Movie Review Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom

Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom (2023) 

Directed by James Wan 

Written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Will Beall

Starring Jason Mamoa, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman, Amber Heard, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II 

Release Date December 21st, 2023 

Published December 29th, 2023 

Wow! Aquaman 2 The Lost Kingdom is quite bad. I truly did not care for this DCEU sequel to what wasn't a bad first film. The sequel is lazy and dimwitted, ponderous and often quite ugly to look at. It's everything we've come to dislike about modern comic book blockbusters. The worst element is the CGI, a rubbery mess of indecipherable visuals and some of the worst fight scenes since Michael Bay assaulted our senses in the Transformers franchise. The biggest disappointment, however, is director James Wan, a supremely talented director who appears to be on complete autopilot in this lazy sequel. 

The film begins with a hacky sitcom monologue which sets up the new dynamic of the Aquaman movie universe. Aquaman, AKA, Arthur Curry (Jason Samoa), delivers a monologue that appears to break the fourth wall except that it is couched as a dialogue with his new baby, Arthur Jr. He's bringing the baby up to speed on where we stand now with Arthur as the King of Atlantis, hating the restrictions of being King and finding ways to be the Arthur of old, a superhero who fights evil and protects the good. His wife, Hera (Amber Heard), is also around... somewhere. 

Much of the early portion of the film is Arthur with his baby and sharing beers with his dad, Tom (Temeura Morrison). That is until, David Kane, AKA, Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) makes his presence felt. He's somewhere in Antarctica searching for The Lost Kingdom. With the aid of a genius scientist, Dr. Stephen Shin (Randall Park), and the effects of Global Warming, he does find something, an ancient weapon called The Black Trident. The possessed weapon begins to infect Black Manta's mind, using his hatred for Aquaman to drive him to free the Lost Kingdom from a centuries long curse. 

In order to find Black Manta, Arthur must do the unthinkable, break his brother, Orm (Patrick Wilson), out of a desert prison where he's been held since the end of the last movie. Thanks to the power of lazy screenwriting, Orm knows where to find Black Manta, or the Star Wars cantina where someone else knows where Manta is. It is one of the most boring prison breaks in movie history. It's remarkably by the numbers, hampered by bad CGI, and wildly underwhelming villains guarding Orm. Same can be said for the visit to a pirate bar featuring rejected Star Wars aliens. 

Click here for my full length review. 

Movie Review Insidious The Red Door

Insidious The Red Door (2023) 

Directed by Patrick Wilson

Written by Scott Teems 

Starring Patrick Wilson, Ty Simpkins, Sinclair Daniel, Rose Byne, Lin Shaye 

Release Date July 7th, 2023 

Published July 7th, 2023 

The key to the Insidious franchise is the wildly brilliant mind of writer-director Leigh Whannell. His consistently terrifying and inventive work on each of the Insidious films, co-writing and directing the first two and providing the screenplay for Insidious The Last Key, are proof that he's one of the modern auteurs of the horror genre. Thus when I saw that he'd neither directed nor provided the screenplay for the latest Insidious movie, Insidious The Red Door, I was immediately skeptical. My skepticism peaked further when it was announced that star Patrick Wilson would be making his directorial debut with Insidious The Red Door. 

That's not intended as a negative judgment of Wilson's work before I had seen it, rather just a manifestation of my overall skepticism of an Insidious sequel without the direct influence of the franchises creator and steward. Whannell does make a cameo in Insidious The Red Door, but his presence behind the camera and the keyboard becomes notable as the film goes on. Insidious The Red Door is lacking the essential ingredients of an Insidious movie, those that Whannell's fertile, creative, and slightly disturbing mind had always provided. 

In his directorial debut, Patrick Wilson also stars in Insidious The Red Door, reprising his role as Joshua Lambert. As a child, Joshua discovered that he could travel into a nether-realm called The Further. There he would be menaced by demons who would attempt to steal his body to return themselves to the real world. Joshua's mother, played by Barbara Hershey, was able to rescue her son with the help of a psychic medium named Elise Rainer (Lin Shaye). Through Elise, Joshua was made to forget his ability to travel into The Further. 

Cut to many years later, Josh is married to Renai (Rose Byrne), and they have three kids including their oldest, Dalton (Ty Simpkins), who has been exhibiting some odd behavior. When Dalton ends up in a coma, his grandmother recognizes what is happening and is forced to confront Joshua's past. She once again calls on Elise to save her family. The solution to the problems was supposed to be once again hypnotizing Josh and also Dalton, so that they forget about The Further. Naturally, this won't be enough to keep their memories at bay for long and that's where the story of Insidious The Red Door kicks in. 

We are nearly a decade in the future from when Dalton and Joshua were hypnotized into forgetting The Further and both, father and son, are having strange dreams and fuzzy memories. For Josh, the decade since the hypnosis he's struggled with daily tasks and has become a shell of his former self. Things are so bad that he and Renai have separated and Joshua has become distant from his three kids, including Dalton who is now getting ready to leave for college. Since Joshua and Dalton rarely talk, Joshua volunteers to drive Dalton to his new college. This only serves to further the rift between father and son. 

Find my full length review at Horror.Media 

Movie Review Insidious Chapter 2

Insidious Chapter 2 (2013) 

Directed by James Wan 

Written by Leigh Whannell 

Starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Ty Simpkins 

Release Date September 13th, 2023 

Published July 8th, 2023 

The first Insidious Chapter was an impressively creepy movie for a PG-13 rated horror movie. The film achieved a solid atmosphere and via tremendous production design, makeup and practical effects, the film became a smash hit. And it deserved to be a hit, James Wan and Leigh Whannell had managed to create a wholly original horror movie at a time when franchises and familiar I.P remakes were the norm in Hollywood. It was a no-brainer that there would be an Insidious sequel but what no one could expect is how much of an improvement the sequel would be over the terrific original. 

Insidious Chapter 2 picks up in the wake of the shock death of Lin Shaye's iconic and immediately beloved, Elise Rainer. The Lamber family is now living with Lorraine Lambert (Barbara Hershey), Josh's mom, in the wake of the horrors that led to their son, Dalton (Ty Simpkins), spending a year trapped in another realm called The Further. Josh (Patrick Wilson) had managed to save his son from this other realm but, as observed by Renai (Rose Byrne), Josh did not come back the same man he was. Instead, an unsteady, often volatile Josh stalks their home, only occasionally showing off the qualities that she loves about him. 

The plot of Insidious Chapter 2 kicks into gear quickly with Lorraine realizing that her son is not the man she knows. Knowing something is very wrong, Lorraine seeks out Elise's team, Specks (Leigh Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson), who are now at Elise's home. They've found a key piece of evidence that shows Josh may be trapped in The Further. With Elise gone, they need a new medium and Lorraine calls on another old friend, Carl (Steve Coulter), the man who initially connected Lorraine with Elise when Josh was a child and traveling dangerously into the further. 

Via Carl we get the backstory of the person who has been stalking Josh all his life, The Black Bride, a vicious and very dangerous serial murderer. Is the Black Bride the entity who has possessed Josh? How will they find their way into The Further to find out? And how will Elise come back to help? These questions have solid answers that build brilliantly on what you already know from Insidious Chapter 1. Watching Insidious Chapter 2 it appears quite clear that James Wan and Leigh Whannell had a plan for a sequel all along as moments from the first film provide a perfect foundation for what we get in Chapter 2. 

It's almost like a fun little game, recalling things that happened in Insidious Chapter 1 and seeing how they happened via Insidious Chapter 2. The seamless integration of the two films gives a little kick to the proceedings of Chapter 2. For me, auteurs are filmmakers for whom details matter. Meticulousness is a strong trait among our best film storytellers and James Wan, along with Leigh Whannell, are an auteurist team who care deeply about the minutia of their storytelling. They recognize the joy that can from having lore and how discovering lore can bond and audience with a story. 

The Insidious movies are thick with lore but not so dense that they become incomprehensible to new audiences. It's a delicate balance, but one that Wan and Whannell achieve via studious attention to details that audiences can choose to follow closely or simply experience on a per thrill basis. You can either actively involve yourself in Insidious or simply enjoy the horror movie ride of the Insidious films without taking note of the layered and extensive lore. For me, I love the lore, I adore the attention to detail and the care with which the filmmakers take to build a community around the Insidious films. 

I also love, love, love the work of Lin Shaye. It was clear in the original Insidious that she was the star of the movie and perhaps the biggest failure of Insidious Chapter 1 was not pivoting away from her ending in that movie. Shaye was the breakout character and the filmmakers recognized that going foward when they bring her back here in Chapter 2 and go back to her in subsequent features, minus Wan but with Whannell firmly shaping the lore. 

Find my full length review at Horror.Media 

Movie Review Insidious

Insidious (2011) 

Directed by James Wan 

Written by Leigh Whannell

Starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Lin Shaye 

Release Date April 1st, 2011

Published April 1st, 2011

The creators of "Saw" and "Paranormal Activity" have come together to create a PG-13 creep-fest that doesn't lose anything for its lack of gore and swear words. "Insidious" stars Rose Byrne as Renai and Patrick Wilson as her husband Josh. Together they have three kids and a brand new dream home.

Dream home becomes a nightmare

Unfortunately, that dream home quickly turns into a nightmare when Renai and Josh's son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) explores the house he ends up falling off a ladder. Soon after, Dalton falls into a coma and that's when things get weird. Dalton's doctor informs mom and dad that their son has no physical trauma from his fall and there is no medical reasoning for his coma.

Dalton is taken home and for a few months he simply seems to sleep. That's when the haunting begins. First, the whole family is taunted by some entity that sets off their security system. Then Renai begins seeing figures walking around the house. Finally the family is forced out of the house, assuming that it is the house that is haunted. I will stop the direct plot description there.

There's something about Elise

The fun of "Insidious" really begins after the family moves into their new home and the ghosts move with them and Lin Shaye, best remembered as the overly suntanned neighbor of Cameron Diaz in "There's Something About Mary" joins the cast as Elise, a psychic, paranormalist and expert in something called 'Astral Projection.' Shaye's performance is arguably the most entertaining in the film as she is both oddly sunny and believably strange.

Elise with her team, including "Insidious" screenwriter Lee Whannell, informs the family that Dalton is not in a coma. What's wrong with Dalton is one of the many fun secrets of "Insidious" that I will not spoil. Director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell prove with "Insidious" that they don't need the torture implements of the "Saw" films to earn screams from the audience.

If you thought Tiny Tim was creepy before...

In "Insidious" Wan and Whannell use clever imagery to get the big scares. Watch the windows; in nearly every window frame in "Insidious" there is a frightening glimpse of something creepy. Wan and Whannell don't stop at pictures however and when the spooks and demons begin coming into the room things get really creepy. Wan and Whannell even turn Tiny Tim's ukulele anthem "Tiptoe through the Tulips" into an eerie set piece.

"Insidious" is a smart combination of Wan and Whannell's talent for fright imagery with the concept of the "Paranormal Activity" movies with their endless numbers of cameras, doors that shut by themselves and ghastly ghostly possessions. It's a surprisingly good mix that somehow works even with the restrictive PG-13 rating.

Movie Review Lakeview Terrace

Lakeview Terrace (2009) 

Directed by Neil Labute

Written by Neil Labute 

Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington

Release Date September 19th, 2009 

Published September 20th, 2009 

With a title like Lakeview Terrace one is not out of line to imagine a comedy about neighbors arguing over trees and zoning. Then you take into account the film's horrible poster and ad campaign which make it look like another cheeseball Hollywood thriller. Writer-Director Neil Labute is far too talented to make just another cheesy thriller.

Labute's Lakeview Terrace is a boiling pot of emotion bubbling into a raging inferno. This character based thriller ratchets up the excitement by exploiting the real ways in which people fail one another.

Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson) has been in the LAPD for 27 years. He is a single father of 2 children, his wife was killed 3 years ago in a car wreck. On the surface he seems like the kind of man you would wish for as a neighbor. That is not the case unfortunately, for Chris (Patrick Wlson) and Lisa (Kerry Washington) Mattson, newlyweds who move into their very first home, right next to Turner.

Right off the bat there is tension. Chris leaves the moving van in the street overnight and Turner leaves a warning ticket. Later, Turner pretends to be a carjacker and frightens Chris as he sits in his car. That incident is followed by an uncomfortable conversation where Abel seems to imply his disgust for interracial couples. And things get worse from there.

I don't want to reveal too much of this plot because there are important little insights dropped in along the way that play on the motivations of these characters. Motivation is Labute's muse in Lakeview Terrace. The writer-director goes out of his way to make certain that the actions of his characters emanate from a place of human motivation.

Jackson may be a casual racist and serious hardass but he is not some overarching, mustache twirling, super villain. His motivations are human and believable and because of that, what happens is far more shocking and surprising. The same can be said of Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington who connect well as a couple and engage in the kinds of conversations and disagreements that real couples have.

Those little, spiky conversations where a couple pick on each other in ways that only a couple can are Neil Labute's strong suit and Wilson and Washington are terrific in delivering in those moments.

Arguably, the most thrilling aspect of Lakeview Terrace is Neil Labute's dialogue which is full of rich detail and little of that typically expository dialogue that obviously explains why characters do what they do. The script is free of those moments where characters do everything but turn to the camera to explain the plot. In Lakeview Terrace the important details are woven seamlessly into the story.

The ever increasingly nasty conversations between Abel and Chris are particularly exciting. Listen to the way Jackson leaps on Chris's words. He shifts Chris' context, he has no tolerance for vagary or the kind of faux pleasantries that people use on one another to avoid talking. This confrontational style keeps not just Chris but the audience on edge and contributes to the ever increasing tension of the story.

Breathtaking and edge of your seat excitement are cliches that critics use far too often. Nevertheless, there were more than a few moments of Lakeview Terrace where I was sitting bolt upright staring at the screen at the edge of my seat with my breath caught in my throat. Lakeview Terrace is exciting and surprising even as the conclusion feels a little too easily settled.

Neil Labute is a master who could never settle for the cliches of the thriller. In Lakeview Terrace he shatters the cliches, cuts through our expectations and crafts a devilishly thrilling entertainment.

Movie Review: Watchman

Watchmen (2009) 

Directed by Zack Snyder 

Written by David Hayter, Alex Tse

Starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Billy Crudup, Jackie Earl Haley, Malin Akerman, Patrick Wilson

Release Date March 6th, 2009 

Published March 6th, 2009 

In his review of Watchmen critic David Poland nails one of the major issues with the movie. Paraphrasing Mr. Poland: Watchmen is like someone recounting a funny anecdote that ends with 'I guess you had to be there'. For anyone who isn't a member of the Watchmen fanboy cult this movie is a meaningless morass of superhero arcana.

For those more familiar with but not in fealty to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons legendary comics series it is a dishearteningly dull and dreary filmgoing experience that takes up 2 hours and45 minutes without providing any insight beyond Dr. Manhattan's desperate need for a pair of shorts.

Set in an alternate reality 1984 where with the help of superheroes like Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) and The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) America won the war in Vietnam and Richard Nixon remains President, Watchmen is a desolate fantasy of cold war tension and gritty urban cityscape.

The death of the Comedian, killed in his apartment, thrown through a plate glass window to the street below, sets the plot in motion. One his fellow former heroes, Rorschach thinks he senses a pattern beginning. The Comedian's murder leads him to believe someone is afte masked heroes.

Whether the motive is political, the Comedian has checkered history as one of Nixon's favorite right wing commandos, or something else, Rorschach is convinced the Comedian won't be the last target. He sets about warning former members of the hero group the Watchmen.

First up is his old pal Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson) who seems dubious of his old friends' suspicions, but is soon himself passing warnings on to Ozymandias aka the world's smartest man who is more forceful in his dismissal. Next up for Rorschach is the super couple of Laurie "Silk Spectre 2" Jupiter (Malin Akerman) and Dr. Manhattan who have more important things to worry about.

Manhattan is the only one of the group with any actual super powers, he was the subject of an nuclear accident that turned him into a blue ball of energy in human form by his sheer will. He cannot be killed so why should he worry about a mask killer. For her part, Laurie is more selfishly concerned with her growing disconnect with Manhattan whose inhumanity grows more by the day.

She is drawn to Nite Owl for reasons only she knows and soon the two have taken up with each other as Manhattan faces personal exile to Mars after disturbing accusations. Comedian dead, Manhattan leaving earth and a subsequent failed attempt on the life of Ozymandias, further inflames Rorschach toward uncovering a stunning conspiracy that effects more than just the supers.

I have read Watchmen the graphic novel twice and was both times electrified by Moore's urgent storytelling and Dave Gibbons striking images. I don't buy into Watchmen as one of history's greatest bits of fiction but as a rollicking superhero yarn, it is a seminal work of the genre, a work that has shaped much of what came after it in the medium.

Director Zack Snyder seems to be of the opinion that he adapting the bible for the big screen and offers the treatment only a fellow zealot could appreciate. His love for the comic supercedes the judgements that needed to be made to turn the comic into a movie. The religious zeal blinding Snyder to the necessity for cuts and changes that could have made Watchmen something of his own.

Then again, Snyder is best known for being a conduit for the mass reproduction of other people's genius. His debut feature was a modest update but mostly homage to horror master George Romero's Dawn of the Dead. His next feature was an overly literal replication of George Miller's swords and sandals comic 300.

The success of 300 is what brought Snyder to Watchmen after so many other, more talented and unique directors failed to get it going. Terry Gilliam and Paul Greengrass head an impressive list of filmmakers once attached to this quickly aging bit of cold war superhero suspense but they could never quite get a handle on Moore's prose or compete with Gibbons' visionary squares.

Snyder for his part fails just as they did, it's just that his failure is actually on the screen. The difference however is that where Gilliam and Greengrass wanted to make Watchmen with their own stamp, Snyder is only interested in using the comic as storyboard and replicate the words and images using real actors.

Snyder is like some rich dilletante playing chess with live pieces. His Watchmen amounts to little more than a whole lot of gaudy showing off. Given a budget in the hundreds of millions, Snyder is playing poker with house money to bring his favorite comic book to life before his eyes. He's like Richie Rich hiring the Denver Broncos to play football with his pals in the backyard.

That might sound like fun but it plays like one fanboy showing off for a bunch of other fanboys and that will do nothing to satisfy those not already in the Watchmen cult. Trust me, if you do not absolutely love Watchmen. If you are not slightly buzzed by the idea of Rorschach coming to bloody life on screen or the thought of Dr. Manhattan blowing up the Vietnamese with the wave of his hand, you have no reason to see this movie.

It's not that there aren't good things about Watchmen, it's just that the good things are as pointless and overbearing as the bad stuff. Jackie Earl Haley for instance is astonishingly compelling as Rorschach. He could have been good in just about any other movie, I assume, Watchmen is merely the role in front of him and he makes the most of it.

The rest of the cast is pretty hit and miss. Crudup effectively captures Dr. Manhattan's otherworldly disconnectedness and Patrick Wilson is not bad as a Bruce Wayne post Batman character who finds life purposeless and dull without his alter-ego.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Carla Gugino hover somewhere in the middle between the good of Crudup and Wilson and the utter disasters that are Malin Akerman and Matthew Goode. Morgan struggles only because most of his character motivation is cut for time. Gugino as the original Silk Spectre is a functionary character who only exists because the plot kinda requires her to.

As Akerman's mother she allegedly pushed her daughter into being a hero. That however, will not be as clear to those who haven't read the book. Akerman tosses off her character's deepest motivation to be a hero in a toss off conversation with Wilson's Nite Owl as they prepare for some kinky masked love making.

The romantic subplot is also an ineffective holdover from the novel. Short shrifted by time constraints, it means little in the context of the central plot and takes up a lot of time for what amounts to some mild well shot female nudity. It doesn't help that Akerman, under an awful wig, is less expressive than Rorschach's masked moving ink blots.

Matthew Goode as Ozymandias is handicapped by the fact that Alan Moore in the comic seemed to find him the least interesting character. His back story is dull and his super power, the world's smartest man is mostly left off screen. He does seem to have super strength, at least in the late fight scenes, but under a David Spade haircut, he doesn't exactly cut an intimidating figure.

Maybe Ozymandias isn't supposed to be intimidating. Maybe that is beside the point but then why the fight scenes? Oh who cares. In the end, that is the real question. Who really cares? Beyond the Watchmen cult, the Watchmen movie will be a curiousity that likely will not linger on to far past opening weekend box office.

Among the cult, I can only hope that they find comfort in their fellow fanboy's indulgence of the thing they love so much. Otherwise we could have mass handwringing on the level of post Phantom Menace depression, a depression that lingers still for far too many basement dwellers.

Movie Review: Aquaman

Aquaman (2018) 

Directed by James Wan 

Written by David Leslie Johnson, Will Beal

Starring Jason Mamoa, Patrick Wilson, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul Mateen, Nicole Kidman

Release Date December 21st, 2018 

Published December 20th, 2018 

Aquaman stars Jason Mamoa as Arthur Curry, the one true King of Atlantis, though he doesn’t see it that way. Having been born to Queen Atlanna of Atlantis and a lighthouse keeper named Thomas (Temeura Morrison), Arthur doesn’t feel fully at home on either land or at sea. Despite having grown up under the tutelage of Vulko Willem Dafoe), his mother’s top advisor, and trained for royal combat, Arthur’s human side keeps him from embracing his Atlantean heritage. 

Arthur, known to many as Aquaman following the events of Justice League, will soon have to make a decision about Atlantis, whether to become its King or unwilling subject. Arthur’s brother, Ohrm (Patrick Wilson) has risen to the throne in the absence of Atlanna and he has plans to bring destruction to land-dwellers for the pollution and violence that human beings have brought to the oceans around Atlantis. 

To do this however, Ohrm must convince the seven kingdoms of the sea to get behind him as the Ocean Master, and allow him to take their armies into battle. All that stands in his way is Arthur who is guided by Mera (Amber Heard), the object of Ohrm’s affections and the daughter of one of the kings of the sea, King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren). Mera wants to prevent a war and believes that Arthur ascending to the throne is the only way to prevent it. 

It is Mera who drives the plot, convincing Arthur to seek the legendary Trident of Atlan, the weapon belonging to the very first King of Atlantis. The journey takes them from the deserts of the Sahara to the oceans around Sicily and eventually to the very center of the Earth where deadly combat awaits around every corner. All the while, Ohrm is raising an army and plotting to destroy all life on land unless Aquaman can stop him. 

Writing all of that out comes off even goofier than watching it unfold did. That said, it’s a good kind of goofy. Aquaman is a completely unpretentious comic book adventure that is both comic book nerdy and action movie macho. The film threads the needle of being just geeky enough and just enough of a macho action flick to satisfy audiences of both kinds. Jason Mamoa is the key to that tone. He’s a clever actor who gets the role he’s playing and does well to under-play the silliness to make room for his muscles. 

Director James Wan, though best known for the gruesome Saw franchise and the spooky The Conjuring universe, is proving to be a director who can do just about anything. It helps that he transitioned from horror movies to The Fast and the Furious franchise to Aquaman. Aquaman takes the self-seriousness of Wan’s horror work and combines it with the whacked out nonsense of the Furious franchise to create something that is incredibly silly but seriously well made. 

It’s a tricky tone that Aquaman has to pull off in order to not be laughed off the screen and James Wan nails it. Aquaman is silly in the way the Fast and Furious franchise is but it has the competence and chops of Wan's lower budget horror work. It’s a rather masterful piece of direction which manages to make great use of monstrous CGI without losing sight of the compelling characters at the heart of the story. 

Aquaman is not anything to be taken seriously but Wan is not careless, he takes pains to create a believable, dramatic world for Aquaman to exist within. This lends a context of believability to Aquaman, I believe in the universe that Aquaman exists in. It has a lived-in quality even as it is at times slick and stylized to an almost ludicrous degree. Mamoa’s earthy approach to Arthur, that includes some genuine vulnerability and humor, keeps Aquaman, the character and the movie, human and sympathetic. 

Mamoa isn’t going to win an Oscar anytime soon but he’s shown remarkable growth from Justice League to here with Aquaman. The all swaggering macho nonsense of Justice League is here shattered in favor of a lovable lug persona who happens to have super-strength, speed, agility and will. I was concerned that Mamoa would be the weakest part of Aquaman, given his lackluster and limited filmic track record but he’s far better than what I imagined.  

For Mamoa and for James Wan’s remarkable direction that manages to keep this unwieldy, untidy monstrosity in a human and relatable place, I feel comfortable recommending Aquaman to anyone who has been curious about this character. If you liked Jason Mamoa from Game of Thrones or Justice League, you will very much enjoy him in Aquaman where he delivers a superstar performance filled with good humor, charisma and machismo. 

Movie Review Little Children

Little Children (2006) 

Directed by Todd Field 

Written by Todd Field, Todd Perrotta 

Starring Patrick Wilson, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, Jackie Earl Haley, Noah Emmerich

Release Date October 6th, 2006

Published October 12th, 2006 

Before the release of his astonishing debut feature In The Bedroom writer director Todd Field was an anonymous actor best known for a small role as a piano player in Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut. Field has said that it was that experience watching Stanley Kubrick, getting to ask the master questions and peer over his shoulder that inspired him to move ahead with In The Bedroom.

As life changing experiences go, that's a pretty good one. Now with his second feature Little Children, Todd Field cements his rising auteur status with another self assured examination of suburban angst that is part American Beauty but all Todd Field.

Kate Winslet heads a terrific ensemble in Little Children as  Sarah, a bored housewife trapped in a lousy marriage with a three year old daughter she simply can't connect with. Sarah spends her days with her daughter, watching her play alone as other kids run around. Sarah sits to the side listening to the clucking of fellow stay at home moms who dote on their kids and make catty comments about strangers.

Then in walks the prom king, a nickname given to a handsome young stay at home dad none of the mothers has the nerve to talk to. His name is Brad (Patrick Wilson) and to break up the monotony of her routine, Sarah decides to engage him. The meeting goes further than either would have imagined as Sarah explains to Brad his nickname and the two of them decide to shock the other mothers with a hug and a kiss.

Brad is married to Kathy (Jennifer Connelly) a stunningly beautiful documentary filmmaker that any man would count himself lucky to be with. However, somehow he finds himself attracted to the far less striking, though not unattractive Sarah. The two began to spend time together taking their kids to the local pool and the park. Eventually the friendship becomes an affair and things begin to get out of control.

On the periphery of Sarah and Brad's relationship is the story of a sex offender who has moved into their neighborhood. His name is Ronald (Jackie Earl Haley) and though the nature of his crime is unknown, he is fresh from prison and on the sex offender list. A retired cop, and friend of Brad's, Larry (Noah Emmerich); has made protecting the neighborhood from Ronald his new mission in life. As you can probably imagine, this subplot is headed for an explosion that will collide with Sarah and Brad. There is however, nothing easily predicted about Little Children.

Field is an observant director who finds story in the details of peoples lives. His attention to detail in Little Children is at times darkly humorous, as in a scene where Winslet observes her fellow mothers with the eye of an anthropologist and it is heartbreaking as when Winslet and Wilson share that kiss in the park and find everything that has been missing in their mundane routine lives.

Suburban angst became quite fashionable after American Beauty won best picture. Suddenly, peeling back the veneer of those manicured lawns and white picket fences became a quick, clever shorthand for Hollywood writers. The results were often mere ripoffs. Todd Field's own In The bedroom was essentially one of those films and with its quiet dignity and devastating twists it broke the mold. Now with Little Children Field plows the same rich soil and once again delivers unique insight and characters.

Little Children is unexpectedly sexy as Winslet and Wilson engage in some of this years most erotic love scenes. These scenes have a sweat soaked intensity and emotional acuity that they go beyond being merely sexual in context and become dramatic expressions of angst, heartache and longing. So much modern movie sex is about the exposure of good looking actors, the love scenes in Little Children feel essential in getting to the core of these characters.

Kate Winslet is the standout of a terrific ensemble. Though dressed down to seem dowdy and bookish, Winslet remains effortlessly sexy and inviting. As Iris her eyes sparkle with intelligence wounded by years of underachievement. This is a woman who finds herself married and a mother and realizes that these are things she never wanted for herself. Her relationship with Brad is the one outlet she has for the angst of these realizations and that brings an intensity to the relationship that aches from the screen.

Patrick Wilson puts to rest the whining weakling performance from Phantom Of The Opera and shows a talent for playing a good looking cipher without it seeming like just another dumb actor not really actiing. Jackie Earl Haley rounds out the main cast with a devastating performance as Ronald the convicted child molester. This is a role of great depth and sadness and Haley plays it with a wounded animal's ferocity.

Little Children is a smart, darkly humorous and observant human drama that features career best performances from each of its ensemble players. With In The Bedroom and Little Children leading his resume he has cemented a burgeoning reputation as one of the next generation of auteurs. I can't wait to see what Todd Field does next.

Movie Review: The Switch

The Switch (2010) 

Directed by Will Speck, Josh Gordon

Written by Allan Loeb

Starring Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum 

Release Date August 20th, 2010

Published August 19th, 2010

There is chemistry between Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman despite what you see in the new movie The Switch. In a rare few scenes of this disposable formula comedy from the Hollywood factory floor Aniston radiates warmth and Bateman shows wit and the personalities that I'm sure they thought these characters had shines through.

These scenes are all too brief and surrounded by so much tripe that I cannot recommend you bother searching for the good moments, I can merely assure you those moments really are there. The Switch buries what good there is between the two leads beneath so much banal, humorless chatter that sifting the remains becomes a dumpster dive.

The Switch stars Bateman as sadsack stock trader Wally who is in love with his best friend Kassie (Aniston) though he doesn't yet know it. Kassie doesn't know it either but only through a massive level of cluelessness. Both are in their early 40's when Kassie announces she wants a baby and will be getting an artificial insemination.

Wally is opposed to this plan, not because his best friend is aiming to become a 40 something single mom but because he's in love with her but incapable of admitting it. Thus we arrive at the title plot; at a party where Kassie will be inseminated (is this really something people do?) Wally get wasted and stumbles on the sperm, plays with the sample cup and accidentally spills it. His solution? Give a new sample. These scenes are handled with the implied level of dignity, i.e none whatsoever for poor Jason Bateman, or poorer still, Diane Sawyer. Don't ask.

Cut to 7 years later, Kassie moved to Minnesota with her new baby but is now ready to return to New York. Wally is waiting and because he doesn't remember making the switch, he doesn't know the kid, Sebastian (Thomas Robinson), is his. Oh but he will find out and then tell Kassie and well you can figure out where all of this is going.

There is a talented ensemble rounding out the cast of The Switch including veterans Juliette Lewis and the wonderful Jeff Goldblum, but sadly all are stranded in a go nowhere script by Allen Loeb and the atonal direction of Josh Gordon and Will Speck. As the actors ache to bring something more to these characters they are shredded down to essences, Wally is morose and bumbling, Kassie is shrill and clueless and everyone else is rendered unimportant, more walking exposition than characters.

Scenes arrive and thud as the characters sketch the plot points and the scene ends without anything funny happening. The dialogue is witless and the direction strips out nuance in favor of hitting imaginary points along the lines of a map toward banal, middle of the road Hollywood romance.

The Switch is more concept than movie. Jeffrey Eugenides conceived the idea for his short story The Baster which is a thoughtful if slightly depressing short story published by the New Yorker in 1996. That story involved characters who were aware of their feelings, abortion and a deep history between the characters that Eugenides manages to communicate with an economy of words that would barely add up to 3 or 4 scenes in The Switch. 

Gone is any hint of honest back-story replaced with cluelessness that becomes not a running gag as maybe it should have been but is instead one of the artificial roadblocks used to pad this story out to feature film length. The other device is Patrick Wilson as Roland the cuckold in waiting who exists only to sustain the unlikely notion that Wally and Kassie won't end up together. 

I will leave you to discover what happened in Mr. Eugenides' far superior short story; you don't need a map or a spoiler alert to intuit where things are headed in The Switch. As with any romantic comedy it's not about the destination, we know what's expected and what we all want to happen in a rom-com. The key is crafting a journey for the audience that is smart, funny and diverting enough to make the inevitable payoff worth your time. The Switch fails miserably on this front by crafting a tedious, unfunny journey. 

It's a real shame because there is a moment when Jason Bateman is watching the kid, now 6 years old, and Jennifer Aniston walks in just watches Bateman and the kid. In this moment you can see the potential and when they finally look at one another you can sense the better movie that these two talented people could have made were they not saddled with the conventions of such an insipid and typical Hollywood formula.

Movie Review Morning Glory

Morning Glory (2010) 

Directed by Roger Mitchell 

Written by Aline Brosh McKenna 

Starring Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum 

Release Date November 10th, 2010 

Published November 9th, 2010

Can one woman cure the ills of a last place network morning show through the sheer force of her adorable-ness? One might also ask can an actress cure the ills of a troubled dramatic comedy through that same adorable-ness? The answer to both questions, based on the movie “Morning Glory,” is a shocking, yes.

Rachel McAdams is so vibrant, energetic and adorable that she wills this otherwise rickety dramatic comedy; the definition of that oh so vague, made up term ‘dramedy,’ into becoming a sweet, endearing romance of woman and her work oh and yeah there is this pretty guy in there too.

Rachel McAdams stars in “Morning Glory” as Becky, an adorable whirlwind of a TV news producer who, when we meet her, is on the verge of a promotion. Or so she thought. Turns out she was being fired due to budget cuts. As with all plucky movie heroines however this is merely a speed bump on the way to the job she needs.

After a comically fraught job search in which our peppy wannabe big city gal irritates the entire news infrastructure by reading her resume, she finally gets an interview. The job is with the 4th place network in America, IBS, as executive producer of the lowest rated morning show on network TV.

Her new boss, Jeff Goldblum, in all his Goldblum-y glory, has zero confidence that she can turn the show around but she can’t make it any worse. Or can she? On her first day Becky fires the co-anchor; a sadly under-used Ty Burrell from TV’s Modern Family, despite his irreconcilable contract and leaves the show minus its required male co-host.

Ahh, but our heroine has a plan; on the IBS payroll is a news legend that due to his multi-million dollar contract has to work or not get paid. Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford) was demoted from Nightly News Anchor because of his bad attitude and slight drinking problem. Nevertheless, he’s a big name with a long track record that would be a perfect opposite to bubbly co-host Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton).

Unfortunately for Becky even if he has to by contract, Mike Pomeroy doesn’t want to do morning news. He refuses cooking segments, entertainment interviews and basically anything that your average morning news shows do. Mike longs for the days of actual journalism but as Becky correctly points out, the battle between news and ‘info-tainment’ was fought long ago and Mike’s side lost.

Can the plucky upstart wear down the cantankerous superstar while rescuing the floundering show and corralling a new boyfriend, a fellow news producer played in perfect bland handsomeness by Patrick Wilson? Admittedly, the stakes aren’t all that high but star Rachel McAdams makes each feel like an urgent concern.

This is the Rachel McAdams many thought was coming when she starred as the lead ‘Mean Girl’ opposite Lindsey Lohan or when she battled Cillian Murphy in the innovative thriller “Red Eye.” McAdams has wandered in the woods the past few years starring in junk like “The Time Traveler’s Wife” and seeming to crush her potential with poor choices.

Apparently, McAdams was just waiting for writer Aline Brosh McKenna and Roger Mitchell to give her something she could really play. Play it she does in “Morning Glory” amping up the kind of adorable that would shame puppies and kitties and yet remaining sexy instead of merely cute and substantial rather than just perky. No matter how delightfully scattered Becky is, McAdams infuses her with bright ingenuity and can-do capability.

The rest of “Morning Glory” is riddled with trouble. Harrison Ford is the least likely network news star since Howard Beale and even more cantankerous. Sure, Ford projects a stately air but with his gritted teeth growl it’s hard to believe that even news junkies took to his Mike Pomeroy, no matter if he was on a battlefield in Kosovo or opposite the President.

Diane Keaton plays cute and clueless a la Kathie Lee Gifford quite well but don’t do not consider her character’s back story for too long as it reveals inconsistencies the story cannot explain. Patrick Wilson’s handsome love interest guy is less problematic; he’s merely under-written and called upon to make uncomfortable attitude turns simply because of plot requirements. But other than that, he’s fine.

“Morning Glory” is riddled with all sorts of minor potholes, including a rather arrogant attitude about morning news shows, but Rachel McAdams overcomes all of those troubles by making the movie all about how plucky, adorable, sexy and smart her character is. She is so winning that we can forgive all of the problems around her which are almost meta when you consider the troubles piled up around both character and actress.

Not kidding at all dear reader, Rachel McAdams deserves an Oscar nomination for “Morning Glory.” Any actress who only through the awesome appeal of her performance can turn around an entire movie at least deserves to be in the Best Actress conversation and McAdams does that in “Morning Glory.”

Movie Review: Evening

Evening (2007) 

Directed by Lajos Koltai

Written by Susan Minot, Michael Cunningham 

Starring Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Meryl Streep, Vanessa Redgrave, Patrick Wilson, Hugh Dancy, Mamie Gummer, Glenn Close 

Release Date June 29th, 2007

Published June 30th, 2007

Some films just look like Oscar movies. They carry a certain weight of subject matter and location that gives the film the pretense of quality. That pretense accompanies the movie Evening which features an all star cast, including Claire Danes, Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep and Toni Collette, a gorgeous seaside location that films like a travelogue, and the subject of life, death and regret, the ingredients of a deep dramatic story.

With all of that quality in place all that is needed is a story to tie it together. Sadly, a good story is exactly what is missing from Evening. What is in place of a good story is a melodrama ranking somewhere between Lifetime movie and WB network teen drama.

Lying in her deathbed, Ann (Vanessa Redgrave) is flashing in and out of conscousness and flashing back to the night that changed her life forever. Fifty years earlier Ann (Claire Danes) was a bright eyed bohemian with dreams of becoming a famous singer. For now she is visiting the Newport home of her best friend Lila (Mamie Gummer) who is about to be married.

Whether Lila really wants to marry Carl (Timothy Kiefer) is in question, but she will marry him. This will happen despite the drunken protest of her brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy) who implores Ann to try and stop his sister from marrying without love. Buddy himself is holding on to a love that can never be, a confused attraction to both Ann and a handsome man from his and Lila's past named Harris (Patrick Wilson).

Harris arrives at the wedding as the guest everyone is watching. Lila and he had a brief flirtation when she was just a girl and then there are Buddy's complicated feelings. Things get even murkier when Harris falls for Ann and the two spend a torrid night together that ends in tragedy when one of the other main characters suffers a major injury.

In the modern story, Toni Collette and Natasha Richardson play Ann's daughters. As they hover at their mother's bedside they represent the dual tracks of Ann's life. Collette's Nina is a boho chick with a rocker boyfriend and an ambivalence about marriage and commitment. Richardson's Connie is a typical soccer mom with the minivan and the 2.3 kids. Both are the lives that Ann lived and regretted in her time.

Director Lajos Koltai spent years as a Cinematographer on such well photographed films as Being Julia, The Emporer's Club and Sunshine and he brings that same painterly eye to the look of Evening. How unfortunate that he didn't bring the same attention to detail to the films confused plot and confusing characters.

Evening has the air, the pretension of a prestige picture. It has an all star cast and a well appointed location. It has a grand, sweeping timeline and the hint of depth given to any movie that deals so directly with death. This depth however, is never earned by the story but expected by it. We are just supposed to assume because the pieces are in place for great drama, that great drama is unfolding before us. That is simply not the case.

What unfolds before us is the kind of movie the Lifetime network might make if they had the budget for this kind of starpower. It's a film that is not without its charm and even a few moments of honest drama, most courtesy of the wonderful Toni Collette who overcomes an underwritten character and delivers the only moments close to true drama.

The rest of the film is a confusing melange of mixed motivations, confusing character twists and even more confused timelines. Then there is poor Vanessa Redgrave whose unassailable dignity is put to the test as she is subjected to a number of humiliating fever dream fantasies. These scenes are so embarrassing that you stop feeling for the character and start feeling for poor Ms. Redgrave as she shuffles about in her nightgown.

It's interesting to note that Mamie Gummer who plays the young Lila is the daughter of Meryl Streep who plays the older Lila in cameo late in the film. Similarly, Natasha Richardson plays one of Vanessa Redgrave's daughters in the film and of course happens to be Ms. Redgrave's real life daughter. I mention these tidbits because there is so little else of interest here.

The biggest obstacle to this film working, aside from the first time director with the mixed up script, is the wooden, sullen performance of Patrick Wilson as Harris. After a near Oscar level performance as Kate Winslet's eye candy in Little Children, Wilson returns to the form that made him a hammy punchline in Phantom of the Opera.

His Harris is supposed to be the man who inspires to different women's fantasies for the rest of their lives. However, I can't imagine any woman remembering this Harris long after he's walked out of a room, let alone for their rest of their life. Stuffy, stuck up and just a tad bit creepy, Harris couldn't inspire bad poetry, forget inspiring a lifetime of fantasy and regret.

Then there is Hugh Dancy as Buddy who goes the opposite way from Patrick Wilson. Buddy is the typical movie drunk always ready to make everyone uncomfortable with a few fumbling words or a tumble in the middle of the room. His love for both Harris and Ann is played as a side effect of his drunken stupor and does nothing to make him sympathetic, rather just simply pathetic.

Meanwhile Claire Danes, Mamie Gummer, Toni Collette and Natasha Richardson deliver performances that in a better movie would radiate great warmth, humor and charm. Each of these lovely actresses aquit themselves as well as they possibly can within the messy narrative of Evening with only Collette emerging as the punky younger, or was she older? One of the many miscues of the movie, I couldn't figure out if she was the younger or older sister of Ann's two daughters. Scenes point to two different conclusions.

Nevertheless, Collette's punky, spirited, sad performance is the one consistent source of honest drama in Evening.

The payoff of Evening is a scene that puts two of our greatest actresses together for one scene. As Vanessa Redgrave's Ann lay dying, in walks Meryl Streep as her former best friend Lila. The film has been building to this scene, the director has kept Streep offscreen to this moment so we could have this scene.

As we wait and watch as Lila arrives to relieve her friend of so many of the burdens she has been dreaming of throughout her convalescence we find that nothing really gets resolved. The scene devolves into a mutual fantasy of Harris, the man who could not inspire a bird to fly if he threw it off a cliff. Then the film simply ends. Ending with the abruptness of sudden death.

I'm not giving anything away here, the point of the film is a frank discussion of dying. There was not going to be any last minute reprieve for Ann who is old and frail and ready to die. However, we really aren't ready for her to go. We long for a little resolution, a mention of what the film was really about. Certainly we did not just waste two hours of our life watching this woman remember a wet blanket like Harris?

There must have been something richer and deeper than that. Sadly there isn't and that is the disaster of Evening.

Movie Review The Alamo

The Alamo (2004) 

Directed by John Lee Hancock

Written by John Lee Hancock, Stephen Gaghan, Leslie Bohem

Starring Patrick Wilson, Billy Bob Thornton, Dennis Quaid, Jason Patric 

Release Date April 9th, 2004 

Published April 8th, 2004 

With the patriotic fervor of the war in Iraq having died down, the time for a rousing patriotic war film may have passed. Indeed the producers of The Alamo had to be considering that fervor when they went into production in early 2003. Unfortunately, they lost the opportunity to capitalize on it when the film was deemed not ready for its original December release. Now dumped with little fanfare into the month of April, The Alamo arrives as a professionally made but unmemorable history lesson.

Directed by John Lee Hancock (The Rookie), The Alamo tells the story of how legendary figures Jim Bowie (Jason Patric), William Travis (Patrick Wilson) and Davy Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton) came to a tiny church in San Antonio to fight for the idea that would become the state of Texas.

For Bowie, San Antonio was the home of his late wife where he had spent many happy nights. His return to San Antonio and to the Alamo was a favor to his friend General Sam Houston (Dennis Quaid). Houston was to retrieve the Texas army's largest canon and return it to Gonzales, Texas where the leaders are debating their future. By taking the canon, they are essentially ceding San Antonio to the Mexicans.

William Travis on the other hand, has been charged with holding the Alamo until a decision can be made as to how Texas will declare and defend itself from Mexico's dictator Santa Ana. Will the Texans declare their independence or negotiate a settlement with Santa Anna to hold onto their land under Mexican rule? Under the assumption that Santa Anna will not attack in the winter, the Alamo is thought to be fairly secure, allowing time for the leaders to debate their options.

For David Crockett, as he prefers to be called, Texas is a place to reclaim his legend after losing his congressional seat in Tennessee. Crockett has spoken to Sam Houston and been assured a good deal of land and power if Texas is declared independent. Crockett arrives at the Alamo unaware that the fighting has not stopped, only slowed due to the weather and the Texans' indecision over how to declare independence.

The setup for the climactic battle is slow and drawn out, probably because the actual battle of the Alamo didn't last long. Once Santa Anna decided on a full frontal attack with thousands of Mexican soldiers, there was little that the three hundred or so Texans could do to stop them. The setup for the battle has its moments, such as when Davy Crockett grabs his fiddle and plays along with Santa Anna's army marching band. Still, for the most part it's all rather dull.

We learn little about the historical figures of Bowie, Travis or Crockett other than both Bowie and Travis were slave owners and that Crockett never actually jumped a raging river or took on 20 men at once. Credit Billy Bob Thornton with the film’s best performance. Davy Crockett is a poetic pragmatist who struggles with his legendary status that was assured well before he became a martyr for Texas independence at the Alamo.

The film’s best moments are the battle scenes, the siege at the Alamo, which is quick and brutal, and the battle of Houston where Sam Houston avenged the Alamo by routing Santa Anna's army in 18 minutes. Director John Lee Hancock manages one great moment of emotion with Houston's "Remember The Alamo" rallying cry but other than that the film is rather staid and emotionless. Well made, but soulless.

The film is very professionally crafted with solid acting and a well remembered story. However, it plays like a history lesson from a very dull high school class. None of the characters, aside from Davy Crockett, have much of a personality and none of the supporting performances makes any impression whatsoever.

There was a controversial rumor about Davy Crockett's death but it's only a misunderstanding. The Crockett legend is very much intact at the end of the film. Without the controversy there is very little that is memorable about this Alamo.