Monthly Archives: June 2023

06.19.23
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Elemental

Set in Element City, a world inhabited by anthropomorphic elements of nature, Elemental follows fire element Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis) and water element Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), who meet and fall in love after Wade is summoned by a plumbing accident at a convenience store owned by Ember’s father Bernie.

Elemental gives us Pixar’s most purely romantic film yet — director Peter Sohn claims it to be inspired by films like Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Moonstruck and Amelie, and that’s definitely felt, as the main focus of the film is a charming and somewhat star-crossed romance — and with the heavy expectations of a dramatic immigrant family just like Moonstruck. Leah Lewis gives an expert voice performance as Ember, while Mamoudou Athie is simply stellar as Wade, channeling Jack McBrayer’s Fix-It Felix from Wreck-It Ralph as the overly sentimental yet empathetic “water guy”. His voice gives range and heart and you can feel all the fun he must have been having recording his lines.

Though the movie gives some truthful, maybe even relatable, allegories about immigration and living as a minority, it’s as heartfelt as it is on-the-nose and cliché. Ember’s arc greatly resembles that of Mei from Pixar’s Turning Red which came out last year, and that film gave us a deeper look into such similar themes. The movie works best when focusing solely on the romantic connection between the leads, which ends up making for some great filmmaking moments and a sweet connection between the characters and the audience. The design of Element City is also very visually rich. Still, the movie sometimes forces itself back to generic lines and tropes that we’ve seen in many films before, and there’s also a story about the city’s infrastructure and fixing a water leak that felt like it was just checking the box of having a conflict because it’s a kid’s movie, and wasn’t actually necessary to the plot. Elemental is on the lower end of Pixar’s quality, but still has its contagious heart and some strong direction behind an underwhelmingly predictable structure and story arc.

06.15.23
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The Flash

After going back in time to try to undo his mother’s death, Barry Allen AKA The Flash finds himself in a drastically changed timeline with unexpected consequences, threats and allies.

The Flash surprises with its impressive visual and tonal energy, and feels like possibly the best Flash movie we could’ve gotten. From the beginning, the visual approach to Barry’s powers and the comedic flow of the film’s pace, carried well by Ezra Miller’s dual performance with a nervous, confused charm, is what makes the movie feel like light but very exciting fun. The character feels fleshed out and the grand action combining named heroes feels like the comic-book feel DC has been trying to nail for years. Barry’s story is also very fleshed out, and he’s a character who makes mistakes but is also sympathetic and gets much to work with from a script perspective, with the film tonally feeling like Tom Holland’s Spider-Man with the story elements of Back to the Future Part II, Men in Black 3 or The Adam Project. Michael Keaton gives the film lots of charismatic gravitas and some of the film’s best action moments with his return as Batman over thirty years later; his performance feels exactly like the mentor/deuteragonist the film needed. Sasha Calle gives the movie an edgier side as Supergirl in feature film debut and adds a lot to the film, and Maribel Verdu is excellent as Barry’s mother. However, the return of Michael Shannon’s General Zod as the villain adds almost nothing to the film, and a talented actor like Shannon is given almost nothing to work with, same with Kiersey Clemons who feels underused as Iris West.

The Flash has plenty for action and superhero fans, moving swiftly with heart and an interesting story, though the final act and resolution doesn’t hit very hard or have that same effortless wit. The visual effects in those later scenes also could’ve used improvement. Still, it overall ranks as one of the better DCEU installments and director Andy Muschietti brings a sweet, fun but cosmic eye to the Flash character and the lineup of DC heroes without ever feeling pretentious or losing sight of its audience like the insistent, indulgent approach of Zack Snyder’s films. The Flash benefits itself by never taking itself too seriously but feeling true to its titular character in the most energetic, hilarious, and rewarding way I could’ve hoped for.

06.02.23
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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

One year after defeating Kingpin alongside Spider-Men from other universes, Miles Morales is visited once again by Gwen Stacy and finds himself at odds with the Spider-Society, a multiverse-protecting organization of Spider-People led by Miguel O’Hara.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a film that left an impression not only an audiences but on the animation industry with its combination of 2D and 3D style. This sequel aspires to transcend the original not just through how many animation styles it blends, but through the story, tone, atmosphere and structure it builds that may just humiliate everything from that beloved first film based on ambition alone. Though the movie tries to emulate that same comic-like spirit from the first film, there’s a deeper energy and culture to the film’s feel, including the music and mood, from the first scene, which feels like a masterful piece of storytelling even on its own. Hailee Steinfeld this time is just as much the emotional core as is Miles Morales, and she delivers a great performance as the painful choices Gwen’s had to make are revealed to the audience — the entire movie is probably one of the most mature animated films thematically and tonally I’ve ever seen. It’s still “family friendly”, but the audience is treated as much more mature and patient than most animated films would. Also a standout is Daniel Kaluuya as the rebellious, anti-authority Spider-Punk whose voice performance sticks out as much as some of the animation, not to mention Karan Soni, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Velez and Oscar Isaac. The villain of the Spot, voiced by Jason Schwarzman, is as silly as they get, but his nerdy voice and chaotic appearance make his sudden rise to being Miles’ greatest threat work due to that irony.

The movie’s experimentations with different animation styles throughout the multiverse can feel overwhelming at the speed the visuals are thrown at you, but it’s also wondrously imaginative to see this creation of what feels like a tribute to the audiences and the medium of animation. However, though the pacing does let the environment of the film breathe, it feels significantly slower than the first and takes a bit too long to the get to the multiverse-traveling action. That pacing also doesn’t feel like it pays off any more due to the cliffhanger ending, to tease the end of the trilogy coming out next year. It felt like they could’ve easily added a climax to make the movie feel more whole than the way it ended, even by shortening some of what had come before. That’s not to say that the movie ever has filler, but the pacing and structure feel like a jarring change from the first film. That said, it’s more than made up for by an unforgettable, stunning action scene involving a futuristic universe and a train, with the emotional stakes up to a high. The humor also goes really well with the film, often thrown at you with lightning speed but never failing to amuse with that same charm the first one had. Though structurally and story-wise, it’s not as good as the first, it definitely does top the first based on visuals, scale, creativity and ambition, and is worth a watch for fans of the characters as well as audiences of all ages looking for a relatable hero like Miles Morales.