Soul (2020) review (Disney+)

If there was even remotely a downside to the wondrous prospect of getting two Pixar films in a single year, it would be the fact that the more well-received entry of the two always ends up overshadowing the other. To be fair, though, this is never the films’ fault as it’s just the natural consequence of the consistently competitive nature of the film industry. Still, there’s no denying that this scenario has very much happened before whenever Pixar releases multiple films in a year. Whereas 2015’s Inside Out was their biggest hit in years, The Good Dinosaur was their first major commercial flop. And in 2017, all eyes were on the two-time Oscar winner that was Coco, thus leaving the decent Cars 3, a genuinely superior follow-up to what ended up being Pixar’s first critical dud (2011’s Cars 2), in the dust. Sure enough, this is something that will probably happen this year as well, which began with the release of Dan Scanlon’s Onward, a film that, despite being royally screwed over by COVID from a financial perspective did solidly with critics but not quite as well as Soul has fared with them. To reiterate, though, everything that I’ve said in this intro is not meant to be a dig against Soul; I mean, seriously, how could I when it’s the latest outing from one of Pixar’s most prolific directors, Pete Docter. Simply put, Pixar’s newly appointed Chief Creative Officer has been responsible for some of their most critically acclaimed releases such as the previously mentioned Inside Out, his directorial debut from 2001, Monsters Inc, and 2009’s Up AKA the second-ever animated film in history to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars after Beauty and the Beast. And sure enough, he delivers yet another beautifully animated and emotionally poignant masterpiece with Soul.

Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx) is a part-time music teacher in New York City who, despite being offered a full-time teaching gig, primarily aspires to become a jazz musician just like his late father. Luckily for him, he manages to earn an opportunity to achieve that dream when he impresses legendary jazz performer Dorothea Williams (voiced by Angela Bassett) enough for her to invite him to perform with her band. Unfortunately for Joe, his big break is then immediately upended when he ends up in an accident that puts him on a one-way ticket to the Great Beyond. However, Joe’s insistence that it isn’t his time results in him escaping into the exact opposite dimension, the Great Before, where all new human souls are molded into the personalities that they’ll become once they arrive on Earth. It is there that Joe meets 22 (voiced by Tina Fey), a soul who has been stuck in the Great Before for quite some time because of her cynical outlook on life on Earth that has kept her from finding the ‘spark’ that completes a soul’s identity. And once he figures out that he’s still alive on Earth, Joe teams up with 22 to try and get him back into his body so that his life won’t end up being a complete waste of his potential; in the process, Joe even begins to convince 22 of all the great things that life has to offer.

While it’s probably easy to compare this film to Pete Docter’s last project, Inside Out, it should be noted that Soul is far from being a ‘clone’ of that film. Instead, I’d describe it as a ‘spiritual companion’ piece since both films focus on the things that make us humans tick, albeit through different methods. In the case of Inside Out, this was, of course, by way of it exploring the concept of one’s emotions, thus showcasing the importance of all facets of the emotional spectrum rather than just a single emotional trait. As for Soul… well, the title speaks for itself as Docter and co-director Kemp Powers do a fantastic job of tackling themes such as finding one’s purpose in life and the unique things that folks are passionate about. This naturally results in a lot of great emotional moments which, to be fair, is something that you can always expect to see in a Pixar film but are arguably even more powerful here given the subject matter and how it encourages us all to live our lives to the fullest. And as to be expected from a Pixar film, Soul sports some terrific animation, especially when it comes to the wonderfully abstract landscape that is the Great Before where the counselors who oversee everything are presented as if they’re two-dimensional beings in this computer-animated feature. Plus, the entire film is bolstered by a great collection of delightful jazz tunes from the Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s Jon Batiste.

One long-standing Pixar tradition that Soul dutifully maintains is the well-layered lead duo that headlines the story; in this instance, we have Joe Gardner and Soul #22, who easily take their place alongside other classic Pixar duos such as Woody and Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story series and Mike and Sulley from Monsters Inc. As Joe, Jamie Foxx does a great job in making the aspiring jazz musician a solidly likable protagonist even with all the instances where his lofty aspirations end up clouding his judgment to the point where he makes some selfish decisions. And as 22, Tina Fey is a natural fit for the role of Joe’s hilariously snarky sidekick who ends up getting just as many great emotional beats as he does since her sarcastic persona is revealed to be masking an incredibly sympathetic backstory. Soul also has plenty of another Pixar staple, memorable supporting characters, and while I do think that this is another instance like Onward where the story largely focuses more on Joe and 22 than anyone else, that doesn’t mean that we don’t get a bunch of fun side characters. U.K. talk-show host Graham Norton, for example, is an utter delight as Moonwind, an eccentric sign twirler on Earth who also helps save lost souls in the Great Before. There’s also plenty of reliable supporting players such as Rachel House as Terry, the official soul counter of the Great Beyond who tries to locate Joe when he goes missing, Alice Braga and Richard Ayoade as two of the Counselors in the Great Before (who, for the record, are all named Jerry), and Phylicia Rashad as Joe’s overbearing mother Libba.

I realize that what I’m about to say will probably be one of the most cliched and obvious statements that I’ve ever made as a film critic, but at the same time, it’s ironically an incredibly apt way of conveying exactly what kind of film this is. In other words, the one word that I would use to describe Pete Docter’s Soul is that it’s… soulful. With gorgeous animation and a top-notch story that tackles incredibly relevant concepts, Soul is arguably one of the best examples of an animated film that flawlessly appeals to both kids and adults. It covers some of the most thematically deep and mature themes that have ever been featured in a Pixar film and, in true Pixar fashion, pulls off an emotionally cathartic tale that, above all, ends up being a heartwarming celebration of life, thus making this an incredibly timely release in the age of COVID-19. Sure, COVID may have been the reason why Soul was forced to forego its theatrical release in favor of debuting on Disney+, but that doesn’t stop it from being another one of Pixar’s modern masterpieces. To be fair, though, that’s basically what’s to be expected at this point when it comes to the Pixar films that are directed by Pete Docter, and while this is probably going to be his last directorial effort for a while as he transitions into the role of Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer, it’s safe to say that this will attract a lot of attention during awards season.

Rating: 5/5!

Baby Driver (2017) review

Ever since he first made a name for himself in 1999 by directing the unfortunately short-lived but ultimately cult classic TV series Spaced, Edgar Wright has proven to be one of the most electrifying directors in the film industry. After Spaced ended in 2001, Wright and lead/writer Simon Pegg then went on to develop a full-blown trilogy of comedy films. While the three films (2004’s Shaun of the Dead, 2007’s Hot Fuzz, and 2013’s The World’s End) only share cosmetic similarities with each other, this collection of a zombie rom-com, a police-based action extravaganza, and a sci-fi pub crawl adventure, respectively, retroactively became known as the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy. This was due to the consistent appearance of Cornetto ice cream in each of the three films, with each flavor featured tying directly into the main theme of its respective film. In other words, this simple running gag ended up becoming a homage to the famous Three Colours trilogy directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski, which also based itself around themes and a color scheme that alluded to each theme. Nevertheless, the Cornetto films have gone on to become some of the most beloved comedies in recent years, establishing Wright as a fan-favorite director in the film fan community. And now, he’s back with his first film since his tumultuous departure from Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man, Baby Driver. The film was influenced by a music video that Wright had directed for the band Mint Royale back in 2003 for their track Blue Song. Said music video focused on a musically-tuned getaway driver for a gang of bank robbers. More than a decade later, Wright brings this idea to life again, this time on the big-screen, in a highly entertaining and musically-driven crime thriller.  

In the city of Atlanta, a young man named Baby (Ansel Elgort) works as a getaway driver for local kingpin Doc (Kevin Spacey). Due to an accident that he was in where his parents were killed in a car crash, Baby suffers from permanent tinnitus and often listens to music to drown out the constant humming in his ears. And while most would assume that wearing headphones and listening to music would make him a terrible driver, it ends up being the total opposite situation in Baby’s case as it allows him to have greater focus behind the wheel. Thus, he’s become Doc’s ‘lucky charm’ over the years thanks to his involvement in numerous successful heists. However, after he manages to settle all his debts with Doc, Baby intends on getting out of the crime business for good so that he can head out on the road, a passion of his that’s reinvigorated when he meets a nice young woman named Debora (Lily James) who shares a similar kind of dream. However, as Baby soon finds out, just because he settled things with Doc financially doesn’t mean that the latter will just allow him to walk away. Thus, Baby ultimately finds himself being forced back into the criminal lifestyle as he is paired with scandalous couple Buddy (Jon Hamm) and Darling (Eiza González) and impulsive gunman Bats (Jamie Foxx) on Doc’s newest planned heist; robbing a post office. But amidst all the chaos that ensues from this, Baby once again attempts to get out of the business for good so that he and his loved ones won’t be harmed any further.

There are two primary things that you’ll get out of watching Baby Driver. The first is a kick-ass soundtrack, which Baby listens to 24/7 on his various iPods. With classic tunes like ‘Brighton Rock’ by Queen and ‘Never, Never Gonna Give You Up’ by Barry White, this film is full of great songs. But the real kicker to it all is that many of them are tuned perfectly with the film’s action sequences, including a shoot-out that’s set in perfect rhythm to ‘Tequila’ by The Champs (though, in this instance, it’s a cover by The Button Down Brass). Thus, this is easily one of the most musically-driven films (no pun intended) that I’ve ever seen in my life, even more so than the Guardians of the Galaxy films. The other big thing about this film, as alluded to earlier, is its action sequences, especially its many car chases. All the car chases in this film were done practically, and they are all quite impressive and well-shot. And it’s all thanks to the always terrific direction from Edgar Wright. He truly is a genius when it comes to assembling sequences and then blending them together seamlessly through editing, while also utilizing all sorts of directorial tricks to create some truly creative (and stylish) on-screen imagery. And even though this is admittedly a more traditional story compared to Wright’s other films, he still manages to craft some genuinely suspenseful moments in the film’s second half, thanks in part to Steven Price’s foreboding score which begins to come into play during this section of the film.

Ansel Elgort immediately establishes himself as a likable main protagonist in the role of Baby. Right out the gate, it’s shown that while Baby has been involved in the world of crime for many years, he’s ultimately just an innocent kid working alongside a bunch of crooks, hence why he doesn’t spend much time conversing with his colleagues save for Doc. Thus, he fully succeeds at being a sympathetic lead to root for, and while his main love interest, Debora, is admittedly just there for the ride most of the time, Elgort does have excellent chemistry with Lily James. Meanwhile, over in the ‘criminal underworld’, Kevin Spacey is, well, Kevin Spacey but still just as memorable as always in the role of Doc, who proves to have somewhat of a ‘father-son’ relationship with Baby given their history together. And just like any Edgar Wright project, this film has its fair share of scene-stealing supporting characters. Jon Hamm is both charismatic and sinister in the role of Buddy, and he is paired excellently with general newcomer Eiza González, who shines in a breakout role as his loving partner, Darling. And then there’s Jamie Foxx, who’s full-on crazy but still completely engaging in the role of the craziest member of the gang, Bats. These characters work extremely well off each other, providing excellent backing to Wright’s trademark snappy dialogue. For the record, this isn’t a comedy like Wright’s other films but there are still plenty of humorous moments throughout this film.

Well, it’s safe to say that Edgar Wright’s got another smash hit on his hands with Baby Driver. With thrilling car chase sequences, an excellent ensemble cast, and a kick-ass soundtrack that’s tuned perfectly to everything that happens on screen, Baby Driver proves to be yet another highly entertaining entry in Wright’s steadily growing filmography. Now, of course, as I alluded to earlier, this was Wright’s first big project after his rather unceremonious departure from Ant-Man back in 2014. And as I’ve also noted before, I believe that it’s truly for the best that Wright decided to work on a project like this, where he could have full creative control over the final product, instead of one where he’d have to work under the restrictions of Marvel’s controversial (but thankfully now disbanded) Creative Committee. On that note, yes, this is very much an original film in a summer season full of sequels, remakes, reboots, etc. Thus, if you’re someone who leans more towards these kinds of films, then I’m certain that you’re going to love this film. As for me, I’m not one of those people (Don’t get me wrong, I like watching original films as much as the next person but that doesn’t mean that they’re the only films I’ll watch because I know that nothing is truly ‘original’ anymore; even Edgar Wright has admitted that this story was influenced by films like Point Break and Reservoir Dogs) but I do know a great film when I see one, and this is one of those films. And who better to bring us this electrifying thrill-ride than the guy who brought us a romantic comedy set in a zombie apocalypse and a buddy flick/pub crawl adventure built around an alien invasion?

Rating: 5/5!

Annie (2014) review

Originally, this new adaptation of the 1977 musical ‘Annie’ by Thomas Meehan (which in turn was based on the comic strip ‘Little Orphan Annie’ by Harold Gray) was to star Will Smith’s daughter Willow in the title role of Annie (Smith himself serves a producer on this film alongside his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and Jay-Z). However, Willow ultimately dropped out of the role due to the fact that she was now too old for it. She ended up getting replaced by Quvenzhane Wallis, who was fresh off of becoming the youngest actress in history to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for her work in 2012’s ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’. This film hasn’t been getting a lot of good press recently, though, mainly due to the fact that on November 27^th the film ended up getting leaked online along with a few other unreleased Sony films and the already released ‘Fury’. Thankfully though, because this is a kids film (and with that said hopefully most kids don’t pirate movies off of the internet), it probably won’t impact the film’s performance at the box office too much, especially compared to what happened when ‘The Expendables 3’ got leaked earlier this year. But what of the film itself? Well, I’ve heard some people say that it’s one of the ‘worst of the year’ but after seeing it for myself, I’m not really one of those people. For the record, I’m not saying that this is ‘that good’ of a movie either but ultimately I think that for kids it’s pretty harmless.

Like in the previous adaptations of the story, this film centers on the titular Annie (Quvenzhane Wallis), a young orphan girl living in a foster home in Harlem with her fellow foster sisters under the care of the bitter and cruel alcoholic Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz). While the other foster girls aren’t very optimistic about their chances of getting adopted, Annie is hopeful that one day her parents will return for her. While this is going on, cell phone mogul Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx) is in the middle of trying to run for mayor. However, due to his generally dissenting attitude, he finds that he is unable to maintain a good public image amongst the people of New York. That changes, however, when one day he rescues Annie from getting hit by oncoming traffic. Not only does it go viral but it also boosts his ratings. With the encouragement of his campaign adviser Guy (Bobby Cannavale), Stacks invites Annie to lunch in order to capitalize on the whole situation. But then Annie suggests that Stacks become her temporary guardian as a way to boost his ratings even more. So Stacks agrees and Annie moves into his penthouse and as the two of them start to spend more time together, they start to bond and grow closer.

First, I want to note that at the time I’m writing this, I haven’t seen the original 1982 ‘Annie’ in quite some time (I think I saw the 1999 version as well, but I’m not as sure) so I won’t be comparing this film with its predecessors, which I wouldn’t have done anyway had I recently seen the other films. What I will say about this film is that if you’re not a fan of modern references and overly cheesy ‘family film’ moments, then you’re really going to like this movie as it is chock full of both of those. Still, despite the fact that the film does try a bit too hard in trying to be hip and appeal to newer audiences, there are some legitimately good things about this movie. For one thing, and you can call me sentimental all you want, I do feel that are some genuinely heartwarming moments in this film, primarily due to the relationship between Annie and Stacks which of course is the heart of the story. As for the songs, while I can’t say that all of the new renditions of the classic musical numbers are good, some of them are actually not that bad, namely ‘Maybe’, ‘It’s a Hard Knock Life’, and of course what is arguably the musical’s most iconic song, ‘Tomorrow’.

As far as the cast goes, the two biggest standouts are easily Wallis and Foxx. I haven’t seen ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’ but it is very much clear that Wallis is definitely a genuine screen talent for her age, as she has great amounts of charisma and likability, proving that she really was a good choice for the role of Annie in this new adaptation of the story. Her chemistry with Foxx is really good and you really do see that they are bonding in a ‘father-daughter’ sort of way as Foxx also exhibits a lot of charisma in the ‘Daddy Warbucks’ role. The other main members of the cast, unfortunately, aren’t so lucky. I wouldn’t say it’s their faults as to why this is the way it is as it’s more a case where they didn’t really have much to work with, namely Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale. And then there’s Cameron Diaz and I’m just going to put it out there… I have no idea what is up with her performance in this movie. I mean, I know that the role of Miss Hannigan is supposed to be over-the-top but Diaz tries way too hard to reach those levels of camp, especially in the beginning of the film. Thankfully, this isn’t the case throughout the entire movie as she does dial back the camp factor in the latter half of the film but that doesn’t really excuse what we saw in the first half of the film. Thankfully in the scenes where she’s with Stacks, Jamie Foxx perfectly personifies our own thoughts on what is going on with her performance.  

All in all, I’ll say this about this new version of ‘Annie’. I’m not saying that it’s technically a ‘good’ film as there are some noticeable big problems with it, namely that it does try too hard to appeal to modern audiences (that and Cameron Diaz’ questionable choices in her performance as Miss Hannigan). Still, despite all of that, I do feel that there are some truly good things about this movie. Some of the new renditions of the songs are pretty good, Quvenzhane Wallis and Jamie Foxx both do pretty good jobs and work off each other well, and there are some genuinely touching and emotionally poignant moments in regards to the relationship between Annie and Stacks. Ultimately, I’m not the target audience for this film as it is geared towards kids and as such, I don’t think that there’s really anything in this film that’s necessarily bad for kids. And really, considering that this year has been rather lacking in terms of ‘family films’, this is a nice little bit of fresh air after all of the much more mature films that we’ve seen this year. I have the feeling that kids will like this new take on this famous story okay. But as for the parents, there really isn’t much for you here. Still, as far as family films go, I’ve seen worse.

Rating: 2.5/5

Horrible Bosses 2 (2014) review

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; 2011, while not really the best year when it came to movies, did have both some surprises and some surprise hits. One that fell into the latter group was the comedy ‘Horrible Bosses’, in which Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day starred as a trio of friends who conspired to kill their titular ‘Horrible Bosses’ when they found that they were unsatisfied with their current job statuses. I didn’t see it when it first came out but I did end up getting it on Blu-Ray and I watched it before seeing the sequel. Overall I can’t say that it’s one of my all-time favorite comedies but it did have quite a good amount of laughs, which mostly stemmed from the fact that the three main characters were, to put it bluntly, a bunch of idiots. Korey Coleman from DoubleToasted.com (formerly Spill.com) said it best when he noted that this is pretty much the closest that we might ever get to a modern-day Three Stooges movie and sure enough that’s exactly what the first ‘Horrible Bosses’ was. So now we have ‘Horrible Bosses 2’, with the majority of the main cast from the first movie (save for one, whose identity I won’t spoil for those who haven’t seen the first film) returning albeit now under a different director, with Sean Anders taking over for Seth Gordon. And overall, while I can’t say that ‘Horrible Bosses 2’ is the absolute best comedy of this year, or that it’s even better than the first film, I will say that it does have a decent amount of laughs primarily thanks to the camaraderie of its cast.

After spending most of their careers working for terrible bosses, best friends Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman), Dale Arbus (Charlie Day), and Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudekis) decide to start up their own business so that they can be their own bosses. They come up with an idea for a car wash inspired shower product which they call the ‘Shower Buddy’ and they agree to a manufacturing deal with investor Burt Hanson (Christoph Waltz). However, after the trio take out a business loan in order to produce the 500,000 units that were asked for in the deal, Burt suddenly backs out of their deal as he plans to take all of their inventory and sell it himself. Now facing a huge debt as a result of their loan, the trio look to find a way to save their company. After what they went through in the first movie trying to kill their old bosses, they decide to resort to kidnapping as they plan to kidnap Burt’s son Rex (Chris Pine) and hold him hostage for ransom. But after their first kidnap attempt, they suddenly find that Rex is very eager to help them get revenge on his dad because of the strained relationship they’ve currently been having. Though hesitant at first, they accept his help as they all plan to get back at Burt but as in the last movie, things really don’t end up going as well as they plan.

Now ‘Horrible Bosses 2’ does commit the same mistake that most comedy sequels do; instead of trying something different, it’s mostly just the same general beats from the first movie (what I’m guessing studios like to call what they think is a ‘tried and tested’ formula). There are some very, very minor differences like how in this one the trio is doing a kidnapping instead of murdering their adversaries and how one of their adversaries ends up helping them, but for the most part the film maintains a fairly similar structure to the first film in terms of its plot. Still, despite that, the film still has a fairly decent amount of laughs. I didn’t really think there was any major laugh-out-loud moment like there was in the first film (like when Dale tries to save one of the trio’s bosses when he is affected by a peanut allergy) but overall this sequel still had its fair share of laughs. Like the first film, it is due to the pure stupidity of the main characters of Nick, Kurt, and Dale. I mean when you really get down to it, these three just have no idea what they’re doing. And that’s really what makes these films so funny is how we see them constantly screw up in their plans, from forgetting to do something because they get distracted to revealing something that they didn’t want anyone else to know. As noted earlier, they’re the modern-day ‘Three Stooges’.

Once again, this film primarily succeeds thanks to the great camaraderie between the three leads; Bateman, Day, and Sudekis. They do work off each other incredibly well even if when these three characters are together you know they’re going to do a lot of really, really dumb things and also sometimes they ramble over each other to the point where sometimes you have no idea what they’re saying. Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Spacey also reprise their roles as Dale and Nick’s former bosses Dr. Julia Harris and Dave Harken, respectively, as does Jamie Foxx as Motherf***er Jones and they all have their own memorable moments in their fairly brief bits of screen-time. Of the new cast additions, the biggest standout is easily Chris Pine. Pine showcases some excellent comedic chops (which I do think we saw bits and pieces of from his work in the recent ‘Star Trek’ films) and he also works well off of the three leads just as much as they do with each other. Still, some of the new additions to the cast unfortunately are wasted in this, namely Christoph Waltz and Jonathan Banks (AKA Breaking Bad’s Mike Ehrmantraut), the latter of whom plays the detective working the ‘case’ of Rex’s kidnapping. That’s basically due to the fact that because the film focuses so much on the lead trio and Pine, Waltz and Banks don’t get much to work with here.

Like with many comedy sequels, ‘Horrible Bosses 2’ doesn’t really do much new when compared to the first film. It’s basically the same plot just with a slight few differences. Still, as far as the comedy sequels that do copy the same plot of their predecessors go, this is one of the better ones of that group even if it isn’t self-aware of this fact like ‘22 Jump Street’ was earlier this year. No, it’s not the funniest film of the year and I can’t even say it’s better than the first film. Still, it does manage to get by thanks to the whole scenario of the stupid actions committed by the three lead characters and the excellent camaraderie amongst the three main leads in Jason Bateman, Jason Sudekis, and Charlie Day. Ultimately, I feel that whether or not you do like this movie may depend on what you thought of the first film, seeing how this is basically the same general movie. It was a solid hit commercially but I am aware of some criticizing it for some mean-spirited (racist, homophobic, etc.) jokes and yeah there are definitely some jokes of that nature in both of these movies. Despite this, I did like the first ‘Horrible Bosses’ and ultimately I did like ‘Horrible Bosses 2’ even if this film does rehash a lot of bits from the first film. So if you did like the first film, I bet you’ll like this one too.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) review

Like many others, I was fairly hesitant about 2012’s ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’, the first in a new reboot series immediately following in the wake of director Sam Raimi’s decision not to return for a fourth ‘Spider-Man’ film. It was just five years since Raimi’s last Spider-Man film, ‘Spider-Man 3’, and although that film wasn’t as well-received as the two that came before it, I have the feeling that many people were still looking to give the franchise another chance… but that ‘second chance’ never came because of what we can pretty much now refer to as the ‘quickest reboot ever’. But, I was very much surprised to find that I really enjoyed ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’, more so than I did with two of Raimi’s films (a trilogy of films that, for the record, I still do really like). Sure, the film had the obligatory disadvantage of having to retell the origin story of Peter Parker all over again but the main reason why I enjoyed it so much was because I really found myself emotionally invested in the characters, particularly this series’ takes on Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, who formed one of the best superhero film couples of all time. So now, with the origin story out of the way, the filmmakers are now allowed to go a different path than what we’ve seen before from this franchise.

And that brings us to the first sequel, ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’. Now, sometime ago I had listed this film as my most anticipated film of 2014, and there were a few main reasons as to why I was more excited for this over something like ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ or ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. While I’m not a comic-book reader, I find that my favorite comic book superhero is Spider-Man, a character that directly appealed to the underdogs, which made him a very relatable character even with his superpowers. Plus, I really got excited for the film after watching a leaked video of the Comic-Con trailer and of course, the official trailers continued to get me pumped for it. But, with all of this anticipation, there soon began to emerge a lot of doubt and worry surrounding the ‘scope’ of the film and whether or not the film was getting to be way too overcrowded. That has certainly been a key topic for debate amongst the critics who have reviewed the film because, according to Rotten Tomatoes, it is currently the lowest rated film in the entire franchise at 55% (at the time I’m writing this). Well, to those 45% of critics who didn’t really like the film that much, I say this… prepare to disagree with what I have to say about this film because this, ladies and gentlemen, was the Spider-Man film that I have been waiting for and one that delivered on so many levels.

Taking place sometime after the events of the first film, Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) has continued to fight crime in the city of New York as the masked superhero Spider-Man. However, at the same time, he finds himself struggling to deal with his romantic feelings towards Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), having promised her father, Captain George Stacy (Denis Leary, who briefly reprises his role for this film as a ‘ghostly vision’), before he died that he would ‘keep Gwen out of it’. As Peter tries to figure out what to do about their relationship, he soon finds himself facing off against a new enemy; Electro (Jamie Foxx), formerly a mild-mannered engineer at Oscorp named Max Dillon who idolizes Spider-Man after he is saved by him, obtaining his powers after falling into a tank of electric eels. Things get a bit more complicated when Peter’s childhood friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) returns to take over Oscorp in the wake of his father’s death as Peter continues to discover some of the company’s darkest secrets, some of which connect back to the disappearance and death of his parents and some of the things that his father was working on.

I’m going to start by addressing the key aspect of the film that everyone’s been worried about with the following statement; folks, this film isn’t as ‘bloated’ as you may think. While watching the film, I found myself wondering why a lot of people were saying that this film is ‘overcrowded’ because aside from one or two characters who felt like unnecessary additions and were only in there just because they played major roles in the comics (though if you don’t know who they are, you’d never tell they were important because they’re only in a few scenes), it really isn’t. The marketing may be promoting that Spider-Man is facing three villains, but at the end of the day, Electro is still the main villain. The Green Goblin only comes into play in the final battle and Rhino (Paul Giamatti) is only in the film for a few minutes. The film still focuses enough of its attention on the main characters (e.g. Peter and Gwen and their relationship) and you can at least see that the filmmakers are looking to expand the universe more, and I do like the ideas that they are going with for future films, specifically that ‘Sinister Six’ spin-off movie that they are planning to do.

But, for the record, the whole ‘universe building’ idea actually isn’t that much of a factor in regards to this film’s overall story. Remember how in the first film that the whole subplot of Peter’s parents that was basically the main focus of the marketing and yet the final film really didn’t do much with that? Well, it’s sort of the same scenario here with the whole ‘universe’. They don’t really go into it much until the very end of the film, to the point where it’s sort of an afterthought. Believe it or not, this film’s story is actually really self-contained up until the end when they are like “hey folks, here’s what we have in mind for the future films in the franchise”. It makes you wonder what exactly goes on in the editing room for these (one of this film’s editors was also an editor on the last film) because I have the feeling that there were definitely some scenes that were cut (That scene in the trailers where Harry tells Peter that Oscorp had him under surveillance? Not in the film.), meaning that both of these films are cases where there was more to their stories, but in both cases, certain scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.

But on a more positive note, I really have to hand it to Marc Webb because the direction here is excellent. I find this to be similar to how Christopher Nolan went from ‘Batman Begins’ to ‘The Dark Knight’ in that in both cases, these two directors had never really done action films before when they did their first films in their respective franchises. By the time that they got to their second superhero film, they were much more confident in their direction than they were the first time around, which really shows in the final product. Webb did a really solid job with the first film, and in many ways, this film is even better. The action is fantastic; it’s some of the best I’ve ever seen in any superhero film. The visuals, especially in regards to all of the scenes where Spider-Man is swinging around, are top-notch. The film also has a really nice tone to it; the first film was a bit more serious in tone (which didn’t really fly well with some people, but I thought it worked pretty well for that film), whereas this one is much more lighthearted and full of great humor. I’ve heard some say that it goes into ‘Schumacher Batman’ territory at some points, but aside from one questionable line of dialogue from Electro (“It’s my birthday, now it’s time to light my candles”), it’s like the whole ‘overcrowding’ thing in that I just don’t really see the connection.

Equally terrific here, just like in the previous film, is the cast. With this film, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone prove that they are the definitive Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy of the film franchise, respectively. Garfield is once again fantastic as Peter/Spidey, still maintaining the proper wisecracking personality of the character as he done so well in the first film; in fact, I’d say he’s even better here. Stone is also fantastic as well, and the chemistry between the two is just as great as it was in the previous film, even if their relationship does go into the ‘on again, off again’ territory for a lot of the film. But, when a key scene happens (which you probably already knew about seeing how the marketing (and the spoilerific internet, for that matter) have pretty much given it away), it is handled really well and I’ll admit that I was fighting back tears when it happened. Dane DeHaan is also a major standout in this film as Harry Osborn, providing an interesting and a bit more sinister take on the character compared to the Harry from the Raimi films. As the main villain, Jamie Foxx does a pretty darn good job as Electro. I liked his backstory, which helped make him a pretty sympathetic villain (Spider-Man films have a pretty solid track record when it comes to those kind of villains).

‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ is the Spider-Man film that I have waiting to see for quite some time and it did not disappoint. While this film’s supposed ‘bloated’ nature has been heavily debated by many people, the final film actually isn’t as crowded as you think even if some characters were rather unnecessarily added in and, at the same time, a bit underutilized. Sure, the whole ‘universe building’ they’re planning to do wasn’t really delved into that much with this film, but as a whole, I’m still really excited to see what they are going to do next (especially considering the ‘Sinister Six’ movie they plan on doing, which is certainly teased at in this film). This film features incredible action and visuals, excellent humor, and a terrific cast from top to bottom. No, I don’t think that this movie is ‘perfect’, but for what’s it worth, it’s a very entertaining and well-made superhero film. This is definitely one of those cases where I’d say that this film is much better than what some critics are saying. It’s one that I highly recommend.

Rating: 4.5/5

Olympus Has Fallen vs. White House Down

Earlier this year, I did a post where I talked about the ‘copycat films’ trend that has been happening in Hollywood over the last few years, where two films that have almost exactly the same premise come out the same year. At the end of that post, I briefly talked about the two ‘copycat films’ that were released this year, which were both centered around invasions at the White House: Antoine Fuqua’s ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ and Roland Emmerich’s ‘White House Down’.  Not only do both films revolve around a takeover of the White House by terrorists, but they also feature a John McClane like character who saves the day a la ‘Die Hard’. Since that post was published, both of these films have hit theaters and I have seen both of them, so now it’s time to discuss these two films and possibly decide which one is the better film.

OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN

‘Olympus Has Fallen’ sort of took me for surprise. When comparing these two films, ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ is far more intense, not just because of the fact that this movie was rated R compared to White House Down’s more audience-friendly PG-13 rating; a serious tone is maintained throughout the entire course of the film. In a way, it works and in some ways it doesn’t. With a premise like this, it seems like everyone involved in this film was taking it a little too seriously because let’s face it; this is sort of a silly premise. While that is sort of a flaw, the main character Mike Banning surprisingly has a good amount of depth to him. He was once a member of the President’s Secret Service, but left the job after an incident that resulted in the death of the First Lady. For the record, both of these films’ leads are in a similar situation; they’re trying to turn their lives around and they ultimately do… by saving the President in the process. In the case of this movie, it’s less cliché than in ‘White House Down’ (more on that in a bit). On that note, the best thing about this whole movie is Gerald Butler’s performance in the lead role. To put it simply, these kinds of movies are the ones where he’s at his best. The rest of the cast does a fine job as well and in the end, while ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ takes itself a bit too seriously, it’s still pretty entertaining.

Rating: 3.5/5

WHITE HOUSE DOWN

Right off the bat, the key difference between these two movies is their overall tone. ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ was more serious while ‘White House Down’ doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s more lighthearted and in this one, the President even gets involved in the action. However, this film ends up being even more cliché than ‘Olympus’. This film doesn’t pull many surprises. One cliché in particular that I’m getting rather sick of is the ‘deadbeat dad’ plotline… mainly because it’s been in most of director Roland Emmerich’s movies (‘2012’, ‘Independence Day’, ‘The Day After Tomorrow’, etc…). On the bright side, like with ‘Olympus’, this film benefits from the performances from its leads; in this case, Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx. The two work off each other very well, which helps to ease the tension during some of this film’s more intense moments. All in all, they help make this movie entertaining despite its flaws; most of which stem from the writing.

Rating: 3.5/5

How these two films fared:

As far as critical reception was concerned, both of these films received rather mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, ‘White House Down’ has the better ratings (50%), but just by 2% over ‘Olympus Has Fallen’. The former also earned more at the box office (over $200 million), which may have been because of the film’s summer release date (the latter was released in March). However, with a budget of $150 million, it’s considered to be a bit of a flop. Meanwhile, ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ grossed more than twice its budget (which was a more modest $70 million) and a sequel is currently in development that will take place in London.

Overall winner:

This is a tough one because, as shown by my ratings for these two films, I’m not really sure if one of these films is better than the other. Neither is particularly original, so it all depends on the way each film is executed. From a writing standpoint, ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ has a better developed lead character while ‘White House Down’ is full of clichés. However, I’d say ‘White House Down’ was more entertaining. ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ was surprisingly very intense, but it felt like it was taking itself way too seriously. ‘White House Down’ is a more straight-forward popcorn flick. So in the end, I’ll give the slight edge to ‘White House Down’ but for the record, I do think both of these films are pretty entertaining. It just depends on what you’re looking for; a super-intense action thriller, or a more light-hearted one.