Better Late Than Never Vol. 6

It's that time of the year when all the highly anticipated movies start to arrive and I try to watch a couple I missed during the summer.
Changeland (B-)

Brandon (Seth Green) and Ian (Macaulay Culkin).

After discovering that his wife is having an affair, Brandon (Seth Green) goes to Taiwan where he planned to have his anniversary trip. Not wanting to go alone, he invites his best friend Dan (Breckin Meyer) whom he hasn't seen in awhile. As they marvel at the sights and sounds of beautiful Taiwan, Brandon begins to wonder about the choices of his life, where he is, what he regrets and where wants to go from here. Changeland is a relaxing indie drama that shows Green at his most mature, especially when you remember that this is the same guy who voices Chris Griffin on Family Guy and the creator of the raunchy skit comedy Robot Chicken. Green had directed several television specials but Changeland marks his directorial debut as a filmmaker in addition to starring and writing the project. Much of the movie is based on Green's experience when he vacationed to Taiwan, which inspired him to make the movie. Best friends in front and behind the camera, Green and Meyer are compelling as you feel the pain and camaraderie of their friendship. Supporting characters include many of Green's real-life friends like Brenda Song (The Suite Life  of Zack and Cody), WWE wrestler Randy Orton, and former child actor Macaulay Culkin in his first movie role in more than a decade. The movie has two voice cameos that I won't reveal but the instant I heard the voice, and looked it up after the movie ended, my happy suspicions were confirmed. Changeland features Green's pop-culture love and human dynamics that while at times gets a little clumsy and slow in the narrative, it still achieves a sense of peace that is purposely ambiguous but alleviating.

Doctor Sleep (B-)

Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) revisiting a haunting memory.  

Still traumatized over the events that happened at the Overlook hotel, Dan Torrance has become his own father by turning to bottle to ease his pain and frustration. After deciding to sober up and getting a job at a hospice, he starts to feel the presence of another who posses the shining in a thirteen-year-old girl named Abra (Kyliegh Curran). He isn't the only one to sense this as an evil cult called the True Knot lead by the alluring but terrifying Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) search for the girl, to consume her shining abilities and possess immortality, a murderous method they have applied for centuries. In his second Stephen King adaptation after Gerard's Game, director Mike Flanagan (Oculus and The House on Haunting of Hill House) has the daunting task of appeasing fans of the original novels by King and fans of the revered adaptation from Stanley Kubrick that King himself despised. Doctor Sleep manages to combine both King and Kubrick's vision with adequate results. First-time actress Kyliegh Curran is a stellar standout as Abra along with Rebecca Ferguson as the villainous Rose. Ewan McGregor as adult Danny evokes a more somber and mellow performance similar to his role from Trainspotting. As with any book adaptation many elements have been trimmed and omitted to fit the movie's run-time. The supporting characters get the blunt of it from Billy Freeman (Cliff Curtis) and Snakebite Andi (Emily Alyn Lind) who start with promise only to have a underwhelming pay-off. Other characters like Dr. John Dalton (Bruce Greenwood), and Abra's parents (Zackary Momoh and Jocelin Donahue) who had prominent roles in the book appear very little in the movie. Despite those disappointments Doctor Sleep shines as worthy sequel to Kubrick's horror masterpiece and as an average King adaptation.

Ford v Ferrari (A)

Matt Damon and Christian Bale as Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles. 

Why let young audiences have all the fun when it comes to the sport of race-cars with Cars & The Fast & the Furious? Ron Howard showcased this with Rush and now James Mangold steps onto the racetrack in this incredible true story. The year in 1963, Ford isn't doing well in the car business and after a humiliating failed deal with Ferrari, Henry Ford II (Tracey Letts) gives the approval for his company to construct a race car to defeat Ferrari in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. Recruiting the best of the best is car designer and engineer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and hot-head driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) who isn't afraid to put the pedal to the metal. Mangold is best known for intense action films like The Wolverine,  Logan and 3:10 to Yuma remake but knows a thing or two about biopics as seen with Walk the Line. Ford v Ferrari is an engaging and rousing story that shifts into high gear thanks to Damon and Bale's performances and the high-octane racing sequences. Bale is perfectly cast as Ken Miles in this down-to-earth performance that mirrors Bale's own infamous persona of being hard to work with. Damon is amazing as always with his best scenes being when he butts heads with Bale adding to their chemistry. The rest of the cast is phenomenal from Josh Lucas (Glory Road & A Beautiful Mind) as the jerk Ford executive, Roy Mckinnon (Mud & The Blind Side) as Shelby's assistant mechanic, Jon Bernthal (Marvel's The Punisher, & The Wolf of Wall Street) as the Ford Vice-President, and Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place & Wonder) and Caitriona Balfe (Outlander) as Miles's son and wife who leave quite an impression when onscreen. A good companion piece to Rush, Ford v Ferrari is a movie that will have you amazed, and astonished at this automobile account.

Harriet (B)

Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman. 

The most extraordinary figure in American history finally graces the big-screen. We witness Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman; her brutal life as a slave, her perilous decision to flee for freedom, the daring rescues she embarked to liberate her people, the moments when she experiences visions from the heavens and the legacy she left behind. The hard part is making the movie engaging otherwise a documentary or mini-series might be better suited. Movies like Selma, Lincoln and even 12 Years a Slave work because they choose to focus on a specific chapter in the person's life. Harriet is a movie that crams in too much story that makes many parts drag whether crucial or not.The last scene where we see her participate in the Civil War could have been a movie its own; it's a brief moment that I wished we saw more of. Other parts are either heavy-handed or tacked on like Joe Alwyn as a generic white racist out to get Harriet. As one critic say's "Films that take on too much of the story, like Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom or The Theory of Everything, often wind up feeling like a Wikipedia entry and sacrificing subtlety for simplicity." While lacking the cinematic flair, it has many redeeming qualities. Erivo being one of them who takes command on the screen when on the Underground Railroad and the plans that were involved to pull it off. Henry Hunter Hal as a slave tracker has an interesting arc and seeing cameos of other historical figures such as Tory Kittles as Frederick Douglas add to the historic awe. While disappointingly formulaic, Harriet is a movie that I'm still glad was made and will hopefully continue on opening doors for more stories like this.

Lady & the Tramp (B)

Lady (Tessa Thompson) and the Tramp (Justin Theroux). 

The original Lady and the Tramp is cute if a little cheesy and dated at times but has undeniably one of the best romances and kisses in cinema history. A remake can make room for improvement and it does in many areas albeit still being a copy and paste movie like the recent Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King re-tellings. Unlike The Lion King, it does a better job on emoting emotions from the CGI animals backed-up with good voice-work. Lady being my favorite character in the original is wonderfully translated into live-action voiced by Tessa Thompson. The Siamese Cat song is mercifully gone and replaced with much better tune though the like in the original the cats don't receive their comeuppance. Other characters like the pound dogs are given some closure that wasn't seen in the original, and the humans like Jim Dear (Thomas Mann), Darling (Kiersey Clemons), Aunt Sarah (Yvette Nicole Brown) and Tony (F. Murray Abraham) are well-cast. While an amiable performance, Justin Theroux whose voice-work include's gruff villains, is miscast as the Tramp who can't capture the rascal but charming vocals of the original despite good dialogue and expanded backstory. This version is given a tacked-on villain as seen with the dogcatcher out to get Tramp who comes off as goofy that would probably work in a cartoon or on the Disney Channel, but adds insult to injury as the original never villainized its dogcather, who was only doing his job. As good as the CGI is, it doesn't compare to traditional animation of the original from Lady as a puppy and the iconic spaghetti kiss. It's definitely above this year's Disney remakes like The Lion King and Dumbo but below Aladdin lacking that needed spark.

Midsommar (D+)

Dani (Florence Pugh) wailing with in pain. 

Continuing his theme with evil cults, Ari Aster takes us from Hereditary's streets of suburbia to the open countryside in Midsommar. After a horrific tragedy that took her family's life, Dani (Florence Pugh) joins her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor), and his two friends (Willaim Jackson Harper & Will Poulter) to a rural commune of their Swedish classmate (Vilheml Blomgren) in his home country. What starts as an innocent trip slowly evolves into something much more sinister among the people and their practices. Think The Wicker Man but without the morality. It has more in common with the Nicholas Cage version when it comes to disturbing imagery that should have alerted the characters that something is up. I wasn't fond of Hereditary, but if anything came from that movie is that I was prepared for any shocks this movie had in store. Like its predecessor, Midsommar didn't have me care about the characters once it was set in stone what their fate was going to be. The gruesome imagery goes overboard that any moment of light are put out. Another nihilistic movie I can add to this year's list.   

Midway (C+)

Ed Skrein and Luke Lleintank prepare for battle in Midway. 

For all the movies that Roland Emmerich has made about patriotism and America with The Patriot, Independence Day, White House Down and now Midway, he's actually German not American. Midway follows the brave men who took part in the famous Battle of Midway during World War II and the months that lead to that fated day. A moment that would change the tide in the war as the first American victory over Japan. Midway puts to good use of Emmerich's talent of destruction and explosions from the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Doolittle Raid, and the titular battle itself. In terms of story and character, it's a mess. One too many characters and subplots are crammed in that I lost track. With the exception of the two main leads, Richard "Dick" Best (Ed Skrein from Deadpool) a squadron pilot and Edwin T. Layton (Patrick Wilson from The Conjuring) an intelligence officer who helped decode messages from the enemy, we barely get to know these characters, and doesn't help with their limited screen appearance. It's a waste of good talent with actors like Dennis Quaid, Woody Harrelson and Mandy Moore who come off one-noted, Aaron Eckhart and Nick Jonas are reduced to cameos with Luke Evans being the one to stand out of the supporting crowd. Like Harriet, the movie is historically accurate for the most part but skims through many historical moments that could have been a movie on its own; the small history snippets at the end credits is a nice touch. Midway is an average war movie that if anything is a more faithful WWII story than Micheal Bay's Pearl Harbor.

Rocketman (B)

Taron Egerton as Elton John.  

From one British singer-songwriter biopic to another, Dexter Fletcher turns from Freddie Mercury to Elton John with Rocketman. Ever since his rendition of "I'm Still Standing" in the animated comedy Sing!, Taron Egerton  perfectly personifies the eponymous piano player. Many will be quick to compare this with Bohemian Rhapsody but Rocketman elevates the formula by being a full-fledged musical adding a jukebox energy with much of the cast, not just Edgerton,  getting singing the John's greatest hits. The way it tells the story in a Broadway fashion and employing visual metaphors adds to it. One interesting similarity it has with Rhapsody is the platonic friendship as seen with Bernie Taupin played by Jamie Bell who despite the singer's fall to rock bottom is the one element that our lead latches on to his sanity and a villain who passes as the singer's love interest but doesn't have his best interests. In the standard Hollywood biopic we have the unnecessary sex scenes but the direction, storytelling, and acting are well done. Rocketman made me care to see a man fall so hard, to get right back up.