Tag: Viola Davis

Kung Fu Panda 4

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★1/2Kung Fu Panda 4

Rated: PG

Directed by: Mike Mitchell

Co-Directed by: Stephanie Ma Stine

Written by: Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, Darren Lemke

Produced by: Rebecca Huntley

Starring: Jack Black, Awkwafina, Viola Davis, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong, Bryan Cranston, Ian McShane and Ke Huy Quan.

‘There are more ways of helping people than kicking butt.’

The Dragon Warrior, AKA Po (Jack Black) returns, living the good life in the Valley of Peace.

He’s kicking back, catching rays… Literally, chasing down sting rays attempting to eat piglets.

Until rams come running telling tales (ha, ha) of the return of defeated nemesis, Tai Lung (Ian McShane) – somehow returned from the Spirit Realm.  But how?

Enter new enemy, The Chameleon (Viola Davis) – a sorcerer able to change into anything.

How do you defeat an enemy when they can be anyone?

Po, spends time with his dads: adoptive father Mr. Ping (James Hong) and biological father, Li Shan (Bryan Cranston), opening a new restaurant, using his fame to bring in customers -Po’s still ready for anything.  Except the idea of choosing his successor.

And to prove he’s still the Dragon Warrior, Po fights Zhen (Awkwafina), a pesky corsac fox attempting to steal his Staff of Wisdom.

A pesky fox, but not without talents.

Zhen’s in the know, and if freed, will help track down the formidable sorcerer, The Chamilion.

This latest instalment of Kung Fu Panda is full of wry humour.  A classic moment Po meditating to find his, ‘inner peace, inner peace… dinner please… with a side of peas…’

And there’s an underlying theme of dealing with change and growing from a seed pit into a strong tree.

This is a sweet movie that had me smiling all the way through.  Not hilarious, but kid friendly and filled with moments like a paint brush of colour across the screen to emphasize the Kung Fu action.

It’s a little sad seeing Po moving into his next stage of life, but that’s the whole point of the film, change.

Good fun for the whole family – skadoosh!

 

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

Rated: M

Directed by: Francis Lawrence

Screenplay Written by: Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt

Based on the Novel by: Suzanne Collins

Produced by: Nina Jacobson, p. g. a, Brad Simpson, p. g. a., Francis Lawrence, p. g. a

Executive Producers: Suzanne Collins, Mika Saito, Jim Miller, Tim Palen

Starring: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman, Hunter Schafer, Josh Andrés Rivera and Viola Davis.

‘Run.’

The prequel to the Hunger Games series: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes follows Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) in his younger years.  Before he becomes President of Panem.

He runs with his little cousin, Tigris (Hunter Schafer) through the snow searching for something to eat.  The dark days.  The hungry days.

His once prosperous family struggle to survive in the Capitol after his father Crassus dies in a trap, set by the rebels.

Their survival depends on Coriolanus making a name for himself in the Capitol, starting with the 10th Annual Reaping Ceremony.  Only this year, Head Gamesmaker Dr. Volumnia Gaul decides to shake things up.  The people have stopped watching the Hunger Games.  She needs to make the Games more entertaining.

This tenth year, each Tribute will be nominated a Mentor to liven things up.  Each Mentor is tasked to showcase their Tribute, to make the people love them, to want to watch them; to hope they don’t die and to then become the winner.

When each of the Tributes are introduced via the small black and white television screen, Snow sees his Tribute for the first time: the defiant, Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler).

When selected, she sings then tells the world to kiss her arse.

And so begins the story of the Songbird and the Snake.

Watching the evolution of Coriolanus is set into three parts.

The end of Part II: The Prize, saw a hopeful end to what felt like a long movie.

Then Part III appeared on screen.

Did I say this is a long movie?  It goes for 2 hours and 37 minutes.  It felt longer.

But Part III is what pulls the story together, lifting the experience with a nod of understanding, so if you can make it to the end, it makes the rest of the film worth watching.  Not a great endorsement, and I say that because it’s more than a bit cheesy.  Like the film’s trying to be a musical in between the rest of what is traditionally, The Hunger Games so the tone of the film felt off.

Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray has an amazing voice, but the introduction was premature, felt forced and was far overshadowed by the lament of the Mockingjay in the previous series.

There’s still the action of fighting to the death, and aside humour from host, weatherman, ‘And smile.  That’s why we have teeth,’ amateur magician, Lucky Flickerman (Jason Schwartzman).

And the villainous, Dr. Volumnia Gaul, has some twisted theories about humanity that evolve in conflict with the Academy’s dean, Highbottom (Peter Dinklage).

Peter Dinklage as the dean gives some gravitas to the superficial tone of the young adult story – but the feeling of superficial persisted.

I didn’t relate to any of the characters.  And there were plenty in the film.  It all felt like bit parts, even Lucy Gray felt superficial.  Only the character Coriolanus was rounded-out, which was the point, to understand the origin story of the character, I guess.

But wow, this film takes commitment, all the way to the end to get any satisfaction from watching; it’s somehow bloody yet dry, until that last chapter.

 

The Suicide Squad

Rated: MA15+The Suicide Squad

Directed and Written by: James Gunn

Produced by: Charles Roven, Peter Safran

Starring: Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, Joel Kinnaman, John Cena, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Michael Rooker, Flula Borg, David Dastmalchian and Taika Waititi.

‘Is that rat waving at me?’

The opening scene sees the death of a pretty yellow bird.

Birds feature a lot in, The Suicide Squad mark II.

To the extent I was wondering by the end – what’s with the birds?!  Is it because they represent freedom?  Could be something in that, the squad been given a chance at freedom, etc.

Like the first film, potential members of Task Force X are found languishing in Belle Reve: the prison with the highest mortality rate in America.

Languishing until Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) offers them a deal they can’t refuse: 10 years off their sentence in hell.  Or for those not tempted by the reduced sentence, the promise not to incarcerate a ten-year-old daughter (Storm Reid) that would more than likely mean death.

Sent on another impossible bloody mission, this time to the jungle of Corto Maltese, there’s the same antics from characters such as Captain Boomerang (Michael Rooker) with a whole new cast of villains with unique skills like: Peacemaker (John Cena) who loves to walk around in his y-fronts, Bloodsport (Idris Elba) who really does not get along with Peacemaker, King Shark (Sylvester Stallone)  – apparently a god who now has a taste for human and amongst other new characters, Polka-Dot (David Dastmalchian): the man has issues.  With leader Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) back to direct the chaos.

The film has the same foundation as the first instalment, a squad of anti-heroes sent on a covert mission by the government – but way more extreme.

There’s still that manic fun tone, with the likes of Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) shooting her way to freedom with a demented smile, but I don’t remember the first instalment being so brutal.

Not that nasty is necessarily a bad thing.

I’m a big fan of gallows humour, and there were a lot of funny moments that tickled, sometimes unexpectedly like seeing the back view of Milton (Julio Cesar Ruiz), the bus driver, as he runs after the squad to ‘help out’ in his shorts and Crocs.

And making light of a trained rat, friend of Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), 2 because the first Ratcatcher was her father (Taika Waititi, yep Taika’s in it!):

‘Is that rat waving at me?

‘It appears it is’

…’Why?’

But sometimes the humour was just that bit too off-kilter – see above about the birds.

It was about 50/50 for me.  But when the humour hit, it tickled A LOT.

The narrative goes back and forth in time, highlighted by the inclusion of text in scene – leaves falling to write, ‘Now’.

There’s more clever with relief from the blood and guts when blood’s replaced with an explosion of flowers.

And that blending of scene continues with music played in the bus becoming the soundtrack, the, Pixies track, ‘Hey’ backing the squad as they walk into their next suicide mission.  Gold.

The attention to detail is impressive as director James Gunn pushes the boundaries so the humour’s darker, the violence more bloody, with an added extra tilt towards the demented.

Tending towards horror and comedy rather than action, there’s a lot of entertainment here but brace yourself, it gets twisted.

Suicide Squad

Rated: MSuicide Squad

Director: David Ayer

Writer: David Ayer

Starring: Will Smith, Jimenez Fitzsimons, Ike Barinholtz, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, Cara Delevingne, Jai Caurtney, Joel Kimaman, Adewale Akinnuoge-Agbaje, Viola Davis, Ben Affleck, James McGowan, Jim Parrack, Ezra Miller; Jay Hernandez.

With such a huge amount of hype my expectations were duly high for Suicide Squad.

Was I impressed?

It comes down to the entertainment factor for me. Without a doubt, I was entertained.

Suicide Squad is an inverse to the usual superhero movie, where the bad guys are good and the humans, particularly Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), have become the devil incarnate to keep the human race feeling safe.

It’s a time of fear where mere mortals are faced with the idea of being over-powered. What would happen if Superman decided to take the President and drop him from the sky? No one would have been able to stop him.

To protect the human race, Amanda Waller puts together a squad of super-villains. Those with superpower but those locked away for being, well, bad. And now an Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), a genie let out of the proverbial bottle, has come to take over the world.

There are a lot of big names here, the stand outs for me: Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Will Smith as Deadshot. I’m not always a fan of the Smith, but he played Deadshot well, managing to give the character warmth and depth.  There’s also a chemistry between Margot Robbie and Will Smith that works and appears genuine on film.

I have to say I was let down by the Joker (Jared Leto) after so much hype. The Joker in a film full of big characters felt crowded, but the twisted love story with Harley Quinn was a nice twist to the usual superhero love story.

The editing was conducted so even a second was counted.  A couple of jolts at the beginning and the rest of the film was seamless.  To fit so much and still give air to the story and characters, director and writer David Ayer is to be commended. And the rock’n soundtrack gave a great pace to the film.

A few gaps have to mentioned. If you don’t have prior knowledge of Suicide Squad or included characters, some of the backstory was a bit thin.  How a psychiatrist becomes a marital arts expert because she’s suddenly crazy was a stretch. And I would have liked more heart from Katana.  But more backstory of some characters would have meant cutting others.

Suicide Squad isn’t just a superhero movie, there are elements of fantasy (which I thoroughly enjoyed) put together with fun characters, a great soundtrack and a story held together enough for the film to be entertaining.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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