Family

They know
better than anyone
having been there

having lived it

blood is thicker, sure

but more important

more true

is that shared experience

trumps all

commonality

and its power

begets understanding

begets belonging

makes transformation

a possibility.

'The Platform 2' A Review

The Platform 2 is a Spanish scifi/horror movie, a follow up to 2019's The Platform.  We follow Perempuan(Milena Smit) as she is put into The Pit and now there appears to be some self imposed rules in order to have the food shared out as it descends the vertical prison, its implied this is a result of the events of the first film. This soon breaks down and chaos ensues.

The cast doesn't really distinguish themselves because none of them have much of a character to do much with. The potency of the first film was a result of kind of a perfect marriage of metaphor and narrative, the characters were not immaterial but not a focus. The same is true here but the ideas and the set up are basically the exact same as the first film so it becomes clear quickly that this is just a recycle. As a result nothing is particularly interesting, neither the plot nor the characters within it.

Visually it looks like the first one, the score sounds like the first one, nothing really differentiates itself in any way which is a problem, if the movies had been released back-to-back maybe this wouldn't matter quite as much but five years later all it succeeds in is making you want to watch the original. There is a "reveal" about half way through which recontextualizes the when which feels cheap, unearned, and lazy.

A bland, unnecessary, retread.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Don't See It.

'Rez Ball' A Review

Rez Ball is a sports drama about the Chuska Warriors a Native American high school basketball team from New Mexico and their run for the state title.

The cast are all mostly great, Jessica Matten as former WNBA player and Warriors coach Heather Hobbs gives some nice dimension and emotion, nice to see her have an opportunity to play with a bit more range than her other(great but perhaps more confined role) big project Dark Winds. Julia Jones as the team's star's mom is also wonderful providing a relatively honest and straightforward look at addiction and recovery. Dallas Goldtooth is always exceptional and here as one of the team's announcers he injects some much needed energy and humor. The issue is the team, they're not bad, but they don't really fill out the film and they are constrained somewhat by the confines of the formula, couple that with the fact most of them seem to be either green or non-professionals. They're serviceable but not exactly inspiring. Somewhat oddly similar to last year's Saltburn in that the seasoned adult actors are better and more interesting than the younger cast which are the actual focus.

Filmed on location in the Navajo Nation it looks great, the soundtrack works, it hits all the beats it needs to and its pleasing and entertaining. But it isn't really able to push through to that next level, it perhaps follows the 'inspiring sports drama' beats to strictly, is not totally able to break out from the confines of the genre to really soar, seems too beholden to movies like Hoosiers and Remember The Titans to be really unique.

Competent, engaging, if lacking electricity.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Rent It.

Fall

The arms of winter
slowly close

into a chill embrace

not with malice

but an icy

inevitable

indifference

'The Wild Robot' A Review

The Wild Robot is a scifi family adventure set in an unspecified future. A service robot Roz(Lupita Nyong'o) crashes into an unpeopled island and inadvertently becomes the caretaker of a gosling Bright Bill(Kit Connor). With the help of a fox, Fink(Pedro Pascal), Roz prepares Bright Bill for the annual migration.

The voice cast is stellar and are all able to build out pretty remarkably dimensional characters enabled by a stunning script. The story is richly emotional, funny, relatively straight forward but with vast worldbuilding and potent themes. Nyong'o both as the lead and with the most complicated part soars and is able to translate, ground, and make us empathize with this character, which on paper, is somewhat inscrutable(not to mention she's funny). This used to be the kind of film Pixar was known for making, engaging for both kids and adults a purely entertaining adventure with a compelling but subtle morality.

The animation style is a catching mix of CG with almost a pastoral watercolor overlay. The score is stirring, its paced perfectly, and it has something to say. It works great both as a genre film, investigating reoccurring SF themes like sentience and technology, as a coming-of-age adventure reminiscent of the Ugly Duckling as Bright Bill grows up, migrants, and finds his place, as well as a film with something to say about compassion, the environment, and community but it doesn't shout it.

A spectacularly potent surprise. One of the best of the year.

Currently in theaters.

Don't Miss It.

'Megalopolis' A Review

Megalopolis is a scifi/drama set in 'New Rome' aka NYC about Cesar(Adam Driver) a rich, genius architect who has invented a miracle substance that he wants to use to recreate the city into what he believes will be a utopia, he's opposed by other rich, powerful individuals.

Other than Talia Shire in too brief a role, the entire cast is absolutely adrift, unable to make sense of the stilted, barely cogent dialogue, and schizophrenic tone. They all flounder and it is in turns boring and pitiful to watch. Most of the women characters only agency or purpose is through sex and the offensive virgin/whore archetype is pretty much expressly embodied by Aubrey Plaza and Nathalie Emmanuel. Writer/director Francis Ford Coppolla, because of some kind of Boomer petulance, also specifically cast "cancelled" actors Shia LaBeouf and Dustin Hoffman(who are profoundly boring in their roles) as well as Jon Voight(who at least imbues his stereotype of a character with some energy) but none are particularly compelling and their presence serves as a distraction, a hinderance, rather than the vindication of whatever point old, white, rich dude Coppolla thinks it is. All in all you simply feel bad for the actors, one assumes they signed up specifically and exclusively because it was Coppolla but whatever edge or artistry he had in the 70's/80's has abandoned him.

There are moments of visual flare, every 20 minutes or so there's a sequence that's really interesting and compelling. Unfortunately its not consistently so and with flat, awkward, inscrutable characters moving through them they lack much impact. The production as a whole is discordant, the movie claims to be set in "New Rome" but it very much looks like New York City, there are a couple interior scenes with lavish sets but then the following scene is just on a straight up unadorned NYC street. The costuming is also all over the place, the quality ranges from incredibly cheap to high end, the design ranges from "New Rome" to just regular street clothes. The score is numbing, somniferous. The sound mix is shoddy and there are multiple scenes where it is difficult to hear the dialogue. All in all a total mess.

What its "about" is equally baffling and offensive. There's a weird and dated kind of Ayn Rand vibe that underscores the whole picture, there's much pontificating about ideas but what it boils down to is the rich and powerful believing they know what's best for the people and taking action with no real knowledge or interest in what that effect will be(in the context of the movie hundreds if not thousands of people are displaced in the service of this 'utopia' with no real thought). Very libertarian bootstraps bullshit. Cesar is John Galt.

What your left with is a passion project that absolutely would not have been made had Coppolla not self funded it and because he self funded it he had no one to reign him in or offer him constructive feedback. And the reality is filmmaking is a collaborative process and the constraints of budget and/or a studio, more often than not, make for a better result particularly when you're dealing with these aging directors who, with all due respect, have lost much of their creative ability and insight being inoculated by wealth and success- Coppolla has nothing left to say or what he does have to say is standard Boomer bleating that the majority of movie goers have no interest in(nor should they).

An absolute and just flop.

Currently in theaters.

Don't See It.

The Bear

The tourists gawp
at the bear
and all I can feel
is pity
this creature
of power and hunger
subjected to this
indecent
oggling
and disgust
for my fellows
in their leering, slathering, avariciousness

I can see them drool
as they shutter away.