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| Courtesy of Warner Bros. |
(Rated PG-13 for action/peril, bloody images and some language.)
The cast: Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Cliff Curtis, Ruby Rose and Jessica McNamee.
What it’s about: Five years ago, expert deep-sea diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) lost his career, half of his crew and his marriage in a catastrophe he blamed on a mysterious creature. Now, he’s forced to confront that terror – revealed to be a massive shark thought long extinct – once again when he embarks on a rescue mission to find a research team, including his ex-wife (McNamee), stranded at the bottom of the ocean.
The good: Fans of cheesy, brainless action movies will be in heaven. If last month’s bland Skyscraper was Die Hard on steroids, this unabashed Jaws rip-off is in the same ballpark. Statham does exactly what viewers expect him to do – no more, no less. As the lights went down, I jokingly told my colleague, “If Jason Statham doesn’t punch a giant shark in the face, what are we even doing here?” Spoiler alert: I wasn’t disappointed in that respect.
As for the rest of the cast, Wilson hams it up as an egotistical billionaire, Bingbing (who I was shocked to learn is 45 years old) handles her character Suyin’s sizzle-free romance with Taylor as well as she can, and Rose keeps things interesting with her unique beauty and talent for entertaining facial expressions. But the film’s under-the-radar MVP is Shuya Sophia Cai, the adorable young actress who plays Suyin’s precocious daughter.
Although The Meg fails as a horror movie, it’s adequate B-movie schlock. The visual effects are surprisingly decent, but there’s never any question you’re looking at actors pretending to be scared in front of a green screen.
The not-so-good: Clocking in at nearly two hours, The Meg is way too long. Every time it felt like the story was wrapping up, a new plot development would appear to extend the running time. It’s like screenwriters Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber wrote two sequels but decided to cram them into the original movie.
In addition, several actors’ delivery is so stilted that they come across as aliens who researched being human by watching a lot of old cheesy movies and playing around on Google Translate. To make matters worse, the characters frequently change personalities and motivations for no discernable reason.
Grade: C
Eighth Grade
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| Courtesy of A24 |
The cast: Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson, Jake Ryan, Luke Prael and Catherine Oliviere.
What it’s about: 13-year-old Kayla (Fisher), socially awkward and painfully shy, attempts to navigate her last week of middle school so she can put her disastrous time in eighth grade behind her. Her kind, well-meaning father (Hamilton) does his best to support her and offer guidance, but he has no idea the everyday horrors she faces – including bullying mean girls and hormone-crazed boys.
The good: Writer-director Bo Burnham got his start as a YouTube celebrity, but quickly progressed to gifted comedian and musician. Turns out he’s also an incredible filmmaker. His debut is one of the best movies of 2018 and has a strong shot at making my Top 10 in December.
Although I mostly watched the way-too-real Eighth Grade through my fingers, every frame radiates with authenticity and love for its protagonist. Like most teenagers, Kayla is obsessed with social media (something Burnham knows a thing or two about) and performativity, using it as a potential opportunity to elevate her social status and experimenting with different versions of her personality.
The character epitomizes the terrifying moments of adolescence, when the slightest misstep or awkward conversation turns kids into social outcasts. Adults, decades removed from these anxiety-inducing experiences, who might roll their eyes and tell their own children to get over it or “don’t care so much what those other kids think” will mostly likely be transported back to their own teenage years and the horrors they contained.
Fisher is a revelation as Kayla, conveying complex emotions in simple facial expressions or everyday language. It’s heartbreaking to watch her make YouTube videos that almost no one sees, portraying a more outgoing version of herself and offering advice that she wishes someone would’ve given her. In a just world, she’d be a shoo-in for a Best Actress nomination. She’s that great.
Hamilton is also strong, playing essentially the best dad in the world. He knows his daughter is struggling and he knows she’s at a stage in life where parents are lame. So he does his best to hang back and let her handle her own problems, even though he’s dying to step in and take charge. His performance is deceptively simple – he makes it look easy even though his character is clearly experiencing a range of conflicting emotions beneath the surface.
In the film’s final moments, the two share a scene together that absolutely devastated me. I’m talking full-on tears and sniffling so loud that the people a few rows down turned around to see who the weird guy was. The fact that Burnham can tap into that minefield of raw emotions for a teenage girl, despite being a guy and many years past middle school, suggests a staggering level of empathy.
A quick word to parents: you’re the best judge of your children, but I recommend ignoring the movie’s R-rating. There’s nothing in the movie that middle schoolers don’t already encounter every day, including rough language (I think there’s maybe four f-bombs?) and frank sexual conversations. Burnham depicts real life and I think it’s an important film for mature kids to see.
The not-so-good: From the perspective of a film critic, absolutely nothing; Eighth Grade is as close to perfect as movies come. However, as the dad of a seven-year-old daughter who is already growing up way too fast, and a two-year-old daughter who isn’t far behind, this is one of the scarier than any horror movie I’ve ever seen.
For 90 minutes, all I wanted to do was give Kayla a hug. She has such a good heart that I didn’t want to see the world break her. Considering Burnham created a character that I cared so deeply about so quickly, that’s the highest compliment I can pay him.
Grade: A
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| Courtesy of Disney |
Blu-ray Review: Avengers: Infinity War
(Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, language and some crude references. Available August 14.)
The cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Josh Brolin, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Chadwick Boseman and a host of other superheroes.
What it’s about: The Avengers and allies from across the universe (including characters from Marvel Studios’ 18 previous films) team up to battle Thanos (Brolin), a genocidal madman who threatens to wipe out half of existence. If the crazed villain finds all six Infinity Stones, the gems will grant him godlike power to reshape creation however he wants.
The good: That Infinity War exists at all is a monumental achievement; it’s the culmination of a decade of big-budget, longform storytelling that many people considered impossible when it started. The movie is insanely busy, with dozens of plot threads and locations all over the universe weaving together over the course of two-and-a-half hours. Those looking for jaw-dropping action scenes, funny banter and entertaining combinations of characters we’ve come to love will be happy.
The not-so-good: Viewers hoping for complex characterization and story arcs lasting longer than a few minutes are going to come away disappointed. That’s primarily because Infinity War is only half a movie, ending with our heroes – or the ones left standing – scattered across the universe at the bleakest point we’ve ever seen them. Because the plot is so packed, many popular characters barely get any screen time at all.
Sadly, Thanos is further proof that Marvel hasn’t solved their villain problem. Brolin is fine and the character’s motion capture is visually impressive. But what’s interesting about an unstoppable god? Because there’s almost no indication that our heroes can emerge victorious, the film quickly becomes a long, slow trudge toward inevitability.
Special features: Intro by directors Joe and Anthony Russo; audio commentary by the Russos and screenwriters Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely; four behind-the-scenes featurettes; gag reel; and deleted scenes.
Grade: B
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