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Movie review: ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ fresh, fun Spider-Man tale

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“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (PG)

With their live-action version of Spider-Man off to new adventures with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sony Pictures has spun an inventive new way to bring other Spidey tales to audiences with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Uniquely animated, the film feels fresh and exciting even though the story is heading in a direction fans will be able to predict from the very beginning.

“Into the Spider-Verse” tells the tale of two Spideys, Miles Morales (voice of Shameik Moore) and Peter Parker (Jake Johnson) – as well as others with the same unique superpowers – as they are all brought together from other dimensions after an accident involving a time-altering device belonging to the criminal mastermind Kingpin (Liev Schreiber). Assembling with decidedly different versions of Spidey, including Spider-Man Noir (Nicholas Cage), the pig-like Peter Porker (John Mulaney), Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) and Spider-Girl (Hailee Steinfeld), Miles and Peter must find a way to prevent Kingpin from completing his mission and drastically altering history forever.

Apart from hardcore readers of the Spider-Man comics, “Into the Spider-Verse” will feel completely fresh to movie fans in that it introduces Miles Morales, a relatively new character who was introduced to Marvel Comics universe in 2011. Like Peter, Miles was bitten by a radioactive spider, and like his frontrunner, he must awkwardly learn how to use his new powers. Fortunately, in “Into the Spider-Verse” Peter is there to help him out, as well as Peter’s resourceful Aunt May (the always great Lily Tomlin).

Marked by a form of animation that feels like it’s part hand-drawn and part computer-animated (ultimately it feels like a motion comic, which generally have three-dimensional characters amid two-dimensional background), “Into the Universe” may take a while to acclimated to for newbies, but before too long your eyes and adjust and you are drawn into the action just like any other animated film.

In a sense, it’s like you’re watching a comic book coming to life with occasional dialogue blocks and thought bubbles. Of course, being that the film is animated opens the floodgates for animators to get really creative, and at times “Into the Spider-Verse” ventures into a psychedelic time warp not for any other reason than because it can.

“Into the Spider-Verse” could best be categorized as a superhero adventure, but the film has plenty of humor and heart as it delves into such themes as the importance of family and friendship. Not surprisingly, the action overwhelms the narrative in the very busy third act, a trapping that superhero films have an incredibly hard time avoiding. That’s not to say the excessive action is a bad thing, just formulaic.

“Into the Spider-Verse” is punctuated by an especially poignant moment when the late Stan Lee turns up in a cameo during the film (the first of many Marvel fans will see following the comic book legend’s death last month at the age of 95). Directors Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman also pay respect in the end credits to Lee with a quote from the Marvel icon, as well as a heartfelt thank you to Lee and illustrator Steve Ditko (who died in June at age 90), who together created one of pop culture’s most enduring superheroes with Spider-Man.

Lammometer: 7.5 (out of 10)

Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.

Copyright 2018 DirectConversations.com

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Film, Movie Reviews

Movie review: True-life ‘Green Book’ inspiring tale of hope

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Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali deliver virtuoso performances in “Green Book,” one of the year’s best films that’s bound to be a major contender during this year’s movie awards season.

Inspired by a true story, Mortensen plays Tony Vallelonga, a tough, Italian-American bouncer at the Copa in New York City in 1962 who finds himself out of work for a couple of months when the club shuts down for repairs.  Despite his own prejudices,  Tony takes a job driving a Dr. Don Shirley, an African-American concert pianist on a tour that eventually winds into the Deep South, where they’ll confront the worst kind of racism.

Channeling what feels like a character straight out of “Goodfellas,” Mortensen delivers a career performance as Tony while Ali is great as usual as Don in a pair of complex performances that should easily warrant both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominations and other industry/critics accolades in the coming months.

The film’s biggest surprise, though, is the direction of Peter Farrelly — one half the Farrelly brothers comedic filmmaking duo — who takes his immense talents into the dramatic realm and creates an incredibly emotional film across the board. As a result, “Green Book” will not only anger you and break your heart, it will make you make you smile, laugh and cry on its way to being an inspiring tale of hope. It’s a brilliant movie.

Lammometer: 9.5 (out of 10)

Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.

Copyright 2018 DirectConversations.com

Tim Burton Book 2
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Film, Movie Reviews

Movie review: ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ is spectacular sequel

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“Ralph Breaks the Internet” (PG)

“Wreck-It Ralph” filmmakers Rich Moore and Phil Johnston” take the beloved 8-bit video characters to the dazzling new heights of life in cyberspace in “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” a spectacular sequel to the 2012 Best Animated Feature Oscar nominee. Completely avoiding the trappings that plague most sequels, Moore (director of “Wreck-It Ralph”) and Johnston (co-writer of the 2012 blockbuster) team for writing and directorial duties here – and take the premise above and beyond the arcade that housed the ingenious original film.

In “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” Wreck-It Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) and Vanellope von Schweet (Sarah Silverman) start the movie in the 8-bit video game arcade from the first movie, until a crucial component breaks on Vanellope’s “Sugar Rush” game. With the game console at risk of being junked and leaving Vanellope without a home or purpose, the spunky race car driver and her best pal Ralph travel through the internet to eBay, where the rare replacement part for “Sugar Rush” is waiting to be purchased. But since neither really realize how dramatically different the 8-bit video game world and the information superhighway are, Ralph and Vanellope quickly find themselves on a very bumpy ride.

“Ralph Breaks the Internet” has everything fans could have hoped for as Moore and Johnston masterfully envision the inner-working of the internet, from its vibrant, jaw-dropping animation, clever story twists and turns, astute interpretations of the websites and applications that populate the internet, and hilarious visual gags and dialogue. The movie isn’t all fun and games, though, as Moore and Johnston in a non-preaching way expose the vitriol that has been polluting social media in terms that both kids and adults can understand. As a result, “Ralph Breaks the Internet” is every bit as entertaining as it is poignant, especially in an age where the world needs to get keep its civility and sense of common decency in check.

As far as the voice cast is concerned, Reilly and Silverman bring just as much joy to their voice roles as the original, and their work is enhanced by the additions of Taraji P. Henson and Gal Gadot to the cast. Perhaps the biggest thing that takes “Ralph Breaks the Internet” to the next level though, is the ingenious addition of Disney’s iconic princesses to the story, where many of the voice stars of the original films including “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Frozen,” “The Princess and the Frog” and “Moana” lend dialogue to their iconic characters.

Be sure to stick around through the end credits as Moore and Johnston incorporate a rip-rollicking ending that could only take place on that crazy place known as the internet.

Lammometer 9 (out of 10)

Film, Movie Reviews

Movie review: ‘Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald’ loses ‘Harry Potter’ magic

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“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” (PG-13)

After a wild and entertaining start to author-turned-screenwriter J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” prequel “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise has tamed considerably with “The Crimes of Grindelwald,” a lukewarm follow-up to the 2016 blockbuster.

Eddie Redmayne is back as magizoologist New Scamander, whose new mission is to track down a gifted wizard Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller, in a surprisingly muted turn) and save him from the grasps of the evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) who is hell-bent on recruiting other magic folks to rule to the world.

Depp, who was introduced in the last scene of “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” is not the only notable face to join franchise. Looking to establish back stories for some of her Harry Potter favorites in an effort to keep her Wizarding World empire alive, Rowling decided to employ the talents of the always-great Jude Law to play the young Albus Dumbledore in “The Crimes of Grindelwald,” a move that might have work had she featured him more.

Instead, the movie spreads the narrative way too thin by employing one-off stories for each Newt, Dumbledore, Grindelwald, Credence, Queenie (Allison Sudol) and Jacob (Dan Folger – who stole the first movie and only has a handful of bright moments here), Queenie’s sister, Tina (Katherine Waterston – whose role is greatly diminished from the first film) and Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz), who has role that most closely resembles a lead. The problem is, the more spread out the narrative of “The Crimes of Grindelwald” becomes, the more confusing the movie gets.

After a spectacular opening sequence where Grindelwald escapes from confinement, the new “Fantastic Beasts” movie surprisingly shows franchise fatigue early on, even to the point of boredom. Only in the second half does the movie come alive thanks to some whiz-bang visual effects and Depp’s commanding performance as the title character. Despite having that opportunity to showcase his talents in the film’s most pivotal scene, Depp isn’t featured nearly as much as he should be in “The Crimes of Grindelwald,” and Law appears even less. It just seems like a tremendous waste of an opportunity, especially for a movie that’s 2 hours and 14 minutes long.

Naturally “The Crimes of Grindelwald” sets up another “Fantastic Beasts” chapter, trying somehow to capture the cliffhanger feeling established by such film classics like “The Empire Strikes Back.” Perhaps the biggest issue plaguing the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise is unlike the “Harry Potter” movies, it doesn’t have the benefit of sourcing worldwide best-selling novels to draw inspiration from.

And even though Rowling wrote the screenplays for the “Fantastic Beasts” movies, she is no doubt finding huge limitations to create original works for the film medium. As far as “The Crimes of Grindelwald” is concerned, it simply lacks the wondrous magic of the eight-film series that created the chance for it to be made in the first place.

Lammometer: 5 (out of 10)

Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.

Copyright 2018 DirectConversations.com

Tim Burton Book 2
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