Disregard this if you’ve heard it before, but pop culture is eating itself. Sure, it’s like, get a new take already, but there is an inherent symbolism to Will Smith’s newest Gemini Man. When a story about making carbon copies of proven quantities is made real by crafting the young face of a current mega star over his old face so he can play opposite his current self? What’s the other reading here?! Ouroboros would choke if his dang mouth wasn’t so full. And beyond this rote assessment of pop culture, what does it mean that this movie is weird and cool and stilted and really quite enjoyable? Only time will tell, but the door is now open for a new slate of Will Smith films across the rest of human history.

Prone to uneven extremes, Gemini Man is in moments utterly wooden followed by sudden fits of blissful Ang Lee fun. Where it is truly a mixed bag, it’s extremely watchable. It runs under two hours. Not only a total complement, there should be an award category for this noble achievement. There are some gorgeous international backdrops with hearty action sequences slathered on top. And where this could easily be an appreciation thread for costars Benedict Wong and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Will Smith carries this film. Or better yet, the film lives and dies with Smith. He’s the epicenter, and reliably, he does the work. 

Gemini Man struggles most when moving through the beats of its wonky narrative. The character interactions pass muster, the set pieces land, but the story itself leaves something to be desired. In some ways Gemini Man does recall the star-driven action films of Will Smith’s heyday. It’s enticing to think this is some playful meta commentary on the whole enterprise, but the final product is too uninspired to believe it. There are ideas and the filmmaking know how to bring them to life, but in the end it just felt middling, even safe.  

All of Ang Lee’s favored tropes are on display. Perhaps this is a call to action, or total anathema, but they are there. The dude can still assemble a hell of a production. And the facial technology works! Well, it is certainly on the upward slope out of the uncanny valley. Will Smith plays this character pretty small, restrained and emotionless. It does fit with the character's interiors, but perhaps deliberate in order to move and emote the young face as little as possible? Who knows, but it is well crafted. You want to come up with reasons why it shouldn’t work so well.
Though, on the eve of its release—a gloomy affair according to critics and box office knowers—the impact of Gemini Man is already out of the bag. This tech may be in its infancy, but imagine the implications. As though stolen from the pages of a so-so sci-fi screenplay, what if this means never saying goodbye to Will Smith? An endless, eternal array of Will Smith(s). What does that mean about everything from celebrity to identity? Likely an overreaction, but somewhere a touring Roy Orbison hologram is being debugged. Anyway, Gemini Man is pretty fun! Definitely a casual streamer. Even though if one did make it to the theater, they wouldn’t see the film the way it was ‘meant’ to be seen. What a strange and fascinating world.

--Monte Monreal

I’m going to spend about as much time thinking about the new movie The Hustle as the screenwriters, producers, and everyone else with the project did: not much.

I’ll admit, I was skeptical about The Hustle (which is essentially a remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) from the get go. 

The film is billed as follows:

 “In the hilarious new comedy THE HUSTLE, Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson star as female scam artists, one low rent and the other high class, who team up to take down the dirty rotten men who have wronged them.”

First, I’m going to let you guess -- between Hathaway and Wilson – which one is “low rent” and which is “high class.” If you guessed Wilson is the high class scammer then congratulations – you’re not as pessimistic about Hollywood’s treatment of “unconventional” women as I am. No, Wilson is the “low rent” chubby girl whose whole M.O. is to steal money from men who don’t find her attractive. The slender Hathaway is a dignified British woman with links to the royal family who speaks many languages, struts constantly, and has men falling for her left and right. Color me shocked.

Next, the description identifies Wilson and Hathaway as “female scam artists.” (WHAT?! BRUH! ARE YOU TELLING ME WOMEN CAN BE CON ARTISTS, TOO?! MIND BLOWN!) The qualifier clearly bothered me. For a movie that seemingly wants to be about women’s empowerment (I think?!?!) having to clarify that, yes – women can lie, and manipulate, and cheat just as easily as men can (maybe better) – seems completely tone deaf. (Lest we forget the age-old story of Eve getting poor innocent, rib-sharing Adam kicked out of the Garden of Eden for convincing him to eat the forbidden fruit… but I digress.)

The movie tries (and fails) to make a bigger point about gender roles. Hathaway’s character at one point gives a speech to Wilson, explaining that women make for successful con artists precisely because they are so frequently underestimated by men, but that’s pretty much where the film’s girl power moments begin and end. Throughout most of the film the women are in constant competition with each other.  Even the premise of the one scheme where they do work together (which is about as bizarre to watch as a crashing SNL sketch) is centered around the idea that Hathaway’s character is desirable and Wilson’s is abhorrent.  Could we not do better, writers?

Both Hathaway and Wilson deliver good performances. Wilson’s comic talents are hard to shine block, and Hathaway’s acting range is on full display as she rotates through a carousel of different accents and emotions in service of her various schemes. But it’s everything around them – from the marketing of the film, to the writing and directing – that sank it. Maybe there’s an alternate timeline where everything comes together and this movie works, but I’m not in it. 

--Kelsey Robinson

Friends, hello. I was once like you. And proud to be. In fact there’s footage out there of a 12-year-old me seated in front of my parents’ camcorder, presenting a fake newscast in which I warned my fellow classmates about the dangers of becoming addicted to Pokémon cards. Oh how disappointed my pre-teen self would be if she could see me today.
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I’m here to confess that the first live-action movie based in the Pokémon universe --  Detective Pikachu – is pretty great and fun experience from top to bottom.  The internet is already awash in far better reviews of this film than anything I’m going to write here, so let me instead make the case for Detective Pickachu to the Pokémon skeptics.

Yes it’s a kid’s movie. Yes it’s a noir. And yes it’s has magical animal creatures who humans train to battle each other but somehow it’s not exploitative. It doesn’t seem like those things should go together, and yet in Detective Pikachu, they all harmoniously do.

Some of the credit goes to the special effects team. The rendering of the creatures is a true delight. It doesn’t feel like you’re watching humans interacting with CGI creations. Pikachus and Psyducks and Cuebones interact and live seamlessly next to their human costars. Even if you’re not emotionally connected to or familiar with any of the characters from the Pokémon universe, it’s a real joy to see all of these quirky characters – some cute, some odd, some scary – come together and do their thing.

And the writing is not terrible! There are predictable moments for sure, but there are also some unexpected twists and turns, and sweet moments, and suspenseful ones, and this one scene with a mime that I am absolutely going to watch again on Youtube. The underlining message is nothing profound, but it doesn’t need to be, and that’s part of the fun.

Finally, I’m going to give it up for Justice Smith, who plays Tim (the film’s protagonist) and Ryan Reynolds, who plays Pikachu, also put on great performances. Reynolds packs a lot of cute charisma into that little yellow mousy critter – who manages to be a little edgy, but not a jerk, and gets to deliver the majority of the film’s punchlines (which, also, pretty good). And Smith fully immerses himself in the this Pokémon universe -- so honest, and sincere, and committed to truly learning to understand and care for this little Pikachu, and to get to the bottom of the film’s core mystery.  It feels good to root for him.

So if you’re impressed by visuals that are at the top of their game, good writing and engaging performances, treat yourself to some Pikachu. You don’t have to know of or have any interest in the Pokémon backstory to have a good time. 

--Kelsey Robinson

It’s hard to believe March of the Penguins and Happy Feet – two highly rated (and high grossing) penguin-heavy films came out over a decade ago. So I suppose it was inevitable that we were due for another round of penguin rich content.

This time it is the aptly named Penguins. The new film from Disneynature follows the story of a young Adélie penguin named Steve as he endeavors to find a mate and raise a family in the harsh Antarctic environment.
Because the penguin sojourn has been captured so ubiquitously on camera -- through documentaries like the aforementioned March of the Penguins and the wildly popular Planet Earth series – there isn’t much content here that will surprise the penguin savvy viewer.  Likewise, the anthropomorphic “plot” follows your typical Cute Animal Documentary formula: cute animal appears on screen, captures hearts, confronts obstacles, emerges victorious. The film chronicles the trials and tribulations of the penguin experience without confronting too closely the dog-eat-dog (or in this case, sea lion-eat-penguin) chaos that exists in the natural world, which makes Penguins a safe and trauma-free bet for families viewing with young children.  The voice work by Ed Helms (of The Office and The Hangover fame) strikes a tender balance of kid-friendly humor (yes there are barf jokes) and rich, informative storytelling that will keep a wide range of ages engaged. The comedic relief for Penguins’ more mature viewers is primarily rooted in the documentary’s soundtrack. Ever wondered what it would be like to watch two penguins fall in love over REO Speedwagon’s “Can’t fight this feeling”?  Well, Penguins will scratch that itch for you.

The real star of Penguins (besides, well, the penguins) is the cinematography. Whether it is the dramatic, sweeping shots of the Antarctic mountain ranges, gripping underwater chase scenes, or tender moments captured between Steve and his doting companion Adeline – viewers are sure to leave the theater with a deep appreciation for the years of hard work, dedication and patience that the film’s videographers undoubtedly poured into this visually impactful film.

Despite its Earth Day release, what viewers won’t get from Penguins is any kind of reference to climate change. I’m sure it was an intentional choice by the filmmakers to honor the sacred separation of penguins and politics, but it seems like a missed opportunity to educate young viewers about the impacts of our changing environment. After all, NASA studies have estimated that climate change could cause the Adélie penguin population to drop 60% by the end of the century. Regardless, a portion of the proceeds will go toward the Wildlife Conservation Network, which will hopefully help keep the penguin content coming for the next generation of moviegoers. 


--Kelsey Robinson

Stick to the script. Therein lies the moral problem at the center of Boots Riley’s baadasssss new film Sorry to Bother You. The idea is not applied with a light touch, but this is not a film of half measures. The film’s brazen absurdity and searing furor are what makes it such a deftly applied polemic. The frame is engineered to be outsized, outrageous even, but when used to examine current conditions—the debased American laborer, race relations, stupefying wealth in the hands of so few—this funhouse mirror merely distorts the subject, but does not change its core composition.
 
The plot is ultra economical. Cassius Green is hired at a telemarketing company. Cassius, a young black man who learns to don his white phone voice, becomes a star while his struggling coworkers try to unionize. From there, Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You mines its premise of free market woe to such profound depths it unearths something so despicable, so absurd, that the plausibility is impossible to deny.
 
The film will undoubtedly draw comparisons to other pieces of radical cinema like Putney Swope or even Melvin Van Peebles’s lone studio foray Watermelon Man, but Sorry to Bother You finds a strong spiritual companion in Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. Gilliam wanted to make Nineteen Eighty-Four for the year 1984 (ugh...why didn’t he name it 1984 ½?!). In kind, Boots Riley has his finger on the pulse of the gathering tech bro messiah robber baron dystopia.
 
Both films drift from madcap comedy to jarring chaos while never losing the thread, but where Gilliam’s world has already gone off its head, Riley reminds us that dystopia doesn’t happen in a day. As described in one of the film’s many incisive bits of commentary, sometimes you see a problem so big you don’t know how to fix it, so instead of fixing it, you just get used to it.
 
Among Sorry to Bother You’s many accomplishments, the standout is the film’s strong sense of self. A psychedelic swirl of humor and dread, everything from screenplay to visual identity is fully realized. Even the yipping, shimmering soundtrack by Riley (or his long time rap group The Coup) and tUnE-yArDs isn’t a kind of buried add-on, but another supremely confident key component of the whole. The film is so completely actualized, it is confounding to think this is Riley’s directorial debut. And so it becomes clear,Sorry to Bother You is beyond a passion project, but something focused, dauntless, and urgent.
 
To further compliment the stellar job handed in by Riley, Lakeith Stanfield is emerging as the scion of our current crisis. Between his fascinating portrayal of Cassius Green and Atlanta’s hustler prophet Darius—not to mention his unforgettable turn in Get Out—Stanfield has an eye for good projects and the chops to make them his own. Side by side with Stanfield is the incandescent Tessa Thompson who plays the role of Detroit, an activist, artist, and generally swashbuckling agitator.
 
Noticing a trend? Cassius Green, or Cash is Green. Detroit, both racial code word and symbol of American promise gutted by the erosion of labor rights. A corporate yes woman and true believer named Diana DeBauchery. The billionaire silicon valley ringmaster named Steve Lift. The message is not masked, this is meant to be a cinematic provocation. Even the title—where it signals the disingenuous manners foisted on phone bank workers everywhere—is the film’s mordant opening salvo. Though instead of a telemarketer looking to hawk encyclopedias, Riley invokes the familiar phrase to ask; have you pondered any meaningful questions about the structures of class and economy lately?
 
Where this may seem like a wholesale indictment of the ruling class (and it is), Riley shines a light on many parts of the body politic which have entrenched their position. Viral notoriety, shitty rap music, the VIP room, code switching, it’s all under scrutiny. He asks questions about the efficacy of art as protest. The poor who would cheer their demise as they play banner men to the ultra rich. And when exactly did Italians become white? Funny, infuriating, and fully designed to get under your skin, Sorry to Bother You may not be the best film this year, but it is the film that feels the most like 2018.

Stick to the script. Follow it line by line and you’re rewarded, derivate and you only hurt yourself. A script, a set of rules, a system of law, a hierarchical structure, all born from the same notion of compliance but complicity. Sorry to Bother You knows we’re all culpable, but it wants you to ask acute questions about how far you’ll let it go. Is the looming hellscape telegraphed by Sorry to Bother You really so ludicrous? Competent satire teases out an idea to its most logical extreme, and if a world where corporations have court protected personhood and first amendment rights seems laughable, well, sorry to bother you, but it’s already here.

​—Monte Monreal