Lightyear

LIGHTYEAR
2022 | Dir. Angus MacLane | 105 Minutes

"You don’t need to save us, you need to join us."


Star Command Galactic Ranger Buzz Lightyear commits a series of reckless mistakes that stand his crew of hundreds on a hostile alien world. Determined to rectify his errors by any means necessary, Buzz's desperation eventually leads him to team up with a trio of unlikely comrades. Together, they learn the value of teamwork and come to terms with each of their unique shortcomings.

Lightyear is a charming, competently constructed sci-fi feature but aside from its surprisingly mature story about regret, blind determination, and owning up to ones mistakes in a healthy way, the film is ultimately somewhat unremarkable. Pixar's extreme attention to detail and technical prowess are as impressive as ever, but neither its craftsmanship nor the narrative of the film are particularly groundbreaking. Its metatextual conceit as a film within the world of Toy Story is honestly more distracting than clever, recontextualizing the Buzz action figure's dialogue in ways that only serve no other purpose than to elicit knowing head nods from diehard fans. Fortunately, Lightyear very much functions as a perfectly enjoyable standalone film, though it isn't quite one of Pixar's best.

As Buzz, Chris Evans puts on the perfect heroic voice while also more than capable of expressing the flawed protagonist's vulnerability. Playing Izzy, Keke Palmer exudes all of the energy and optimism of the plucky aspiring space ranger. Peter Sohn's deadpan performance as the resourceful robotic cat Sox, completely stealing the show. Strong, warm, and a bit heartbreaking, Uzo Aduba is perfectly cast as Buzz's best friend and commanding officer Alisha. James Brolin convincingly plays the antagonist Zurg in a role that is unexpectedly nuanced. The supporting cast also features Taika Waititi as the bumbling Mo, Dale Soules as the destructive Darby, and Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Commander Burnside.

While Lightyear doesn't quite go to infinity, much less beyond, the film is a serviceable space adventure with plenty of action and humor, carrying all of the emotional resonance that comes standard with Pixar productions. The picture's central lesson of moving on from mistakes big and small is an important one, presented in a way that's accessible to children, though older audiences with more life experience are sure to get more mileage out of it.


MID-CREDITS STINGER
Burnside enjoys his laser shield.


POST-CREDITS STINGER
DERIC finally completes is mission briefing.


FINAL STINGER
Meanwhile, adrift in space, Zurg returns to life.


FRAGMENTS
- Despite the opening blurb explaining that Andy from Toy Story watched this film in 1995, Lightyear thematically and technically doesn't feel like a film from 1995, much less the favorite film of a typical six-year-old boy

- Uzo Aduba and Dale Soules starred in Netflix's Orange Is the New Black


MCU CONNECTIONS
- Chris Evans (Steve Rogers in Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame; and Johnny Storm is Deadpool & Wolverine)

- Taika Waititi (Korg in Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Endgame, and Thor: Love and Thunder)
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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS
2022 | Dir. Sam Raimi | 126 Minutes

"If you knew there was a universe where you were happy, wouldn't you want to go there?"


Stephen Strange protects a young refugee from another world with the ability to break through the barriers between universes against a supernatural natural threat seeking to steal her unique power. However, Strange soon discovers that the adversary is a former ally wielding treacherous magic with relentless determination. Together with his new charge, Strange journeys across the multiverse in search of a way to save it.

Directed by Sam Raimi, best known for his gory Evil Dead slapstick horror films and his pre-MCU Spider-Man trilogy, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness perhaps surprisingly plays more like the former with Raimi leaning as far into body-horror and the macabre as a Marvel Studios film may allow. Serving the tall order to function as a direct sequel to Doctor Strange, Avengers: Endgame, and the WandaVision streaming miniseries, the creepshow spectacle of a picture unmistakably carries both its director's strengths in gruesome style and eerie atmosphere as well as his weaknesses particularly in failing to present emotionally satisfying character dynamics, though writer Michael Waldron is at least partially responsible for the elements of the story that don't quite resonate. While Strange finally learns to accept the end of his romantic relationship with Christine Palmer, and perhaps to question his tendency for coldly calculated decision-making, his character doesn't change in any way that feels significant by the end of this story. Meanwhile the film's secondary lead character, Wanda Maximoff, regresses considerably as a character, transformed into a magic-powered terminator hell-bent on being a mother no matter the cost, turning heel in a way that practically negates her character development from her previous stories. The introduction of a girl who can travel between worlds at will is fascinating conceptually, but disappointingly America Chavez is less a character in this story and more walking MacGuffin.

The film's greatest strengths lie in its imaginative, bizarre, and often creepy visuals courtesy of Raimi. Standout sequences include Strange and Wong's eye-gouging battle against a cyclopic squid monster, Wanda's arms emerging through mirrors attempting to capture America, and Wanda's possession of her variant shot and edited in true Evil Dead fashion. Strange and America falling through various alternate universes is perhaps one of the most visually mind-blowing sequences of the Marvel mega-franchise thus far. Strange possessing the corpse of his variant swarming with the souls of the dead is perhaps the most Raimi visual outside of his own original films. However, the battle sequences generally leave a lot to be desired, most noticeably in Wanda's shockingly one-sided fight against the team of variant superheroes and the finale of the picture.

Despite the overall lack of character development, Benedict Cumberbatch is better than ever as Stephen Strange, settling into the role enough at this point to even play distinctive alternate versions of the character with ease. Doing her best with the material, Elizabeth Olsen manages to present Wanda Maximoff as a sympathetic antagonist and is believably terrifying as a nigh unstoppable adversary. As Wong, Benedict Wong is reliably likeable, once again sharing excellent comedic chemistry with Cumberbatch. Though she plays a larger part in this story than in the first Doctor Strange film, Rachel McAdams does what she can with the paper-thin role written for Christine Palmer and her variant. Chiwetel Ejiofor convincingly plays a variant of Karl Mordo who amusingly turns out to be as sympathetic and treacherous as his counterpart. Xochitl Gomez is fine as America Chavez but she doesn't leave much of an impression due to the limited depth of the role as it was written and not to her talent as a performer. Of note, Patrick Stewart, Hayley Atwell, Lashana Lynch, Anson Mount, and John Krasinski play variants of heroes both new and old to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in cameo appearances.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness both delivers the goods as a wildly entertaining big budget Sam Raimi horror film and disappoints as a flawed sequel to several Marvel Studios productions. As an isolated experience, the feature is engaging and a lot of fun with a wealth of exciting visuals. Within the overarching narrative of the shared universe it inhabits, it is a sometimes confounding chapter with questionable story turns.


MID-CREDITS STINGER
Strange encounters a visitor from the Dark Dimension (Charlize Theron) in need of his assistance to undo an interdimensional incursion.


POST-CREDITS STINGER
To his relief, the spell Strange cast on the rude Pizza Poppa vendor expires and he gleefully declares "It's over!"


FRAGMENTS
- The film's writer Michael Waldron makes a cameo appearance as a guest at Christine's wedding

- While it's nice to see Julian Hilliard and Jett Klyne reprise the roles of Wanda's twins Billy and Tommy from WandaVision, particularly accompanied by one of the musical themes from that series, their ice cream song was more cringe-inducing than endearing

- Frequent Sam Raimi collaborator Bruce Campbell is a welcome sight as the Pizza Poppa vendor

- Here's hoping Hayley Atwell appears as another live-action Captain Carter variant at some point

- Glad to see Lashana Lynch as an variant Captain Marvel though I wouldn't be surprised if this was a one-and-done deal and we never see her again as another variant 

- Anson Mount appearing as Black Bolt acknowledges the much-derided Inhumans Marvel Television series but the unceremonious excessively violent way the character was dispatched in this film speaks volumes

- Charles Xavier's appearance accompanied by a rendition of the theme from the X-Men animated series is just sublime

- It is honestly hilariously melodramatic that there is apparently no universe in which Strange and Christine are together
007 CONNECTIONS
- Lashana Lynch (Nomi in No Time To Die)
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West Side Story

WEST SIDE STORY
2021 | Dir. Steven Spielberg | 156 Minutes

"I saw you and the world went away."


A young Puerto Rican woman and a Polish ex-gangster fall in love in the midst of a tense turf war between gangs led by her brother and his best friend. Inevitably, tragedy stemming from the hatred between their communities tears the couple apart.

While Robert Wise's 1961 West Side Story is rightfully a beloved Oscar-winning all-time classic, Steven Spielberg's 2021 adaptation of the celebrated musical belongs on the extremely short list of cinematic reiterations that improve upon their predecessors on virtually every level. From the quality of the performances to the authenticity of the sets and the social commentary, the picture is an exemplary work of art, featuring more thoughtful and accurate representation in its thematic content and in its cast. This film particularly places heavy emphasis on the fact that all of the lead characters are victims of institutional failure, the Jets products of poverty-stricken broken households without hope for better lives, the Sharks immigrants struggling to make it in an often unduly hostile country.

The extremely impoverished west side of Manhattan as it was in 1957 is realized in gritty, lived-in detail, stripped of any artificial glitz or glamour. The elaborate set pieces feel all the more natural due to the picture's exemplary production design. Choreographed with dazzling precision, the musical numbers are exciting, brimming with infectious energy, delivering arguably definitive versions of time-honored musical theater standards.

In the lead role of Maria, Rachel Zegler is soulful and magnetic, her sensational voice put to excellent use. Ansel Elgort is fine but unexceptional as Tony, capably filling the part of a square-jawed singing and dancing leading man without bringing anything too memorable to the table. Ariana DeBose as Anita is a force to be reckoned with, so naturally playing the part of a woman full of life until she transforms into a grief-stricken casualty of profound misfortune. As Riff, Mike Faist gives a revelatory performance, simultaneously rough-around-the-edges and astonishingly charismatic, pulling off a laid back demeanor that hardly hides the street punk's nothing-to-lose outlook on life. Riff's foil Bernardo is played with amazing physicality by David Alvarez who imbues the character with an authentic air of pride and dignity. Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the 1961 film, brings appropriate gravitas and immediate cinematic respectability to the picture playing Doc's widow Valentina, essentially replacing the classic Doc role, still looking and still sounding fantastic. Josh Andrés Rivera exudes pure sympathy as Chino, a tough role that he plays remarkably well, foil to Tony who never stood a realistic chance as a rival love interest for Maria. Non-binary performer iris menas makes a big impression as the recontextualized Anybodys, giving genuine humanity to the role of a marginalized character who has always been a stand-in for the marginalized people in society. The picture also features Brian d'Arcy James as the hapless Officer Krupke and Corey Stoll as the insufferable Lieutenant Schrank.

Steven Spielberg's take on West Side Story is a rich feast of sight and sound telling a uniquely American tale that grows more relevant every day. The picture is sure to impress those who love the timeless original stage production, challenge devotees of the 1961 film version, as well as delight brand new audiences.


FRAGMENTS
- The film is dedicated to director Steven Spielberg's father Arnold Spielberg

- Impressively, all of the actors in this version did their own singing

- It's difficult not to draw comparisons between this and the 1961 film



MCU CONNECTIONS
- Corey Stoll (Darren Cross in Ant-Man and Ant-Man: Quantumania)
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The Power of the Dog

THE POWER OF THE DOG
2021 | Dir. Jane Campion | 126 Minutes

"For what kind of man would I be if I did not help my mother? If I did not save her?"


Abrasive rancher Phil Burbank subjects his brother and business partner George's new bride Rose and adopted effeminate teenage son Peter to a constant barrage of verbal and psychological abuse. To his suffering mother's dismay, Phil seems to suddenly take an interest in Peter after the boy discovers Phil's most guarded secret. However, the true nature of their new bond is not as it seems.

Adapting of Western novelist Thomas Savage's 1967 book of the same name, Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog is an engaging drama that is gradually revealed to be a clever, darkly satisfying tale of vengeance. Diving deep into the twisted psychology of a bully who belligerently projects his insecurities onto others, the picture is a comprehensive character study on the frailty of the male ego and toxic masculinity stemming from sexual repression, envy, and self-denial. Its central character's arrogance and antagonism are so complete and overwhelming, so beyond redemption, that they inevitably lead to his total destruction at the very moment he allows himself to be vulnerable. When the tables turn, when Peter finds a way to put an end to Phil on behalf of his mother before the audience even realizes what has transpired, the film earns a twist that is simply sublime. It's a compelling story that Campion tells through technical excellence and powerful performances.

The cinematography featured in The Power of the Dog is absolutely stunning. Ari Wegner shoots New Zealand for Montana with great success, capturing the dusty desolate majesty of vast empty plains, perfectly complementing Phil Burbank's unbearable corrosive loneliness. The only moment in which he can be his true self is when he bathes nude in a lush forest pond, the only sequence in the picture featuring a landscape that feels alive. Jonny Greenwood's haunting atonal musical score is only too appropriate accompaniment to this film.

Benedict Cumberbatch gives his best performance to date as the mean-spirited fundamentally broken Phil Burbank, convincingly brutal and relentless. Perhaps superficially, but nonetheless notable, Cumberbatch's American accent has never been better. Keeping up with Cumberbatch's masterful performance, Kodi Smit-McPhee is excellent as sensitive boy Peter, subtle but truly amazing work particularly during the picture's final act. As Rose, Kirsten Dunst is in turns lovely and heartbreaking, deftly portraying with care and compassion a victim of abuse that turns to the bottle to self-medicate. Jesse Plemons is also low-key brilliant as Phil's pushover of a brother George, fitting very well into the role of a put upon man with barely any agency of his own. The supporting cast also features Keith Carradine, Frances Conroy, and Thomasin McKenzie in brief but notable roles.

The Power of the Dog chronicles from beginning to end the story of a despicable man, a film that unravels the origins of an exceptionally human villain and traces the misanthrope's path to its inevitable conclusion. Discomforting, tragic, and even triumphant, Jane Campion constructs a visually appealing, complex, and compelling vision that is elevated further by the picture's spectacular cast.


FRAGMENTS
- Though Jesse Plemons was approached for the role first and initially turned it down, Paul Dano was at one point cast in the role of George but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts

- Elisabeth Moss was originally cast in the role of Rose but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts


MCU CONNECTIONS
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Nightmare Alley

NIGHTMARE ALLEY
2021 | Dir. Guillermo del Toro | 150 Minutes

"It's not much, but it's a job, right? Of course, it's only temporary, just until we get a real geek."


A charismatic phony psychic with a shady past and a beautiful amoral big city psychiatrist hatch a scheme to scam an incredibly wealthy but also incredibly dangerous man.

The second film adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham's pulpy 1946 novel of the same name, Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley examines the fine line between swindlers and the swindled. Thematically rich, the film can be neatly divided into two parts: its first half is focused on the morally questionable lives of carnival workers both born from and sustaining off of desperation as the dodgy protagonist learns the ins and outs of the profession, its second half a thriller that tracks the depraved lengths the conman would go to fool others and, more tragically, to fool himself. The feature essentially presents two worlds, a grimy filthy existence and a life of glamorous luxury, but demonstrates that both can be just as rotten and corrupt when manipulated by self-serving people.

A mesmerizing spectacle throughout, Guillermo del Toro's customary meticulous attention to detail and admiration for the misfits of society serves his distinctive cinematic take on Nightmare Alley particularly well. The various carnival sets are designed with as much thought and craftsmanship as the aesthetically pleasing art deco skyscrapers and stately manors featured in the film. The shadowy cinematography is stunning, evocative of the very best film noirs of the past without lifting the iconography wholesale.

In the lead role, Bradley Cooper turns in a masterful performance that is convincingly detestable and pathetic often at the same time. The final shot of the film is particularly emotionally disquieting and all of the credit for its effectiveness belongs to Cooper. Cate Blanchett is the perfect femme fatale playing the corrupt psychiatrist, exuding high confidence and questionable vulnerability. The stacked supporting cast also features Rooney Mara, Willem Dafoe, Toni Collette, David Strathairn, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen, Richard Jenkins, and Tim Blake Nelson in memorable roles.

A tragedy that unfolds with a compelling sense of inevitability, Nightmare Alley is an unsettling but thoroughly captivating noir thriller. Known for telling stories of supernatural creatures, in fitting with the true monsters of all of his films, Guillermo del Toro's monsters in this picture are all too human. From start to finish, the feature shows its audience the complete origin of such a pitiful beast.


FRAGMENTS
- Bradley Cooper also has a brief but memorable supporting role in 2022 Best Picture Nominee Licorice Pizza

- Cate Blanchett and Ron Perlman also appear in 2022 Best Picture Oscar Nominee Don't Look Up

- According to Guillermo del Toro, though he expected to shoot as many takes as necessary to perfect the final shot of the film, Bradley Cooper's first take was perfect


MCU CONNECTIONS
- Tim Blake Nelson (Samuel Sterns in The Incredible Hulk)


- Cate Blanchett (Hela in Thor: Ragnarok)

- Willem Dafoe (Norman Osborn in Spider-Man: No Way Home)
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