Movie Review Civil War

Civil War (2024) 

Directed by Alex Garland

Written by Alex Garland

Starring Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, William McKinley Henderson, Nick Offerman

Release Date April 12th, 2024 

Published April 12th, 2024 

So, war is bad. Don't do war. If you do war then we won't have internet or even electricity. People will have live in tents in football stadiums, it's all bad. There is no NFL, no NBA, no March Madness. No movies, no Marvel, no Disney Plus. War truly sucks. 0 out of 5 stars for war. Are you enjoying my sarcasm? I'm laying it on pretty thick. On a very surface level, this is the thesis statement behind Alex Garland's new movie Civil War. Lot's of people will die and nothing good will happen if we let our country slip into a civil war. 

Civil War stars Kirsten Dunst as veteran photo journalist, Lee Smith. Lee and her reporter colleague, Joel (Wagner Moura) are planning a perilous journey to the White House from New York City. This is dangerous because the so-called 'Western Forces' of Texas and California have moved the frontline of the Civil War to the President's front door. To get to the White House and the chance to interview the President (Nick Offerman), will mean crossing the almost invisible line between Americans fighting the government and government forces fighting on behalf of the embattled President.

Which side is right or wrong is not part of this conversation. We will never learn why the two sides are fighting. You can make your assumptions and perhaps try to make the President out to be a Trump-like figure who is clinging to power against the will of the American people, but the movie doesn't have a rooting interest, it doesn't take a side. The movie Civil War is simply opposed to war of any kind and that's something that the movie and I have in common. Indeed, that is something that most people have in common, we don't want to be in a war. 

Find my full length review at Swamp.Media 

Movie Review Priscilla

Priscilla (2023) 

Directed by Sofia Coppola 

Written by Sofia Coppola 

Starring Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi

Release Date 11-03-2023 

Published 11-04-2023 

Sofia Coppola is one of the best directors on the planet. She has a distinctive style, a mastery of tone, and the patience required to tell stories in a way only she can. A Sofia Coppola movie will not be mistaken for another director. Coppola's style is hypnotic and gorgeous. Her patient approach to allowing her characters to reveal themselves via action rather than clumsy dialogue is almost unmatched. There is no bombast, no major theatrics, and a distinct lack of commerciality. It's a kind of direction that simply speaks to me and how I enjoy experiencing a movie. 

Priscilla is a unique challenge for Sofia Coppola. She's used to being the complete master of her narrative. Here however, she has a template, a kind of history that requires a fealty to the memory of generations. The life of Elvis Presley is among the most well-known and documented in human history, matched only perhaps, by the life of Marilyn Monroe. People have particular expectations of a movie that is going to depict even a fraction of that life. Priscilla, obviously, isn't about Elvis but by his design, her life is defined in many ways by him. 

We are entirely in Priscilla's space in Priscilla but because Elvis was a controlling man, a man unaware that he is an abuser, few abusers see themselves as they are, Priscilla has no life that isn't defined by his wants, his desires, and his schedule. And that's the hallmark of this story. As much as Priscilla Presley doesn't want to demonize her ex-husband and the father of her child, his actions speak for themselves in how he isolated a young woman from her support system and used emotional and financial abuse tactics to keep Priscilla under control. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Pacific Rim Uprising

Pacific Rim Uprising (2018) 

Directed by Steven S. DeKnight 

Written by Emily Carmichael, Kira Snyder, T.S Nowlin 

Starring Scott Eastwood, John Boyega, Cailee Spaeny, Charlie Day, Adria Arjona 

Release Date March 23rd, 2018 

Published March 27th, 2018 

Pacific Rim is from that part of Oscar winning director Guillermo Del Toro that we’ve all agreed to ignore, alongside the Hellboy movies and Mimic. It’s not that Pacific Rim is bad; rather that it is a tad undignified compared to the awards caliber work he gave us before moving to Hollywood and now his Oscar winning triumph, The Shape of Water. It will always be better to remember the visionary work of Pan’s Labyrinth and ignoring the time he played with his toys on a multi-multi-multi-million dollar budget.

Pacific Rim Uprising is, no surprise, not directed by Del Toro as he was distracted from his toys by a lovely love story that happened to be about a woman and fish Jesus. Del Toro has leant his name to the marketing of the Pacific Rim sequel as Executive Producer but it is television veteran Stephen S. DeKnight playing with Del Toro’s this time and having a great deal more fun than we are watching him play.

John Boyega is front and center as Jake, the star of Pacific Rim Uprising, taking the mantel from Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba whose characters have been killed off screen as we join the story. Elba’s Stacker Pentacost was Jake’s father and Jake was his constant failure. Jake was a washout from the Jaeger patrol, Jaeger’s are the giant robots humans pilot in the battle against Kaiju, giant monsters from another dimension.

Jake is brought back into the fold by his adopted sister Mako (Rinko Kikuchi, one of the few returning cas tmembers from the 2013 film) who wants him to train the next generation of Jaeger pilots alongside his former partner turned rival, Ranger Lambert (Scott Eastwood, trying hard to out-squint his legendary daddy). Among the new Jaeger pilot recruits is a young named Amara (Callee Spaeny), who built her very own Jaeger out of scrap.

Also back for the sequel is Charlie Day who was arguably the most entertaining aspect of the original Pacific Rim. Day is also the most entertaining part of Pacific Rim Uprising but not for the right reasons. Day’s arc in Pacific Rim Uprising is so ungodly silly it almost makes the movie a candidate for ‘So Bad It’s Good’ status. Unfortunately, most of Pacific Rim 2 is so clumsy and shambling that even ironic appreciation eludes the movie.

Director Stephen DeKnight, who, it should be noted, did remarkable work on TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff, Angel, fails to take control of Pacific Rim Uprising. Instead of establishing a tone that is funny and in tune with the silliness of the first film, Pacific Rim Uprising plays everything straight and the thin premise can’t bear the weight of the emotion Uprising wishes it were evoking in audiences.

Note to the makers of giant robot vs giant monster movies in the future: make it funny. We are never not going to laugh at this stuff so lean into the pitch and stop trying to make us take your story or characters seriously. Pacific Rim does try to packs in some jokes, mostly at the expense of Boyega’s Jake’s inflated ego, but the insistent action score and the self-serious performances of everyone else in Pacific Rim Uprising keeps everything flat and mirthless.

It seems impossible that one could watch a giant robot versus giant monster movie and not have fun but here we are with Pacific Rim Uprising. This sequel is at times genuinely unpleasant. The one big laugh the film gets is one that the makers likely did not intend and the fight scenes that were skillful and silly in the original are miserably clumsy exercises in sub-Transformers, derivative, CGI slop.