Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur- Season 1

8.5/10  

In this Disney Channel/Disney+ show based on the Marvel comic (and surprisingly spearheaded by Lawrence Fishburne who's the executive producer), young super-genius Lunella Lafayette (voiced by the Madea Halloween movies' Diamond White)  fights crime under the alias of Moon Girl with Devil Dinosaur (animal noises by voice actor Fred Tatasciore), her pet T. rex who came from a portal she opened.

While it takes some shows many episodes to lock into place what they want to be (and sometimes over a season, looking at you Parks and Recreation and Legends of Tomorrow), Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur had everything locked down since the beginning in what was an extremely confident and engaging first episode. 

I'd kinda like to call this the Kim Possible of this decade, since it's a fun affair starring a girl hero with colorful characters (in fact, KP and MGaDD share a showrunner). Lunella is a plucky, determined  and three-dimensional character. Due to Devil Dinosaur being huge and a lot of scenes taking place at Lunella's home or school (most people don't know her secret identity), he doesn't get quite as much screen time as you'd expect for him being in the lead (don't get me wrong, it's not like he doesn't have episodes focusing on him), but he's delightful when he's on. The guy's kinda like a big puppy dog and the animators do a great job with his facial expressions. There's a third member of the team, Lunella's friend the social media-savvy Casey Calderon (Sneaky Pete's Liby Barer). She's just as enjoyable as the leads. Both her voice and animation have this gutsy liveliness to her.

Moon Girl lives in the Lower East Side of New York and her neighborhood is a really vibrant melting pot. The show also hosts a series of villains, more often original creations than not, that are fun bunch of distinct classic cartoony-types (also like what you'd find on Kim Possible).

The animation is so stylish. If you're one person who gets tired of cartoons these days looking too similar or not taking any risks, you'll be pleasantly surprised with this. MGaDD has a very distinct type of character animation, especially the line work, that kinda has a comic/graffiti pop art feel to it. There's also an impressive selection of songs in this (Moon Girl likes to fight with music playing).

Most of these episodes revolve around Lunella, who means well, but her over-confident reliance in science to solve all her problems can be her downfall resulting in her having to learn a lesson. Don't get me wrong, the morales are good for kids, but Lunella causing a large portions of the threats in the show can get a bit old. Next season, you could at least have more episodes featuring other characters having to learn lessons. Also, it bugs me that Lunella's father looks and acts so young. I thought he was her older brother at first.

Highly recommended and great viewing for your kids. My wording really isn't doing justice to the heart put into the show. This is definitely a worthy successor to the ranks of the best humorous kids superhero cartoons, such as Darkwing Duck and Kim Possible.

The Pope's Exorcist

7.5/10

In The Pope's Exorcist based (I'm guessing EXTREMELY loosely) on Father Gabriele Amorth's memoirs An Exorcist Tells his Stories and An Exorcist: More Stories, the father (played by Russell Crowe) investigates the possession of an American boy in Spain.  

Sooooo... This is a very by-the-numbers exorcism movie. Everything's that happened in previous movies probably happens here and there isn't anything that's unpredictable. HOWEVER, this is a very competently made exorcism movie.

The movie flows naturally without much feeling drawn out. The introduction scene with Amorth is pretty memorable. 

This has a solid look to it. (The production team was clearly having fun.) I loved the foreboding, kinda stylized look of the ancient manor the family's staying at. There are a couple weird visuals that grab the eye.

The best part is definitely Crowe. His Amorth is really likable and he breathes life into the role. He seems to be on an accent streak here (the last being his role in Thor: Love and Thunder), and I can't speak to his Italian inflection's accuracy, but it works pretty well. Penny Dreadful: City of Angels' Daniel Zovatto plays the practically requisite younger member of the church who's a rookie to exorcism Father Esquibel, and does an admirable job working off of Crowe.

The one straight-up weak point to this (besides the plot predictability) is that there's a subplot with Amorth's enemy within the Vatican Cardinal Sullivan (Ryan O'Grady) that feels half-baked and unnecessary. I wonder if some of his scenes got cut? 

Kinda recommended. Doesn't break the mold, but it makes for a fun time-waster.

Malum

6.5/10

In this remake of director/co-writer Anthony DiBlasi's 2014 film Last Shift, rookie police officer Jessica Loren (played by Split's Jessica Sula) gets herself assigned to watch over the night the old, practically abandoned police station that's being closed down. She's intentionally there as she's trying to investigate the death of her father. Soon, strange things start happening...

What this movie is good at is is providing unsettling, creepy stuff. There's some things that'll definitely stick in your memory. I believe one reason DiBlasi decided to pull a Hitchcock and made the rare choice of remaking his own movie is that he was able to play with a bigger budget. (When I heard this was a remake, I watched the original first because I was kinda fascinated with what the differences would be between the two.) The original while having decent special effects was clearly made on the cheap and took place entirely within one filming location. Here, DiBlasi is able to pull off more. There's a couple visual scares I miss from Last Shift, but there are also a few originals here that really leave an impression.

Going back to the shooting location, Last Shift's police station was a really well lit affair (again probably a budget thing), here it's the opposite, and DiBlasi makes strong use of the unknown that lurks in the darkness. Also, I really liked the front door area to the place they shot at. Has a distinct look. 

This movie is effectively scary, but the plot is... debatable (much like the original). The script does do a better job of explaining why some things were happening in the first film (for instance, in the original it's a coincidence that Jessica is assigned to the station her father worked at.) However, changes to the story bring up a bunch of brand new plot holes, stuff that'll make you say "Wait, what? But...?"  

Casting is predominantly stronger than the first, there's a few performances I preferred from the original but on the whole we've got a higher class of actors. Though I feel Loren's superior Officer Grip Cohen to still be more of a plot device than a realistic character (sadly, his dialogue was largely untouched from Last Shift), Britt George's performance as him is a lot more tolerable. There is one actor replacing their role from the first: Natalie Victoria (the director's wife). I'm so glad they had her ditch her lousy southern accent this time around.

This was one of those movies that's hard to rate. If you love scary stuff, you'll probably like this. But if you hate it when horror movie plots get super vague, this probably won't be for you.

Tetris

8/10

This Apple+ movie chronicles video game entrepreneur Henk Rogers' attempts to get burgeoning hit puzzle game Tetris ported to and packaged with the Game Boy. However, he ends up tangling with an unexpected sheer mess of who owns the rights to distribute the game, and has to go to Russia near the fall of the Soviet Union in order to negotiate a deal in a country where trade is handled rather differently.

Like most movies based on a true story you got some made up stuff to make the story more cinematic (you've got a fictitious KGB agent in this who serves as an obstacle for Rogers; don't get me wrong, I'm sure the real Henks was watched like any outsider trying to do busy in Russia, but I doubt he was ever directly confronted), but what I like about this is that all the broadstrokes are surprisingly accurate to what happened. The various issues involved in acquiring the rights for Tetris are true. The whole thing is rather fascinating, especially in regards to how Russia handled property rights and distribution differently from capitalist countries. 

Rogers (played by The King's Man's Taron Egerton) also makes for a good underdog. Some of these films may hide less savory aspects of their subjects or make them more important than they actually were, (and yeah, movie Henk takes risks the original didn't), but the actual Henk seems fairly faithful to this one. He doesn't seem to have any skeletons in his closet and he really did befriend Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov (played in this by Nikita Efremov) and helped him get compensated for his creation later on. Film Henk makes for a great protagonist as a man who unwittingly bit off more than he could chew and still manages to come out successful.

The father son team running rival company Mirrorsoft Robert and Kevin Maxwell (Roger Allam, the villain from the Speed Racer movie and Anthony Boyle) also works well as rivals. Yeah, they're probably more cartoon villainy in this, but I don't mind the liberties too much 'cuz they were crooked in real life (and it didn't help the they were/are the father of Ghislaine Maxwell).

Pretty good cast here. Egerton gives a solid performance, but to be honest this is a role many actors could do. He's outshined by some of the supporting cast. Efremov is convincing as a man who created a fun diversion at work who had no greater plans and finds himself unexpectedly put in a spotlight. Allam does a great job delivering the type of commanding presence who rarely needs to raise their voice, and Boyle is also swell as the more emotional one with a chip on their shoulder. However, I was most impressed by Oleg Stefan as Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG, the Soviet organization that handles electronics exports and imports. He plays a straight man bureaucrat, but the actor has this subtlety in his emotions that really pay off.

There are a couple of scenes in this that are a little weak but don't sink the movie. You got one line of dialogue evoking the spirit of video games that feels really ham-fisted, insultingly simplistic, and nothing any person would say aloud. Then there's one scene demonstrating the struggles of living in the Soviet Union that feels a little too on-the-nose.

If you love the Tetris theme, you get a variation or two of it, but sadly we never get to hear the very original unadulterated version.

Recommended. Some may think that you couldn't make a movie about distribution rights interesting, but they pulled it off.

Air

 

8/10

Air tells the story of the creation of the Air Jordan shoe line and how Nike, which was trailing behind Concourse and Adidas back in the 80's, took a massive risk when practically betting it all on having their product endorsed by then rookie NBA player Michael Jordan.

This is one of those scripts where almost everything just snaps. Writer Alex Convery seems to understand the risks of having a movie that's mostly people talking about doing things. He gives it his all in making sure the exposition doesn't get boring. He keeps your interest by throwing a lot at you. A great example is the beginning where an opening conversation happens while the characters are walking through the offices, a fantastic combination of visuals and solid and often funny dialogue. Really, the conversations are all well written and humorous. 

Excellent pacing here as well. Again, the filmmakers knew there was the risk of the movie being slow, so they make sure it moves at a brisk pace from plot point to point. There's no scenes of the lead hanging out with his family bloating the duration; the movie is going to tell you about the Air Jordan deal and they're not going to waste time. (The epilogue does run a little long, but the movie's about to end anyway, so it's not that much of an annoyance.) Even the dialogue moves quickly (it is possible to miss some lines.) Appropriately, they've got Chris Tucker, the king of fast talking, here as Howard White, the man who'd become the vice-president of Nike's Air Jordan brand, and he shows you how it's done.

Speaking of Tucker, it's nice to see him do a role that's more grounded and not trying to be funny every moment. He really pulled it off. Heck, this whole movie's a who's who of great performances from a top pedigree of actors, including Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis, Jason Bateman, and Chris Messina.

Understand that this movie is all about the deal done around Michael. You never actually see the guy's face (except for actual footage of the real MJ) or really hear him speak. If you were expecting him, prepare to be disappointed. 

The one weak spot of the movie, besides the epilogue, is that the big motivating speech that often happens in these types of films feels a little too calculated for its own good.

Highly recommended. This is one of those movies where almost everything works and it keeps your interest. Wouldn't be surprised if this gets at least an Oscar nomination for best screenplay.

Star Wars: the Bad Batch- Season 2

8/10

In this second season, the members of the genetically unique clone squad known as the Bad Batch continue taking whatever jobs they can to support themselves while trying to stay out of the eye of the Empire.

I felt that this was stronger than the last season. Some may be annoyed that this is more episodic-heavy, but it worked for me. The various situations the characters are thrown into keep things fresh. (The only weak spot would be the episode Retrieval. Not bad but it's the type of story that's been told plenty of times.) Not to say there is no ongoing plot. The show continues to look at how the clones were decommissioned after Revenge of the Sith but before A New Hope. The plight of these soldiers and how they were disposable pawns works surprisingly well as an analogy to the treatment of vets. Though a lot of the stories were misadventures, when things get serious, the writing especially pops; the last two episodes make for a hell of a finale.

I think the writers realized the cyborg Bad Batch member Echo (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) had the least amount to do last time around, so he gets some development as the one clone who feels they should be acting against the Empire and not just hiding. Tech (also Dee Bradley Baker cuz' y'know clones), the very smart and logical member, is getting a lot more time to shine and it works.

The various locations and background designs make for a real sci-fi visual delight.

Recommend. Can't say the show is as engaging as much as the recent live-action ones, but it's a well written and animated affair.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

8/10

In this movie based on the popular tabletop game (the second attempt at doing so after the failed 2000 one), a group of thieves plot to steal from their enemies.

This was definitely a satisfying film (actually a more solid popcorn film than either the recent Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania and Shazam: Fury of the Gods). This all comes together with solid plotting, three-dimensional characters across the board, a fleshed out world, and some decent humor. The movie actually manages to throw in a narrated flashback beginning without feeling too weak.  

This is directed/co-written by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who directed the comedy Game Night. I wouldn't say this is as funny as that movie, but it's definitely having fun. Given that fantasy stories can all run together after a while, the duo definitely felt like they were trying to make sure there were some distinct moments in this which pay off. There's one of the most memorable chase scenes I've seen in a while. Plus, the dragon you may've seen in the trailer is a solid design. There's plenty of dragons in film and television, but you don't see a lot of plump ones.

The viewer is thrown into the world. There isn't real effort given into explaining the various races, organizations, etc. (I did a lot of Googling after this.) However, it works. It makes the world feel lived in by not overexplaining (the characters know the environment they live in, why would they state the obvious.) You're never thrown too much at once, and you get the gist of everything. The movie focuses on basic concepts people can understand, thieves steal, evil magic people do evil magic stuff, etc., etc.

Solid casting in this. Chris Pine as lead thief Edgin manages to show off more of his comic side. In what is probably her biggest starring role in a big movie, Michelle Rodriguez as thief Holga doesn't do anything much out of her wheelhouse but manages to keep being charming and badass. Pine and Rodriguez have excellent chemistry together and really sell themselves as old friends and partners. Rege-Jean Page as Paladin Xenk doesn't appear in the movie as much as the trailer makes it out, but when he does appear, he's definitely the funniest character, someone who's super nice and benevolent, but also super literal and straight-laced to the point it can bug others. 

This looks swell with some fine creature and costume design. Some computer graphic effects are more obvious than others. Fans of D&D may be frustrated that all the leads are human or humanoid with minimal aesthetics and the same applies to the majority of background characters. (You see only one dwarf in this.) In fairness, by not spending a lot of money on CGI or prosthetics for the main characters this probably made it easier for the filmmakers to financially justify the big special effects moments in this.

Highly recommended, this is just one of those adventure movies where everything works and comes together.