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Hollywood Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Mining a Video Game for Puerile Entertainment

Film: Monster Hunter 

 

Cast: Milla Jovovich, Tony Jaa, T.I., Ron Perlman, Diego Boneta, Meagan Good, Josh Helman, Jin Au-Yeung

Director: Paul W. S. Anderson

Rating: * *

Runtime: 104 min.

Inspired by CATCOM’s popular videogame, Paul W.S. Anderson’s long gestating(since 2012) attempt to score another relentless franchise run for his muse Milla Jovovich, fails to raise the bar on video game to screen adaptations. The resident evil here is a relentless turnover of monsters crisscrossing fantastical dimensions. This first instalment in what is a sort of a test run for future monster games in the cinemas, opens in a vast desert with a group of U.S. Army Rangers led by Captain Natalie Artemis (Milla Jovovich), on patrol. Obviously, the idea comes from the US’ attempts to gain hegemony in the middle-east and might just be an oblique morale booster for beleaguered US troops in the region.

 

The prologue opens with a racially varied group of Monster hunters in a Viking era boat battling fire breathing demons across a fictitious stormy sea when one of them, The Hunter (Tony Jaa) falls foul and vanishes into another dimension. Several full moons later we see him taking Captain Artemis captive after rescuing her from a giant sized, fearsome, never-say-die hibernating raptor like beast. After that, it’s all about combining resources to escape back into his home realm and then back again.  

 

The narrative throws up combination sandstorm/lightning/thunderstorms, giant monsters and alternative universes at will, making it all seem entirely gamey and unrelenting. After vanquishing the first (which takes up most of the first half) they are confronted by another and then another. So the feel is that of a game with several levels of difficulty.  Anderson’s narrative is not interested in building a credible aesthetic. Instead he turns on the fantasy elements, aided by cutting edge CGI and makes this experience a wasteland of lost opportunities. 

 

After a brief altercation between The Hunter and Capt. Artemis they get on the same page, so, thereafter it’s about teaming up to annihilate the common enemy. Even the legend building is given short shrift with fire breathing monster dragons ending up falling prey to relentless fire power. The monster design is rather uninteresting. The effort to drum up a fearsome rush of adrenaline falls flat and even Jaa remains underutilised all through-out. Jovovich stays with the fight but it all feels repetitive and uninteresting. And then there’s the inimical Ron Perlman ‘transportaled’ into the action accompanied by a team of hunters, including a giant cat who acts like a human. That’s exactly when the mood lightens up a bit and you see a bit of jousting and jesting - giving us a glimpse of what fun this monstrous misstep could well have been. But Alas!

Johnsont307@gmail.com

#MyHeroAcademiaHeroesRising #JapaneseEnglishDubbedAnimationFilmMovieReview #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas

 

Hollywood Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Emotion charged anime entertainer

Film: My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising (Animation)

 

Cast(voices): Justin Briner, Clifford Chain, Johnny Yong Bosch, Maxey Whitehead, Dani Chambers, Christopher Sabat

Director: Kenji Nagasaki

Rating: * * *

Runtime: 104 mins

 

In the second feature length film based on popular “My Hero Academia” Japanese manga by Kōhei Horioshi, the young high school heroes of Class 1-A get a chance to take charge of hero work on a small island named Nabu. Even those unfamiliar with the series, are likely to find this film pretty entertaining with valuable lessons to learn from it. 

 

Nabu Island is so peaceful that it feels like a vacation for the kids… until they're attacked by a villain with an unfathomable Quirk! The world of this manga anime is filled with people having special Quirks akin to superpowers.

The main character, Izuku Midoriya/Deku has always wanted to become a hero, but he believes he was born without a quirk and gets easily bullied by Katsuki Bakugō. Both of them idolize the professional hero All Might, a skinny, haggard looking guy whose one quirk transforms him into a muscle bound hulk. Both Midoriya and Bakugō enter U.A. High School as members of Class 1-A, training to be heroes.

 

The villain, Nine’s power is eerily powerful. Deku and his fellow classmates from Hero Academy, have the onerous task of vanquishing the strongest villain yet.

Heroes Rising is pretty radical in it’s approach to presenting human aptitude and talent. The Quirks each character has relates to unique talents each creation is entrusted with. This feature length narrative delivers exactly what any My Hero Academia fan expects. The film is a stirring, emotion charged actioner that has a fair bit of humour and drama. Fuelled by interesting characters and realistic transformations, this second outing in the franchise series also delivers a pulse-pounding climax. The nerd versus Bully construct develops into a more meaningful exchange following Nine’s supercharged entry. Midoriya and his rival, Bakugo have to set aside their differences in order to team up and save the day. Todoroki, Uraraka, Iida, and other characters also assist in the battles. Their involvement is presented in a unique and visually intriguing fashion. Heroes Rising has very good animation. The action sequences have punch, Colours are imaginatively used, and Quirks are conveyed in a dramatic fashion. The traditional 2D hand drawn animation combines sporadically with CGI  to present a complex, layered, rich texture of excitement and entertainment. 

 

Deku’s desire to give something back to the world makes his journey from nerd to hero, a joy to behold. Everyone's got a purpose and a talent in Heroes Rising and how they develop it and put it to use to benefit the world makes all the difference.

Johnsont307@gmail.com

#TheStandIn #HollywoodEnglishFilmMovieReview #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas

 

Hollywood Film Review

Johnson Thomas

A woebegone ‘Switch for splits’ enterprise

Film: The Stand In 

 

 

Cast: Drew Barrymore, Michael Zegen, Andrew Rannells, Michelle Buteau, T.J. Miller, Lena Dunham

Director: Jamie Babbit

Rating: * ½

Runtime: 101 mins

In The Stand in, the once effervescent Drew Barrymore (who returns to the movies after a short hiatus) essays two characters who are both shrill, self-seeking, and unredeemable. And the only challenge for her (it appears) was to be as uninteresting and unlikeable as possible – which is a tough one for an actress who has managed to transform every movie outing of hers (even the abysmal efforts) into a fairly engaging feel-good enterprise.

 

The narrative drives vacuous to a new high. Candy Black(Barrymore), the star of a series of  degenerate comedy films was super successful until she has a meltdown injuring a fellow actor (Ellie Kemper)on the set - The video of it goes viral. She goes off the radar and also gets sentenced to rehab for income tax evasion. That’s when she decides to get her timid but ambitious former stand-in Paula (also played by Barrymore) to take her place. Paula wants to get back in the laughter club biz and insists that Candy resurrect her own career to meet that purpose.

 

If you are thinking this monstrosity is anything like ‘The Princess Switch’ or ‘All about Eve’ then you are bound to be disappointed. Other than a similar plot idea, it’s a mismatch all the way through. This one is devoid of creative effort, is more likely to make you whine (than laugh) and has precious little to redeem its never ending tedium. An irregular tone and an uninspiring romantic subplot leave you totally distended. The absence of wit or imagination adds to its many woes.

 

This story of an apathetic comedy actress trading places with an ambitious lookalike is rather peculiar for a comedy. It’s neither perky, humorous nor interesting. This is indeed a zombie like effort that hits you where it hurts the most!

Johnsont307@gmail.com

 

 

#TheSecretGarden #HollywoodEnglishFilmMovieReview #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas

 

Hollywood Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Techno dazzle and inter-personal craft makes it enchanting

Film: The Secret Garden

 

 

Cast: Amir Wilson, Anne Lacey, Colin Firth, David Verrey, Dixie Egerickx, Fozzie, Isis Davis, Julie Walters, Maeve Dermody, Richard Hansell, Tommy Gene Surridge

Director: Marc Munden

Rating: * * * ½

Runtime: 99 mins

 

 

A timely re-iteration of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic English children’s novel “The Secret Garden,” published originally in 1911, this screen adaptation by Marc Munden and screenwriter Jack Thorne brings to the fore coping mechanisms of children caught in conflict situations, suffering loss and devastation. This is a classic, story about Mary Lennox( played in precociously old-worldly, weary fashion by Dixie Egerickx), born in India to wealthy British parents who suddenly die during the cusp of India’s Independence, getting repatriated to Misselthwaite Manor, England and foisted into the reluctant care of a socially challenged elderly uncle Archibald Craven (Colin Firth)with a sickly son Colin (Edan Hayhurst) hiding away in his room. The Manor is of course run by a stern disciplinarian, Mrs Medlock (Julie Walters).  Since the Covid 19 pandemic has also rendered thousands of children orphans, this story that highlights the imaginary world that children build in order to escape from the cruelty of the real one, is certainly likely to touch an emotional chord in many young devastated hearts.  

 

 

It’s been 27 years since the last screen adaptation (Agnieszka Holland’s in1993) so the film will well be a fresh excursion for a whole new generation. The narrative opens with a heart-rending prologue. Taking a detour from the Edwardian setting of the original story, here it’s 1947 with India-Pakistan partition and the cholera epidemic casting its ominous presence on the lives and loves of the imperialists and their agitating subjects. Mary who has been rendered spoiled and wilful by a personal ayah at her beck and call suddenly finds herself at a loss after her parents’ tragic untimely deaths. Shipped back to England, to the care of her mother’s sister’s husband living in the Yorkshire moors haunted by the ghastly aftermath of World War II - it’s obviously not a setting for a young child devastated by loss, loneliness and craving for tender loving empathetic care is likely to find succour in. But the resilience of young children can never be overlooked - as we see Mary building her own imaginary world of loving adults and tranquil, enchanting settings while seeing out the other children similarly dysfunctional and forging an unforgettable bond with them in a magical realm of their creation. 

 

The setting is picture-book striking, the colour scheme is vivid and gorgeous to the eye, the production design with it’s gothic overtones and decadent magnificence looks impeccable and the secret imaginary garden is magic realism with a photo real enchantment all its own. Cinematographer Lol Crawley’s camerawork is stunningly crafted and Marc Munden’s narrative, despite its techno dazzle sets out to win hearts with its empathetic understanding of children and their unique ways of grappling with crisis. Above all this film belongs to the young ones playing the central characters including Colin and a local boy named Dickon (Amir Wilson). But it’s Dixie Egerickx as Mary who makes the film her own by putting on a stunningly intuitive performance that is sure to get noticed at the awards.  

Johnsont307@gmail.com

#TheDig #HollywoodEnglishFilmMovieReview #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas

 

Hollywood Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Not as deep as the hole in the ground

Film: The Dig

#Netflix

 

 

Cast: Arsher Ali, Ben Chaplin, Carey Mulligan, Chris Wilson, Eileen Davies, Joe Hurst, Johnny Flynn, Ken Stott, Lily James, Monica Dolan, Ralph Fiennes

Director: Simon Stone

Rating: * * ½

Runtime: 112 mins

Based on a true story, this retelling of the discovery of an Anglo-Saxon burial boat with a a cache of rare artifacts in an archaeological dig in Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, in 1939, is emotionally potent but lacks the fluid grace that could have rendered it entertaining.

 

A wealthy, sickly widow Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) with a young impressionable son, hires a gifted amateur archaeologist/Excavator Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes)  to excavate the burial mounds on her estate. The historic discovery they unearth were revolutionary not only because of their period rarity but also because they redefined how history looked upon the "dark ages".  The sophistication of the artefacts showed historians that Anglo-Saxon culture was actually far more developed than had been presumed. The discovery as shown in this narrative acts as a dramatic cul-de-sac between Britain’s rich past and World War II imperiled uncertain future‎.

 

 

To lend some drama to the rather boring proceedings screenwriter Moira Buffini embellishes the narrative with some action. Fighter planes flying in formation over the dig site, a near-death experience, a crash landing, an illicit romance each of which is in turn countered by dedicated British reticence. Carey Mulligan’s Edith Pretty, Ralph Fiennes’ Basil Brown, Lily James' archaeologist Peggy Preston caught in a triangular love story with Ben Chaplain as her gay husband and Johnny Flynn as amateur photographer Stuart Piggott, and the rest of the ensemble cast are competent enough but the overall engagement still leaves a lot to be desired. 

 

The tempo and pacing here are rather studied and given to silences. The lush cinematography and the accurate period design fail to provide the lift to an enterprise rendered listless by understatement.

Johnsont307@gmail.com

#TheGreatIndianKitchen #PicksAndPiquesMalayalamFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas

 

Indian Malayalam Film Review

Johnson Thomas

The harsh, unpalatable truth

The Great Indian Kitchen ( streaming on Neestream)

Cast: Nimisha Sajayan, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Ajitha V M, T. Suresh Babu, Ramadevi Kannanchery, Sidhartha Siva, Anupama V. P., Nishitha Kallingal

Director: Jeo Baby

Rating: * * * ½

Runtime: 100 min.

 

This Jeo Baby film is fast waking up the bucolic Kerala countryside and the rest of India to the reality of Gender Inequality, male entitlement and misogyny in a far more articulate, coherent and strongly evocative manner than any women’s liberation activism ever has. The film has not only garnered rave reviews but also shamed the conscience of many a man seeking entitlement in a traditional setup where the dice is always loaded against the women of the household.

 

 

The subject matter Director Jeo Baby is dealing with, is simple. It’s an expose of the inner workings of a traditional household where the hierarchy is set in favour of the men. Micro focused on the Indian (Kerala)Kitchen, the narrative follows the female protagonist from arranged marriage to rebellion with nuanced manifestation of how the patriarchal setup ensnares and ensures subjugation of women all through married life.

 

 

The film opens into deliberations and processes involved in an arranged marriage where the girl (Nimisha Sajayan) a product of Gulf returned parents is presented to a man (Suraj Venjaramoodu) whose upbringing is pronouncedly traditional, coming from a well-respected Tharawad(family). The boy and girl have a stilted token conversation before both the families informally agree to conduct the marriage. Both boy and girl are mere puppets to their parents aspirations and have been so conditioned that they accept the role of the elders without question. The ceremony done, we see the new car and a box full of heavy jewellery come home to the boy’s abode. The girl gets a reprieve for the first few days as her mother-in-law is kind enough to give her time to adjust to the new normal. Signs of a not so ideal beginning are evident in the subtle demands placed on her by the husband. It may be on the pretext of love but the expectations of servitude from the girl is clear. When the mother-in-law is called away to care for her own pregnant daughter the responsibility for running the household chores rest solely on the newly minted daughter-in-law. And she is game enough to give it a good try in all earnest…But of course it’s a given that she is bound to be faulted for her less than traditional approach - especially when it concerns her attempts to ease the overload of expectations, her attempt to seek out a job and bodily issues with regards to her menstrual cycle. 

 

 

The narrative may be linear but it is stingingly lucid in its attempt to lay bare the double standards inherent in tradition and customs. The signs that could elucidate frustration are all evident in the daily drudgery of household chores that the wife is expected to complete. Stark unromanticised images of women going about their tasks under unviable conditions are visible all through. The chopping of vegetables, grinding of rice and preparations for breakfast, cooking of rice over a fireplace, grating of coconuts, washing of utensils, making tea and sweets, hand-washing clothes and repeat … It’s a series of never ending tasks amplified by a unfixed leaking sink – allowing no rest or respite for the protagonist. The not so subtle taunts and reprimands by the two male members bring things to a boil and the woman breaks free from her shackles with a symbolic show of rebellion. But she is just one in a million. Tradition demands that the next victim be readied to take her place in order that patriarchy stands undiminished.

Even without much dialogue, Jeo Baby pulls off a stirring diatribe against the status quo. He factors in some telling sequences as he builds up an impregnable case for women’s empowerment. Most notable among them are the sequences between father-in-law and daughter-in-law and those between husband and wife. There are no harsh words exchanged nor is there any overt display of anger – just a gentle reminder that her role in the family is entirely servile to the men. With uncomfortable, harsh visuals and all-too-brief taunt-laden exchanges, the real picture of an arranged marriage emerges loud and clear. This film is a must-see for everyone!

Johnsont307@gmail.com