Our First DC Premiere..."Suicide Squad"

Suicide Squad (2016)

Rated PG-13

Starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Viola Davis, Jared Leto, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cara Delevingne, Joel Kinnaman, Karen Fukuhara, Adam Beach, David Harbour

Written and Directed by David Ayer

The Story:

Amanda Waller (Davis) has decided that in a world with more and more metahuman activity, she needs to assemble a team that is able and willing to do whatever it takes to protect National Security. After all, the next Superman might just be a hostile. So she rounds up the worst of the worst, implants them with a transmitter that doubles as a bomb, and under the leadership of Rick Flag (Kinnaman), the Suicide Squad is born.

Or...

The Story:

A group of scoundrels we've never met before team up to save the world while tossing off one-liners during action sequences set to a cool soundtrack.

Sound familiar?

Yes, Marvel Studios did that 2 years ago with Guardians of the Galaxy, and earlier this year with Deadpool from Fox.

Sorry folks, in the world of superhero movies, comparisons are inevitable.

But let's make this perfectly clear up front, don't compare Suicide Squad to the Avengers, at that point we move from comparing apples to oranges to apples and bananas. Save that comparison for when they finally roll Justice League into theaters.

So, is this movie as bad as Rotten Tomatoes claims, and rabid fanboys have decried that since this is the second DC movie in a row with low scores, that site should be shut down?

No.

It's totally watchable.

Is it rewatchable, either in theaters or at home?

That's debatable.

The Good:

I got to hang out with some of my kids at the movies. Can't ever go wrong with bonding over popcorn and a movie, am I right?!? :)

Viola Davis owns her role as Amanda Waller. She might actually be more frightening than Batman. :)

Will Smith returns to form in his first action flick since 2012's MiB3, and it's a welcome return. It's like an old suit that he slips right into, and watching this film makes me ready for his return as Mike Lowry in Bad Boys 3 (and apparently 4!)

Margot Robbie owns Harley Quinn. While I would have preferred her actual outfit, well, this is the revamped Harley costume they want to go with. Still, when these two are onscreen, the movie picks up tremendously.

The rest of the crew?

When they are given anything to do, it's quite enjoyable. Bonus points to Jai Courtney for actually putting some charisma into a role for a change, his Captain Boomerang is one of the high points as well.

The Bad:

Everyone else is woefully underused and underdeveloped. It seems like most are there simply to give Deadshot and Harley a breather in the action.

The villain? Also falls into the meh, who cares department. But, it was pretty much that way too when they used her in Ghostbusters. :)

The Joker. Totally could have done without him. Aside from the backstory with Harley, which is necessary, he actually becomes a distraction as the film wears on. As for him channeling both Nicholson and Ledger as his inspiration, I found it seemed to channel more of Jim Carrey's Riddler.

Setting scenes to music can be effective.

Setting nearly every scene to music can be overdone.

They decided to dial it up to 11 and introduce everyone to their own killer beat, when it might have been more effective to stagger all of the team introductions out through the film versus one after the other after the other.

Ah well, not my film, not my universe.

: )

That said, of the 2 (or is it 3?) films from the DC "Shared Universe", this is easily my favorite.

I've yet to see Batman vs. Superman (and the kids still don't want to see it!) but it's coming next week on Netflix.

And Man of Steel sucked.

Though I don't think it's considered part of the shared universe, or at least probably wasn't before it tanked.

Finally, you can tell the film was meddled with, even without reading all of the reports about the reshoots after Batman vs. Superman was given a resounding thumbs down upon reception.

We'll see where DC goes from here, but you have to hope, at least for their sake as well as the audience, that they are correcting the ship and if not trying to outright copy the Marvel movie formula, at least copy the part where we like seeing their movies.

:)

Final Grade: C+

How Far Would You Go? "Prisoners"

Prisoners (2013)
Rated R for language and violence

Starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard, Maria Bello, Viola Davis, Paul Dano

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

The Story:

On Thanksgiving, the Dover (Jackman and Bello) and Birch (Howard and Davis) families get together to celebrate.  As the day wears on, the little girls ask to go back over to the Dover household to get something.  The parents agree, and the girls leave.  Later, the parents ask the oldest son where the girls are, and he hasn't seen them.  Apparently he did not walk the girls back home like the parents assumed.  They frantically look around the neighborhood and contact the police about an RV that was seen in the neighborhood with some creepy guy (Dano) hanging out inside of it.  Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal) takes the lead on the case, but when the girls are not immediately found, Dover decides to take matters into his own hands.

How far would you go to...what would you do... to find and protect your little ones?

This is a very dark film that ratchets up the tension with each passing moment.

The movie runs almost 2 1/2 hours, but amazingly doesn't really ever drag and feel like it.

Everyone does a fantastic job in their roles.

Jackman's descent into madness as he tries to keep his sanity and trying to not cross any lines permanently is the driving force of the film.

Gyllenhaal grows nicely into his role as a detective who knows the dad is onto something, as well as up to something but remains half a step behind.

The ending of the film...

I think it varies between everyone who has watched the movie.

I'll leave it for you to decide.

Final Grade: Solid B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Too dark and too intense to make for an enjoyable rewatching experience.

War Is Just A Game With A More Serious Outcome..."Ender's Game"

Ender's Game (2013)

Rated PG-13 for violence

Starring Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, Aramis Knight

Directed by Gavin Hood

The Story:

In the future, the Earth was threatened by an alien race.  Saved by a heroic pilot (Kingsley), the Earth regrouped and has formed a battle fleet that will chase down the aliens and ensure that they are never again threatened by the species.  To do this, the military uses children who they push and assess to see if they can find their next great leader. Colonel Graff (Ford) believes he has found such a prodigy in Ender Wiggin (Butterfield) and he is recruited to lead the forces into battle.  But is a child really the right leader in the balance of life and death?

Well, it was no After Earth, thank goodness!

But again, I've been stuck in a rut with a bunch of average movies.

Granted, at the end of the day, that's way better than a bunch of terrible movies.

This film feels like it could have used a bit of trimming to shorten it's almost 2 hour runtime down to 90 minutes.

A few tweaks here and there, could have lifted this one a little higher.

No complaints with Harrison Ford, thankfully growing his hair back.  His gruff demeanor lends more believability to the film and tries to anchor it with his performance.

Ben Kingsley is also a nice, but wholly underused, addition to the cast. The character is integral to the film, and I would have liked to have seen more.

Otherwise, the kids engaging in military games, pushing each other in the pursuit of their objectives and the final question of who were the real monsters keep this film from being a total letdown.

Final Grade: C

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I could watch it again, but I'd be in no hurry.

Everyone Can Always Use a Little Bit of "The Help"

You is kind. You is smart. You is important.

The Story:

In the mid 1960s in Jackson Mississippi, there's a change coming.  Skeeter (Emma Stone) wants to be a writer, and has an idea that she pitches to her editor in New York (Mary Steenburgen).  She wants a first-hand account of what the black maids in Jackson feel about their life, and about raising the children of the white folk in town.  At first, Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer) are the only maids to come forward, but through the deplorable actions of Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard) and others, soon they all want to help Skeeter, and they tell their stories.  Then a book is published and the world as they all knew it will never be the same again.

Yes, I enjoyed this movie immensely.  It was one of my Ten Best from 2012, yet it never had a proper review last year, so I aim to rectify that today.  I have now seen it several times, and it gets better with each viewing.

It's thought-provoking but never insulting.  The relationships between the southern whites and their help ring true and not contrived.  Many felt love and affection for the extended members of their families, yet generations of that lifestyle ensured that the majority of people grew up...and grew apart from the very women who actually raised them.  In many cases, doing a better job than their own mothers.

The movie also doesn't sugar-coat the race relations of the south in the 60s.  Every action that any character takes in this film, regardless of color, has repercussions, both large and small.  They often affect many other characters, just by association.  I've heard complaints that the movie portrays the life of the help as not that bad, and should have been more turbulent and violent, like the 60s.  I counter that such a thing would have ruined the whole point of this movie, which was a quiet, gentle revolution.

In the end, what you do come to realize is that some people are simply ignorant and/or evil, regardless of color. 

Hilly Holbrook, I'm looking at you.

She is evil personified, and it is glorious to see her reaction as she is called out on it. Yet at the end of the day, she wins, and it is ultimately heartbreaking.

When Aibileen is forced to say goodbye to Mae at the end of the film, well, that one scene gets me every time.

I highly encourage you to give it a spin if you've never watched it before.

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Immeasurably rewatchable.  I have yet to purchase it, but due to a fairly steady rotation on cable, I haven't found a need to.  Yet.  : )