The Best #10-#6

Troy Maxson is kind of a bastard.  That’s not a spoiler, he pretty much says so himself during the opening monologue.  As played by Denzel Washington however, you feel for the guy.  He’s had a tough life and as he reminisces about it with his best friend Jim Bono (the understated but excellent Stephen Henderson), you can’t help but conclude that maybe he’s a bastard because life just hasn’t been fair to him. 

But life isn’t fair to a lot of people and plenty of others in Fences have problems too.  As you meet these characters, Troy’s wife Rose (the powerful Viola Davis), their son Cory (Jovan Adepo) and Troy’s older brother (Mykelti Williamson), you start to learn about their lives.  As you do, your sympathy for them increases while your patience for Troy decreases.  He IS a bastard and his pessimistic lifeview and selfishness adversely affect the people around him the most.  Yet, they stick around because this is their life and he's in it, and they have no choice but to deal with it.

Nothing extraordinary happens in Fences, rather this play turned film directed by Washington, expertly tells a tale which makes you invest in the ordinary.  Will Cory get a football scholarship?  How will Rose react to betrayal? Will Troy get the promotion he wants and if so, will it make him happy?  These are simple questions the movie answers in a minimalist presentation where scenes can last 20 minutes in one room and consist of two people just talking.  Because that’s the way life is and if Fences leaves you feeling what you’re watching is authentic…and that Troy is a bastard.

Twelve alien spacecrafts appear across the Earth, hovering in the air as a startled world reacts to the ominous surprise visit from other worldly creatures.   While this seems like a set up for a typical summer blockbuster, it’s actually much more interesting. 

Arrival is a confidently directed mini masterpiece, which takes a traditional “big” plot, aliens arrive for unknown reasons, and instead of going bigger, goes smaller.  It becomes clear almost right away that we’re not going to be spending a lot of time gawking at the aliens or running from exploding monuments.  Instead, the film delves into the minutia of linguistics as Amy Adams’ Louise Banks attempts to communicate with the E.T.s.  Yes, the military is present and typically dumb but you don’t care about them.  You care about what Louise is trying to do (amazingly they make deciphering language exciting to watch) and about Louise as a person.  As you see flashes of her life, you begin to understand and sympathize with her, making you root all the more for her to succeed.

We do get an answer to the central mystery of whey the aliens are here and like the best films it ties back to its central theme (in this case, communication) and back to our protagonist.  The ending is not what I expected but in retrospect seems perfect.  It’s not spoilers to say that nothing explodes; it’s much more…interesting and is part of what makes Arrival stay with you long after you leave the theatre.

Who knew civil rights organizations would find a champion in a cartoon movie with a talking bunny as its lead?  Not me, but it kind of fits. 

Zootopia takes place in a world where animals can talk but that’s not a big deal because they lead lives which are pretty familiar.  They live in farms and cities, have jobs which are exciting and monotonous, and watch TV on their iphones.  As Us Weekly would say, they’re just Like Us! And that’s how the movie pulls of their magic trick.

Our protagonist Judy is a rabbit leaving a peaceful rural existence, but she wants more.  She wants to be a cop but bunnies aren’t supposed to be cops. They’re supposed to be bunnies and stay with other bunnies doing bunny stuff.  They’re expected to be nothing more than simple timid creatures because they’re bunnies.  The same goes for other animals, like pigs and sloths.  They stick with their own kind and do what’s expected of them.  

When Judy aces her academy exams and gets a job as a police officer in the big city, Zootopia where predator and prey peacefully co exist, it seems as though another glass ceiling has been shattered (to steal from HRC).  But alas, she’s relegated to being a meter maid.  She doesn’t let that get her down as she uses her investigative skills to uncover a nefarious scheme which threatens the very existence of Zootopia,

Yes, the bunny teams up with a Fox but I swear this isn’t a kid’s movie (or at least not JUST a kid’s movie).  The Fox isn’t what you think just because he’s a fox;  He’s also limited in what he’s told he can be because of Fox stereotypes and he yearns for more.  He’s stuck in the same situation as Judy and as they continue the investigation, they break down stereotypes and bring different species together.  See…civil rights…equality…or as Queen Latifah would say, U-N-I-T-Y, that stands for UNITY!

Zootopia takes place in a world that’s much like ours because it’s supposed to speak to our world and it’s this deeper commentary which buoys the film above its cartoon peers. 

You may think I’m a comic book aficionado from some of my movie selections but I have never finished a comic book in my life.  What I respond to in a super hero film is what many respond to:  the epic stories of good vs. evil, of heroes vs. villains, right vs. wrong.  There is a formula to these things and it can get a little stale but I would argue the same can be said for war movies and mob movies; There are a lot of those too but few true standouts.   The ones you remember are the ones that try something new. Enter Deadpool.

As someone who didn’t know about the Merc with the Mouth, I was unprepared for the outrageous, meta, and hyper violent movie I got.  While the outlines of a traditional superhero story are present, Deadpool isn’t content with staying in these lines.  As played by Ryan Reynolds (who shepherded this film for almost a decade), Deadpool is a foul mouthed and hilarious anti hero.  He only goes along with the hero part grudgingly and even then, he takes much more delight from killing people then I’ve ever seen Wolverine take. 

You see, Wade Wilson isn’t what you would call self-sacrificing and the only reason he begins his orgy of blood is to save his girl.  Yes he’ll kill bad guys with glee but he isn’t bogged down by the emo-ness that seems to afflict many of today’s heroes.  He doesn’t question the violence or his place in the world.  He just uses the powers he’s given by a crazy mutant scientist to hunt, torture, and kill said crazy mutant scientist (all while playing 90s hip hop and cuing his own fight music).  He likes using his power because he refuses to see them as a burden and, in a bit of trippy nonlogic, he knows he’s in a movie, so why not just enjoy it?  I would ask the same to the audience. 

Don’t Think Twice falls in the  movie category of what I call  ‘depressing, because it’s like real life.’  This isn’t a diss of any kind, in fact it’s a compliment.  Most films exist in an exaggerated reality where ridiculous stuff happens and characters react to them.  If a film is really good, you get to know these characters and identify with them so that their emotional reaction feels authentic.  It’s easy to understand why movies need to do this.  Who wants to watch a film about something as mundane as going on a job interview?  Wouldn’t it be cooler if the job interview was say, a invasion of zombie aliens you have stop to save the planet?! (side note: this sounds like a cool idea. Don’t steal it).  It’s hard to make real life real interesting.  Don’t Think Twice does just that and in a setting which makes that accomplishment all the more impressive. 

The story is about an improve comedy troupe in New York full of very talented, very funny people who are pushing into their mid 30s without much to show for it professionally.  I’ve never been in the entertainment world so I was concerned that this would feel ‘too inside’ and I wouldn’t be able to relate to anything the characters were feeling because I’ve never been in a struggling improv group.  But I have been in a place in my life where I question if I’m succeeding, and if I shouldn’t be doing better?  It’s universal questions like that which you will relate to and draw you into this movie. 

An audition is just a job interview and a friend who is on TV is just a friend who is more successful than you (or at least seems that way).  You’ll recognize and probably cringe at the anxiety and self doubt these characters experience as they try to figure out what they want from life and if what they’ve been doing so far is really working?  The movie is very adult. There aren’t really any happy endings nor especially unhappy ones.  Life just happens and the characters have to react to it, just like you do. 

Don’t think twice about seeing Don’t Think Twice.  Ha. I had to throw that in.