91st Academy Awards - Results + Recap Post

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS – FIRST MAN

BEST EDITING – BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

BEST COSTUME DESIGN – BLACK PANTHER

BEST MAKEUP/HAIRSTYLING – VICE

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY – ROMA

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – BLACK PANTHER

BEST SOUND EDITING AND BEST SOUND MIXING – BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

BEST ORIGINAL SONG – SHALLOW (A STAR IS BORN)

BEST SCORE – BLACK PANTHER

BEST ANIMATED SHORT – BAO

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT – SKIN

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT – PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE

BEST DOCUMENTARY – FREE SOLO

BEST FOREIGN FILM – ROMA (From Mexico)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE – SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY – BLACKKKLANSMAN

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY – GREEN BOOK

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – REGINA KING (IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – MAHERSHALA ALI (GREEN BOOK)

BEST ACTRESS – OLIVIA COLMAN (THE FAVOURITE)

BEST ACTOR – RAMI MALEK (BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY)

BEST DIRECTOR – ALFONSO CUARON (ROMA)

BEST PICTURE – GREEN BOOK

THOUGHTS ON THE SHOW

Well, there was certainly quite a lot of controversy surrounding this year’s Academy Awards, which ended up being the first ceremony since the 61^st Academy Awards in 1989 to not have a host. Originally, Kevin Hart was set to host, but he ended up backing out as a way of apologizing for a collection of homophobic tweets that he had posted in 2010 and 2011. Thus, after a month of trying to find a replacement, the Academy ultimately decided to go without a host this year. But because of this, there was some speculation about how this would affect the ceremony. As noted earlier, the last Oscars ceremony without a host was in 1989… and yet, it has commonly been regarded as one of the worst Oscars of all-time. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case with this year’s Oscars as the lack of a host surprisingly helped to keep the ceremony running smoothly. There weren’t any major skits, like Ellen DeGeneres ordering pizza for the crowd or Jimmy Kimmel announcing a contest where the one with the shortest acceptance speech would also win a free jet ski. Instead, it was just the award presenters and the performances of the Best Original Song nominees, and while I’m usually okay with Oscar skits and montages, I will also admit that not having any of them this year was probably for the best. If anything, it did help deal with one of the most common criticisms of the Oscars as this year’s ceremony ultimately clocked in at a run-time of three hours and twenty-two minutes, effectively making it the shortest ceremony since the 84^th Academy Awards. Plus, this ended up being a better way of condensing the Oscars than the various ways in which the Academy had planned on accomplishing this.

Yes, folks, the big controversies surrounding this year’s event mainly stemmed from the various ways in which the Academy attempted to keep it from going on too long. First, there was the announcement that only two of the nominees for Best Original Song would be performed, which is undoubtedly a bizarre idea for a show that wasn’t even going to have a host. Ultimately, though, after some backlash, this decision was reversed and four of the nominated songs were performed, with the only exception being ‘All the Stars’ from Black Panther supposedly due to scheduling conflicts with its lead performer, Kendrick Lamar. Things only proceeded to get more complicated, however, when the Academy announced that it was planning on cutting four awards from the main broadcast; Cinematography, Live-Action Short, Editing, and Makeup/Hairstyling. Instead of being presented during the show itself, they would’ve only been shown during commercial breaks. As you might have guessed, this incurred an even greater backlash from the film industry, but just like the plan for the Best Original Song nominees, this idea was thankfully nixed. And don’t even get me started on how mad people got at the proposed new category that would’ve honored ‘popular films’ like Black Panther. Ultimately, though, I do feel that this exemplifies something that I’ve been saying for a while now about how we really shouldn’t be taking shows like the Oscars THIS seriously. To be clear, I’m not defending any of the proposed changes that the Academy had tried to put into motion as I’m very much glad that they didn’t cut out any of the awards or musical performances. However, I do think that these proposed ideas were partially spawned from the Academy being immensely pressured into trying to address some of the common criticisms that the internet tends to have about the Oscars without having any of the time that was necessary to come up with a plan that made sense.

 

As I’ve said plenty of times before (and will surely have to say again in the years to come), this is just one award show. It is not meant to be the ‘end all, be all’ when it comes to what qualifies as the best of the world of film in any given year. The same can be said about other award shows because they’re just as subjective as film itself. Outside of some rare ties, only one film, actor/actress, director, or technical aspect wins in their respective categories; and yet, that doesn’t mean that whatever wins is automatically the ‘best’ of that year. That’s why I don’t get worked up over snubs anymore because it really isn’t that big of a slight against the film or performance in question as the internet always makes it out to be. All of this certainly applies to this year’s Oscars results, which saw Green Book take home Best Picture despite all the controversy that it’s been embroiled in over its alleged historical inaccuracy and ties to the ‘white savior narrative’ trope. Bohemian Rhapsody, which ended up winning the most Oscars of the night with 4, has also proven to be highly controversial due to it not being that well-received by critics, its apparent downplaying of Freddie Mercury’s LGBT lifestyle, and all the baggage of its director Bryan Singer’s various sexual assault allegations in the era of #MeToo. At the very least, there were some historical victories during this year’s ceremonies; for example, Ruth Carter and Hannah Beachler became the first African-Americans to win Oscars in Costume Design and Production Design, respectively, for their work on Black Panther. Thus, it could be said that the current state of the Oscars is just like the current state of the film industry in the wake of the Weinstein scandals. There’s clearly still a lot of progress to be made when it comes to a fully diversified industry, but at the very least, some progress has occurred.

And now we turn to the biggest highlights of this year’s ceremony. Unlike previous years, however, I’m not really going to categorize these moments as ‘best’ or ‘worst’.

OPENING PERFORMANCE BY QUEEN AND ADAM LAMBERT

This year’s ceremony kicked off with a musical performance by Queen and Adam Lambert, the latter of whom has been one of Queen’s primary collaborators since 2011 and had a small cameo as a truck driver in Bohemian Rhapsody. Together, they performed ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are the Champions’ to the highly enthusiastic Oscars crowd as best exemplified by a reaction shot of a high-spirited Javier Bardem. There was even a nice little tribute to Freddie Mercury when his image appeared on the screen at the end. All in all, it was a nice way to start off a show that wasn’t going to have a main host. Even with that in mind, though…

MAYA RUDOLPH, TINA FEY, AND AMY POEHLER’S ‘OPENING MONOLOGUE’

The first official presenters of the night were Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler, and while Fey and Poehler have had plenty of experience as award show hosts having hosted three Golden Globe ceremonies, the trio quickly reassured the audience that they were not the hosts. They also noted that there wouldn’t be a ‘Best Popular Film’ category, no awards were going to be presented during commercials, and that Mexico wasn’t going to pay for the wall. Still, the strong comedic chemistry amongst the three proved that they certainly could’ve proven to be good hosts. In fact, there were a few other instances of dynamic presenter duos that showed promising potential as hosts, including the duo of Awkwafina and John Mulaney, who presented the Oscars for Best Animated Short and Best Documentary Short, and Creed co-stars Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson, who presented the Oscar for Best Original Score. But as I noted before, the lack of a host didn’t end up being that big of a loss in the long run. Thus, it’s ultimately up to the Academy to decide whether to have hosts or not for future ceremonies.     

MELISSA MCCARTHY, BRIAN TYREE HENRY, AND THEIR EXTRAVAGANT ATTIRE

Melissa McCarthy and Brian Tyree Henry presented the Oscar for Best Costume Design and did so in the most appropriate manner possible by wearing elaborate costumes that featured elements from all 5 nominees. Henry sported Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger hairdo from Black Panther and Emily Blunt’s hat from Mary Poppins Returns while McCarthy sported a wig that mirrored the reveal of Queen Elizabeth I’s thinning hairline from Mary Queen of Scots, a hat from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and a dress that was covered with bunnies a la The Favourite. And as ridiculous as these two get-ups looked, the two managed to play it all completely straight-faced.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY AS MARY POPPINS

To introduce Bette Midler’s performance of ‘The Place Where Lost Things Go’ from Mary Poppins Returns, Keegan-Michael Key had his own Mary Poppins moment by floating down from the rafters via umbrella. Need I say more about how awesome this moment is?  

WAYNE, GARTH, AND BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ the song saw a major resurgence in popularity in 1992 thanks to the comedy Wayne’s World, where main protagonists Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers) and Garth Algar (Dana Carvey) rocked out to the classic Queen tune in their car. Myers would then go on to appear in this year’s Bohemian Rhapsody biopic, which included a scene where he directly references Wayne’s World by arguing that the song would not be one that “teenagers can crank up the volume in their car and bang their heads to”. And while I will openly admit that it is one of the most undeniably blatant uses of an in-joke in recent memory, it’s still a memorable moment from the film for better or worse. The Oscars then proceeded to pay tribute to the classic scene from Wayne’s World by having Myers and Carvey come out together to introduce Bohemian Rhapsody as one of this year’s Best Picture nominees. Sure, it was mostly just a reunion for these two SNL alumni, but I do get a kick out of film-related reunions like this.    

MARVEL WINS SOME OSCARS

Now admittedly, this is more about the Oscars results than moments from the show itself, but I was quite glad to see that Black Panther managed to get some love at this year’s ceremony. It was the first superhero film to get nominated for Best Picture, and while it ultimately didn’t win that one, it did end up winning for Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Original Score. I was especially glad to see it win some awards after reading one of Hollywood Reporter’s ‘Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot’ articles that revealed some of the Academy’s voters’ picks in an anonymous fashion. One of the voters explicitly noted that he didn’t vote for Avengers: Infinity War for Best Visual Effects because “like a lot of people in the Academy, [he] doesn’t respect money-grabs”. And while this comment was primarily directed towards Avengers, he also described Black Panther as “a Marvel comic book movie” that’s “not much better than any of the others”. Reading this legitimately made me worried that Black Panther was going to get ignored just because it was from the genre that, for the past few years, has been the subject of mockery from those who take issue with its domination of the current pop cultural zeitgeist. Thankfully, though, that was not the case. Plus, Black Panther wasn’t the only Marvel film to win big that night as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won Best Animated Feature. Simply put, it was a big night for Marvel Studios and the MCU, which was then perfectly topped off with the late Stan Lee being honored during the annual ‘In Memoriam’ section.

LADY GAGA AND BRADLEY COOPER’S PERFORMANCE OF ‘SHALLOW’

Thanks to the Academy reversing their decision to cut out most of the performances of the Best Original Song nominees, we got to witness another excellent round of musical performances. Jennifer Hudson performed “I’ll Fight” from the documentary RBG, Bette Midler made a special appearance performing “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from Mary Poppins Returns, and David Rawlings and Gillian Welch performed “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. But for many people, the biggest highlight of them all when it came to the musical performances was seeing Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga perform “Shallow”, which would ultimately end up winning the Oscar that night, from A Star is Born. And it was certainly an unforgettable moment with a notably different spin to it compared to the other Best Original Song nominees because no one came out to introduce it. Instead, Cooper and Gaga simply walked onto the stage to perform their film’s signature tune with the same emotional intensity that helped to make A Star is Born one of the biggest hits of the year.

SAMUEL L. JACKSON AND SPIKE LEE ARE BEST BUDS

Samuel L. Jackson has had a long career in the film industry, and one of his most frequent collaborators has been Spike Lee thanks to appearances in films like Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever, and Chi-Raq. And when Jackson and Brie Larson came out to announce the winners of the Best Original and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars, Jackson immediately reminded everyone of his friendship with the veteran filmmaker. For starters, Jackson informed Lee that his hometown team, the Knicks, had won that night, officially breaking their 18-game losing streak at Madison Square Garden. And when Lee and his BlacKkKlansman co-writers ended up winning the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, Jackson couldn’t contain his excitement for the results, culminating in Lee bear-hugging Jackson when the former got up onstage.

And lastly…

GREAT SPEECHES

As is the case with any Oscars ceremony, there were some great speeches from the winners. Some of the most notable speeches include…

*Spike Lee encouraging everyone to be “on the right side of history” and “do the right thing” (“You know I had to get that in there!”) for the 2020 Presidential Election.

*Rami Malek talking about his identity as the son of immigrants and how it led to him connecting with Freddie Mercury, who was also an immigrant. There was also a sweet shout-out to his Bohemian Rhapsody co-star/girlfriend Lucy Boynton.

*Bao director Domee Shi (AKA the first female director of a Pixar short) encouraging girls “who hide behind their sketchbooks” to not “be afraid to tell your story to the world”.

*Black Panther costume designer Ruth Carter paying tribute to Spike Lee, who helped her get her start in the film industry. “Marvel may have created the first black superhero, but through costume design, we turned him into an African king.”

*Black Panther production designer Hannah Beachler arguably had the most emotional speech of the night as she thanked director Ryan Coogler, who she’s worked with on all his films, for helping make her “a better designer, a better story-teller, and a better person”. She also thanked Marvel for “supporting their vision” and concluded with the following; “I did my best and my best is good enough.”

*After winning the Oscar for Best Original Song, Lady Gaga thanked Bradley Cooper for believing in her and her fellow songwriters Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt, further stating that there wasn’t “a single person on the planet that could have sung this song with [her] but [him]”. Gaga then proceeded to encourage viewers to fight for their dreams and keep going no matter “how many times you get rejected or you fall down or get beaten up”.

*But for many, the best speech of the night came courtesy of Olivia Colman when she won Best Actress for her role in The Favourite. During her speech, she fangirled over fellow nominees Glenn Close and Lady Gaga, joked about the possibility that her kids weren’t watching by saying that “this is not going to happen again”, and reminisced about her time spent as a cleaner where she often pretended to give this exact speech. She also promised to snog anyone that she forgot to thank during the speech.

And that concludes this recap of the 91^st annual Academy Awards. Thanks for following along and be sure to sound off in the comments below with your own thoughts on the show. Did you think that it worked better without a host? And do you agree with me about what I said about how we really shouldn’t take award shows like this too seriously?    

The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) review

In 1934, Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen renamed his toy company LEGO, a name that was derived from the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning ‘play well’. In 1949, two years after they started producing plastic toys instead of wooden ones, LEGO would begin to develop what would end up becoming the company’s most famous product, interlocking bricks. And thus, over the next few decades, LEGO would quickly become one of the most iconic toy brands of all-time, allowing its customers to create all sorts of unique objects out of these plastic bricks. Over 650 billion LEGO pieces have been produced since 1958, and the company has developed a wide variety of themed sets ranging from original franchises like Bionicle and Ninjago to popular IPs such as Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Aside from the toys, LEGO has also expanded into other facets of media, including numerous video games and their own chain of theme parks a la Disney and Universal. It’s a different story, however, when it comes to films. Prior to 2014, almost all official LEGO films were direct-to-video releases, with most of them being based around the company’s now-discontinued Bionicle franchise. But then, in 2011, Warner Bros. announced that they would be making the first theatrically-released LEGO film, which would serve as the first project from the studio’s recently revived animated film division, Warner Animation Group. In the years leading up to its release, however, some were rather skeptical about how the film would turn out. Given the franchise’s worldwide success and appeal, many assumed that it would end up being nothing more than a massive cash grab and one big toy commercial. And then Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were announced as its directors.

Ever since they made their directorial debut in 2009, Lord and Miller have very much made a name for themselves as a duo who have managed to make excellent films out of seemingly disastrous concepts. Their exploits have ranged from directing two hilarious comedies based on a previously obscure 80’s television series to producing/writing what many now consider to be the best Spider-Man film of all-time. And sure enough, when The LEGO Movie hit theaters in February 2014, it was a smash hit with critics and audiences. The film grossed over $469 million worldwide and was widely praised for its gorgeous animation, witty dialogue, and emotionally poignant story that genuinely celebrated LEGO’s devoted fandom. Because of its success, several spin-offs were then announced, with two of them being released in 2017. One was a spin-off about the original film’s breakout star, Will Arnett’s hilarious take on Batman, and the other was an adaptation of LEGO’s popular Ninjago line. But now we return to the LEGO world that started it all with The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part. This time, however, Lord and Miller aren’t back to direct, though they are still involved as producers and the film’s primary screenwriters. It was originally reported that the film would serve as the directorial debut of Rob Schrab, who had previously directed episodes of the cult classic series Community. Ultimately, though, Schrab was replaced by veteran filmmaker Mike Mitchell, who’s no stranger to animation having previously directed Shrek Forever After and Trolls for DreamWorks. And even after half a decade and three whole LEGO films, that LEGO charm is still on full display.  

At the end of the original LEGO Movie, the citizens of the town of Bricksburg, led by the seemingly ordinary construction worker Emmet Brickowski (voiced by Chris Pratt), banded together to stop the evil Lord Business (voiced by Will Ferrell) from destroying their world. Unfortunately, the city is then overrun with invaders from the planet Duplo, effectively turning it into a wasteland, Apocalypseburg. And yet, while everyone else in the city has embraced their new apocalyptic lifestyle, Emmet continues to remain upbeat despite his girlfriend Lucy AKA Wyldstyle (voiced by Elizabeth Banks) wishing that he’d mature just like the rest of them. Things only manage to get worse when a new invader arrives in the form of the Duplo army’s leader, General Sweet Mayhem (voiced by Stephanie Beatriz). Sweet Mayhem proceeds to capture Lucy, Batman (voiced by Will Arnett), 1980s astronaut Benny (voiced by Charlie Day), MetalBeard the Pirate (voiced by Nick Offerman), and Princess Unikitty (voiced by Alison Brie) and brings them to her homeworld, the Systar System. There, they meet the galaxy’s ruler, the shape-shifting Queen Watevra Wa-Nabi (voiced by Tiffany Haddish), who seeks to marry one of them (which ends up being Batman) in what Lucy believes is a blatantly evil scheme. Meanwhile, back in Apocalypseburg, Emmet embarks on a journey to the Systar System himself to rescue his friends. Along the way, he ends up meeting the badass Rex Dangervest (also voiced by Chris Pratt), a galaxy-defending archaeologist/cowboy/raptor trainer who agrees to help him out while also showing him what it takes to truly be a hardened warrior.

As is the case with all these recent LEGO films, The LEGO Movie 2 boasts gorgeous animation provided by the Australian animation company Animal Logic. While technically a computer-animated film, the implementation of stop-motion animation aesthetics helps to give the film the same charm that can be found in the numerous LEGO fan films that have been made over the years. Plus, these animators deserve a lot of credit for their impressive attention to detail when creating a world that’s entirely made from LEGOs. This brilliant animation is then matched by the film’s equally terrific screenplay, which perfectly blends its heartfelt narrative with its riotous humor. Thanks to Lord and Miller’s excellent comedic sensibilities, this film arguably surpasses its predecessor when it comes to its sight gags, snappy dialogue, and hilarious cameos. But, of course, just like the first film, there’s also a lot of heart to this story thanks to its wonderful messages and themes. The original LEGO Movie served as a celebration of creative thinking and expanded upon its seemingly traditional ‘hero’s journey’ storyline to show that everyone is special in their own, unique way. The sequel then proceeds to take that even further by highlighting the importance of cooperation and seeing things from a different perspective, which is best exemplified through the expansion of the first film’s biggest plot twist that revealed that everything in the LEGO world was being manipulated by a human kid named Finn (Jadon Sand). Going off the first film’s ending, the sequel brings in Finn’s younger sister Bianca (Brooklynn Prince), which ends up affecting both their world and the LEGO world in interesting ways.

Almost all the major players from the first film’s cast return and are all great once again in their respective roles. It all starts, of course, with Chris Pratt, who continues to make Emmet one of the most endearing main protagonists in recent animation history. Emmet also benefits from having another solid character arc in this one based around the apparent necessity for him to grow up, which he mainly does through his interactions with Rex Dangervest AKA an amalgamation of Star-Lord, Owen Grady, and Faraday from The Magnificent Seven remake. Simply put, it’s a lot of fun to witness Chris Pratt playing these two roles that respectively represent his comedic roots and the charismatic leading man status that he holds today. Elizabeth Banks also gets a lot of great material to work with as well as Lucy/Wyldstyle, with the film continuing to follow the overall arc of cutting through her tough exterior (which, without spoiling anything, leads to a subtle yet very satisfying payoff at the end). And, of course, Will Arnett continues to be hilarious as LEGO Batman, even if he already had his big character arc in The LEGO Batman Movie. After that, there are the usual supporting players; Nick Offerman as MetalBeard, Alison Brie as Unikitty, Charlie Day as Benny (“SPACESHIP!!”), etc. They’re then joined by the big newcomers to this film, Tiffany Haddish as Queen Watevra Wa-Nabi and Stephanie Beatriz as General Sweet Mayhem. Haddish continues to prove why her star’s been on the rise these past few years and the film takes full advantage of her character’s shape-shifting abilities. And while Beatriz doesn’t necessarily get as much to work with as her co-stars, she works off Elizabeth Banks incredibly well in the scenes between Lucy and Mayhem.

So, can we just all agree that the LEGO Movie franchise is one of the best around? Thanks to the continued involvement of Phil Lord and Chris Miller (even when they’re not directing), this series has delivered time and time again with films that boast gorgeous animation, fun characters, and excellent emotional poignancy. As such, I’m genuinely surprised that some are saying that The LEGO Movie 2 isn’t as good as the first film (it’s that damn ‘not as fresh’ argument that long-time readers know I’m not a big fan of). On the contrary, I’d say that it’s just as good as its predecessor. Is it the better of the two? Well, that one’s legitimately up for debate, but I’d argue that this one tops the original when it comes to its humor. Whatever the case may be, though, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part is an absolute must-see. Even though it’s been years since I was in the big LEGO craze that defined my childhood (still waiting for that LEGO Bionicle film…), I’m still very much drawn to these films because they continue to do a wonderful job paying tribute to their fandom by matching their creativity with the LEGO brand. After all, one of the main lyrics to the original film’s classic tune ‘Everything is Awesome’ states that ‘everything is better when we stick together’. And sure enough, this film directly addresses the importance of unity while also providing some timely commentary on the dangers of toxic masculinity. In short, it’s yet another carefully constructed masterpiece (pun intended).

Rating: 5/5!

Alita: Battle Angel (2019) review

In the early 2000s, James Cameron acquired the film rights to the popular manga series Gunnm, also known as Battle Angel Alita. Created by artist Yukito Kishiro, it told the story of a young female cyborg named Alita who struggles to understand her past but then gradually learns that she comes from a line of powerful warriors with martial arts training. This nine-volume series ran from 1990 to 1995 and sold around 50 million copies during that time, later spawning several manga spin-offs and a two-part animated short film (or ‘original video animation’, as it’s referred to in Japan) in 1993 that was based on the manga’s first two volumes. And in 2005, it was announced that Cameron would be directing an adaptation of the manga alongside another project of his that was initially codenamed Project 880. Ultimately, though, the latter came first in 2009 and would go on to become the highest-grossing film of all-time, Avatar. And because of its success, Cameron decided to start developing sequels to his $2 billion-grossing blockbuster, resulting in Battle Angel being pushed back several times over the next few years. It wasn’t until 2016 when the project finally started to move into production, but by this point, Cameron was already well underway on directing the sequels to Avatar. Thus, a new director had to be found, and Cameron quickly found his choice in Robert Rodriguez, making this the biggest-budgeted film that the Texas-born director has ever made at around $200 million. But after nearly two whole decades of development, Alita: Battle Angel finally graces the big screen in a highly ambitious but still all-around engaging sci-fi adventure that is visually stunning.

The year is 2563. After a devastating war known as ‘The Fall’ left the planet in a state of total ruin, the people of Iron City struggle to survive in their harsh environment while floating paradises like Zalem loom large in the skies above. One day, while rummaging through the scrapyards full of Zalem’s trash, scientist Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz) comes across the head and torso of a female cyborg whose cybernetic brain is surprisingly still intact. Ido then proceeds to give the cyborg a new body and calls her Alita (Rosa Salazar). Alita, however, finds herself in quite the predicament as she’s unable to remember anything from her past even when aided by Ido and a charismatic young man named Hugo (Keean Johnson) who shows her the ins and outs of Iron City. This begins to change, however, when Alita learns that Ido secretly moonlights as a member of Iron City’s elite faction of bounty hunters known as ‘hunter-warriors’. While helping him fend off a bunch of vicious cyborg assassins, Alita finally starts to remember that she comes from a line of cyborg warriors who were trained in the zero-gravity based martial art form known as Panzer Kurst on the planet Mars. This, along with the discovery of a more powerful cybernetic body that also originated from Mars, prompts Alita to become a Hunter-Warrior herself so that she can combat those who threaten the good people of Iron City. In doing so, she runs amok of Vector (Mahershala Ali), a businessman with ties to Zalem who promptly puts out a bounty on the girl who’s been putting a dent in his criminal operation.

James Cameron has noted that the film primarily serves as an adaptation of the manga’s first four volumes. As such, it’s safe to say that this film attempts to cover a lot of ground in its two-hour runtime and not every major plot-line or bit of character development that’s introduced here gets as much attention as they probably should. But aside from what the film does to set up future installments of this potential franchise, it does do its job when it comes to immersing you within this dystopian future. A lot of this comes from the overall handling of Alita’s origin story, which is arguably the best aspect of the plot as it does a nice job of showcasing her transition from innocent cyborg girl to confident warrior while also providing the film with some genuinely effective emotional depth. The biggest draw to the film, however, is its excellent visual effects. It’s been said that one of the reasons why the film took so long to get made was so that visual effects technology was advanced enough to properly tell this story, and it does indeed show in the final product. From the seamless integration of CG-based characters into a live-action setting to the truly visually stunning action sequences, this film boasts the amazing visual polish that one can expect from a James Cameron production. But, of course, it was Robert Rodriguez who was behind the camera for this one, not James Cameron, and while it’s quite arguably the most streamlined outing of his career, Rodriguez’s direction is still excellent, and he does provide the film with the same energy that’s defined many of his independently-produced directorial efforts.

Ultimately, though, one of the most talked about aspects of this film is how it brings the title character of Alita to life. Actress Rosa Salazar portrays the character via motion-capture and the film maintains a key artistical aspect of the manga by giving Alita large anime-style eyes. However, this decision was initially met with skepticism when the first trailer was released, with many pulling the ‘uncanny valley’ card when describing how it looked in a live-action context. And yet, as is the case with any film’s marketing campaign, this first trailer was clearly released before most of the visual effects were finished, and I can assure you that the larger eyes look far more natural in the final film than what they initially seemed. Simply put, Alita is another excellent addition to the growing cavalcade of mo-cap created characters, and Rosa Salazar shines in what will surely be her breakout role as the sympathetic, badass heroine. The other big standout of the cast is Christoph Waltz, who gets some solid character development as well through some gradual reveals regarding Ido’s past and how it connects him to Alita. Salazar also works well off Keean Johnson as Alita’s love interest Hugo, even if his character arc is sometimes waylaid by everything that the film tries to cover over the course of its run-time. Everyone else in the film admittedly plays more of a supporting role by comparison, though they’re all solid as well. This includes, but is not limited to, Ed Skrein as Zapan, an extremely cocky cyborg bounty hunter who’s a constant thorn in Alita’s side, and Jennifer Connelly as Dr. Chiren, a scientist who works for Vector but also has a deeply personal history with Ido.

As I’ve probably made it clear in the past, I don’t have a lot of history with manga and anime, meaning that I don’t have the same connection that others do with franchises like Dragon Ball or Ghost in the Shell. And this was certainly the case with Alita: Battle Angel, as I went into this film without any prior experience with its source material. Ultimately, though, this scenario didn’t have any sort of effect on what I found to be a solidly entertaining sci-fi adventure. Granted, I wouldn’t necessarily call it ‘perfect’ because it does feel like it’s trying to cover a lot of ground when it comes to setting up its world and characters despite it being only two hours long. In other words, the amount of story material that’s introduced here could practically be enough to fill at least two whole films. However, that doesn’t mean that what’s there doesn’t make for an engaging story that boasts some gorgeous visuals and excellent action sequences. And thanks to an excellent performance by Rosa Salazar in the title role of Alita, this lavish sci-fi action flick about a cyborg girl from Mars who was trained in martial arts does indeed have a genuine heart to it. Thus, while Alita: Battle Angel is perhaps a bit too ambitious for its own good, this Robert Rodriguez/James Cameron collaboration is a visual spectacle unlike any other. Obviously, I can’t say much about whether this film does complete justice to its source material but considering some of the most infamous live-action adaptations of popular manga and anime like Dragonball: Evolution, I think that this one will fare much better with fans of the medium.

                                                                    Rating: 4.5/5       

Top 10 WORST Films of 2018: Part 2 (#5-1)

Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s big end-of-the-year list where I’m counting down my Top 10 Worst Films of 2018. This is the second half of a two-part post and today we’ll be looking at the not-so-great collection of films that make up the Top 5. If you haven’t checked out Part 1 of this list, where I address #10-6, just click here. Thus, without further ado, let’s get back to the list…

To kick off this half of the list at #5, we have a film that admittedly isn’t trying to be something it’s not but still ends up being a mediocre knock-off of far more successful action thrillers. 

5. THE HURRICANE HEIST

One look at this film’s poster makes it seem like a cheap spin-off of the Fast and Furious films. It’s only coincidence, then, that the film was directed by Rob Cohen, who helmed the original Fast and the Furious back in 2001. And simply put, this film is a primary example of why Cohen’s work as an action director isn’t quite up to par with that of his most prominent Fast and Furious successor, Justin Lin. While I’ve never seen Cohen’s adaptation of author James Patterson’s Alex Cross series from 2012, I’m well aware of its infamous action sequences that have been regarded by many as some of the worst filmed action sequences in recent years. Sure enough, The Hurricane Heist’s action sequences are of the same quality, suffering from frenetic camerawork and choppy editing. This is only made worse by the fact that most of the film is set during a raging hurricane, meaning that several of these action sequences became even more incoherent than they already are due to grimy visuals. And while the idea of an action thriller about a group of criminals who use an impending hurricane as cover for a bank heist could have potentially resulted in a ridiculous but decently entertaining film, it only ends up being the former in this case. Several of the film’s biggest action sequences end up going to ludicrous lengths (e.g. the main character is so traumatized by the destruction caused by a hurricane that he literally sees the image of a skull forming in the storm clouds) in a story that’s ironically very basic in terms of its plot and character development. Thus, while The Hurricane Heist tries its best to be the next Die Hard and/or Point Break, it’s ultimately an incredibly mediocre action flick that’s not very well-directed and not very well-acted, for that matter.

This next film was my #1 worst of the year for quite a few months, and while it’s since been overshadowed by the next three films, it’s still the weakest installment by far of its decently entertaining franchise.

4. THE FIRST PURGE

When it comes to the popular Purge franchise, I find that I’m generally in the same boat as most critics/audiences when it comes to the quality of the films. Despite good performances from Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey, the first Purge was an underwhelming home invasion thriller that decided to limit its action to a single suburban home, meaning that it never got the chance to fully capitalize on the potential of its premise. Thankfully, things started to improve with the sequels, The Purge: Anarchy and The Purge: Election Year. For starters, the second film introduced the series’ best character in Frank Grillo’s Sgt. Leo Barnes, who then made a welcome return in the third film. But perhaps the most relevant improvement that the sequels made was transitioning the action from a single location to out in the streets, allowing them to truly highlight all the insanity of a night where all crime (including murder) is made legal for 12 hours. The only possibly controversial opinion that I have on these films is that I prefer Election Year over Anarchy by a slight margin (and no, not because it was filmed near my hometown) for having arguably the most likable main protagonists of the series. Election Year did, however, end on a note that posed some serious questions about the future of the franchise, as it ended with the implication that ‘Purge Night’ would finally be put to an end. And yet, the way in which the franchise would ultimately continue was surprisingly simple; it would just go and do the one concept that fans of the series have been requesting consistently for the past few years. Thus, that is exactly what we got with The First Purge, which delved into the origins of this infamous annual ‘holiday’. This time, however, the film wasn’t directed by series creator James DeMonaco. While he still stayed on as the film’s writer, newcomer Gerard McMurray stepped in to take over as director. However, at the end of the day, it’s clear that this film probably would’ve turned out a lot better had DeMonaco stayed on to direct.

For one thing, DeMonaco handles action a lot better, as this film features some of the worst action sequences in recent years in terms of their cinematography and editing. The most egregious of the bunch is a scene that takes place in a darkened apartment complex with the only light source being the bright flashing lights of the building’s fire alarms. But perhaps the film’s biggest shortcoming is how it ultimately acts as a prequel to the other Purge films. Now when it comes to prequels, I’ll admit that I don’t rag on them as much as the rest of the internet because part of me genuinely has an interest in seeing how film franchises attempt these kinds of stories. But even with that said, they don’t always work, and this film is a prime example of that. Because it’s the newest installment of the franchise, it adds in some new story elements like neon-colored optics for those who partake in the Purge that allows the New Founding Fathers of America to access footage of everything that’s going on during the night. This would be fine… if this wasn’t a prequel to a series of films where this technology never once appeared. And then there are the film’s attempts to build up the conflict between the NFFA and those who oppose the Purge, namely the residents of Staten Island where the initial Purge Night is held. Simply put, this is nothing more than a rehash of what we saw in the previous films, and while the film may end with the main characters preparing to combat the Purge, once again the film’s status as a prequel makes it clear that it will be a long time before anything is done about it. Now to the film’s credit, there are some decent performances from its cast of general newcomers, including Y’lan Noel as a local drug lord who takes on the responsibility of protecting his community and Lex Scott Davis as his ex-girlfriend who leads the anti-Purge resistance movement. Still, the lack of awesome characters like Leo Barnes or even series regulars like Edwin Hodge’s Dante is certainly felt. And if you want to talk about one of the most thankless roles in recent memory, look no further than Marisa Tomei as the doctor who created the Purge but is then swiftly killed off by the NFFA when she starts to realize how terrible it is. Thus, despite what I said before about how the film probably would’ve worked better had James DeMonaco continue to serve as the series’ director, this is easily the weakest-written entry in the entire series.

Well, it was only a matter of time before this one appeared on the list…

3. FIFTY SHADES FREED

Yes, it’s the final installment of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy adapted from author E.L. James’ best-selling book series. As I’ve noted in the past, this series was spawned from fan-fiction inspired by the equally popular Twilight series, which means that it features the same cheesy melodrama but without the occasionally cool supernatural elements involving vampires and werewolves. Instead, it’s an extremely dull romance plot and nothing else, and while the books became notorious for their overt erotic content, the films never go ‘that far’ to avoid being rated NC-17, meaning that they don’t even deliver on what is arguably the only notable aspect of the books. And to top it all off, this series features some of the most frustratingly indecisive characters in recent history. This is most apparent with main protagonist Anastasia Steele, who constantly grapples with the idea of being in a long-term relationship with the borderline abusive billionaire Christian Grey. And while their ‘will they, won’t they’ arc isn’t as prevalent as it was in the previous films due to them getting married, the arguments that they get into (e.g. Christian’s hostile reaction to Ana’s unexpected pregnancy) just reinforces the fact that this is one of the most toxic relationships that has ever been put on page and film. At the end of the day, though, this surprisingly isn’t the worst installment of the series. That distinction goes to the second film, Fifty Shades Darker, as it was the most obnoxious of the trilogy when it came to Anastasia’s inability to move on from Christian. And yet, even with that said, Fifty Shades Freed is still an apathetic conclusion to a mediocre trilogy that ultimately goes out with a whimper.

We’ve gotten quite a lot of great horror films these past few years, including but not limited to the recent adaptation of Stephen King’s It and Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning psychological horror-thriller Get Out. It’s legitimately gotten to the point now where even someone like me who isn’t that big a fan of the horror genre is genuinely looking forward to some of its biggest upcoming releases. But, of course, there are still some horror films out there that exhibit the genre’s worst qualities, and this next one is a prime example of this.

2. BLUMHOUSE’S TRUTH OR DARE

In Truth or Dare, a group of college students find themselves targeted by a demon who forces them into playing a sinister spin on the classic party game ‘Truth or Dare’, where the punishment for not completing their task is death. On paper, this could’ve potentially worked as a decent psychological horror flick where the game forces these friends to spill some of their darkest secrets and effectively put their relationships to the test. However, the film stumbles hard when it comes to its execution as there are several instances where severe gaps in logic occur, mainly whenever the demon ‘cheats the system’ by forcing the current player into selecting one option over the other. It also doesn’t help that the demon’s kills are neutered by the film’s toothless PG-13 rating and were already spoiled in advance by the marketing. And from what I’ve read, the unrated cut that was released on home media doesn’t add anything major to the film as it seems like the only significant thing that was cut for the theatrical release were scenes of the main characters drinking. But easily the worst aspect of this film is something that ties into a point that I’ve mentioned several times this past year, and that is the argument that a horror film works a lot better when you have characters that you care about as they go through these sinister plots. And simply put, that is not the case with Truth or Dare. You don’t give a single crap about any of these people, and the scenes where they reveal each other’s darkest secrets makes the situation even worse to the point where the film often gives off a very mean-spirited vibe. In conclusion, Truth or Dare is the very definition of a ‘by-the-numbers’ teen-oriented horror flick.
 

And at last, we come to my #1 worst of 2018, which will admittedly be an obvious one as this film has undoubtedly appeared on many other folks’ ‘Worst of the Year’ lists. Calling this film one of the most notorious releases of the year would be a massive understatement. 

1. GOTTI

Directed by Kevin Connolly (AKA ‘E’ from Entourage), Gotti tells the story of the infamous New York mobster John Gotti, who rose up in the ranks to become the head of the Gambino crime family in the ’80s. The film also explores his relationship with his son, John ‘Junior’, who proceeded to take over his father’s position in 1992 when John Sr. was sentenced to life in prison. However, the film ends up being more like a hodge-podge of key moments in their lives, skipping around to different points in time in an extremely erratic fashion with the second half of the film focusing more on John ‘Junior’ as he plans on pleading guilty in an impending trial. As such, what we ultimately get is a generic and frustratingly dull gangster flick (with music from Pitbull, for some reason…) that often feels like a knock-off of other gangster flicks, especially Goodfellas. To his credit, John Travolta is at least trying his best in the title role, but it’s still not that good of a performance and everyone else in the film isn’t any better by comparison. But the weirdest thing about the film is how it tries very hard to humanize John Gotti. Despite all the various crimes that he commits, the film continually reinforces the argument that he’s a genuine ‘family man’ and a hero of his community. Now I’m fully aware that a common criticism of films of this nature (e.g. Goodfellas, The Wolf of Wall Street) is that they often tend to glorify the actions of their ‘protagonists’ even when they do something that’s completely immoral. However, the thing about those other films is that they are far more balanced than they’re often given credit for when it comes to their characters eventually getting the comeuppance that they deserve. But in the case of Gotti, it’s full-on adulation for its notorious main character.

I should also address the big post-release controversy that this film got into that involved Rotten Tomatoes. Upon its release last June, the film was savaged by critics, earning it the dubious distinction of maintaining a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And yet, the ratings from the site’s audience review section during the film’s opening weekend were a different story, as that score was around 80%. For several people, the broad imbalance between these two scores seemed rather suspect, especially after the film’s marketing campaign started to boast that it was loved by audiences while simultaneously denouncing the ‘trolls behind a keyboard’ who were giving it poor reviews. And yet, as it turns out, several of these ‘positive audience reviews’ were revealed to have come from accounts that had just been set up that month and would end up being the only reviews posted there aside from ones for a film that was distributed by the same studio, American Animals (which, ironically, was well-received by critics). The studio in question is the film division of the subscription-based ticketing service MoviePass which, to put it lightly, ended up having a very rough 2018. So yes, it seems like this was indeed a case of ‘review manipulation’, and at the time of this post’s publication, the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is now down to a generally more realistic 49% rating. In short, it’s hilariously ironic that the most notable aspect of Gotti ultimately wasn’t something that came from the film itself.

And that concludes this list of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s Top 10 Worst Films of 2018. I apologize for this one coming out later than anticipated, but I promise that I will do my best to get my ‘Top 12 Favorite Films of the Year’ list published before the 91st annual Academy Awards on February 24th. Until then, be sure to sound off in the comments below with your own personal Top 10 Worst of 2018. 

Top 10 WORST Films of 2018: Part 1 (#10-6)

As the 2019 film season begins, it’s time to once again reflect upon on the year prior to rank the best and worst from the past twelve months. But unlike a lot of people on the internet, I do things a little differently around here by doing the ‘Worst of the Year’ list first BEFORE the ‘Best of the Year’ list. The reason why I do this is simple; why the heck would I want to end the year on a bad note by talking about the worst films that I’ve seen? Now with that said, I’m fully aware that the annual ‘Worst of’ lists always get greater attention online because the internet loves to see people rag on the worst films of the year. But as you might have guessed, I’m just not one of those people. Even in cases where I don’t have particularly high expectations for a film, I always go into every new film that I see hoping for the best because, if you ask me, that’s exactly what a film fan should be. Obviously, though, there will be times where you’ll come across a film that just didn’t work for you, and that’s perfectly okay because film is a subjective medium. As such, do not go into these next two posts expecting any sort of intense rants on the films that will be appearing on this list because I find that I tend not to get that angry anymore when it comes to films that I don’t really like. It’s a lot like a recent situation that actor John Krasinski was in when he met with director Paul Thomas Anderson, who suggested that the word ‘hate’ is too strong a word to use when talking about film, a mindset that I certainly agree with. However, don’t assume that this means that I will be ‘going soft’ on these films as I still intend on addressing their various shortcomings. It’s also worth noting that while I will be delving into a few spoilers here and there, Spoiler Warnings will not be put into effect given that this is the ‘Worst of’ list. Thus, without further ado, it’s time to cover my Top 10 Worst Films of 2018, starting with films #10-6. Before we begin, however, there is one Dishonorable Mention… 

DISHONORABLE MENTION: TOMB RAIDER

When I first reviewed this film back in March, I gave it a 3/5 rating and noted that while it wouldn’t be the one to break the dreaded curse of poorly-received film adaptations of popular video games, at the very least it was one of the genre’s better outings. But while I do still stand by that specific argument, this ultimately became one of the rare instances where my initial opinion of the film changed considerably as time went on. Now to the film’s credit, when it does get into its big action set-pieces, these sequences are well-handled and do a nice job of replicating the thrills of some of the most standout moments of the recent Tomb Raider video games. However, these only occur during the second half of a film that suffers from an extremely slow opening that takes its sweet time when it comes to getting Lara on the mystical island of Yamatai. And even after that, it still runs on a basic ‘origin’ plot that primarily focuses on Lara’s relationship with her long-lost father Richard. Sure, there is some decent emotional depth to come from this, especially once Lara learns that her father is still alive. At the same time, though, the film would’ve benefitted more by adding in some of the characters and plotlines from the 2013 Tomb Raider game, including Lara’s best friend Sam and the other crew members who were on the same ship that Lara was on before she got stranded on Yamatai. It’s a shame, really, because despite some of the pre-release skepticism that revolved around her casting, Alicia Vikander does give it her all as Lara Croft. Unfortunately, though, the film just doesn’t match her commitment to the part. Still, compared to other films in the genre, this one at least tried.

And now we move on to the Top 10, which is always started off by films that I was generally ‘on the fence’ about. In other words, these are the films that were far from being the worst of the year but weren’t necessarily that good, either. And at Number 10, we have a prime example of this in a film that I feel rather bad about when it comes to putting it on here as it was made by a very talented filmmaker. Sadly, though, this was ultimately an underwhelming take on its iconic source material, especially when compared to its Disney counterpart.

10. MOWGLI: LEGEND OF THE JUNGLE

In the early 2010’s, two different live-action adaptations of author Rudyard Kipling’s classic novel The Jungle Book were put into production. The first of these to come out came in 2016 via Disney and director Jon Favreau’s remake of the studio’s 1967 animated classic. However, instead of just being a straight-forward remake of the original film, Favreau combined elements from both the film and the novel to give it its own unique identity. And upon its release, the film was a massive critical and commercial success, grossing over $966 million worldwide and still standing as the most critically-acclaimed installment of Disney’s recent line of live-action remakes. As such, I think it’s safe to say that the success of Favreau’s film ended up having a huge effect on the other live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book that was being developed by Warner Bros and directed by motion-capture icon Andy Serkis. For his adaptation, Serkis promised that it would be a darker and more faithful take on the source material. In other words, there weren’t going to be any musical numbers and the film wouldn’t shy away from the gruesome results of attacks made by either Shere Kahn or a human hunter. However, while the film was initially slated for an October 2018 release date, its theatrical release was ultimately canned when Warner Bros. sold the rights to Netflix, who premiered it online in December. This was reportedly done because Warner Bros feared that the film wouldn’t do so well in theaters. And yet, regardless of how it got released, something about it feels unfinished.

To be clear, the film’s darker tone isn’t its biggest issue. Even when you factor in a sequence where Mowgli comes across the decapitated head of his wolf friend Bhoot (yes, seriously…) and the occasional awkward tonal shift, it does let the film differentiate itself from previous adaptations. Plus, it does do a decent job of setting up Mowgli’s traditional arc of overcoming his status as an ‘outsider’ in the eyes of his jungle brethren, especially through the importance of him having to pass a trial known as ‘the Running’ so that he can officially join the wolf pack. However, once the film sends Mowgli to the man-village, this is where things start to get quite problematic in terms of the writing. Mowgli’s time in the man-village only takes up a small part of the run-time, and the addition of a secondary villain in hunter John Lockwood negatively affects the plot to the point where the notorious Shere Kahn ends up getting severely undermined as an antagonist. And if that wasn’t enough, these two villains are then dealt with quickly in an extremely abrupt and lackluster finale. Ultimately, though, the most disappointing aspect of the film… is that the visual effects aren’t that good. Sure, as one can expect from an Andy Serkis production, the film’s motion-capture effects are generally solid. Unlike Favreau’s film, the use of mo-cap is a lot more prominent to the point where the facial features of the actors playing the primary animal characters are easily recognizable. And yet, this film’s mo-cap work ends up paling in comparison to the effects of the Middle-Earth films and the recent Planet of the Apes films. The film’s CG jungle landscapes are even more lackluster, especially when compared to sequences that were shot on location in South Africa. In conclusion, this film at least deserves credit for its ambition. Despite its narrative flaws, Andy Serkis’ direction is solid and the film sports an excellent cast headlined by Christian Bale as the noble Bagheera, Serkis himself as a far gruffer take on Baloo, and Cate Blanchett as Kaa who, unlike the Disney films, is more in line with the novel by being one of Mowgli’s mentors instead of an antagonist. However, while I’ve tried not to frequently compare this one to the Jon Favreau-directed Disney flick, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle ultimately lacks the visual polish and heart of its Disney counterpart.  

As fate would have it, Number 9 is also a film that was originally intended for a theatrical release before being abandoned by its studio and sold off to Netflix, and this one is even more disappointing compared to Mowgli because it comes from a franchise with a lot of potential.

9. THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX

After years of speculation, a sequel to the 2008 found footage monster flick Cloverfield finally hit theaters in 2016. However, this was not an ordinary sequel. Instead, 10 Cloverfield Lane was a Hitchcockian thriller that was pitched as a ‘spiritual sequel’ to its predecessor after producer J.J. Abrams’ production company Bad Robot reworked a spec script titled The Cellar to connect it to Cloverfield. Upon its release, the film was a solid critical and commercial hit, showcasing the franchise’s newfound potential as an anthology series a la The Twilight Zone. And later that year, another Bad Robot film, then titled God Particle, was confirmed to be the third installment of the franchise. A release date was confirmed for October 2017… before things started to get a lot more complicated. In July of that year, it was announced that the film would be pushed back to February 2018 for undisclosed reasons. In January 2018, the film was pushed back again, this time to April 2018. Once again, no explanation was given for the delay, and just like any J.J. Abrams production, details about the film were minimal to the point where these release date shifts were literally the only bits of news about them. The film continued to remain a secret until February 4^th, 2018, when its first promo was aired during Super Bowl LII. The film was officially renamed The Cloverfield Paradox and it was revealed that it would be debuting on Netflix. The biggest surprise, though, was that the film would premiere that very night after the game. Ultimately, though, this bold marketing strategy was better than the film itself.

Like Universal’s recent remake of The Mummy, this is a film that is clearly more focused on setting up the lore for its franchise rather than ensuring that its own story is solid. The ways in which the film connects to the previous Cloverfield films is fine, for the most part, mainly through the reveal that debris from the film’s main locale, the ‘Cloverfield Station’, was what crashed into the ocean at the end of the first Cloverfield. But as for the main plot itself… it’s just a clone of films like Alien and Sunshine where the crew of a space station find themselves being offed one by one by a mysterious force. Sure, this film does feature some effectively brutal kills, but the story is incredibly predictable and the characters are vastly underdeveloped, wasting a talented ensemble cast that includes Daniel Bruhl, Elizabeth Debicki, and David Oyelowo. One member of the cast does manage to get some decent material to work with, however, and that honor goes to Gugu Mbatha-Raw as main protagonist Ava Hamilton AKA the only character in the film to get any sort of character development through the reveal of a tragic incident where she lost both her kids in a house fire. In short, like Mowgli, it’s been made clear that this film’s fate as a Netflix release was because its studio (in this case, Paramount) wasn’t that confident in the final product. It has been reported that J.J. Abrams had planned on fixing the film in post-production, but he ultimately couldn’t do so due to his commitment to Star Wars: Episode IX. Still, regardless of how it would’ve turned out had J.J. been able to work on it as he had hoped, The Cloverfield Paradox is a sadly underwhelming installment of its promising franchise.

With Number 8, we have a genuine rarity in that this is quite arguably the first film produced under the Disney banner that’s appeared on my annual ‘Worst of’ lists. Usually Disney films end up on the other list, but as many of my peers have pointed out over the years, you won’t like every single film that’s made by your favorite studio.

8. THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS

As I noted in my review for this film back in November, I didn’t necessarily ‘dislike’ this ambitious spin on the classic story of The Nutcracker as there are some genuinely good things about it, mainly in terms of its visuals. While it can be argued that this is another example of CGI overload like Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, the visual effects in this film are quite solid and they do succeed in bringing the bright and colorful world of the Four Realms to life, especially thanks to some solid cinematography by Damien Chazelle’s go-to DP Linus Sandgren. The film also has some solid performances from those who treat the material seriously, specifically Mackenzie Foy as main protagonist Clara, Helen Mirren as the ‘villainous’ Mother Ginger, and newcomer Jayden Fowora-Knight as the titular Nutcracker. However, this then ties into the film’s biggest issue in that it suffers heavily from severe tonal shifts. While the initial set-up for the story, specifically Clara learning more about her mother Marie’s past as the original ruler of the Four Realms, is treated seriously, almost all the sequences that take place within the Four Realms are incredibly over-the-top in nature. And because the film still tries to have a lot of serious moments over the course of its runtime, these two extremes frequently collide and, simply put, do not gel well. This is especially the case with the film’s biggest twist that revolves around the big reveal of its true main antagonist, the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Right from the get-go, Clara is led to believe that the Four Realms are in danger of being overtaken by Mother Ginger, ruler of the desolate Land of Amusements. To stop her, Clara is told of a special machine that can turn the Four Realms’ inhabitants into toys and vice versa, which is how her mother created the world in the first place. However, after Sugar Plum activates the machine and starts to amass an army of toy soldiers, it’s revealed that Mother Ginger wasn’t the sinister tyrant that she was made out to be. Instead, it’s Sugar Plum who plans on taking over the Four Realms as she blames Marie for abandoning them in favor of living the rest of her life with her family. Now while I’ll admit that I don’t have a lot of experience with The Nutcracker outside of a general awareness of it, I don’t think that I’ve ever come across a version of the story where the Sugar Plum Fairy is an antagonist. Granted, this could’ve worked in theory, but because the film has a short 99-minute runtime and a surprisingly brisk pace once Clara enters the Four Realms, this twist literally comes out of nowhere. To be fair, though, Keira Knightley does deserve some credit for, at the very least, committing to what is easily one of the weirdest performances in recent memory. In conclusion, this is another film that had quite an interesting production. While it was primarily directed by veteran filmmaker Lasse Hallstrom, fellow veteran director Joe Johnston supervised the film’s reshoots when Hallstrom became unavailable due to scheduling conflicts. And because Johnston’s contributions to the film proved to be quite substantial, he and Hallstrom ended up sharing the directorial credit in what is a genuine rarity when it comes to a production of this nature. At this time, there hasn’t been much info on what Johnston added to the film although it has been reported that he primarily buffed up the finale to make it ‘more exciting’. However, regardless of what he added to the final product, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is an underwhelming take on its iconic source material. I mean, at the very least, it’s a harmless family flick, but at the same time, it’s still rather bland.

Say, remember back in May when I did a retrospective on The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, the two non-Muppet films directed by Muppets creator Jim Henson? This was primarily done to honor the impending release of his company’s newest film… even though the film wasn’t set to come out until August. To be perfectly frank, the reason why the retrospective was done in May was so that I could have some new material published on this site during a time where the only other posts from that month were reviews of Deadpool 2 and Solo: A Star Wars Story. And then, if that wasn’t enough, I didn’t even end up seeing this new Henson production when it first came out. Having now seen it, it was probably for the best that I didn’t see it in theaters…

7. THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS

The Happytime Murders is a rare adult-oriented outing from the Jim Henson Company and was directed by Jim Henson’s son Brian, who also helmed the beloved Muppet Christmas Carol and the cult classic Muppet Treasure Island. The film focuses on a puppet ex-cop turned private investigator named Phil Phillips who investigates into a string of murders revolving around the cast of an old television sitcom that he has quite a history with. Like any Henson production, the main reason to watch this film is for its impressive puppetry work, as the filmmakers continue to do a great job when it comes to having their puppet characters seamlessly interact with humans. It’s a shame, then, that the story itself is incredibly predictable and goes through all the usual beats of a murder mystery plot, from a traumatic incident from the main character’s past that destroyed his career to a seductive femme fatale with ulterior motives. And while the film may tout itself as an R-rated comedy that’s ‘No Sesame, All Street’ (a tagline that literally got them sued by Sesame Street), it lacks the clever writing of other Henson productions, stranding a talented ensemble cast that includes Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, and Joel McHale. In short, it could be argued that this film’s shortcomings may have been due to it spending a few years in development hell. To put this all into perspective, I remember this film being announced around the time that the 2011 Muppets film was released, and to be perfectly blunt, this does feel like a film that didn’t necessarily evolve much from its initial story pitch.

To close out the first half of this year’s ‘Worst of’ list, we have a film that stars a talented actress and is directed by someone that she’s worked with to great success in the past. Sadly, though, their latest collaboration isn’t quite as good as their previous projects.

6. RED SPARROW

First off, let me make it clear that despite this being the second film of hers in a row to appear on my annual ‘Worst of’ list, I’m still a big fan of Jennifer Lawrence. Despite what I’ve said about last year’s disastrous biblical drama Mother and what I will be saying about this film, none of their shortcomings are her fault as she does give good performances in both. In this instance, she reunites with director Francis Lawrence (again, no relation) after they’d worked together on the last three Hunger Games films. F. Lawrence also brings in a lot of the same crew that they had worked with on those films, so at the very least, this film is well-shot and utilizes its wintry Russian setting to solid effect. Despite this, though, the film suffers from an incredibly slow pace that isn’t helped in the slightest by its hefty 140-minute run-time. And because of this, the film slogs through a very basic spy story that starts out fine enough but then ends up taking some major stumbles as the film goes on. While it has been reported that the ending was changed from its source material (author Jason Matthews’ 2013 novel of the same name) to give it more of a feminist angle, it’s still a generic finale in which the main protagonist makes a critical power move that allows her to get out of her predicament alive. In other words, this film’s a lot like 2017’s similarly-themed spy thriller Atomic Blonde but without the solid pacing. Granted, the dialogue-driven approach that this film takes over the genre’s usual action-oriented perspective is admirable, but it still could’ve benefitted from a few trims here and there as some scenes and plotlines feel quite extraneous. Thus, despite the best efforts of Jennifer Lawrence and a supporting cast that includes Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons, and Charlotte Rampling, Red Sparrow is a spy thriller that thoroughly lacks the ‘wow factor’ of the genre’s most iconic films.

And that concludes Part 1 of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s list of my Top 10 Worst Films of 2018. Thanks for following along and be sure to check back in tomorrow for Part 2 of this list, where I’ll be revealing the Top 5.