A Lost Alien Crosses Paths with a Lonely Senior

Jane Curtin, Harriet Sansom Harris, Ben
Kingsley, and Jade Quon in "Jules"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

When it comes to movies about aliens visiting our planet, one of the definitive films to focus on that is Steve Spielberg’s masterful “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”  Telling the story of an alien befriending an alienated boy, Elliot, it was a humorous and deeply poignant story that showed a wonderful metaphor for their journey of trying to reach their loved ones, whether it be literal in E.T.’s sense, or figurative in Elliot’s.

It’s impossible for think of something coming close to what Spielberg has done on an emotional level.  But, if a movie from today handles a story like that, we can’t hold it up against the standard of what Spielberg accomplished.  I mean, it’s Spielberg; he’s on a whole other level.  However, if you want a sweet, low-key movie that features humans interacting with an otherworldly visitor, you’ll get that with director Marc Turtletaub’s “Jules.”

In a small-town suburb, Milton Robinson (Ben Kingsley) is a 79-year-old widower who lives alone, going through his life attending town meetings and doing household chores.  One night, an alien (Jade Quon) crashes in his yard.  Realizing that the alien doesn’t mean any harm, Milton and his friends decide to name him Jules and help him find what he needs to get back home.

Kingsley gives a wonderful performance as a man who just wants to not be ignored by the community because of his age.  Visiting town hall meetings week after week, Kingsley shows his character’s love for his community, always making the same suggestions, but being shrugged off by the officials.  There’s a loving nature to his performance as he houses Jules and experiences a connection that’s been lost with other citizens in his elderly age.  Kingsley creates an endearing character who isn’t a get-off-my-lawn caricature, but is instead someone who’s trying to maintain old bonds that he seems to be losing, while also embracing the new ones that appear in his life.

Accompanying Kingsley are some humorous and warm supporting performances from Jane Curtin and Harriet Sansom Harris as Melvin’s friends, Joyce and Sandy, respectively.  They have great chemistry with Kingsley, be it comical or emotional, and they’re all great to watch together as they help their intergalactic visitor.  Meanwhile, Quon gives a terrific performance where her character doesn’t have any dialogue, so she must use her body movements and facial expressions to show Jules trying to absorb the details his strange new environment.  It’s an engaging performance as you see him try to grasp aspects of human life, and then eventually understand what he examines. 

The screenplay by Gavin Steckler hinders from time to time with an awakened tonal shift, but other than that, it manages to be an unexpectedly moving look at aging and needing to connect when it seems like others are brushing you aside.  There are affecting layers to the characters that aren’t overplayed for emotional impact, but rather feel organic in how they’re portrayed.  Aside from that, there are a couple of instances where the story evades our expectations when it comes to what might be focused on in terms of plot strands, showing that even though this type of story seems familiar, it still has some other things in mind in terms of what to expect, or not expect.  Excluding the occasional odd change in tone, there are other instances where the film’s subversion of expectations ends up helping the narrative leave an impact, which makes this movie a little deeper than you’d believe.

Turtletaub handled emotional isolation in his 2018 drama, “Puzzle.”  Just as he did with that film, he looks at a person’s need to connect without making it cloying.  He does it in such a way that exudes a feeling of warmth as you view the characters when they handle loneliness and try to create bonds with others.  This is a small-scale story, but Turtletaub gets equal amounts of humor and emotion out of the narrative and manages to get things back on track in between the couple of awkward tonal shifts.

With its look at growing older and the importance of maintaining relationships later in life, “Jules” is a heart-warmer that shows how, sometimes, some of the strongest connections are the ones between totally different beings.

Grade: A-

From the Sewers and Up to the City, Four Turtles Leave Their Shells

From left: April O'Neil (Ayo Edebiri), 
Donatello (Micah Abbey), Raphael (Brady Noon),
Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.),
and Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu) in 
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 
Mutant Mayhem"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

Growing up, I wasn’t a fan of the Ninja Turtles, which started as a comic from Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, and then branched out into other forms of media.  Not that I found anything wrong with them, but when you’re a kid, there are so many cartoon characters trying to get your attention, that the famous crime-fighting turtles didn’t quite break through to me.  Despite learning a few details of the TV shows and movies over the years, I haven’t seen any of them.  Although I never felt out of touch not being interested in them, it was fun having a recent opportunity to see on what I missed out.

That chance came with director Jeff Rowe’s kinetic animated film, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.”  With fun characters, stellar animation, and clever humor, this is a movie that can be enjoyed by adults every bit as much as children.

In New York City, ninja turtles Donatello (Micah Abbey), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.), Leonardo (Nicholas Cantu), and Raphael (Brady Noon) have been living in the sewers with their mentor and guardian, Splinter (Jackie Chan).  Having lived underground their whole lives, the turtles set out to accomplish acts of heroism, while still trying to be seen as normal teenagers.  When an evil mutant known as Superfly (Ice Cube) and his fellow mutants threaten to destroy the city, it’ll be up to the turtles to bring them to justice.

The voice cast for the turtles exhibits a wonderful dynamic, and it helps that the film cast teenagers in the roles, unlike the other movies.  Not only do they obviously sound like teenagers, but they also have dialogue that sounds like what a teenager would say, and the four voice actors go through their interactions with an energy that exhibits how much their characters have come to bond over the years that they’ve spent together.  This absorbs you in their adventurous spirit as they travel the city streets and do what they can to protect its citizens.  Aside from their humorous banter, they also provide some poignancy as they think about how they want more out of life after spending most of their time in hiding.  This provides the film with some heartfelt moments that show how this movie does what it can to make sure it isn’t an emotionally empty rehash of a well-known cartoon, but something that has something a little more to offer.

Other than the turtles, there are many great supporting characters, when many of them share the screen and only get a couple of words in at a time.  Ayo Edebiri gives a witty performance as high-school journalist April O’Neil; Jackie Chan provides terrific work as Splinter; and, Ice Cube exhibits a humorous tough-guy persona as Superfly.  Then, there’s Superfly’s gang, which includes John Cena as Rocksteady, Seth Rogen as Bebop, Rose Byrne as Leatherhead, Natasha Demetriou as Wingnut, Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko, Post Malone as Ray Fillet, and Hannibal Buress as Genghis Frog.  Just like the fun chemistry that’s seen amongst the turtles, the same thing happens with Superfly and his crew as they populate the screen and offer an abundance of laughs with their personalities.

What’s great about the screenplay by Jeff Rowe, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit is that, despite having several writers, everything coalesces and doesn’t feel like several ideas cobbled together.  Although the turtles are familiar characters to many people, the narrative spends plenty of time setting them up and showing a care for how their presented, establishing their connections to each other, to Splinter, and the above-ground world in which they long for acceptance.  There are some nice emotional beats as the turtles show how much they care for each other, but also want to leave their home and get to know others.  Once the turtles meet the other mutants, we get enough time to see the turtles interact with Superfly and his crew, having the turtles go through a conflict of trying to choose between siding with the mutants who accept them, or protecting the humans who see the turtles as menaces.  What’s more is that, even though this is a children’s movie, there’s clever humor that audiences of all ages can enjoy, humor that also has just the right amount of Rogen’s edginess.  Although the villain’s motivation is something we’ve seen a couple of times before, there’s still a lot to like in the story.

As a director, Rowe works with animation that has a sort of griminess to it that emphasizes the rough nature of the city in which the turtles live.  Not only is it superbly detailed, but it also does great work in blending 2D and 3D animation, especially for the 3D design of the turtles.  With this animation, these well-known characters are presented in a whole new way that reinvigorates the mythology of Eastman and Laird’s creations.  There’s a significant amount of energy to the fight scenes, employing inventive visuals that burst off of the screen as the turtles take action to save their city.  The fight sequences are backed up by a thrilling score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, heightening the excitement as the creative designs of the characters and settings fill up the screen and immerse you in this new interpretation of the TMNTs.

Given how often these characters have appeared in television and film over the last few decades, the fact that this movie does whatever it can to seem fresh is one of the best cinematic treats of the summer.  Whether you’re already a fan of these characters or are experiencing them for the first time, you’re sure to have fun exploring the city with this crime-fighting quartet.

Grade: A-

Out of the Dream House and Into Reality

Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie in
"Barbie"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

When it comes to making movies that are based on toys, there’s always the risk that the film will just come off as a cheap way to market those products to moviegoers.  Warner Bros. has proved to have the magic touch when it comes to these types of things.  They had lots of luck with “The Lego Movie” and “The Lego Batman Movie,” giving us two films that managed to not be soulless toy commercials, but rather creative and beautifully animated adventures that offered a whole lot of fun.  Even “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,” despite being a box-office disappointment, was still a critical success.  

The WB studio has now taken another enormously successful toy brand and made it into a flashy, splashy comedy with director Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.”  Boasting enjoyable performances, a heartwarming story, and rich production design, this is a movie that’s guaranteed to offer a good time.

Barbie (Margot Robbie) lives an ideal life in Barbieland with all of the other Barbies and Kens.  When she begins to have thoughts that she never had, an existential crisis has her and Ken (Ryan Gosling) travel to the real world to figure out their further purpose in life.

Robbie absolutely flies with a role that was tailor-made for her.  When we’re introduced to her, Robbie gives her character an endless sense of radiance as she goes about her daily life, waving to and greeting her friends with a nothing-can-go-wrong attitude.  While Robbie maintains her character’s humorous side throughout the film, some of her most memorable work in the film comes in her scenes where she begins to have experiences where she feels human for the first time.  There’s a beautifully bittersweet moment as Barbie sits in a park and watches those around her, seeing people display different emotions and making her feel them for the first time.  There are other moments like this towards the end of the film, so I won’t say much to give anything way, but I’ll say it’s material that Robbie presents in an understatedly emotional way that paints her portrayal of Barbie as more than just a globally recognized doll, but a character who’s something approaching desperately human.

Gosling gives a hilarious performance as the arrogant, dimwitted, eager-to-impress Ken.  It’s a role that continues to show Gosling’s every bit as superb at comedy as he is in drama.  With pretty much his only other two comedic performances having been from “Crazy, Stupid, Love” and “The Nice Guys,” his work here will hopefully give him more laugh-out-loud work.  One of Gosling’s finest moments in the film, and possibly his career thus far, is his performance of the film’s original song “I’m Just Ken,” where Ken grapples with his own existential crisis.  Although Robbie’s fantastic in her role, Gosling’s the main source of laughs in the film, relishing every scene in which he appears and delivering bursts of witty energy that we rarely see from him, but will hopefully see more of after what he accomplishes with this performance. 

In the film’s huge supporting cast, the standouts include Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie, the reclusive figure of Barbieland who gets Barbie started on her journey, and Michael Cera as Ken’s friend, Allan.  However, the real standout comes from Rhea Perlman as the spirit of Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie.  Although she only has a couple of scenes in the film, there’s a great sense of warmth that comes from her screen time with Robbie, helping Barbie gain an understanding of the real world and figure out what she wants out life.

The screenplay by Gerwig and husband Noah Baumbach tends to go between cleverness and heavy-handedness with the handling of its message about the roles of men and women in Barbieland versus the real world.  However, when it comes to the material about Barbie trying to determine the newfound complexity of her life, that’s where a lot of the emotion takes center stage.  Because of this, the sequence in the park and the couple of scenes between Barbie and Ruth Handler are some of the best portions of the film.  It’s these moments in particular where you really see how Gerwig and Baumbach didn’t choose to just rely on audiences’ nostalgia for Barbie, but instead wanted to honor the time that people have enjoyed with these dolls and give those characters something meaningful to say.  Both Barbie and Ken deal with their existential dilemmas in their own way, with Barbie’s going a more emotional route, and Ken’s going the more comedic route, but the way in which the writers have both journeys coalesce in the end really pays off.   

As screenwriters, it’s more than clear that the duo did their research when it comes to all of the different kinds of Barbies and Kens that they include.  With the many versions of Barbie and Ken, as well as lesser-known characters in the Barbie universe, there are plenty of fun interactions between the individuals of that world as they engage in an abundance of witty dialogue that opens the audiences to how these characters mingle during their squeaky-clean day-to-day lives.

Just as how Gerwig and Baumbach make sure to do right by the well-known characters that they present, Gerwig puts in just as much effort when it comes to exhibiting her vision of Barbieland.  Working with set designer Sarah Greenwood and set decorator Katie Spencer, they give the sets a plastic look that calls to mind the textures of typical Barbie accessories and dream houses.  The use of these sets immerses the viewer into entertaining scenarios of which they could’ve only thought while playing with their toys when they were younger, but can now see that imagination projected on screen.  And, the costumes from Jacqueline Durran, who worked with Gerwig on her previous film, “Little Women,” makes sure that no two Barbies or Kens are dressed the same.  The colors pop as the characters make their way across the screen, and you try to scan the frames as much as you can to catch all of the details of the clothing.

From an indie production like “Lady Bird” to a lavish production like “Little Women” to a big-budget production like “Barbie,” Gerwig displays a filmmaking ambition where she wishes to challenge herself with each movie.  Whatever she does next, the possibilities are as sunny as a day in Barbieland.

Grade: A-

After Contacting the Dead, a Group of Teens Must Face the Horror at Hand

Sophie Wilde in "Talk to Me"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

When it comes to horror storytelling, the concept of campfire tales or urban legends is an enticing part of the genre.  Given how every culture has their own selection of such stories, there’s a wealth of horror to be had across different backgrounds.

A new horror release that has a campfire/urban legend quality to it is the Australian film, “Talk to Me,” from directors Danny and Michael Philippou, which marks their feature-filmmaking debut.  With an intriguing angle and some very effective scares, this is a chiller that will satiate your horror hunger as we go through the back half of summer.

Mia (Sophie Wilde) is a high-school student who’s still trying to handle the loss of her mother from two years ago.  While at a party, she and her friends use an embalmed hand that has the ability to contact supernatural forces.  When their experiment goes too far, they’ll be faced with a terror they never could’ve imagined.

Wilde gives a terrific breakout performance as someone who’s life is upended by horrors from another realm.  Wilde has a superb naturalism about her as she interacts with her costars, bringing us a character who’ll make us care for her and then fear for her safety when she makes contact with the dead.  Throughout the film, she brings across the sense of loss that Mia’s experiencing, while also showing someone who loves to have a good time with her friends in the first third of the movie before the spirits appear and wreak havoc.  Wilde gives Mia a personality that’s both emotional and fun-loving, helping us become invested in her life as she goes from trying to get over a painful loss to enjoying time with her friends to going through an existence invaded by malevolent forces.  Wilde exhibits a well-rounded character who’s both flawed and brave, bringing to life a horror protagonist who must save her loved ones from the unthinkable.

While the screenplay by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman falters a bit in the last half hour when the rules become a tad murky as to how the spectral forces work, the story nevertheless offers an eerie setup for what becomes a frightening descent into spiritual terror.  Before they bring us the scares that soon permeate the characters’ lives, Philippou and Hinzman take time to build up the emotional stakes as we get to learn about Mia and the relationships that she has with her father and friends.  We only get a small look at the possibilities of the mysterious hand when the friends first use it, but once we get about a third of the way through and the friends continue using it, it’s then that Philippou and Hinzman really show us the horrific heights that the cursed object can go.  And, as we learn a little more about Mia and her background as we go on, the screenwriters imbue their story with some clever symbolism and foreshadowing that show how much thought went into this film in between the scares, offering some depth to the overall horror experience and adding layers as to what the characters are going through emotionally.

One of the best things that a modern horror movie can do these days in the midst of CGI overload is utilize practical effects, and this one sure knows how to make them effective.  This is done the best when it comes to the makeup.  The appearances of the spirits when they breach the world of the living will make you squirm in disgust, but also recoil in fright as they haunt the characters and become more menacing as the film goes on.  With this being the Philippous’ first movie, it’s amazing to see what they’re able to pull off with practical effects, and this shows how committed they are to going the more challenging route in order to make things seem more real.

The Philippous also offer some great jump scares and sound design.  By doing so, they nail the otherworldly atmosphere as it seeps into the natural world, creating a strong sense of dread as the spirits become more threatening as the film goes on.  When it comes to the scenes of possession early in the movie, the Philippous make you feel the twisted sense of fun that the friends have as they record each person when they’re under the influence of evil, while also making you tense up at the danger with which Mia and her friends are playing.  The directors strike an enjoyable, yet ominous tone during these scenes, and then give you the full force of the terror at the film’s turning point when the hand’s disturbing nature becomes much more potent.

If you’re looking for a horror movie to add some scares to your late-summer moviegoing, “Talk to Me” will grab you by the hand and pull you there.

Grade: A-

From World War II America, a Real-Life Prometheus

Cillian Murphy in "Oppenheimer"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

As we’ve seen over the years with writer-director Christopher Nolan, he’s one to do things the hard way.  Being rightfully obsessive about his filmmaking craft, such as shooting on film and emphasizing practical effects over CGI whenever possible, you can view him as a strict, determined genius who knows what he wants and goes for it, no matter how challenging the process may be.

This background of his is what makes him the perfect fit for his latest film, the biographical epic “Oppenheimer.”  Focusing on the intense commitment that the title character has with bringing his scientific vision to the forefront, Nolan does the same with bringing Oppenheimer’s story to the big screen, in what amounts to one of the director’s biggest achievements yet.

The story follows J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), a theoretical physical who spearheads the development of atomic weapons during World War II.

Murphy has appeared in several of Nolan’s films in supporting roles, but now, he’s given the chance to be front and center in the biggest role of his career, thus far.  In the part, Murphy displays his character’s deep intellect in regards to the possibilities of his scientific field.  He first exhibits someone who starts out as seeming to be really unsure of himself, only to then realize of what his mind is capable.  He presents a mind that’s racing to make his ideas come forward; however, as the film goes on and he comes closer to seeing his scientific possibilities show their potential, we see an individual who then must come to terms with the destructive ripples that’s he’s placed at that point in history.  As Oppenheimer grapples with the morals of his work later in the story, Murphy really goes deep into the psychological complications that his character faces, using his gaunt features whose expressions leave lasting impressions on the viewer.  While that’s true in the Los Alamos storyline, it comes even more into focus in the 1954 and 1959 plot threads.  In this two segments, especially in 1954, Murphy shows a tense Oppenheimer as he’s questioned by those around him, trying to justify his actions but also establish regulations of such destructive weapons.  There’s a rich complexity to Oppenheimer as the effects of his invention become more and more apparent to him, and Murphy displays that inner turmoil right up to the shattering closing minutes.

While the film is loaded with terrific supporting performances, the standout is Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a senior member of the United States Atomic Energy Commission.  After Downey Jr. spent many years in the Marvel Studios movies, this is a role that reminds us that he’s a legitimate actor.  He shows his character’s obsessiveness with destroying Oppenheimer’s credibility and accusing him as a communist.  He brings across Strauss’ vindictiveness, which becomes more evident as the film goes on, and the strength of this performance speaks to what kind of work Downey will be further capable of now that’s free of the Iron Man shackles.

As for the rest of the supporting cast, there are many others who get to make an impression in Nolan’s historical tapestry.  There’s Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s wife, Katherine; Matt Damon as General Leslie Groves, the director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory; Florence Pugh as psychiatrist Jean Tatlock; Josh Hartnett at nuclear physicist Ernest Lawrence; Benny Safdie as theoretical physicist Edward Teller; and David Krumholtz as physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi.  Trust me, this is just naming a few.  The gift of the cast is, even if someone’s only given five minutes of screen time, each cast member makes the absolute most out of their appearance.

The screenplay by Nolan, which is based on Kai Bard and Martin K. Sherwin’s 2005 biography, “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” manages three storylines, one involving the making of the bomb in Los Alamos, another involving Oppenheimer’s security hearing in 1954, and Strauss’ confirmation hearing in 1959.  All three storylines are equally compelling, and with this film being three hours (Nolan’s longest to date), each story’s given enough time for us to view each of these chapters of Oppenheimer’s life.  The Los Alamos storyline provides an in-depth look into what led to the idea of creating the bomb and the work that went into building and securing it.  We’re given a view into the massive scale of this event, and with many character’s sharing the screen, we see a meeting of minds that show how many people and factors were involved in having the Manhattan Project got through.  With the story involving Oppenheimer’s hearing, we shift into something that gives a stricter focus on Oppenheimer himself as he’s in a boardroom answering questions, offering us an even further insight into his psyche as he recounts his actions.  For the story concerning Strauss’ confirmation hearing, we’re provided with a look into the tension between him and Oppenheimer, a plot thread that turns a friendship into a rivalry as the animosity boils over and impacts both of their lives.  In all three storylines, Nolan shapes some his finest dialogue to date, maintaining an abundance of tension as the plot develops and never loses its pace.

Nolan re-teams with cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, who worked with the director on his last three movies, “Interstellar,” “Dunkirk,” and “Tenet.”  While those films dealt with big set pieces involving space exploration, war, and time travel respectively, van Hoytema manages to bring that epic scope to a film that garners much of its tension purely from the dialogue.  He offers just as much grand imagery as he does with his other Nolan films, displaying how a sense of scale can be brought to a movie whose bulk of runtime takes place in labs, classrooms, and committee hearings.  Aside from this, van Hoytema gives us some of the most chilling imagery that’s ever been seen in a Nolan movie, leaning into the uncertainty and horror that were felt both in discovering unknown territories of atomic weapons and the implications afterwards.  

Just as we saw with editor Dody Dorn’s work in Nolan’s “Memento” for a backwards timeline and a forwards timeline, and with Lee Smith for different dream levels in “Inception” and juggling three storylines on land, air, and sea in “Dunkirk,” this is Nolan’s latest story that weaves between different settings.  Jennifer Lame, who edited Nolan’s “Tenet,” does superb work in transporting us back and forth between the film’s three storylines and makes sure that the flow and tension are never lost during the transitions between the three timelines.  One of her finest moments in “Oppenheimer” is much later in the film when a pivotal moment happens in the 1954 storyline and 1959 storyline.  The way in which these two scenes build as we quickly shift from one to another and back shows that there’s still as much apprehension to be had in the third hour as the previous two, and what makes this editing job even more potent is the music from Nolan’s “Tenet” composer, Ludwig Göransson, who provides a gorgeous, heart-thumping score that highlights the strain between Oppenheimer and his enemies.

As Nolan explores a different, complex concept with each movie, he intends to give audiences the fullest experience possible.  Even at three-hours, “Oppenheimer” never lags, making you feel the race-against-the-clock nature of the world-altering experiment, as well as the emotional devastation felt by the titular character as he tries to come to terms with the warfare possibilities that he has let loose on warring nations.  Nolan has delivered on a huge scale before, but this is something different, a behemoth of a movie that shows the potential for destruction that humans hold, a potential that we see Oppenheimer embrace, then question, and then regret.  Without exaggeration, you’ll feel every ounce of this film’s power.   

Grade: A