Welcome back to Rhode
Island Movie Corner’s annual end-of-the-year list in which I’m counting down my
Top 12 Favorite Films of 2019. This is Part 2 of 4 and today we’ll be covering
films #9-7. For those of you who are just joining us that might have missed out
on Part 1, where I listed my 6 Honorable Mentions and films #12-10, just head
to the link that’s provided below. Let’s not waste any more time and get back
to the list…
Today’s post starts
off on a controversial note as our Number 9 pick is one of the many recent
live-action remakes of a Disney animated classic. In fact, I’d say that this
one has arguably become the new focal point when it comes to the debate over the
necessity of this current trend of Disney’s live-action output. Nevertheless, I
still found it to be just as enjoyable as its animated counterpart, which is
saying a lot in this instance given that the latter is my personal favorite
Disney animated film of all-time.
I really don’t need to explain why Disney’s recent line of
live-action remakes have been a considerable source of contention within the
film fan community because the situation basically speaks for itself. Simply
put, many have questioned why Disney would even bother to do live-action
adaptations of some of their most beloved animated films, especially since many
of the recent ones have attempted to remake films from the Disney Renaissance
era AKA the films that folks of my generation are undoubtedly the most attached
to. This includes 1994’s The Lion King, which ended up being Disney
Animation’s highest-grossing film for two decades until that record was
overtaken by Frozen in 2013. And yet, ironically, since director Jon
Favreau’s remake is technically still an animated film since the characters and
environments are CGI, its $1.6 billion performance at the box-office officially
puts the story of Simba, the king of Pride Rock, back on top as the highest-grossing
animated film of all-time. However, this film has probably been the most
polarizing of the recent Disney remakes to date, especially due to how Favreau
ultimately retells this classic story. Say what you will about these recent
remakes, but at the very least, they have made a few key narrative changes that
help keep them from being a carbon copy of their animated counterparts, whether
it’s by giving Prince Charming more scenes with Cinderella or turning
Maleficent into a tragic anti-hero. This was also very much the case with
Favreau’s previous Disney remake, 2016’s The Jungle Book, where he
combined elements from both the animated film and Rudyard Kipling’s original novel
to craft its plot. The Lion King, on the other hand, basically maintains
the exact same plot as the original film, from the infamous wildebeest stampede
that leads to the death of Mufasa to the final clash between Simba and his
nefarious uncle Scar atop Pride Rock while the entire kingdom burns around them.
The only major narrative changes that I can think of primarily
revolve around Nala, who’s introduced as an adult at a much earlier point in
the film instead of when she attacks Timon and Pumbaa. She also has a minor
rivalry with Shenzi the hyena that culminates in one final brawl between them
at the end. Aside from that, a few non-dialogue sequences from the original are
also extended, including the scene where a tuft of Simba’s mane (disclaimer: in
the original, it was a collection of dust and pollen that he’d laid down in)
makes its way to Rafiki, promptly informing him that Simba is still alive. Despite
this, however, Favreau does do a nice job of properly maintaining the emotional
depth of the original film. This includes, of course, Mufasa’s death, which still
hits hard even if, based on what I’ve come across online, some found it to be
rather goofy in its execution. Another thing that people tend to bring up about
this film is that because it goes for a more realistic atmosphere from a visual
perspective, it doesn’t feature a lot of the most iconic images from the
original, including the scene where Timon distracts some hyenas by dancing the
hula. Overall, though, this doesn’t bother me that much and the film does make
up for its lack of a grass skirt wearing meerkat with a brilliant reference to
‘Be Our Guest’ from Beauty and the Beast. It also helps that the film
has an excellent voice cast to portray these classic characters. James Earl
Jones slips back into the role of Mufasa with ease and Chiwetel Ejiofor is a
wonderful successor to Jeremy Irons as Scar. Donald Glover provides a nice
earnestness as adult Simba and while she doesn’t factor into the film as much
as you may think given who’s voicing her, Beyoncé does a solid job in the role
of adult Nala. But, of course, the biggest scene-stealers are Billy Eichner and
Seth Rogen as Timon and Pumbaa, whose brilliant ad-libbed humor makes them
worthy successors to Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella.
I also loved the new takes on the original film’s classic
soundtrack of songs written by Elton John and Tim Rice. That said, though, I’m
aware that the remake’s soundtrack has been one of its most polarizing elements
to the point where even Elton John thought it was underwhelming. Overall,
though, most of the new renditions of these classic songs turn out solidly.
‘Circle of Life’ is still an unforgettable opening number, especially since it
retains the iconic opening Zulu vocals from Lebo M. ‘I Just Can’t Wait to Be King’ is just as toe-tapping as ever and I love the little instrumental beat
that’s added in before the “Everybody Look Left/Everybody Look Right” lyric.
‘Be Prepared’? Okay, I’ll admit that this version is the one disappointment of
this soundtrack, namely because it’s basically just a single verse that’s mostly
spoken. I mean, it is worth noting that, before the film’s release, it was rumored
that there was a chance that the song wasn’t going to be included. But while it
ultimately made it into the film, one of the most iconic villain songs to come
from a Disney film ends up feeling like an afterthought. Thankfully, ‘Hakuna Matata’ is still an all-time classic with some fun alterations like Timon not
censoring Pumbaa’s use of the word ‘farted’ during his solo or the fourth wall
jokes that the duo make regarding how much time has passed (“Yeah, you’ve grown
400 pounds since we started…”). And sure, Seth Rogen’s admittedly not the best
singer, but Billy Eichner, JD McCrary (who voices young Simba), and Donald Glover
do make up for this. Finally, some excellent duet work between Donald Glover
and Beyoncé results in a lovely rendition of the classic romantic melody that
is ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’. As for the two new additions to the
soundtrack, there’s ‘Spirit’, a powerful solo from Beyoncé (Because come on, why
wouldn’t you give Queen Bey her own song?) that plays when Simba finally
decides to return home to Pride Rock, and ‘Never Too Late’, a fun and upbeat track
from Elton John that’s played during the credits.
Given that the original Lion King is my favorite
Disney animated film of all-time, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of you
figured that this would be the one Disney remake that I’d be against. Even I’ll
admit that as much as I try not to let expectations impact my thoughts on a
film given how that’s never a good thing (just wait until we get to #3 on this
list), the fact that The Lion King means so much to me did have a
considerable impact on how I viewed the remake. Ultimately, though, I did enjoy
this new version of it just as much as I did the original. Does this mean that
I think it’s the better version of The Lion King? No, no I don’t. At the
same time, though, I’m not going to hold that against this film since I feel
that it’s great in its own unique way, which also applies to my views on the
other recent Disney remakes. As I’ve said before, it’s truly not that big of a
deal that they exist because, at the end of the day, it’s not like they’re going
to replace their animated counterparts. That’s why I’m thankful for the advent
of Disney+, which has prominently featured both versions of the various films
that have been remade these past few years. Now sure, as far as these remakes
are concerned, The Lion King is probably the most straight-forward of
the bunch since its biggest change is its visual style rather than doing
anything to update the story. And yet, if we were to look at this new Lion
King through the lens of it being a visual effects demonstration, it’s a
full-blown success in that regard since the same visual wizardry that brought
Favreau’s version of The Jungle Book to life is once again on full
display here. In other words, it’s truly saying something about how
authentically real this film looks when its only ‘real’ shot is the very first shot
of the African landscape before the start of ‘Circle of Life’. In other words,
this is easily one of the best-looking films of 2019.
2017 was the very
first year that a horror film managed to earn a spot on my Top 12 Favorite
Films of the Year list, and while it only managed to make the #12 spot that
year, I still credit that film as the one responsible for giving me the
opportunity to start getting more invested in the genre. And while this isn’t
meant to imply that I found it to be ‘better’ than its predecessor, its sequel
does manage to land at a higher spot on this year’s list.
When it comes to the 1990 miniseries adaptation of Stephen
King’s It, many felt that its weakest moments were the ones that
involved the adult incarnations of the story’s main protagonists, the Losers’
Club. Thankfully, that is not the case with director Andy Muschietti’s
big-screen adaptation of the story as the scene in this film where the Losers’
Club reunites for the first time in 27 years far surpasses anything that we got
from the adults in the miniseries. And, of course, this is all thanks to how
impeccably cast this film is. While it could’ve been easy to just go with an
all-star cast for this beloved group, Muschietti instead opts for actors who are
perfect counterparts to the young leads from the first film. Sure, there are
some big stars like Jessica Chastain, who was the clear front-runner to play
Beverly Marsh, and James McAvoy, who’s outstanding as Bill Denbrough, but then
you have guys like Isaiah Mustafa, who thoroughly proves that he’s more than
just ‘the Old Spice Guy’ with his phenomenal turn as Mike Hanlon. In short, everyone
is perfectly cast in their respective roles, and when it comes to the biggest
standouts, that honor goes to the duo of Bill Hader and James Ransone as Richie
Tozier and Eddie Kaspbrak. Ransone is quite arguably the most pitch-perfect
casting of the whole film when compared to his younger counterpart from Part 1,
Jack Dylan Grazer, but Hader shines the most as Richie, who serves as both the
film’s primary source of comic relief and the catalyst behind one of its most
devastating moments. However, we still get plenty of scenes with the younger
versions of the Losers’ Club, and while some CGI work had to be done to de-age
them to look like they did in the first film, it isn’t really that noticeable
unless you seriously try to look for it.
Despite this, however, there is one major aspect of It:
Chapter Two that has been a key source of contention amongst both critics
and audiences… its runtime. It: Chapter Two is the very definition of a
‘massive’ film, clocking in at nearly three hours long. And while I don’t feel that
there were any major parts of the film that ‘dragged’, I do see why this may be
an issue for others. This especially applies to the middle part of the film,
which ends up maintaining a very specific formula where almost every member of
the Losers’ Club reflects back to a moment from their childhood where they
dealt with Pennywise on their own before having a new run-in with Pennywise as adults.
The final battle with the infamous dancing clown is another sequence that goes
on for a while and the Native American ritual known as the Ritual of Chüd that
the Losers’ Club uses to defeat him can sometimes feel a tad bit convoluted. And
yet, while I admittedly haven’t read a lot of the original novel (I’m a few
chapters in on Audible, and as I’m sure many of you already know, Stephen King
books can be quite long), I’m aware that a lot of these issues were also apparent
there as well. Thus, I think Muschietti and the writers do deserve credit for
at least trying to streamline some of the most complicated aspects of this
story, particularly the Ritual of Chüd (Seriously, from what I’ve heard, it’s
even weirder in the book). Ultimately, though, the main reason why this film’s
hefty runtime doesn’t bother me too much is that, at the end of the day,
we’re still following the same terrific and fully endearing group of
protagonists that we were introduced to in the first film. And because of this,
the best aspect of It: Chapter Two is how it dutifully retains its
predecessor’s strong emotional poignancy.
Simply put, there are a lot of powerful emotional moments in
this film; in fact, I’d dare say that It: Chapter Two even manages to
surpass its predecessor when it comes to this aspect of the story. There’s the
struggle that Bill goes through to overcome the guilt that he feels over his
brother Georgie’s death since it’s revealed that he wasn’t sick on that fateful
rainy day like he had claimed. This guilt is then further compounded by his
ultimately failed efforts to save a young boy named Dean from the same tragic
fate. But when he’s finally confronted with this dilemma by a vision of his
younger self during the group’s final encounter with Pennywise, he overcomes it
by affirming to himself that this one decision of his did not cause his
brother’s death. Stanley Uris’ suicide is another devastating moment and its
impact is felt throughout the whole film. When Richie nearly leaves town, he’s
ultimately convinced to stick around when he drives by Stan’s church and
remembers the speech that Stan gave at his bar mitzvah about the struggles of
growing up and how everyone has memories that they wish they can forget. This
is a particularly beautiful sequence as Stan’s monologue is paired with scenes
of the young incarnations of the Losers’ Club at some of their lowest points.
And then there’s the final sequence in the film where Bill opens a letter that
Stan had written to the group before his death. In the letter, he admits that
he was simply too scared to face Pennywise again and knew that the group
wouldn’t stand a chance against him if they weren’t all together. Now… this may
create a complicated situation for some since it can be argued that this
sequence is trying to ‘rationalize’ Stan’s suicide. Thus, if you’re one of
those folks who has an issue with this scene because of that, I don’t blame you
because I fully recognize why. At the very least, some of the other messages
that Stan puts in his letter (e.g. being proud of who you are and never letting
go of those you love) are quite touching. These words are then coupled with scenes
of the Losers’ Club living their best lives, including Ben and Beverly in a loving
relationship and Mike, the only member of the group who stayed in Derry,
finally leaving for the first time in his life.
But when it comes to the most devastating moment in this
film, that would have to be everything that revolves around the death of Eddie.
While the Losers’ Club does defeat Pennywise once and for all, Eddie gets
impaled by Pennywise’s spider-like final form and ultimately succumbs to his
wounds. This death is already tragic on its own merits given all the strong
character development that our heroes have gotten in these films, but the real
kicker is how Richie reacts to it. This effectively ties back to a moment
earlier in the film when Richie was confronted by Pennywise, who proceeded to
boast that he knew Richie’s “dirty, little secret”. And with Eddie’s death, we finally
understand what that secret was; Richie was in love with Eddie. Because of
this, it’s practically impossible not to shed a tear during the scene where the
other members of the Losers’ Club console the normally loud-mouthed,
wisecracking Richie or his final scene where he finishes writing the letters
that he had carved onto a bridge back when he was a kid, ‘R+E’. As I’ve said
numerous times in the past, I feel that one of the most important elements to a
great horror film is giving us main characters that we truly care about, and
these two It films have been some of the best examples of that in recent
years. Thus, while I totally get why some people feel that It: Chapter Two wasn’t
necessarily as good as its immediate predecessor, I’d still argue that it
serves as a perfect bookend to this timeless story of love, friendship… and a
killer clown. And because of this, I can now safely say that the amazing
duology that is director Andy Muschietti’s adaptation of Stephen King’s It is
now, collectively, my new favorite horror film of all-time.
While this isn’t the
first time that I’ve talked about a superhero film on this year’s list given
that Captain Marvel was one of my Honorable Mentions, Number 7 is the
first of the genre’s 2019 slate to make it into the Top 12. The film in
question is the latest installment of the DC Extended Universe and one that I
personally hope will end up serving as a template for how future DC films should
be made going forward.
It goes without saying that the DC Extended Universe’s road
to replicating the ongoing success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been
rocky, to say the least. One could say that this is due to how they tried to
rush the process of setting up its cinematic universe so that they can do a Justice
League film despite having little to no time to set up its characters. Others
might pin it all on the frequent creative conflicts behind-the-scenes that
often led to several films being neutered in the editing room against the
filmmaker’s will. But if you ask me, the biggest reason why the early DCEU
films didn’t turn out as good as they could’ve been is because the franchise
fell victim to believing the ongoing stigma against the MCU that views their
films as being nothing more than family-oriented comedies. Thus, the early DCEU
films tried way too hard to be the complete opposite of that, and while I don’t
have a problem with ‘dark and gritty’ superhero stories, these films were arguably
more focused on cool visuals and having their characters partake in cool action
sequences rather than giving them proper character development. I mean, as much
as people like to rag on the MCU films for their extensive use of humor, they
still go above and beyond when it comes to developing their characters so that
we’re able to fully connect with them. Let’s put it this way… imagine if Marvel
decided to make the first Avengers right after doing Iron Man 2,
effectively skipping over Thor and Captain America’s first solo films in favor
of them making their official franchise debut in the highly anticipated team-up
outing. That’s exactly what happened with 2017’s Justice League, and as
much as the DCEU fandom wants to harp on the fact that the film that we got
wasn’t director Zack Snyder’s intended version of it, I’d argue that the bigger
issue was that it ultimately served as a prime example of how Warner Bros. and
DC shouldn’t have rushed it out into theaters.
Thankfully, though, it seems like the DCEU is starting to
get its act together when it comes to realizing that a good story and strong
characters should always come first when it comes to this genre. Case in point,
2017’s Wonder Woman and 2018’s Aquaman provided their respective
protagonists with the strong character development that they sorely needed after
initially debuting in films where they were a small part of a much larger story.
This then brings us to the DCEU’s latest (and quite frankly, best) installment,
Shazam. On the surface, some may view this as DC’s attempt at trying to
do an MCU-style superhero film, and to be fair, it’s easy to see why. Aside
from some surprisingly dark moments that feel like they came straight from a
horror film (which does make sense given that’s what director David F. Sandberg
is primarily known for), this is easily the franchise’s most light-hearted
installment to date. And sure enough, it’s full of excellent comedic moments,
from the wacky antics of an easily scared mall Santa to the various attempts at
giving the main protagonist a cool superhero name (“His name is Thundercrack!” (“That
sounds like a butt thing…”)). However, when I say that Shazam is the
closest that the DCEU has ever gotten to making an MCU film, I don’t just mean
that in the sense that it’s a light-hearted comedy that’s the superhero
equivalent of the 1988 classic Big. Instead, it’s because the film does
what every good MCU film does; namely, it takes its time to properly develop
its main protagonist, Billy Batson, and give him a solid, emotional character
arc.
As the film begins, he’s solely focused on trying to find
his mom, who he was separated from at a young age. Thus, even after he ends up
getting placed in the care of foster parents Rosa and Victor Vazquez, he makes
little effort to connect with his new foster siblings. And while his
transformation into a superhero with ‘bullet immunity’ and other various
superpowers does lead to him bonding with his disabled foster brother Freddy
Freeman, who’s a huge superhero enthusiast, even that goes awry when he starts
using his powers for selfish reasons. Eventually, he does manage to reunite
with his mom… resulting in the most devastating moment of the entire film when
he learns that when they got separated, she intentionally abandoned him because
she felt that someone else can take much better care of him than she ever could.
But if there is a silver lining to this whole ordeal, it’s that it ultimately
compels Billy to reunite with his ‘real family’, his foster siblings. The arc
that Billy goes through in this film is very much on par with some of the most
emotional character arcs that we’ve seen from the MCU, and as Billy, Asher
Angel excellently handles all the character’s big emotional moments. But, of
course, the role of Billy Batson is a character that requires two actors to
play it, and Zachary Levi is also outstanding as Billy's superhero alter-ego
Shazam. Whereas Angel does the heavy lifting for the character’s emotional arc,
Levi handles the bulk of the film’s comedic material and utterly nails the role
of a kid in an adult superhero’s body. It also helps that both Angel and Levi
have an excellent screen partner in Jack Dylan Grazer as superhero fanboy
Freddy Freeman, who’s easily one of the best sidekicks to ever come from this
genre. His extensive knowledge of superheroes works in numerous ways as it
contributes to plenty of the film’s best humorous moments while also doing its
part to keep Billy grounded when the fame and glory start to get to his head.
This then brings us to Billy and Freddy’s foster siblings;
college-bound Mary (Grace Fulton), introvert Pedro (Jovan Armand), gamer Eugene
(Ian Chen), and the ever-adorable Darla (Faithe Herman). Now admittedly, the
film doesn’t spend too much time with them apart from Darla, who’s initially the
only one aside from Freddy to know about Billy’s new powers, and Mary given that
she’s the de facto den mother of the group. But if you want to talk about one
of the most satisfying payoffs to ever come from a superhero film, then just
look at this film’s finale, where Billy finally understands the advice of the
grand wizard Shazam and transfers his powers to his foster siblings, turning
them into superheroes as well. This, in turn, really helps the film’s finale
(set at a winter carnival) stand out against the obviously much grander-scaled
finales that have come from this genre. Plus, almost every one of Billy’s
foster siblings (save for Mary (played as an adult by Michelle Borth), whose notable
superhero scenes were reportedly cut for time) gets their chance to shine here,
especially Meagan Good as adult Darla since she utterly nails the role of a 9-year
old girl in a grown-up’s body. It also helps that our heroes have a great
villain to face in Mark Strong’s Dr. Sivana, who serves as a terrific foil to
Billy. His whole backstory revolves around the fact that, for most of his life,
he was mercilessly bullied by his older brother and belittled by his father,
both of whom regarded him as a loser. And while there was an instance where he
was approached by the wizard Shazam to be considered as his next champion, he
was ultimately rejected when he was tempted by a group of monstrous creatures
known as the Seven Deadly Sins, who he later unleashes as an adult. However,
the Seven Deadly Sins just end up being a group of indistinguishable CGI
monsters; in other words, they’re the film’s only real weak link. Nevertheless,
Sivana is easily one of the DCEU’s greatest villains to date and it’ll be
interesting to see what comes of the potential alliance between him and an
alien caterpillar known as Mister Mind that confronts him in the film’s
mid-credits scene.
(And yes, there is a
villain from the Shazam franchise that is a telepathic caterpillar from
another planet. Need I remind you that this is the same genre that has given us
a sentient tree creature and a hot-headed weapons-toting raccoon?)
But, of course, there has also been much anticipation
regarding the eventual debut of Shazam’s most famous adversary from the comics,
Black Adam. For years now, Dwayne Johnson has been slated to play the character
and was long rumored to appear in this film. However, it was ultimately decided
not to include Black Adam in favor of him making his official debut in his own
solo film in 2021. And while I know that some people were disappointed by this,
it was probably for the best since Johnson’s reportedly intense commitment to
the role might’ve been a bit too much for a film of this nature (and yes, I say
that despite the previously mentioned sequences in this film that are the very
definition of nightmare fuel). However, it’s practically a given at this point
that Billy Batson will eventually face off against the grand wizard Shazam’s
former champion sometime soon; until then, we can all relish in
the greatness of his feature film debut, which is currently my favorite
installment of the DC Extended Universe. Now granted, I fully recognize that one
could find a lot of bias in that sentiment given my affinity for the MCU and
how it could be argued that Shazam is the DCEU’s attempt at trying to do
a film in the style of the MCU. But like I’ve said numerous times in the past, MCU
films are much more than the ‘silly comedies’ that certain audiences regard
them as… and when I say ‘certain audiences’, I find that this usually means the
hardcore faction of the DCEU fandom that is still loyal to Zack Snyder and his
unrealized plans for the franchise. As I’ve also pointed out in the past,
hardcore DCEU fans have easily been one of the most toxic fandoms in recent
memory to the point where even when the franchise has a genuine
critical/commercial hit on its hands, they still inexplicably end up finding
something to complain about. They continue to accuse anyone who dares to say
something critical about the DCEU films of being ‘paid by Disney’, never give
Patty Jenkins the full credit that she deserves for her work on Wonder Woman,
and yes, have not shut up about the Justice League fiasco and the
mythical ‘Snyder Cut’ for the past two
years.
Now as some of you might remember, I did give positive
reviews for both of Zack Snyder’s first two DCEU films, Man of Steel and
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, when they first came out. But when
it came to Justice League, I was amongst the many who found it to be the
only disappointing release from what was otherwise one of the superhero film genre’s
greatest years to date. And since then, I’ll admit that this has had an impact
on my views of the early DCEU films and I’m not as positive towards them now as
I am for the likes of Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Shazam, and Birds
of Prey. Simply put, the Zack Snyder era of the DCEU is over, and as much
as the DCEU fandom will try to argue otherwise, it’s much better off because of
it. While Snyder may be one of the best visual directors in the industry, story
and character development has never been his strong suit, and that was very
much apparent in his DCEU films. By comparison, a film like Shazam doesn’t
try to go all out with the visuals and instead does what every good superhero
film should do by telling a strong, character-driven story that elicits
phenomenal emotional depth. It just so happens that this is also one of the
funniest installments of a genre that has given us an endless array of classic
comedic moments over the years. Thus, in conclusion, I hope that one day the
DCEU fandom realizes that there is honestly nothing wrong with the idea of incorporating
comedy into a superhero film.
And that concludes
Part 2 of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s Top 12 Favorite Films of 2019. Thanks for
following along and be sure to check back in tomorrow for Part 3 as we kick off
the second half of this list with films #6-4.
