high command unfairly admonishes them for slowness (multiple letters were partially eaten by rats!). Her standout scene has her stand up to the battalion's odious commanding officer General Halt (Dean Norris). It's made especially rewarding when the 6888's efforts finally bear fruit.

Meanwhile, what we see of Lena and Abram's relationship is pretty likable. He teaches her to outwit a racist bully (Sarah Helbringer), gives her the ride of her life in his car and even sings a love song off-key. It's easy to get behind Lena when she decides to enlist, and it's easier to sympathize when she struggles under her assignments. She ends up "putting a face" on the mission when she breaks down in the sorting room, which leads to a nice reconciliation with Adams. She has a decent relationship with Hugh Bell (Jay Reeves), her eventual husband, but her fellow privates are mostly lost in the shuffle. The standout among them is the rough Johnnie Mae Burton (Shanice Shantay), who takes a long while to befriend Lena.

What else can I say about it? Despite what I said earlier, it's still tense when two of the privates inadvertently drive onto an unexploded bomb and sacrifice themselves to save their two passengers.  Chaplain Clemens (Nick Harris) makes for another excellently odious villain. There's some pretty good production design for the dilapidated school the 6888 are stationed in - both before and after they renovate it - as well as for the opening battle (which is almost comparable to All Quiet on the Western Front). You'll instantly recognize the blood-soaked letter as the MacGuffin, but you'll still be decently moved by its contents. In fact, the 6888 saluting Adams, and later they themselves getting saluted, is quite emotional.

Here's where I get into a few nitpicks. Throughout the film, we're reminded of a few major stakes but rarely see anything come of it. In an early scene, they travel in what are said to be U-Boat infested waters, but after one scene of turbulent waters, they're at port in Glasglow. When Adams dresses down Halt, she realizes she bought herself a court-martial, but it's literally too late in the film to dwell on that. We do learn about the methods the 6888 use to sort the mail but rarely see most of them in action. What gives?

 My biggest nitpicks are for the epilogue, which is set to Dianne Warren's latest Oscar-nominated ballad, The Journey. The song itself is pretty good, but it's not good when the real Lena narrates about the 6888's relevance and her post-war life, only for the following text to repeat most of her bullet points! A fellow battalion member, Romay Davis, is listed as alive when she actually passed away last June (Lena herself passed away a few months earlier in January 2024). This came out on Netflix in December, so what happened?

You can probably learn a lot about The Six Triple Eight if you watch the documentary. This film, however, is a decent historical drama that's capably lead by two great protagonists. I may have some nitpicks, but it's still interesting enough to learn about the actual battalion once it ended. Give it a chance and you might be interested too. It's waiting on Netflix for your decision. And nowhere else!

That's it for now.

Flow

 I'm sure a few people complained when the Academy Award for "Best Foreign Language Film" was retitled "Best International Feature Film." I wasn't one of them. I was like, "that's fine" and I went on with my day.

Methinks the Academy's decision was warranted, for Flow, Latvia's entry into this year's race, has no spoken language of any kind. At least, none of the human variety.

A black cat lives alone in the woods. Suddenly, the world floods and the little kitty is left looking for high ground. Fortunately, the kitty meets a capybara on a boat, and they set sail together. They're soon joined by a lemur, a secretarybird, and a pack of dogs the kitty encountered just before the world ended. All they have to do is survive until they find high ground, or the flood waters recede. That's pretty much it.

It's hard to feel unmoved by the kitty's plight even if you are a dog person, like me. Before the flood, we follow the kitty as it lives a solitary life afraid of everything. Indeed, it's quite harrowing when it's caught up in the flood and not even a giant cat statue proves to be the highest ground. After it comes aboard the SS Capybara, the kitty improves thanks to the influence of its crewmates. The reluctant hero drops its reluctance, which culminates in it leading a climactic rescue when the capybara faces certain doom. All in all, it's quite compelling to watch this poor kitty grow up during the apocalypse.

What can we surmise about the crew? The capybara is basically the captain, instructing the cat how to fish and swim, mediates between the crew and lounges around the rest of the time. The lemur provides much needed comic relief, much of which comes from its fascination with a discarded mirror. The dog pack is a decent bunch, but the ceaselessly friendly Labrador Retriever who joins the crew first is easily the best boy. The secretarybird is ostracized from its flock for standing up for the crew, so it reluctantly joins them. It only shows animosity when it refuses to let the lab's fellows aboard until the others persuade it. You'll be invested in this crew even without words; it helps that they're instead vocalized by some effective sound effects.

You're probably wondering what happened to all the humans. Well, the film doesn't answer that question, and as far as we know, the animals don't dwell on it. A few signs of intelligent life exist, namely the cottage the kitty lived in until the flood, but that's all we get. Maybe they were raptured, which pretty much happens to a member of the crew late into the film (it's pretty surreal). I got to admit, when I first heard of this film, I thought it was set during the Biblical Flood, but what we see of civilization is too modern for that. Still, its lack of answers won't be enough to disengage you from its visible story.

Gints Zibalodis, in addition to being the film's director, also co-wrote, co-produced, edited, cinematographed and even co-composed the score. The painted art style, which he visualized with the open-source software Blender, is positively stunning. It accentuates the animals with exquisite body language and places them in some incredible scenery. Sometimes, the animals are the scenery, as is the case with a magnificent whale who pops up a few times, with its last scene being the most tragic. There are a few great long shots, with perhaps the highlight depicting the tumultuous first encounter with the secretarybird. Zibalodis and co-composer Rihards Zalupe perfectly accentuate this phlegmatic film with their score. It's probably the best score this year that didn't make it onto the Oscar shortlist.

While I'm not sure this can defeat Emilia Perez for the International Feature Film Oscar, Flow stands neck-and-neck with The Wild Robot in the race for Best Animated Feature. Either one of those films would make good winners; it helps that there's plenty of thematic overlap here. Flow's unverbose minimal cast is as unforgettable as the wide vocal ensemble in The Wild Robot. All they need to move you is just a purr, a hiss, a squawk or even a bark. I would have liked to have seen it in a theater, but it only played ways away from me. Fortunately, it makes for a great home matinee even on a relatively small TV. All you have to do is to sit back and watch as 86-minutes float away. It's just that good.

Next up, something more verbose.

Sing Sing

 Howdy, Baxter, what's up?

Jethro! Sing Sing came out in July! Why on earth haven't you reviewed it yet?

Because it came out in only ten theaters, nationwide, and not one of them was a theater near me?! It didn't even come out on streaming until just last week, for which I had to pay a pretty penny (or a few thousand) to watch. 

Okay, fair enough.

Primarily based on the titular article in the book, The Sing Sing Follies, by John H. Richardson, director Greg Kwedar introduces us to the Rehabilitation through the Arts program, which helps rehabilitate New York State prisoners through the creative arts. It's based in the titular prison, which is where we find John "Divine G" Whitfield (Colman Domingo) and his troupe (almost all of whom play themselves). Tired of doing Shakespeare and other seriousness, the guys pitch a comedy to director Brent Buell (Paul Raci), who distills their disparate ideas into a time-traveling farce called Breakin' the Mummy's Code, the screenplay's other source material.

Divine G, a Shakespearean devotee, is annoyed when fellow inmate Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin gets the pivotal part of Hamlet. Divine Eye has a chip on his shoulder, and he struggles with the whole acting thing. But Divine G soon helps Divine Eye refine his dramatic skills, and they eventually become friends. During the rehearsal stage, both Divines are up for parole, but it seems only Divine Eye is successful. What will become of their silly stage show with gladiators, pirates, the aforementioned Hamlet and even Freddy Krueger?

In other reviews, I commended actors' performances if their character was more natural than mere acting. This is an instance where most of the cast are actually their characters, with some liberties. The RTA alumni are a likable bunch, even if whatever crimes they committed were serious. It’s quite fascinating to watch them open up to each other during the rehearsal process. These scenes get better once you realize they improvised their lines. They effortlessly prove themselves as natural movie stars as their established co-stars. A few highlights include the elderly Camillo Lovacco and Jon-Adrian “JJ” Hernandez, the latter of whom was recently exonerated.

But it's Maclin who serves as the RTA's MVP. His fictionalized self doesn't endear himself to Divine G when he wins the role of Hamlet. But he endears himself to the audience as he opens up about his broken dreams. In a pivotal scene, Divine Eye's dramatic inexperience nearly results in a brawl during rehearsals, until Divine G helps him translate his animosity into stage presence. Later on, when Divine G has lost all hope, it's Divine Eye who helps him regain that hope. I'll reiterate on that when I discuss Domingo's performance in the next paragraph.

Domingo, as the fictional Divine G, plays a man who also struggles to connect with others. He's a better Lysander from A Midsummer Night's Dream than he is a team-player. Cases in Point: he's annoyed when the others reject his latest serious play and is devastated when Divine Eye upstages him. He's quite sympathetic when his only other friend, Mike Mike (Sean San Jose), suddenly dies, and when his parole is declined. That's when his brave face crumbles to pieces. At least he has Divine Eye to help him when he needs it most. It's quite compelling to watch the Divines become friends throughout the film, which culminates in a moving coda for them.

What else do we have here? Paul Raci is quite likable as Buell, whose real counterpart has a cameo, along with the real Divine G. The titular prison, as rendered by cinematographer Pat Scola, is rather cold and desolate. The RTA's performances, meanwhile, are perfectly vibrant; the end credits show us clips of the actual performance of Breakin' the Mummy's Code, and they're as funny as the film's version. While Bryce Dessner's melancholic score is quite memorable, Abraham Alexander & Adrian Quesada's Oscar-nominated end song Like a Bird is quite joyous to listen to. 

Don't be surprised if Sing Sing gets you interested in watching Breakin' the Mummy's Code live. It's both a moving prison docudrama, and an interesting insight into the theatrical process. Its ensemble is unforgettable, whether they're playing characters or themselves. Their stories are worth listening to. It's worth just about whatever you need to pay for it, especially if you want to see it before the Oscars. It won't come out on Blu-Ray until next month, well after the festivities are done. I'll leave it to you to decide when to see it.

Next up, something cheaper, but no less moving.

Dog Man

Although I have several Oscar-nominated films left to watch, I still have time for a few new releases. Last weekend, I made time for Dog Man, a spin-off of the Captain Underpants books by Dav Pilkey. In his books, Dog Man is another creation of Captain Underpants' creators, George and Harold. In his movie, Dog Man fetches us 89-minutes of, to quote his parent series, "Action! Thrills! Laffs!" for everyone.

But mainly kids.

It doesn't dwell too long on his origin story. Officer Knight and his K-9, Greg the Dog, regularly match wits with the evil Petey the Cat (Pete Davidson). One day, Petey decides to blow up an empty warehouse because he's that evil. Knight and Greg try to defuse Petey's bomb, but Knight goofs up and they get blown up. The doctors replace Knight's head with Greg's, and thus, Dog Man is born! 

Over a montage, Dog Man repeatedly arrests Petey, while Petey repeatedly breaks out of "Cat Jail." After a while, the Mayor (Cheri Oteri) breathes down the Police Chief's (Lil Rel Howery) neck and threatens to throw Dog Man off the force. Meanwhile, Petey invests in a cloning machine, but all it gives him is a sweet kitten named Li'l Petey (Lucas Hopkins Calderon). Li'l Petey is soon adopted by Dog Man. Meanwhile, a dead cyborg fish named Flippy (Ricky Gervais) comes back to life and decides to take over the city. Yes, it's that kind of movie.

The film is written and directed by Peter Hastings, who also voices Dog Man and his components. The story bombards its viewers with numerous visual gags and other bits of silliness in its short runtime. For a small taste, we get a “Box of Bs” - not Bees, Bs - thrown around in the opening chase. That visual bombardment can sometimes overwhelm whatever passes for a serious storyline in this film. So, what happens can we understand it?

For starters, we have Dog Man’s origin story. In live action, it would sound like a horror film, but in animation, it’s perfectly silly. I think it helps that we don’t see his creation process. Dog Man only makes dog sounds, but his cheerful personality will win you over in no time. You'll feel for him when he finds out his girlfriend has already moved on, much like in a similar scene in Robocop. It's still moving when the film milks some of its pathos for a few more gags.

Whatever dramatic weight the film has is given mainly to Petey. When he starts out, Petey is a delightfully evil cat who repeatedly pays his sole employee, Butler (Poppy Liu) with anything but money. When Li'l Petey shows up, Petey is frustrated by the kitten's sunny personality. His reluctant parenting is contrasted with the negligent parenting by his even more irredeemable dad (Stephen Root), whom Li'l Petey forcibly locates. It's rather nice seeing Petey become a better cat thanks to his clone son, which culminates in him becoming a hero. It's just as nice seeing Li'l Petey bond with Dog Man. 

What else do we have here? The art style, at times, feels like a CGI approximation of stop-motion, which takes some time getting used to. Once you do that, you'll be charmed by the appealingly simplistic character designs. Flippy, for a final boss, is even more hilariously evil than Petey. His monster buildings are delightfully goofy, while the final battle with them is pretty entertaining. Chief is amusing, though his romantic subplot with reporter Sarah Hatoff (Isla Fisher) is practically background stuff.

 All in all, Dog Man is a fun distraction from the doldrums of the world. It's not as cohesive as Captain Underpants, but it's still a delightfully fun family movie whose gags may take repeated viewings to get. I'm ready to give it a go once it's available on streaming just to see what I missed. It's better than the current news cycle, that's for sure. 

The fun begins with a short starring The Bad Guys, Little Lies and Alibis, which can best be summed up as "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Parole Board." It's an exciting appetizer for The Bad Guys 2, which comes out in August. Believe me, August can't come soon enough. 

And remember, it's Dog Man, not Dogman.