Aaron White is a Seattle-based film critic and co-creator/co-host of the Feelin’ Film Podcast. He is also a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society. He writes reviews with a focus on the emotional experience he has with a film. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter to be notified when new content is posted.
LESSON #1: NOVEMBER IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE MONTH OF THE MOVIEGOING YEAR— Three consumer stars align during this month that trigger the Futurama “take my money” GIF. The first is the quality slate of films trying to peak for awards season and the holidays. October started things early and more excellent films are on the way. The second is Black Friday, where this lover of physical media adores the DVD/Blu-ray deals that stream across Best Buy, Amazon, Target, and more. Yes, Best Buy, I will dive into your $2 bin covered in double-sided tape and buy everything that sticks to me. Scope out the ads in advance as they leak. Finally, for the refined cinephiles in the room, November is the month for the half-priced Criterion sale at Barnes & Noble. Folks, it’s time to rack up that credit card debt before the actual holidays.
LESSON #2: SOME FILMS DO NOT REQUIRE A SEQUEL— Way back in 2012, I wrote an editorial on Every Movie Has a Lesson about the “most desired and long-awaited” sequels, a few of which have actually become reality in the six years since. One movie that wasn’t on the list was Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. It would have made the sub-list of “unnecessary” sequels, right there with The Shawshank Redemption and other movies that ended on perfect notes. Lo and behold, Ridley Scott and his Paramount producers can’t seem to help themselves, because details have been updated on a future story being drafted by Top Gun: Maverick and The Town screenwriter Peter Craig. I trust and enjoy Ridley’s talent work as much as the next fan, but has no serious chance of matching or topping the Oscar-winning original. It’s only going to tarnish a legacy or two. Add Bad Boys 3 to that same list.
LESSON #3: CAN PARALLEL EDITIONS OF FILMS BECOME A NEW TREND?–Notice I didn’t say “will” in that lesson. That’s assuming success that is already present. Sure, the DVD era opened the storefront door for director’s cuts, unrated editions, and more of varying rating adjustments. However, outside of something like Blade Runner (and maybe, to a milder degree, Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice), it’s hard to say many new post-theatrical cuts of films have go on to become definitive new standards. They feel more like novelties for the sake of selling special features. That’s what I see when I hear about the PG-13 cut coming for Deadpool 2. It can brag about being a different experience with newly created scenes to be more “parallel” than “alternate,” but how many hardcore Deadpool fans or true completists are going to pay for a tamer second take?
LESSON #4: TREAT YOURSELF TO A FOREIGN FILM— Feelin’ Film contributor Jacob Neff dropped the confessional challenge in our Facebook discussion group to ask how many of the BBC’s “100 Greatest Foreign Language Films” we have seen. We had to fess up and some of us (myself including) got an Animal House-level GPA score from our lack of exposure, experience, or completion. I recommend following Jacob’s “You Should Be Watching” column to see what titles from the list are available, especially with one month left of Filmstruck. I recommend the huge depth of foreign films available on the Kanopy service connected to your everyday local library card. In any case, don’t let Reverend Neff chastise you again. If you need a shorter list, here are Martin Scorsese’s top 39 foreign language films. Start there. Get cracking, update the prescription of your glasses for the subtitles, and indulge in some of the classic and good stuff that world cinema has to offer.
DON SHANAHAN is a Chicago-based and Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic writing on his website Every Movie Has a Lesson and also on Medium.com for the MovieTime Guru publication. As an educator by day, Don writes his movie reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical. He is a proud director and one of the founders of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle and a new member of the nationally-recognized Online Film Critics Society. As a contributor here on Feelin’ Film now for over a year, he’s going to expand those lessons to current movie news and trends while chipping in with guest spots and co-hosting duties, including the special “Connecting with Classics” podcast program. Find “Every Movie Has a Lesson” on Facebook, Twitter, and Medium to follow his work.
Welcome to Now Available, where we’ll give you a quick review of a film we didn’t cover when it was released in theaters that’s releasing for home viewing this week, along with a list of everything else and where you can see our coverage on it.
When a corporate mega-park moves in across town, the run-down, play-at-your-own-risk Action Point amusement park is in dire financial trouble. The park’s oddball owner D.C. (Johnny Knoxville), his daughter and his ragtag staff (including Jackass’ Chris Pontius) must find a way to keep the doors open. Complicating matters are lawyers and lawmakers who are fed up with the lack of safety protocols at the once proud establishment.
Don’t let that description fool you. Tim Kirkby’s Action Point is nothing but MTV’s Jackass repackaged with a flimsy plot to attempt to sell the antics of Knoxville and his friends once again. At Feelin’ Film, we like to try to look positively at movies, but I really have nothing good to say about this one at all. It’s dull, amateurish and more than just a little tired. Johnny Knoxville is an enigma to me. He has charisma to spare and has proven himself to be an adept comedic actor in the past. But instead of using that talent, he’s been content to churn out lowest common denominator dreck for almost 20 years at this point. If there’s one bright spot, it’s that it performed more poorly at the box office than any Knoxville starring films to date, so maybe as a culture we’re learning to stay away.
Action Point is a tired and laugh-less comedy from the guy who brought you Jackass. It’s one of the worst movies of the year.
Buy It, Rent It, Wait for Netflix or Skip It?
Skip It.
Also available this week:
Deadpool 2- I was a pretty big fan of this one when it was released back in May and after watching it again this week, I still am. Read my review here.
First Reformed- One of the favorites of the year so far for a few of our contributors, listen to Don and Aaron share their thoughts about it here.
Show Dogs- Despite starring one of my personal favorite comedic actors in Will Arnett and having the vocal talents of people like Stanley Tucci, this so called family comedy failed make me laugh and was offensive enough that I won’t show it to my family.
Other New Releases: God’s Not Dead 3, Black Water
Jeremy Calcara is a contributing member of the Feelin’ Film team. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter to be notified when new content is posted.
I think it’s time to change our perspective. In the world of comic book movies, there are no new stories. We’ve told them all. I don’t want to read another criticism that a film in the genre failed to tread new ground because there isn’t new ground to cover. We don’t need new stories, we need fresh ones. The original Deadpool was a fresh story. There weren’t any beats that were new, but Ryan Reynolds and company were able to inject enough fresh life into the old superhero origin story to make it the surprise hit of 2016 and guaranteed that we’d see the Merc with a Mouth on the silver screen again soon. The only question that needed to be answered was whether or not a sequel could stay fresh or if it would be nothing but a retread of its successful predecessor.
David Leitch’s Deadpool 2 puts us back in the world of Wade Wilson (Reynolds) at a time in his life where he has it all. He’s quite successful at his job and his home life couldn’t be better. But as is wont to happen in films like these, this bliss is short lived as one day, while Wilson and his wife Vanessa (Morea Baccarin) cuddle up on the couch in their Old Navy khakis and pastel sweaters discussing the expansion of their little family, some unfinished business changes his world dramatically and sends our beloved Pool on another journey of self-discovery. And all of this happens before the opening credits. From there the film embarks on what is essentially a “Would you kill baby Hitler if you could go back in time” kind of plot as DP assembles a team of mutants, the X-Force, to protect a child (and apparently future monster) caught in the crosshairs of the mysterious time-traveling Cable (Josh Brolin). That’s a pretty bare bones description, but I don’t want to give anything else away because what follows is 2 hours of violence, surprise cameos and laughs with a surprising amount of heart sprinkled in.
Unsurprisingly, Reynolds is the star of this show. Wade Wilson is the part he was born to play and he slips into Deadpool’s red pants with ease once again. Josh Brolin is very good as Cable, a man who has some very compelling reasons to do a really bad thing. Zazie Beetz was the highlight of the supporting cast as Domino, a mutant whose super power is simply good luck. While that doesn’t seem like the most cinematic of powers (at one point Deadpool criticizes the power for just that reason), Leitch and his team find a way to really make it work. My only complaint about the cast is that TJ Miller’s part wasn’t re-cast in the light of the numerous allegations about his behavior towards women. In a self-aware film of this nature, one that outright references the #MeToo movement with a joke or two, his presence sticks out like a sore thumb.
But does it stay fresh? In this reviewer’s opinion, it absolutely does. By leaning into the self-referential humor made the first film so successful, upping the ante on the action and violence and making effective pauses in the action and comedy to give itself real emotional depth, Deadpool 2 continues the trend set by the original of making the old feel new. Is it perfect? No. Some of the tonal shifts are jarring, there are some lulls in the action that last a bit longer than they ought to and a few of the jokes don’t land (but with as many of them as there are flying at the screen, the amount that do is quite impressive). Everything else adds up to a worthy continuation of the franchise that might even compete with the original. In short, if you enjoyed your first ride with Deadpool, I can’t imagine you wouldn’t love this one as well.
PS. This film has the best mid-credits stinger(s) in cinematic history. Enjoy!
Rating:
Jeremy Calcara is a contributing member of the Feelin’ Film team. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter to be notified when new content is posted.
LESSON #1: INFUSE HEART INTO HORROR FILMS FOR ELEVATED IMPACT— John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place is making a killing at the box office for a multitude of reasons. First, from a business standpoint, it’s a well-marketed horror movie with a PG-13 rating to increase the potential audience compared to R-rating fare. Second, and more importantly, Krasinski and company made an intelligent and resonating film compared to the usual shock value thrills of the genre. I believe their secret ingredient was heart. Strip away the monsters and you have a family survival film comprised of characters you care about and invest in, not a cast of hollow and unmemorable stereotypes occupying a buffet menu for carnage. For most disposable horror films, you kind of root for the creative kills but once the surprises are gone, so is the repeat value. In A Quiet Place, you dread any potential for loss and the journey of avoidance becomes more compelling than any swift action. That’s a powerful draw worth revisiting. You’ll find three over-the-moon reviews of A Quiet Place between Aaron White’s take, the main episode here on Feelin’ Film, and my own on Every Movie Has a Lesson.
LESSON #2: HOW DO YOU PROPERLY REPLACE DECEASED ACTORS?— The rumor is out there that Meryl Streep could replace Carrie Fisher as Leia in the next Star Wars film. Naturally, the purists… errr… I mean… hardcore fanboys led the charge of torches and pitchforks against such an idea, forgetting needs and logistics of the story in place. If you have noticed (as the cited article points out), each returning Original Trilogy great has led the main focus for each film (Han had The Force Awakens, Luke had The Last Jedi), and Leia was the planned centerpiece of the third in J.J. Abrams’s script before Fisher’s death. If that is true, it’s going to take quite a rewrite. With shooting due to start this summer, it’s going to be very interesting to see how filmmakers are going to modify the plan. What would you do?
LESSON #3: HOW DO YOU PROPERLY REPLACE DISGRACED ACTORS?— Comic actor T.J. Miller keeps adding to his sh-tstorm and diminishing reputation. After reports of sexual misconduct and violence and transphobic bigotry surfaced last winter, he’s added federal fake bomb threat charges this week. Even before this week, many, including a film critic peer of mine Danielle Solzman and an excellent Scott Mendelson piece in Forbes magazine, have questioned why Miller hasn’t received the Kevin Spacey treatment and been replaced or cut from Ready Player One (a simple ADR replacement you would think) and the upcoming Deadpool 2. I have to believe the answers aren’t always as simple as a replacement, between the hangups of effort, time, negative impact potential, contracts, or the sliding scale of morality trying to define punishments that fit crimes. In the end, I’ll sound like a teacher to say “fair is not always equal.” What worked for Ridley Scott and TriStar Pictures might not work for Steven Spielberg and Warner Bros. The only part that is up to moviegoers is whether to support films with these questionable cast inclusions with your ticket money. For a critic like myself, it’s about checking biases at the door and judging the film not the people.
LESSON #4: THE SECRETS OF NETFLIX— I can’t be the only person who wastes time scrolling Netflix menus looking for something the sparks my interest while running into the same promoted and retreading menu preferences. Word is there are codes to unlock and directly navigate to the narrow subgenres appearing within the evolving algorithms on Netflix that contain thousands of underrepresented movies. Has anyone tried these?! Follow this link and let us know!
DON SHANAHAN is a Chicago-based film critic writing on his website Every Movie Has a Lesson. As an elementary educator by day, Don writes his movie reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical. He is a proud member and one of the founders of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle. As a contributor here on Feelin’ Film, he’s going to expand those lessons to current movie news and trends. Find “Every Movie Has a Lesson” on Facebook, Twitter, and Medium.
LESSON #1: THE WORD “GENIUS” IS THROWN AROUND TOO MUCH— After hearing Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins label his much-maligned “Transformers: The Last Knight” director Michael Bay a “genius” and a “savant” recently, I’m prepared to add “genius” to a list of overused words of hyperbole that include “epic” and “great” when talking about all things movies. All three words are used too much and not truly earned. I’ll grant that Michael Bay is a successful driver of spectacle and cheese. His movies make a ton of money, but I don’t see the deeper wherewithal of the craft to make him the first dictionary definition of “savant.” I see more the second definition that dives into mental disability, but he is tone-deaf and one-dimensional.
LESSON #2: CHRISTIAN AUDIENCES DESERVE BETTER FILMS— Alcohollywood podcaster Clint Worthington, a film critic colleague from mine here in Chicago, wrote a dynamite piece for Crooked Scoreboard entitled “Calling Christian Movies to Repentance.” The editorial examines the recent rise of a certain brand of films specifically made by and targeting sympathetic Christian audiences. He talks about message, film quality, and more. Go read the piece yourself and measure where your taste lies. Clint nails the faults of this trend and I agree wholeheartedly with this lesson’s statement. To truly and triumphantly serve a purpose and engage wider audiences, better thoughts and better films need to be fostered. Well done, Clint.
LESSON #3: LET KIDS BE KIDS— Marc Webb’s “Gifted,” starring Chris Evans arrives this week and I cannot help but share this leading life lesson from my review. It’s too good not to echo. The film represents this lesson perfectly and in an unpretentious way. Allow “Gifted” or this school teacher right here tell you and show you that too much academic pressure is placed on school-aged children these days. They take too many high-stakes tests and spend too many hours doing rote and mindless homework. College prep can start in high school, but leave it off of seven-year-olds. Even geniuses can cultivate being well-rounded. Let them go outside, skin a few knees, build something, and find activities they enjoy. Feed those brains with experiences and not just book-based knowledge. Need ideas? Here’s just one list of many things to do instead of homework.
LESSON #4: YOU’RE GOING TO LIKE JOSH BROLIN— In a casting news surprise that dropped Wednesday, Josh Brolin signed a four-picture deal to play the pivotal role of Cable for “Deadpool 2” and beyond. Brolin has the qualities you’re looking for. I promise you that. He’s the right age and has perfect masculine features chiseled from granite. Tell all the “but he’s already Thanos” cry babies to stop. Fox and Disney/Marvel are different worlds right now. If Chris Evans can be readily accepted as Steve Rogers after playing Johnny Storm, then Brolin can go from an off-screen voice/performance capture role as Thanos to putting his face out there as Cable with a different tone and timbre. Most importantly, Brolin has the right temperament to play the grizzled warrior. His mature resume of renaissance from the last ten years speaks for itself in terms of talent and huge range to play just about anything you want, from showy to reserved.
DON SHANAHAN is a Chicago-based film critic writing on his website Every Movie Has a Lesson. He is also one of the founders and the current President of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle. As an elementary educator by day, Don writes his movie reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical. As a contributor here on Feelin’ Film, he’s going to expand those lessons to current movie news and trends. Find “Every Movie Has a Lesson” on Facebook, Twitter, Medium, and Creators Media.
