Movie Review: Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel **** / *****

Directed by: Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck.

Written by: Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck & Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Nicole Perlman & Meg LeFauve.

Starring: Brie Larson (Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Ben Mendelsohn (Talos/Keller), Jude Law (Yon-Rogg), Annette Bening (Supreme Intelligence/Mar-Vell), Lashana Lynch (Maria Rambeau), Clark Gregg (Coulson), Rune Temte (Bron-Char), Gemma Chan (Minn-Erva), Algenis Perez Soto (Att-Lass), Djimon Hounsou (Korath), Lee Pace (Ronan), Chuku Modu (Soh-Larr), Matthew Maher (Norex), Akira Akbar (Monica Rambeau – 11 years old), Azari Akbar (Monica Rambeau – 11 years old), , Mckenna Grace (Young Carol Danvers), London Fuller (Young Carol (age 6).

 

Captain Marvel is the 21^st film in the MCU, and remarkably, the first with a woman as the main character. Like all of the films in the MCU, this thing runs on rails – it is another origin story, and it pretty much follows the script you know about these sorts of things. And unlike the best recent MCU films – Thor Ragnarok or Black Panther – it doesn’t really have much of the personality of its directors – Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, indie stalwarts known for films like Half Nelson or Mississippi Grind. And yet, by the standards set by the MCU, Captain Marvel is just about as entertaining as these films get. Almost all of that credit belongs to Brie Larson, who is wonderful as Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel, with a big assist going to Samuel L. Jackson, playing a younger Nick Fury, as the two actors realize they are making a mismatched buddy comedy, and go with it. Oh, and Ben Mendelsohn is quite good, under a lot of special effects and makeup, Jude Law makes a great mansplainer, and Lashana Lynch deserves her own movies as Carol’s best friend. If only they found something, anything of interest for the great Annette Bening to do.

 

The film takes place in the 1990s – and if you’re like me, and came to age in the 1990s, the film is full catnip references for you, which are both cheap and easy targets, but also incredibly satisfying just the same. After a prologue in outer space, where we learn that Vers (that what they call her) is a Kree – fighting a war against the shapeshifting Skrulls, Carol crashes to earth – right into a blockbuster (which makes sense – considering how many blockbusters there were at the time). There are skrulls there, and Vers is determined to track them all down as she waits for the rest of her team. Of course SHIELD – led by Fury and a younger Colson (it’s nice that they gave Clark Gregg some hair back) get to her first. What follows is an exploration of her past – and what led her there in the first place – as well as her realizing the full potential of her powers.

 

You can probably tell where most of Captain Marvel is going, and you’re probably going to be right more often than not. There is no real attempt to reinvent, or upend, the formula for MCU origin stories. The big advantage here is that Larson is so much more funny and charming that most of the MCU leads, and she is clearly relishing every single moment she gets to be a superhero. The nature of her character, her powers, and the climax itself basically does mean that much of the climax is going to be more mindless CGI soup – but even there, it’s done better than most. And I do love how the film handles what could have been a pointless final confrontation where Law basically yells at Captain Marvel to debate him, and she handles it quickly.

 

In short, Captain Marvel doesn’t reinvent the formula, but is an example of how that formula can still be used in effective ways. I find that with most MCU films, my interest starts to flag at about the 90 minute mark, as the film comes in for its landing, but here, I enjoyed myself right to the final credits (Goose helps). I don’t think it quite gets to the top echelon of MCU films – Black Panther, Iron Man, Thor Ragnarok, the first two Captain America films – but it’s closer than most to getting there. And considering just how much my 8-year-old daughter loved it – I’ll probably only have to see it another 100 times, so the fact that it’s really good makes me even happier.

Movie Review: Mississippi Grind

Mississippi Grind
Directed by: Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck.
Written by: Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck.
Starring: Ben Mendelsohn (Gerry), Ryan Reynolds (Curtis), Alfre Woodard (Sam), Sienna Miller (Simone), Analeigh Tipton (Vanessa), Robin Weigert (Dorothy), James Toback (Tony Roundtree).

I almost wish that Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck had just gone all out and set Mississippi Grind in the 1970s. The film is so inspired by the films of the era – the story, the style, the characters, the acting, the themes – that I would have loved for them to wholly embrace the style of the decade as well – not in a garish, American Hustle type way, but in a more down to earth way that would fit its characters. The obvious inspiration for Mississippi Grind would be Robert Altman's California Split, about a pair of luckless gamblers (one of Altman's undeniable masterpieces) – although the film feels like any number of other films as well. The additional layer of style would have helped the film in another way as well – it may distract you from the fact that the film doesn’t really do anything new or different with its narrative. It expertly recreates the style of 1970s character studies (much more so than say The Gambler with Mark Wahlberg, a direct remake), but one small twist aside, there isn’t much new here.

The film stars Ben Mendelsohn as Gerry – an office drone from the Midwest, who spends his nights in depressing casinos playing poker. It’s at one of these games where he meets Curtis (Ryan Reynolds) - also a professional gambler, but one who is more of a drifter – never staying in one place for very long. Gerry and Curtis are opposites – Gerry is the type of anonymous, quiet guy that no one much notices or pays attention to. Curtis is the type of guy who walks into a room, and everyone stops – he is outspoken and charming – easily the flashiest guy in these sad little card games. The two of them hit it off somewhat – and soon Curtis is telling Gerry about a high stakes poker game in New Orleans – and Gerry has somehow convinced him that a road trip there is in order, even if neither of them has the money to enter.

You probably know where Mississippi Grind is going, and for the most part you are right. There is somewhat of a role reversal than what we expect between Gerry and Curtis however. You would expect the younger, flashier guy to be the problem gambler – the one in danger of doing something stupid. But that isn’t Curtis – he finds it easy to walk away before his losses get too deep, to always leave himself a cushion. He is, for the most part, sensible. It’s Gerry, the quiet one, who has really spiraled out of control - something that Curtis only gradually realizes. We know more than Curtis does – but not until a visit to his ex-wife’s (Robin Weigert) do we realize how far gone he is (he leaves without seeing his daughter – who he hasn’t seen in a while, because everything in his life that isn’t gambling doesn’t matter).

The two lead  performances in the movie are excellent, Reynolds, who  has done some interesting work in smaller movies as of late, uses his movie star charm here to be sure, but mutes it a little bit – brings it down to earth to be normal guy cool, not movie star cool. It is the always great Mendelsohn who is the real star though. One of the best character actors in the world right now, Mendelsohn has been given a lead role here, and runs with it. It is a quiet role, an understated one – but one that gives him a chance to do some terrific work. He doesn’t make a show of his slow implosion, but plays it straight.

Does the ending of Mississippi Grind actually work? I don’t really think so. It seems to go against everything that went before it – giving these characters perhaps more hope than they deserve (Altman wouldn’t have done that). But for the most part the film works. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck – whose debut film together, Half Nelson, was an even better 1970s throwback, know what they’re doing here, and have a made a quiet, understated film. It may not be overly original – but it doesn’t have to be to work.

Movie Review: It's Kind of a Funny Story

It’s Kind of a Funny Story ***
Directed by: Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck.
Written By: Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck based on the book by Ned Vizzini.
Starring: Keir Gilchrist (Craig), Zach Galifianakis (Bobby), Emma Roberts (Noelle), Lauren Graham (Lynn), Jim Gaffigan (George), Dana DeVestern (Alissa), Jared Goldstein (Ronny), Alan Aisenberg (Scuggs), Zoë Kravitz (Nia), Thomas Mann (Aaron), Jeremy Davies (Smitty), Viola Davis (Dr. Eden Minerva), Lou Myers (Jimmy), MacIntyre Dixon (Roger), Bernard White (Muqtada), Novella Nelson (The Professor), Matthew Maher (Humble).

When you’re a teenager everything seems so damned important. You get pressure from your parents and teachers to do well in school, so you can get into a good college and get a good job when you graduate. You feel pressure from your friends to fit in and be cool. You feel pressure from yourself to try and make all of these people happy, and yourself, but when the girl you like is dating your best friend, things seem hopeless. Utterly, completely hopeless. It isn’t of course, and things will get better if you just hang in there for a few years – but try explaining that to a 16 year old.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story gets that. It understands, and remembers, what it is like to be a teenager when it feels like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. A lot of critics have disliked the movie so far, complaining that the main character is a spoiled, whiny brat of a teenager. And they’re right – he is. But that doesn’t mean that the movie isn’t good – or even that it isn’t true. Many kids are spoiled and whiny, thinking the world revolves around them. It’s standard operating procedure in the life of a teenager.

Craig (Keir Gilchrist) is a 15 year old living in New York. He goes to the best school in the city – one whose purpose is to mold the young minds of tomorrow into becoming stock brokers and CEOs. The workload is intense, and they are expected to go to school year round to keep up. He looks around at the other students, his friends, and it seems like everything comes so easily to him, but is so hard for him. Of course, like him, they are putting on an act, and are going through the same thing – but teenagers often don’t think like that. They think that they are the only ones.

When the movie opens, Craig is having another one of his bouts of suicidal depression, and ends up at the ER telling them he is going to kill himself. They check him into the adult psychiatric ward, because the teen one is under renovations, for a five day observational period. It doesn’t take Craig long to realize that compared to some of the other patients, he has it fairly good. He has a loving family and some decent friends. Many others don’t have that, and on top of it, have more serious mental health problems. His relationship with two of the patients – Bobby (Zach Galifiankis) a 30 something year old who comes in after his yearly suicide attempt, and another teenager Noelle (Emma Roberts) who is there because she cuts herself – that makes Craig see that his life really is worth living.

The film is at times, a bit of a mess. Writer/directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson, Sugar) have adapted Ned Vizzini’s young adult novel into a movie that is perceptive about mental health, but also goes a little too far at times to make this into a feel good story of a kid overcoming his problems. It all seems a little too pat, too predictable, too upbeat. This is One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest territory, but wrapped up into a happier package.

But the performances save the movie for the most part. Gilchrist nails his performance as the kid who just feels too much pressure. He has a hard time explaining to everyone what he feels and why, and grows frustrated. But he remains a believable character throughout. Emma Roberts has less time to develop Noelle, but she does a fine job as well – and perhaps it’s best that they never explain her actions, as it allows the audience to reach their own conclusions. Best of all is Galafianakis who is truly excellent as Bobby. He puts on an act of being the wise guy, the funny guy, the guy with all the answers, when in reality he has none. He tries so hard, and fails so often, that he has pretty much given up. It is interesting to see Galafianakis in this role, because his character isn’t all that far off his comic persona as seen in The Hangover – but he has a little more awareness of his problems and his failings. This is a great performance, and he makes Bobby into the single most interesting character in the movie.

The film isn’t as good as Boden and Fleck’s previous films. Both Half Nelson and Sugar moved with confidence, knew its characters from the inside and out and presented us with them without judgment, but with eyes wide open. Here, they try a little too hard to be accessible – and the flights of fancy the film goes on occasionally are the least successful moments in the film. The work better when they are more subdued.

But overall, I think It’s Kind of a Funny Story works well. How well may just depend on how well you remember your teenage years – and as such how much sympathy you can muster for Craig. This is a movie that I see smart teenagers liking a whole lot more than adults.

DVD Views: Sugar

Sugar *** ½
Directed By: Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck.

Written By: Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck.

Starring: Algenis Perez Soto (Miguel 'Sugar' Santos), Rayniel Rufino (Jorge Ramirez), Andre Holland (Johnson), Ann Whitney (Helen Higgins), Ellary Porterfield (Anne Higgins), Jaime Tirelli (Osvaldo), Jose Rijo (Alvarez), Michael Gaston (Stu Sutton), Alina Vargas (Reyna), Richard Bull (Earl Higgins), Kelvin Leonardo Garcia (Salvador), Joendy Pena Brown (Marcos).

Sugar is a completely different kind of sports movie. There is no big game at any point during the movie that rests on the play of the underdog who becomes a hero in the films final frames. It is the story of a poor kid who tries to make it big in the majors, but it tells a story that is much more grounded in realism than most of the sports movie. This is not a story about triumph, but one of failure.

Miguel “Sugar” Santos (Algenis Perez Soto) is a poor kid from the Domincan Republic. He has a good pitching arm and since he was 18 he has been signed by the Kansas City Royals farm system, and has been working for two years to try and get sent to America, where he can make real money. His entire family depends on him for financial support, and going to America means more money and more opportunity. This year, he finally makes it, and is sent to Single A ball in Bridgetown, Iowa. He may as well be sent to Mars.

Miguel struggles to fit in at first, but soon settles in with the other players from the Dominican. His pitching also struggles for a while, then settles in and he becomes a star, and then he loses it again. The elderly couple who is assigned to stay with are nice to him, their daughter maybe interested in him, but Miguel cannot keep everything from falling apart. The pressure is just too much for him.

Newcomer Algenis Perez Soto is wonderful as Miguel. He gives a completely natural and unaffected performance, going from cocky young stud in the Dominican, to a man struggling with his confidence, to someone who has given up, to someone who is reborn with a new sense of purpose by the end of the film.

The film was written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the filmmakers behind the excellent Half Nelson from a few years ago that got Ryan Gosling an Oscar nomination for his great performance as a drug addicted teacher. Sugar has a similar, almost documentary like feel to it. This is not a film that feels like it is staged. It feels likes we are eavesdropping on actual conversations and reality of Santos, and the people who revolve him. It is a very well made film.

Sugar is a fine film. It is a film that looks at the reality of the situation, rather than the romance of it. For every poor Dominican kid who makes it big in the majors, there are thousands of kids like Sugar, who struggle and never make it. In one telling scene, Sugar asks one of his American friends on the team what he would do if he didn’t have baseball, and he answers he would teach. He has a degree from Stanford, so if this doesn’t work out, he has that to fall back on. What would Sugar do? He doesn’t know. He left school to play baseball, and baseball is all he knows. If he cannot make it here, then he has nothing else. That is the reality, the tragedy, of this situation.