Movie watching: "Shaft," "Dark Phoenix," "Rocketman," "Always Be My Maybe," "The Front Runner" ... oh, and "John Wick 3" and "The Upside"
Shaft. Not only do I remember seeing and liking the original Richard Roundtree "Shaft" in college when it was new, I also saw Roundtree performing in a Virginia dinner theater several years later. (He was good, though sketchy about his lines, and not helped by his co-star, better known as a TV news anchor.) I have no real memory of the two Roundtree sequels, or of the '70s TV series, except that Roundtree as always was cool. The Samuel L. Jackson "Shaft" sticks in memory for its "what's my name" scene, Busta Rhymes's yelling "Shaft" and having one of the great screen villains, Peoples Hernandez, played by Jeffrey Wright. So I had ample reason to see the new, three-generation "Shaft" with Roundtree, Jackson and Jessie Usher ("Survivor's Remorse"). It's not great, there are significant plot holes (and one huge early clue), but it passed the time well enough, especially once Jackson and Usher settled into their bantering comfort zone. Also, Regina Hall makes pretty much anything better. And plenty of shootouts.
Dark Phoenix. Reviews have been harsh for this seeming completion of the screen saga of the young X-Men (since there may be a reboot coming with Disney's taking over the franchise). And audiences appear unenthused; we go to Friday matinees a lot and it's rare that we are the only people in the theater -- but that was the case for this film. Oh, it's not that bad -- the special effects are pretty spectacular, and it moves briskly -- but some of the acting is wooden, the plot uninteresting and many details make no sense. (Shouldn't the military know by now that you don't approach Magneto with metal weaponry?) To be sure, it tried to resurrect the "Dark Phoenix" story from the comics after it seeming misuse in "X-Men: The Last Stand," but it does so in a way that still fails to address character more than set up an endless series of fight scenes. (And what is the deal with the use of that subway train?) Considering how the X-Men have been poorly served onscreen, it may be the right time for Disney/Marvel to bring their skills to bear. But I was intrigued by "Dark Phoenix's" seeming subtext of putting Charles Xavier on the track to his fate in "Logan."
Rocketman. It is a mistake to draw many comparisons between "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Rocketman," tempting though they are. Each, to be sure, focuses on a gay, pop icon; there are also secondary overlaps such as the attorney John Reid being a character in each film. But where "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a biographical film, "Rocketman" is a very different kind of storytelling, a big-screen concept album where all the songs and events are filtered through Elton John's feelings about them -- it's less a chronological narrative than an emotional struggle through song.The tonal difference is made clear early as Elton (splendidly played and sung by Taron Egerton) arrives in concert regalia at a support group; his discussions with the group set up the events in the rest of the film, starting with Elton as a child (then named Reg Dwight) and going on through his musical rise, personal agonies and, finally, a cleansing journey in rehab. The movie fades a bit when dealing with Elton's drug and excess problems but for the most part it is a wonderful way to recontextualize his songs, best perhaps when presenting "Your Song."
Always Be My Maybe. This Netflix offering from Ali Wong and Randall Park (who are both the stars and the co-writers) has a plot that could have come from a Reese Witherspoon rom-com, not unlike the way "Crazy Rich Asians" reworked a Joan Crawford-ish melodrama. But "Maybe" is better than a Witherspoon standard thanks to the cleverness of the script, the performances (especially a hilarious Keanu Reeves sequence) and the specific cultural context for its tale. Wong and Park were childhood besties and, briefly, romantic partners but have drifted apart as she has gone away and become a huge celebrity chef while he has stayed home, helping his father's business and playing in a dive-bar band. (The band's songs are some of the best parts of the movies. Look for them on YouTube.) When they meet again, the sparks reappear, but there's the question of how they can fit together their different lives. Fortunately -- and since this is a rom-com I am spoiling nothing -- they find their way together. The jokes falter at times -- the pretentious-restaurant scene was especially old -- but the sentiments are sweet throughout.
The Front Runner. My interest in politics led me to the disc of this film, starring Hugh Jackman as Gary Hart during the scandal that effectively ended Hart's political career. It is based on the book "All the Truth Is Out," by Matt Bai, which detailed not only the scandal but what the book's subtitle argues was "the week politics went tabloid." The book is much better than the movie, with the latter unable to settle on which story it wants to tell -- Hart, or the news media's, or even Donna Rice's, which gets more thorough treatment on the page. The film also makes some peculiar choices in casting, especially when it comes to the reporter whose question finally brought Hart down. Jackman is good enough, Vera Farmiga is even better as Hart's wife and J.K. Simmons is as compelling as ever. But Bai's 2014 book makes an argument fitting Donald Trump that "The Front Runner" stops short of: as Bai writes, "Americans became desensitized to scandalous revelations. ... You could disappoint us, certainly, but we were now a very hard country to shock." Of course, what we see now is that many people are also impossible to disappoint.
John Wick Chapter 3 -- Parabellum is the latest addition to a series whose first two movies I enjoyed immensely. There's something to be said for ruthless action in service of a laconic hero. Isn't that what made Clint Eastwood a star, after all? And movies such as the Gerard Butler "Fallen" features get that, too (well enough for that series to have a third film in theaters in August). As Eli Wallach says in "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly," if you're going to shoot, shoot -- don't talk. But the Wick movies wrap that shooting-no-talking core with enormous style: colorful and exotic settings which, though borrowed from the likes of Orson Welles, make the mayhem more fascinating. Only "John Wick 3" does not add anything fresh to the formula; rather than imitate other filmmakers, it is imitating itself. So the fights felt a little too long, the shooting scenes too commonplace, the need to set up a fourth film too strained. Will I be back for a fourth movie? Of course. This is John Wick! But my expectations have lowered.
The Upside was a video rental of the oh-why-not variety, especially considering it starred Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart. Cranston can carry drama or comedy, so the idea of doing so while playing a man who cannot move did not seem that difficult. And Hart has been reliable enough in the dramatic moments in comedies to make his role as Cranston's helper seem plausible -- although the mistake that was Hart's "Night School" made me somewhat hesitant here. Only the movie, predictable though its story could be, worked satisfyingly, both actors listening to their counterpart, both recognizing that underplaying can generate more attention than excess. Well done.
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