QUICK TAKES: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Cats, Bombshell and Blu-ray Spotlight on Game of Thrones: The Complete Series
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| Courtesy of Disney |
(Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action.)
The cast: Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac and John Boyega.
What it’s about: J.J. Abrams is back in the director’s chair for this supposed final installment of the Skywalker saga. Rey (Ridley) must choose between the light side and the dark side when an old foe returns. Kylo Ren (Driver) must decide if he’s drawn to Rey because she’s an enemy or an ally. Finn (Boyega) and Poe (Isaac) do their part to bring down the First Order, with some help from a few familiar faces.
The good: The Star Wars franchise hit the acting lottery when they cast Driver, Ridley, Isaac and Boyega to launch this new trilogy. The charismatic stars are what made these films work, even when the series changed directors or when they’re working with a less-than-stellar screenplay.
Abrams knows how to direct an action sequence and has a flair for intriguing visuals, including a preference for practical puppets over CGI aliens and giving each planet its own distinct look. He also knows how to tug at the heartstrings.
The not-so-good: Sadly, the trilogy goes out with a whimper instead of a bang. The previous installment, Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, generated quite a bit of controversy with a story that refused to play it safe or let fans bask in nostalgia. In fact, the primary theme of the film was that dwelling on the past can be fun, but too much is unhealthy because it prevents us from taking risks or moving forward.
Disney’s response to the small-but-loud backlash was to change course and offer nothing but fan service in The Rise of Skywalker. (Seriously, there are so may callbacks to previous movies that I started rolling my eyes after a while.) The result is that fans have done to Star Wars what Lenny did to that poor puppy in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. They love these movies so much that they’ve crushed all the spontaneity and life out of them.
The creative team is so afraid of angering the target demo that all they make are safe, easy choices. That leads to a technically impressive but narratively inert movie. Yes, it’s pretty. Yes, the actors are good. Yes, everything gets tied up with a big bow by the end. But if it all ends up feeling like a big shrug, so what?
Grade: D
Cats
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| Courtesy of Universal |
The cast: Francesca Hayward, Idris Elba, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Rebel Wilson, James Corden, Jennifer Hudson and Taylor Swift.
What it’s about: Director Tom Hooper brings Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway phenomenon to the big screen with this slightly reimagined story about singing, dancing, poetry-reciting felines, transforming it into a bombastic, CGI extravaganza.
The good: For what it’s worth, Hooper managed to capture the feeling I had seeing Cats on stage for the first time. I watched the first half-hour with my mouth agape, hands on my cheeks like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. However, once I got used to the distinctive visual style – I can’t say I’m a fan of using motion capture to make the actors look like cats, rather than using makeup and prosthetics – I learned to go with it.
Cats isn’t a good movie, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an occasionally enjoyable one. I could totally see it becoming a camp classic in the years to come. I didn’t like all of Hooper’s choices (most of them, in fact), but I have to respect him for having a clear vision and committing to it.
That goes for the performers as well – it takes a lot of trust to fully hand yourself over to a director without knowing what the finished product is going to look like. Elba, McKellen, Dench, Hudson and newcomer Hayward (a principal ballerina in London’s Royal Ballet) are the most entertaining.
The not-so-good: Most of the stage production’s problems carry over to the big screen version as well, primarily the fact that the story is borderline incomprehensible. Rather than a singular, coherent narrative, Cats is a series of brief vignettes tied together with songs and interpretive dance. Some viewers will be in theatre heaven, but I can imagine a lot of general moviegoers buying a ticket and being baffled at the experience.
Corden and Wilson are tasked with handling most of the comedic moments, but nearly all of them land with a thud (a colleague of mine astutely observed that all the supposed laughs are of the insulting “fatty falls down” variety). Finally, although Swift is prominently featured in the trailer, her fans are likely to be disappointed – she’s in the movie for maybe five minutes.
Grade: C-
Bombshell
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| Courtesy of Lionsgate |
(Rated R for sexual material and language throughout.)
The cast: Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie and John Lithgow.
What it’s about: Based on the real scandal, this drama offers a revealing look inside Fox News and the explosive story of the women (Theron, Kidman and Robbie) who brought down the infamous man (Lithgow) who created it.
The good: Thanks to a talented team of makeup artists, most of the actors look remarkably like the characters they portray – especially Theron as Megyn Kelly and Lithgow as Roger Ailes. Despite the vile subject matter, director Jay Roach is able to keep the film from feeling too morose (there’s a surprising amount of humor) while still treating those affected in real life with respect.
The not-so-good: While the actors look and sound great, the screenplay (credited to Charles Randolph) forgot to give them something to do. They’re all mouthpieces for talking points rather than flawed, complicated human beings. Furthermore, I’m not sure who “Bombshell” was made for. Roach attempts to walk the “both sides” tightrope by appealing to conservative and liberal viewers alike, but it seems (to me, at least) to be a wasted effort.
Fans of Fox News probably aren’t interested in seeing people they like put through the ringer, while the network’s detractors likely aren’t looking to buying a ticket for a story they already followed closely in real life. Plus, in the attempt to make everyone happy, the screenplay barely touches on the main characters’ flaws in an effort to make them more likable. Instead, it just makes everyone boring.
Grade: C
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| Courtesy of HBO |
(Rated TV-MA for extremely explicit sequences of strong brutal medieval warfare and violence throughout, including scenes of rape and torture, grisly and gory images, strong sexual content, graphic nudity, language and alcohol use.)
Game of Thrones, which wrapped up its eight-season run earlier this year, was an undeniable pop culture phenomenon. It smashed viewing records and dominated watercooler conversation for years.
Now that the hype has died down, the series is available to watch from beginning to end. The folks at HBO were kind enough to send me a copy of Game of Thrones: The Complete Series on Blu-ray and it’s a stunning set. All eight seasons have their own cases, and they’re housed in compact packaging with a beautiful slipcover.
What’s more, there’s a staggering amount of bonus features. In addition to previously released content like audio commentaries, deleted scenes and featurettes (totaling more than 15 hours), there’s a two-part documentary chronicling the making of the final season and a reunion special (shot live in Belfast) hosted by Conan O’Brien and featuring cast members from the series’ entire run.
Game of Thrones, which wrapped up its eight-season run earlier this year, was an undeniable pop culture phenomenon. It smashed viewing records and dominated watercooler conversation for years.
Now that the hype has died down, the series is available to watch from beginning to end. The folks at HBO were kind enough to send me a copy of Game of Thrones: The Complete Series on Blu-ray and it’s a stunning set. All eight seasons have their own cases, and they’re housed in compact packaging with a beautiful slipcover.
What’s more, there’s a staggering amount of bonus features. In addition to previously released content like audio commentaries, deleted scenes and featurettes (totaling more than 15 hours), there’s a two-part documentary chronicling the making of the final season and a reunion special (shot live in Belfast) hosted by Conan O’Brien and featuring cast members from the series’ entire run.
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