'Apollo 10 1/2' A Review

Apollo 10 1/2 is an animated coming-of-age semi-autobiographical movie from writer/director Richard Linklater. The movie opens with the fantasy recruitment of the ten year old Stanley for the fictiously titular space mission. Vignettes of Stanely's childhood in 60's suburban Houston are juxtaposed with his fantasy sequences in space.

The voice cast and some of the live-action acting that was then rotoscoped are all serviceable none of the acting is particularly ambitious or demanding per-say. The tone is very light and nostalgic which is somewhat offset by the relatively casual(but brief) depictions of child beating and racism. Overall the feel is nice but not particularly insightful or intriguing.

Like many Netflix movies with higher profile talent behind them the effect is watchable, palatable, but ultimately forgettable. Like a Twinkie.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Stream It.

'The Lost City' A Review

The Lost City is a romcom/adventure about grieving romance novelist Loretta Sage(Sandra Bullock) who is forced to go on a book tour with her cover model Alan(Channing Tatum) by her publicist Beth(Da'Vine Joy Randolph) despite her reticence. After the first event goes poorly Loretta is escorted to a meeting with eccentric billionaire Abagail(Daniel Radcliffe) who has discerned her knowledge of antiquity from her latest book and wants her to translate directions to an ancient treasure.

Bullock brings her undeniable charm and comedic ability to the role and its nice to see her return to this type of part, which she hasn't done in about a decade, she's got great chemistry with Tatum and has a understated but confident acuity with the humor and action. Tatum is a pleasure to watch as usual and he takes evident pleasure playing opposite Bullock. But Radcliffe is the one who's really having a ball as the over the top, mustache twirling, villain, it's really delicious. Randolph is great if somewhat underutilized and Brad Pitt has a wonderful, frenetic supporting role. All in all a pretty flawless cast.

A serviceable production that doesn't have much flash or uniqueness but gets the job done, solid location shooting with some decent and judicious CGI, an engaging score with some effective needle drops, all taken together its fun and it works if not terribly different. The movie is in the laudable tradition of Romancing The Stone and its great to get a movie like that now particularly that isn't a reboot or sequel. If there is a fault it's that the runtime is a bit long, the first act is absolutely propulsive and things roll in the third but the middle is bogged down by tonal confusion and stagnated momentum, it doesn't ruin it but it brings it down a bit. It would really cook at 100 minutes.

A great cast, compelling romance, and fun action if lacking some umph.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Rent It.

"Sensitive"

I was called sensitive as a child
as if it was a pejorative

a frailty
and because the descriptor was accurate

it hurt

but as with many

points of youthful ridicule

this quality

was actually a strength

and despite bombardments of shame

I did not harden or close

and remained

"sensitive"

which served me well.

'Windfall' A Review

Windfall is a home invasion thriller about a mysterious man "Nobody"(Jason Segel) who breaks into the vacation home of tech billionaire "CEO"(Jesse Plemons) and "the wife"(Lily Collins). Nobody is caught when preparing to leave after squatting for an unspecified amount of time when he then takes the couple "hostage" although he does not have a weapon nor behaves particularly threateningly. The trio spend the next day and a half together as CEO attempts to get cash delivered per Nobody's demand. The three meander around the property and talk while they wait.

Plemons gives it his all and that's commendable, he's an amazing talent but despite all his effort the character comes off as mostly flat and misses whatever satirical mark aimed for. Collins is given very little to do which is unfortunate, she has talent and she has presence, but here she is relegated to some regressive trophy wife role, which, even if realistic in some broader societal sense, is unjustified in its inclusion within the narrative. Segel, who has is charms, is in full on brood mode and it simply does not work. He is clearly trying very hard to be mysterious and layered but the result doesn't go beyond middle school truculence. All in all, not a fault of the cast but the script, the characters are boring. Like their "names" they speak in vagaries with the intent of allegory or satire but the result is simply muddled uncompelling ineffective storytelling.

The location, at least, is quite striking and there is a pleasing crispness to some of the production elements however the script is painful, pretentious, psuedo artistic, unrealistic, meandering and just all around immature. The tension, such as it is, is so devoid of stakes and so detached from reality it is no surprise it was conceived by a group of privileged white men who, ultimately(or at least apparently), have no real knowledge of socio-economics or class, who have never been in a situation of real threat or violence. Director/co-writer Charlie McDowell recreates many of the irritates from his previous movie The One I Love ie unlikeable/unreal characters engaging in protracted sophomoric discussion while unjustifiably meandering around a relatively nice rental property. In the end the question is what does it offer? And unfortunately the answer is virtually nothing. There is no insight, there is no truth, there is no action, there is no pleasure to be had. 

It fails as art because it tries to hard to be that, it fails as entertainment because nothing much actually happens.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Don't See It.

The Song

The Land 

sings the names 

of those
born to it

ignore the song

neglect your Self.

VA Trip

Drove out to VA to visit some of Nicole's family, stayed with her cousin Amy who took us to see the cherry blossoms in DC which was pretty spectacular.

Met our friends Meaghan and Tim one of the days to tour Skyline Caverns(something Nicole did as a kid) which was really fun. Had a great older, cave obsessed, tour guide named Don.

After the caverns we went for a hike in Shenandoah NP. Spectacular as always.

Visited Nicole's sister the last day we were there and hit up Carl's Custard on the way back, a place Nicole's Gpa used to take her, delish.

'The Batman' A Review

 The Batman is a superhero movie, a reboot of the Batman franchise. Robert Pattinson plays the titular caped crusader with more brooding, more sensitivity, more petulance, and more overt crime-solving intelligence but with a similar rage as the Bale incarnation. Thankfully an origin story isn't played out beat-for-beat and its mostly inferred. Batman is on the trail of the Riddler(Paul Dano) who is killing a series of corrupt city officials. But the case is more complicated and wide ranging than it first appears.

Pattinson brings a unique take to the character and that's refreshing, with a landscaped clogged with superhero movies and even flicks with this particular character its nice and necessary for this to feel if not totally new at least different. Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman is great if somewhat underdeveloped, and that can be said of most of the impeccable cast- Dano, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, John Turturro and Colin Farrell as gangsters, Andy Serkis as Alfred et al- ultimately there is simply too much going on, too many characters, too much story to form a clean narrative. 

Visually dark and rich with some fun anachronistic architecture, vehicles, and costuming and an effective repeating score that's one note shy of the Imperial March from Star Wars. Although Chicago is and will always be Gotham, London is a passable substitute. The production is all very assured and transportive, no surprise coming from writer/director Matt Reeves, but what also comes as no surprise is the bloat. The movie is too long, has too many villains, and too many climaxes. For a portion of the narrative the patient pacing is reflective of the content, it is more a mystery/thriller than an action flick, and that's great. But somewhere after the two hour mark it attempts to trade up to full blown fights and explosions and it doesn't really track, leaving the final city-destroying climax to fall flat and be rendered relatively unnecessary. It seems Reeves has been pinning for the Batman for so long he didn't want to risk not getting a sequel so packed as much as he possibly could into this installment and the movie as a whole suffers.

A lot to like, a fair amount to get bored with, a stunning lack of restraint both from the screenplay and the editor. 40 minutes too long.

Currently in theaters coming soon to VOD/HBO Max.

Rent It.