Movie Review Teen Titans Go to the Movies

Teen Titans Go to the Movies (2018) 

Directed by Peter Rida Mitchell, Aaron Horvath

Wirtten by Michael Jelenic, Aaron Horvath

Starring Scott Menville, Khary Payton, Greg Cipes, Hynden Walch, Kristen Bell, Nicolas Cage 

Release Date July 27th, 2018

Published July 28th, 2018

I am only vaguely aware of the Teen Titans cartoon series. I know that I have flashed past it on cable television, alway pausing for a moment when I would see a recognizable superhero, like a Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman, before moving on with my life. I’m aware that it has a reputation of being irreverent and quite funny for the age group it is aimed at, and even some older audiences who appreciate its satiric, deconstructionist take on comic book characters, or so I’m told.

Teen Titans Go to the Movies attempts to bring the magic of the small screen satire to the big screen and it works, for the most part. Teen Titans Go to the Movies is a funny and strange concoction that finds a group of super teenagers fighting for the respect that people their age don’t often get from adults. That’s a story that any teenager or former teenager should easily be able to relate to.

The Teen Titans are Robin (Scott Menville) aka Batman’s sidekick, Beast Boy (Greg Cipes) who can turn into any animal, Cyborg (Khary Payton) a half-human half transformer robot, Raven (Tara Strong) a misanthropic witch, and Starfire (Hynden Walch) a sweetheart alien Princess. Together they fight crime when they aren’t bickering or coming up with coordinated song and dance routines to tout how great they are.

The rest of the superhero world view the Titans as a joke and the opening sequence illustrates why. While they goof around rapping about their powers in front of a giant balloon monster wrecking havoc over a city, Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern show up and do the actual fighting of the big bad before explaining to the Titans and to us that the Titans are a bunch of goofs who should stay out of the way of the real heroes.

The Titans brush off the lambasting and decide to follow the heroes to the premiere of Batman’s new movie, even though technically, they weren’t invited. After sneaking into the premiere they meet Jade Wilson (Kristen Bell) who explains to them why they will never have a movie of their own, they don’t have a good nemesis, a bad guy foil who could raise their profile, an arch-nemesis if you will.

When the call goes out for a crime in progress the Titans leap into action and, as luck would have it, they stumble into a crime being committed by the evil mastermind Slade (Will Arnett). Though Slade laughs off the Titans offer to be their arch-nemesis, he does beat the team up and leave with his criminal booty. Robin meanwhile, is determined to make Slade their arch-nemesis and ride that rivalry to his own movie.

Eventually, Slade does take the Teen Titans seriously which leads him to try to destroy the team using Robin’s desire to be a movie star to drive a wedge into the group. His very obvious accomplice is a rather clever and funny running gag in a movie that has plenty of clever and funny gags. And yet, the comedy doesn’t mean that co-directors Aaron Horvath and Peter Rida Michall and their team of 8 credited writers, don’t ground this in some minor melodrama.

Teen Titans Go to the Movies takes somewhat seriously the relationship between the team and that grounding makes the jokes funnier and the plot more familiar, easy to follow even if you’re not a Titans regular. The group dynamic is goofy but with a bloated self-seriousness on the part of Robin that is the funniest thing about the group. Robin can be a goof just like the rest of the group but it’s his pompous belief in himself as a hero that is repeatedly punctured to strong comic effect.

The rest of the characters are less well rounded with Cyborg and Raven barely making an impression while Beast Boy and Starfire get a few solid punchlines though not much depth. The character that arguably has the most well-rounded arc is Will Arnett’s Slade who may not change much from his arrogant, growling bad guy-ness but does slowly come to respect and fear the Titans as they slowly come to prove themselves as heroes, goofball heroes, but heroes nonetheless.

If you like obscure reference humor you will love the fact that Nicholas Cage is in Teen Titans Go to the Movies. The joke is that Cage once was set to play Superman in a Tim Burton directed Superman movie that went as far as having a script and a new super suit and a long-haired Superman. Footage of Cage testing out this new look Superman went online a few years ago and Cage has maintained he would still like to play Superman and it’s nice to hear him get the chance here.

Teen Titans Go to the Movie is not a memorable movie, it’s not a lasting animated classic. It’s a well-made and quite funny television adaptation that likely won’t spawn a film franchise. But, for what it is, with it’s mild ambition and big laughs it’s not bad. Given the state of the D.C movie universe at the moment, it’s arguably among the best of the D.C comics adaptations, but that’s not saying much when you consider Man of Steel and Suicide Squad are part of that universe.

Movie Review: Burlesque

Burlesque (2010) 

Directed by Steven Antin

Written by Steven Antin

Starring Cher, Christina Aguilera, Kristen Bell, Cam Gigandet, Stanley Tucci

Release Date November 24th, 2010

Published November 23rd, 2010 

There is a near overdose of camp in Steven Antin's “Burlesque.” Whether it's Cher or Christina Aguilera or a story of a small town girl in the big city with big dreams, everything seems to come up kitsch in this tremendously familiar story. Camp is not such a bad thing; especially when it is accompanied by some good tunes and some big unintended laughs.

Christina Aguilera takes the role of the typical small town girl with the surprisingly big voice and even bigger dreams (blech). Ms. Aguilera plays Ali who escapes her tiny Iowa town for the bright lights of Los Angeles where she hopes to find work as a back up singer or dancer. One day as she is wandering the streets with what is apparently a 'dancers wanted' newspaper page in hand, Ali comes across a place called Burlesque.

Inside there is a show going on starring the club's owner Tess (Cher) who literally sings as Aly walks in "Welcome to Burlesque.". At the bar Ali meets Jack (Cam Gigandet) who strikes up a flirtation hindered by the fact that she thinks he's gay. Taken backstage she begs for a job and ends up a waitress. Eventually, Ali ends up on stage and blah, blah, blah.

”Burlesque” is not about plot, it's about massive excess and outrageous everything. “Burlesque” is pure camp from the ludicrously cheeseball story to the outlandish stage presentation and especially to the friendship between Tess and her gay best friend Sean (Stanley Tucci) which is every stereotypical gay man's wet dream. The camp is at near overdose level from beginning to end in “Burlesque” and it's up to you if that is a good or bad thing.

Myself, I enjoyed “Burlesque” in the sort of so bad its good fashion. My favorite part is how the club is suffering serious financial troubles and may be about to close. I'm just guessing here but I think the reason the club is going under is because they spend as much on massive stage spectacles as your average Broadway spectacular and their wardrobe budget likely exceeds the mortgage on the building which allegedly houses this club. Hell, the wig budget alone could probably pay off what is owed to keep the club open.

We aren't supposed to think practically about what happens in “Burlesque” and really why would we? There is no reality even attempting to take hold in this fabulized version of “The Wizard of Oz” crossed with “A Star Is Born.” Someone in the media described “Burlesque” as a 'gay fantasia' and really I cannot top that word perfect description of “Burlesque.”

I could complain that Cam Gigandet is miscast or that Alan Cumming is in the cast but barely used and that Kristen Bell is far too cardboard to be a proper villainess but none of that matters and by the end I didn't care about the movie-ish things that were wrong with “Burlesque;” I was too busy smiling and giggling to care about practicalities.

”Burlesque” is just self serious enough to pity and self aware enough not to be completely terrible. I think all involved had an idea that they were creating kitsch but hedged a little in hope that maybe there was a chance it could all be taken seriously. It cannot be taken seriously but it still works in its very unique, camp fashion. You have to be a fan of over the top, so bad its good fun to enjoy “Burlesque” but if that is your humor, you will love this movie.

By the way, does anybody know if Cher is a fan of the musical “Dreamgirls?” I ask because in “Burlesque” Cher sings a song called “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me” that is a near perfect knock off of Effie’s “And I’m Telling You, I’m Not Going.” Knock off or not, the song shows that Cher probably could pull off that extraordinarily difficult “Dreamgirls” standard even at 62 years old. That alone might be worth the price of admission to “Burlesque.”

Movie Review: When in Rome

When in Rome (2010) 

Directed by Mark Steven Johnson

Written by Mark Steven Johnson, David Diamond, David Weissman

Starring Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Will Arnett, Jon Heder, Dax Shepard

Release Date January 29th, 2010

Published January 30th, 2010

An explanation: In the past I have been accused of being too hard on kid’s movies while going easy on cheesy romantic comedies. This is not inconsistency or hypocrisy. The fact is that children with their still forming brains in desperate need of development in the area of critical thinking must be protected. Teens and adults, the audiences for cheesy romance, need no such protection.

Fully aware of the dopey clichés of the romantic comedy, the teen and adult audience can safely view even the lamest examples of the genre with little damage. Occasionally, some of these overly familiar, simpleminded romances are so simple and so aware of their limitations that our lowered standards are appropriate and fair ways to judge them. Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel's When in Rome is a perfect example. Dull witted with terrible supporting characters, the film has charms for the forgiving audience.

In When in Rome Kristen Bell stars as Beth a museum curator who is shocked when her little sister Joan (Alexis Dziena) shows up at her door engaged to be married. Joan is getting married to man she met on a plane and has known for about two weeks. He's from Rome and the wedding will be there forcing Beth to drop everything, including an important bit of work, to run off for two days.

At the wedding Beth meets Nick (Josh Duhamel), the Best Man. The two have a couple of charming romantic and funny moments. With Beth flubbing a couple wedding traditions and Nick's penchant for stumbling about, these two bond quickly with each other and we with them.

Naturally, it is too early in the film for them to be together. Thus, Director Mark Steven Johnson separates the two with a typical misunderstanding, this one leaving Beth drunkenly dancing in the Fountain De Amore, the Fountain of Love, where she steals some coins tossed by men searching for love. The coins are enchanted and the men will follow her back to New York to try to win her heart. So will Nick, but is one of the coins his?

Yes, the plot is lame and worse yet, several of the supporting performances are abysmal. Jon Heder plays a terribly unfunny street magician. Will Arnett wears a ridiculous wig and an even more ridiculous Italian accent as a wannabe artist. Dax Shepard is an offensively self involved male model who though enchanted struggles to like Beth as much as he likes himself.

Danny Devito is the only one among the group to salvage any dignity as a sausage magnate tries to impress Beth with gifts of meat. Devito gets a nice moment late in the film explaining the motivation behind his coin in the fountain; it's all that keeps him from being as humiliated as Heder, Arnett and Shepard.

The supporting players are, aside from Devito, pretty terrible but thankfully not so bad that they sink the whole film. That is because Kristen Bell, in her first starring role, and Josh Duhamel have such great chemistry. The two former TV stars, she on Veronica Mars, he opposite James Caan on Las Vegas, are just so darn cute together.

Bell has an edgy almost angry energy that is leavened by a great smile and ability to roll with the punches as the humiliations pile up. Duhamel undercuts his handsomeness with some good solid slapstick. Nick stumbles, walks into walls and drops down shafts and Duhamel plays the pain well. His back story as a former College Football star famous for one shocking moment on the field plays to his clumsiness.

Do not be mistaken, When in Rome is far from great. The film requires a great deal of patience and willingness to suspend judgment but for the willing Bell and Duhamel make a charming and great looking pair. While she smiles and takes her many humiliations in stride, he just stumbles about and they never stop being likable. That was enough for me to recommend When in Rome.

Movie Review Pulse

Pulse (2006) 

Directed by Jim Sonzero 

Written by Wes Craven 

Starring Kristen Bell, Ian Somerhalder, Christina Millian, Zach Grenier, Octavia Spencer 

Release Date August 11th, 2006 

Published August 12th, 2006 

After The Grudge and The Ring became major hits Harvey Weinstein the imperial head of Miramax/Dimension films put the film Pulse in turnaround meaning he did not want to make it. Weinstein saw that the film had nothing new to offer and was merely a sad retread of J-horror cliches. When Weinstein and his brother Bob left Miramax for their own company the new owners decided to make the movie.

If only they had listened to Harvey. Pulse is just what Weinstein saw when he pulled the plug on the film, a dull, uninspired horror retread.

Mattie Webber (Kristen Bell) has not seen her boyfriend Josh (Jonathan Tucker) in days. He doesn't answer his phones or respond to email. When she finally finds him at his apartment he is ashen and bruised. He disappears into another room and when Mattie follows him she finds him hanging himself with a phone cord.

Josh's suicide is part of a rash of suicides in the area that are linked to a creepy website that invites viewers to see ghosts. Visitors to the site are soon ghosts themselves, turning to ash, melting into walls and walking off buildings. With her friends disappearing one by one Mattie seeks the help of the man who bought Josh's old computer, Dexter (Ian Somerhalder) to find out just what caused Josh and everyone else to want to die.

Pulse is based on the incomprehensible japanese horror flick Kairo which I watched and was completely baffled by. The Americanization of Kairo at the very least clarifies the plot but that is really the film's only positive quality. Director Jim Sonzero crafts a typically murky, gray-green horror film that mimics the look of The Ring and The Grudge right down to the perky blonde lead.

I don't mean to write off Kristen Bell as merely perky and blonde. The feisty star of TV's Veronica Mars is a terrific young actress with a very bright future who simply made a bad choice in accepting a Japanese horror film off the scrap heap of dozens of J-horror flicks still awaiting an American adaptation. Bell has all american girl looks with a smart sexy smirk that is sadly dimmed by the dreary scare free atmospherics of Jim Sonzero's uninspired direction.

There is an interesting idea lost in the morass of Pulse. The film's plot combines vague assertions to George Romero and The Matrix. The dead emerging from our technology to suck out our souls is an anti-technology message right after the heart of any luddite or technophobe. Unfortunately director Jim Sonzero lacks the imagination to give this idea a proper examination. Instead, what we get is gray-green fuzziness and typical horror movie tropes.

All of the film's attempts at scares are hackneyed horror cliches in which friends and ghosts jump out from dark corners just as the film's soundtrack reaches a stilted, screeching crescendo causing our heroes to leap and scream. Maybe if you haven't seen this before you might get a bit of a jump but by the 10th or 15th time this scene repeats in Pulse you will be more irritated than jumpy.

Murky, dreary and dull, Pulse is a tension free horror slog through tame PG-13 scares. An interesting idea of the horrors of our modern Wi-Fi society squandered by direction that lacks imagination and ingenuity. When even the spunky, sexy Kristen Bell cannot break free of the dank, gloomy listlessness you know the film must be truly awful.

Not even hardcore horror fans, or fans of the Japanese original Kairo, will find anything worth watching in Pulse.

Movie Review Spartan

Spartan (2004) 

Directed by David Mamet 

Written by David Mamet 

Starring Val Kilmer, Derek Luke, William H. Macy, Ed O'Neill, Kristen Bell 

Release Date March 12th, 2004 

Published March 15th, 2004 

"Where's the girl?"

A line tersely delivered, often through the gritted teeth of aggravated men. This is the writing of David Mamet in his newest incarnation, the action thriller Spartan. Minimalist, to the point, and exciting when delivered by actors with conviction, Mamet's writing is the highlight of all of his films (State and Main, The Spanish Prisoner, House of Games) and when teamed with a capable cast it's sublime in it's simplicity, smarts and humor. Spartan is the latest example of Mamet at his best.

Val Kilmer stars as John Scott, some sort of secret agent though I'm at a loss to figure out who he works for exactly. Scott is first seen on a military training mission with a pair of recruits (Derek Luke and Tia Texada) acting out some exercise that is important to Scott but apparently not the audience. Once the exercise is over, Scott gets a phone call that takes him into the film’s real plot.

Scott is called in to join a task force to search for the daughter of the President, (Kristen Bell). The first daughter was kidnapped, the who and the what is a twist-laden trip into typical thriller territory except smarter and more interesting because David Mamet doesn't know how to do anything typical. First rate dialogue, whip smart plot turns, and a terrific cast make Spartan far better than the usual thriller fare.

In what some are calling a comeback performance, Val Kilmer shines, biting into Mamet's dialogue with the necessary sharpness and clarity. Anyone who calls this a comeback obviously missed his brilliant work in 2002's The Salton Sea, but then sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who ever saw that one. Scott is a rare part for Kilmer's recent outings, it's his first hero role since The Saint.

For Mamet, Spartan seems like an attempt to fit his rather esoteric style into a mainstream film. It's a surprisingly good fit. I have for years belabored the idea that even the most clichéd retread plot can be made well if written, acted and directed with intelligence and the commitment not to fall into the familiar rhythm. Spartan is a mainstream thriller with Mamet's brains in place of the usual thickheaded clichés and that works for me.

I'm tempted to compare Mamet to John Sayles in that both are the preeminent writers of my mind. However, Sayles is more of an artist than Mamet. Where Mamet has a longing for mainstream acceptance, Sayles has a more secular point of view. Sayles isn't interested in appealing to anyone other than himself, Mamet wants to appeal to the populace. It's a dangerous gamble because it can cause a director to compromise vision for demographic.

Thankfully Mamet isn't so desperate as to compromise, at least not in a film he directs himself. His writing assignments for others are questionable. Spartan is not a compromise but an uneasy entreaty into mainstream fare. Let's hope that its box office returns don't lead to future compromise.

Movie Review Frozen 2

Frozen 2 (2019) 

Directed by Jennifer Lee, Chris Buck

Written by Jennifer Lee 

Starring Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, Jonathan Groff 

Release Date November 22nd, 2019

Published December 6th, 2019 

Two weeks in theaters and Frozen 2 has single handedly revived a sleepy North American box office. To say that Disney has a magic touch with sequels and familiar I.P is not saying much, they’re the master of wringing every last dollar out of their properties. What perhaps sets Disney apart from other companies that increasingly rely on well known properties rather than risking money on new developments, is that Disney trusts creators more. And if that doesn’t work, they can amp up the marketing budget. 

Frozen 2 is a strong example of trusting their creators. By any account of the first Frozen, there did not appear to be much of any sequel potential in the story of Queen Elsa and Princess Anna, at least not theatrically. In a cynical world, Disney could spin romantic, Y.A tales of the love adventures of Anna and Elsa for infinity on the straight to video market. But Disney has grown ambitious since the Toy Story movies proved there was an appetite for sequels in theaters as opposed to the video market that Disney owned for the better part of two decades. 

The creators of Frozen did not rest on the ease and familiarity of the characters of Anna and Elsa by feeding the need to pair Elsa off romantically. That was a natural storytelling alley but the filmmakers sought an adventure that would be more ambitious and capitalize on the strengths that Idina Menzel fueled with her remarkable voice and the original screenplay had given us an Elsa beyond the need for her to have a Prince. 

The original Frozen was an adventure story and the filmmakers knew that an adventure story was where they wanted to go again with the sequel, even if it didn’t necessarily have a natural jumping off point from the original story. The clever idea here was to investigate the back story of Elsa’s powers as it related to the deaths of her parents and the history of the Kingdom of Arendelle which it turns out is darker than we’d ever suspected. 

The story of Frozen 2 has Elsa hearing a voice that drives her to seek out a magical forest locked behind an enchanted mist that she can access because of her powers. Naturally, Anna (Kristen Bell)  insists on joining Elsa on the journey along with Olaf (Josh Gad),  Christoph (Jonathan Groff) and his reindeer pal Sven. Together they will discover the spirit of the elements, Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. There is a fifth element and that is at the heart of the mystery of Frozen 2. 

The story is wonderfully told with big, Broadway style musical interludes that help the story along. While the first film had a surefire pop hit in Let it Go, the makers of Frozen 2 have boldly chosen not to concern themselves with pop hits and have gone solely for songs that help drive the story. It’s a shockingly uncommercial choice and it gives Frozen 2 an even stronger independent identity from its corporate origins. 

The voices of Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell have only grown stronger and more confident in the roles of Elsa and Anna. The comfort in their vocal work lends authenticity to the characters. The same could be said of Josh Gad’s Olaf who rounds into the big beating heart of the Frozen franchise. Olaf, while remaining a predominately comic character, has moments of genuine emotional power in Frozen 2 as he comes to stand in as an avatar for the youngest audience members of the Frozen fandom. 

Olaf is very funny and the youngest audience members will absolutely adore him as they did in the original. Gad carries the comic burden of Frozen 2 while facilitating the other characters to linger in more dramatic adventures. Much of the success of Frozen 2 can be attributed to the laughs brought on by Olaf underlining the action of the other characters who are sprinting toward more dramatic and life changing adventures. 

In some ways, Frozen 2 is actually superior to the original Frozen. The characters are more fleshed out and relatable. Elsa is more human and relatable than in the original and the music explores her depths in ways that Let it Go and the other original Frozen songs could not. The creative team of Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee have also expanded the visual palette of the Frozen universe with daring visuals that include even more gorgeous explorations of ice and a horse made of water that is one of the most beautiful pieces of animation in this young century. 

Frozen 2 has that unique ability to appeal to children with stories of wonder and necessary lessons about life and family while also reaching adults who can appreciate the visual mastery and the wonderful characters who have an adult accessibility. It’s rare to see that combination of traits outside of Disney’s partners at Pixar but Frozen 2 achieves it. Frozen 2 is the number 1 movie in America, and the rest of the world, because of those accessible traits.