Soul

 

Soul (Disney)

Soul is a “ computer-animated fantasy comedy-drama” produced by Pixar. It is absolutely wonderful. As they say it is a film for all ages. This is another Pixar gem.  It is about finding purpose in life and being true to what you want to be. Aside from these serious themes the movie is funny and the animation beautiful. Soul is in the tradition of other great Pixar movies: Toy Story, Up and Monsters Inc.

For an animated film, the story is involved. Joe Gardner is a band teacher whose passion is to be part of a jazz ensemble. He has a fatal  accident and winds up on the conveyor belt to the Great Beyond. After some adventures he meets 22 in the Great Before who is a soul looking for the spark to complete her badge of traits so she can go to earth. To complete her training 22 has been coached  by some of the great minds in history and their interaction is hilarious. Joe and 22 manage to go back to earth but wind  up in the wrong bodies and 22 inhabits Joe’s body and Joe winds up in a therapy cat. The interaction between the two is the heart of the movie.

The voice actors are first class. Jamie Foxx  voices  Joe Gardner, Tina Fay voices 22, Questlove is the drummer and Phylicia Rashard is Joe’s mother. There are these soul councilors in the Great Before all named  Jerry and one dogged accountant who keeps an accurate tally of all souls who are bound to the Great Beyond. Like Toy Story the intended audience is universal.

Baby Drver

                                                                                                  July 13, 2017

Baby Driver is a unique movie; it is not a sequel or a remake it is an original script. This is a terrific movie. It is a tender love story with bank robberies, unshaven dirty bad guys and amazing car chases.  Driving is a major element of the film: drifting, high speed chases, reverse driving (it made me feel inadequate). This movie has elements of Bonnie and Clyde, Bullet and some parts of Grease. The cast is terrific. The ensemble’s performance was cohesive and well-paced. The movie’s direction was gritty, dynamic and interjected with poignant moments.

The protagonist is named Baby; yeh, just Baby. How cool is that? Baby is played by Ansel Elgort. He was the wimpy brother in the Divergent series. Baby has a baby face, there is even a close up of his peach fuzz. He seems Autistic, with preputial dark Ray Ban’s, fixed ear plugs and pouty lips seldom speaking. One character asks if he is slow, which is an inside joke. The loopy personality masks his supremely virtuoso driving skills. He does not drive Porsches or Ferraris, rather more humble fare. He makes diving a Subaru sexy; there is hope for all of us. Elgort is pitch perfect for the role.

He is constantly plugged into his iPod so the music drowns out tinnitus. The music is a big part of the film. Half the tunes I recognized for the rest I had no clue (a consequence of being born in the 50’s).

Kevin Spacy is the gang mastermind who orchestrates the robberies. Baby is indentured to Spacy, but how is not made clear. Spacy is a precise task master and cold blooded. The film focuses on one last heist and Baby must be behind the wheel.

Jon Hamm is a former stock broker turned bank robber (Wow, what a stretch). Unshaven, greasy and probably smelly, he still gets the hot chic (go figure). He was corrupt in Mad Men, but here he is lethal. Jammie Foxx plays a tattooed necked killer/bank robber. He is part of the gang with Baby and Hamm, he threatens Baby.  Foxx relishes this role.

Lily James plays Debora, Baby’s love interest. She is like Sandy from Grease, but she wields a crow bar. This is love at first sight, or as the Italians would say struck by a thunderbolt. They are very tender with each other and share a strong bond.

I highly recommend this film. And please would someone tell me what is Egyptian Reggie.

The Amazing Spiderman 2 (2014)

Often sequels do not deliver, this one does but not all the way. Spiderman still swings from building to building and is dishing out a continuous banter of wise cracks and anemic jokes. He still lives in Astoria Queens with Aunt May, who is still a darling but with a few more wrinkles but boundless charm. Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy has those sparkling eyes and brings a lightness to the film.

Luckily we have a new villain in the person of Electro played by Jamie Foxx. Guess what his super power is? Jamie’s portrayal is part Jerry Lewis and part Von Doom. Before his transformation he has this nutty professor look with a bad comb over and a sad loner manic depressive personality. After his transformation he is wearing a hoody and so much make up that anyone could play him even Kevin Hart (scratch that, Hart is too short). The ultimate battle scene seems to short, it’s like a first date that goes nowhere.

Then there is Harry Osborn, again. The same cycle is resurrected; friend then enemy. You would think Peter Parker would catch on. Harry menacingly comes towards the end of movie and battles Spiderman on the Goblin sledge. Instead of resurrecting Harry in every film they should have a fight to the death and get over with it.

What was enjoyable in the film was the non-Spiderman scenes with Peter and Gwen. The sub story works here. Maybe this worked well because they are a couple in real life. Many of the super hero movies have a love interests but this should be secondary to the action (see Man of Steel).

This movie is for the Spiderman fanboys, for the rest, you may want to wait for Time Warner on demand.

Django Unchanged - The Italian Cowboy With the Fro

Django Unchanged is homage to the spaghetti western. It is a combination of the good and the bad. There really is no ugly, except maybe for Samuel L. Jackson. It is a simple script. Thebounty hunter frees the slave, the slave becomes a partner of bounty hunter; they go get slave's wife; bang, bang and boom! Go Quintin!

 

More N bombs were dropped in this movie than at a Chris Rock concert at the Apollo Theater. This was Quintin’s way of letting us know that slave owners were prejudice. They were also brutal. When it came to the horrors of slavery the film was almost a documentary. I am not sure if this was intentional.

 

Christoph Waltz was fantastic. This guy could read the Queens phone book (if we had one) and make it fascinating. His acting is eloquent and understated, but in a quite Austrian way he can be a cold blooded killer. Jamie Foxx is the Italian cowboy with the fro. His humor is not in what he says but how he looks (spoiler alert-and how he dresses). His character does not have the richness of a “Ray”. Basically he is a former pissed off ex-slave killing as many white southerners as possible. No acting range is needed here. If swagger were an Oscar nomination he would win. He is fun to watch.

 

Leonardo DiCapprio plays the sadistic dandy plantation owner of Candyland. The best part of the movie is the confrontation between DiCapprio, Waltz and Foxx. This staging gave Tarentino the perfect opportunity for his trademark orgy of blood. Quintin has issues.

 

Samuel L. Jackson plays the Uncle Tom with the M.F. attitude. Not to give much away, but he is more than what he appears to be. His appearance was totally stereotypical. Howls of racism would be justified for this depiction, but then Jackson would tell the offended to go do something with themselves.

 

Worth mentioning; there is a hysterical scene on Don Johnson’s plantation of a KKK raid. It is pure Monty Python and very original.

 

This is not a complicated movie. The film cobbles together stereotypes with old western favorites. The hype is bigger than the movie. If you want to kill two hours forty five minutes go for it.

 

Joe  1/8/13