Movie Review: Captain Marvel

The super hero season seems to start earlier and earlier every year. Last year, I think Black Panther came out in March too. So, keeping with that theme, we have Captain Marvel, the first Marvel movie helmed by a lady director and a lady lead. What’s not to love? And I will try to refrain from spoilers, but Jude Law played to type, especially if you know about all his infidelities with babysitters in the past. This blog is a land mine for any MRAs out there, so keep moving if you’re one of those lost souls. Anyway, the movie was a solid origin story. I brought my char to the move, so, higher, faster, further, Charmander!

Higher, Faster, Further, Charmander

Brie Larson was delightful as Carol Danvers. Annette Benning was a fun placement in the MCU. There were a lot of people we’d seen in the past who I thought were long dead, but since the movie is set in the 1990s, that made it that much more interesting. Most of the MCU are pups compared to Captain Marvel. It was really nice to see an all-powerful woman. But then it begs the question, why didn’t they call her sooner when there were other issues? Like, in Ultron or the first Avengers movie?

Long story short, you should go see this movie. No Spoilers – look at me go! For the Hina test, dude, this movie is as clean as you can get. A female lead, a BFF that's African American. Samuel L Jackson - it had it all, plus a ginger cat!

Movie Review: Venom

Action packed anti-hero movies can be a lot of fun. Tom Hardy with a wimpy American accent doesn’t do much for me, but it fit the character, to a small degree. For those of you that read the comics, watched the cartoon from the 90s, we know that there is more to Eddie Brock than being a seeming loser. The part where Eddie was a reporter who stopped at nothing to get the story was mostly correct, but in the comic, he never had the girl, which made him the perfect foil to Peter Parker, as he was always with or chasing Mary Jane. This isn’t critical to the plot of the story. The plot is somewhat hard to nail down. Is he a hero? Is he a comedian? Is it okay to laugh as Venom bites off someone’s head?

The story, if you go for that sort of thing, is about a reporter who is asked to do a fluff piece, but can’t follow instructions and pushes the envelope with a biotech, Elon Musk type, that has him fired and fires Brock’s girlfriend. Then one of the scientists gets cold feet, realizes that this isn’t okay, to kill homeless volunteers in the name of science. Brock finds out, through the scientist, finds his way into the facility, which mysteriously has no cameras, and frees one of the captives. Then the parasite grabs a hold of Eddie and the rest of the movie unfolds.

Honestly, this movie was kind of stupid. Does that mean I didn’t enjoy it? No. I have simple needs sometimes. Special effects can carry a movie. I mean, I wouldn’t pay more than the $7 I paid to see it. I also got the free comic, and my friend’s free comic, too. Tom Hardy is usually a good actor to watch, as is Michelle Williams. The rest of the cast was passable. It kind of felt like a B horror movie. Like, they skimped on the plot to spend more on the special effects. It showed. You might like it, but I can’t recommend it.

With respect to diversity, the main villain was an Indian dude and there was a strong female character in Michelle Williams. It barely passes, but it does.

Movie Review: Crazy Rich Asians

So, I’m not the romance movie sort. You should know this if you follow this blog. But, when I saw the fanfare for this movie, I was intrigued. A romance movie with like, no white people in it? Dude, sign me up! I’m already telling you that the movie passed the Hina test. While most of the actors were of the lighter-colored variety, there was still a ton of diversity and a lot of subtitles, which I loved.

You might see the title and wonder, what was this movie about? Well, the title should give a solid approximation – the movie was about a family of wealthy Asians and this woman who is dating their son, who is to inherit the fortune, manage the business. It is over-the-top in a fun sort of way. The parties are lavish. There was a friend, who knew the main character, played by Awkwafina, who is hilarious in every scene she’s in. Her family is new money and she tries to coach the main character to recognize she’s in for a crazy weekend.

The whole movie was wholesome fun. There wasn’t any shame shame scenes, no gratuitous nudity, it was a nice look at how a film could hit all the notes, happy, sad, elation, whatever, and not be too much, not be grotesque. I really liked this movie, all around, save for the predictability of it, which was expected. Romance movies rarely break from their path. I get why they’re all so formulaic, but it is still fun to watch.

Movie Review: Pacific Rim Uprising

I’m not sure why I had it in my head to see this movie. I was re-watching the original yesterday and it was about as silly as I recall. I get that these movies are supposed to be throwbacks to the old monster movies, like Godzilla, but there really is no heart, just a lot of special effects. And let me be clear, the special effects are amazing. The huge monsters and the huge mechs that fight them are quite impressive on the big screen. The story, with the son of Idras Elba’s character had less draw to it. John Boyega plays his estranged son, who has, in the past, gets thrown out of the flight school or something. There may be slight SPOILERS ahead, but really, I don’t know how much of the story I can talk about.

The premise of the overall story is basically that the bad monsters are gone, but there can never be enough production, so drones are being built and tested to replace the regular robats/mechs. They need another pilot to help train the new kids, so they’ve found John Boyega’s character in jail and told him he has to re-enlist or go to jail. He chooses the former option and brings a young kid with him, who has built her own mech. The two get there and the drones crash some event, putting more people in danger. Then one of the scientists from the first one who mind-melded with the bad monsters has secretly been a double agent and has been trying to get a gateway open so the monsters can come through and take over.

As you might expect, the good guys win. It wouldn’t work any other way, I suppose. There is a decent amount of diversity in this movie. The lead actor is of African descent, and he is paired with a white girl, but there are other people, of other colors throughout the movie, so that was nice. The female characters never need the guys to come save them, which is a nice change of pace. Overall, that aspect of the movie was strong. If you have kids, this might be too scary for them, especially in 3D, but it was fun. For $12, I’m not sure I’d recommend it.

Movie Review: Tomb Raider 2018

Video game movies are notorious for not being done well. I can honestly say that isn’t the case here. I wouldn’t say this was the best movie I’d seen, or that it was the best video game movie, but it was a good movie. It kept you sort of guessing, had lots of puzzles to watch being solved, very much like the game. At the same time, the movie strived for emotional moments that it never quite hit. It’s been a day and I’ve already forgotten some of the movie. There were lots of great set pieces, big action sequences, but that doesn’t make for a good movie, per say.

There may be SPOILERS ahead, so you’ve been warned. If you’ve never played a Tomb Raider game, this movie might not fully make sense, in a ‘why would anyone do this’ sort of way. The movie tries to tell the story of Lara Croft trying to discover what happened to her father. She doesn’t want to admit that he probably died on a treasure hunt, so to speak. Her guardian has to come bail her out of jail or something to introduce the audience to Lara’s immense responsibility and wealth, while she was living like a pauper for the first bit of the movie. In his will, Lara’s father gifts her with some sort of puzzle box and so she runs off, not signing the papers, which I thought was kind of funny, and tries to get some money for a necklace and then runs off to the other side of the world. Of course, there are mercenaries that are living on an island since her father’s disappearance, trying to find what was hidden. Lara escapes, with the help of a local, and somehow finds her father, who has gone a little crazy, and the two have a strange reunion before Lara takes a bow and arrows and runs off to defeat the heavily armed mercenaries. It doesn’t end the way she had hoped and Lara ends up leading them inside the tomb, to find the treasure, only discovering the treasure is really an active disease that passes through touch. As you might guess, this proves costly and Lara knows that she can’t let it get out, so once again she’s fighting with the mercenaries to stop the disease from getting free.

The diversity in the movie, as per my Hina test, was okay. Yes, the movie was helmed by a female actress, one that doesn’t seem to be white. But most of the cast was white, except the Asian actors, all men, who were on the island, being held hostage by the mercenaries. It didn’t strike me as all that empowering, even though it should have been. I didn’t get a positive vibe from the movie, not really. That might just be me.

I am not sure I can recommend this movie or not. It was enjoyable, but was it worth $10, I’m not sure. I wonder if I’d like it better if I saw it again.

Movie Review: Black Panther

This movie was touted as the best superhero movie ever. I’m not sure I’d give it quite that high of a bar to reach, but it was quite good. It is on par with Captain America, the first movie, in the origin of T’Challa and his ascension to the throne. There are going to be SPOILERS ahead, so be aware. But before we get to that, I will say that the overall look and feel of the movie was refreshing, yet it still seemed familiar, like it was a Marvel movie and you knew it. It was nice to see all the faces that weren’t all white. I thought Chadwich Boseman was very subdued as the title character. In a way, his performance let the other amazing performances come forward. I couldn’t figure out why I recognized his general of his female army, but that is Michonne from The Walking Dead. The surprises for the movie, for me were his little sister, played by Letitia Wright, and the head of the Jabari tribe, played by Winston Duke. Those two stole every scene they were in.

On to the movie itself. The majority of the movie took place in Wakanda, a fictional country in Africa. It is hidden by the technology that they possess. The opening of the movie was a CG/FX wonderland, that, with 3D glasses, in the second row, was kind of nauseating. At times, the 3D did really disorient me, more than I would have liked. I am also still miffed that AMC promised me a lanyard, but supposedly the lanyards never arrived. That’s some grade A BS. Someone yanked them and is selling them on ebay, as I might have done, given the same chance, but I wouldn’t have taken the entire box, that’s just rude.

Anyway, the story progresses and the audience is introduced to lot of new faces, including T’Challa’s younger sister and ex-girlfriend, who he saves at the very beginning of the movie. One member of the Jabari tribe challenges the new king, but T’Challa wins, then he is crowned the king. His first order of business is to catch someone who stole vibranium from Wakanda, Andy Serkis, playing a South African thief.  Let’s all stop and remember that there are two Hobbits in this move as the token (Tolkien) white guys. I can’t take credit for that line, I saw it on Twitter a while ago. Anyway, the cast was meticulously put together and everyone worked amazingly well together, as in most Marvel movies.

I posted this review without talking about the very obvious politics of the movie. The main conflict is between T'Challa and his cousin, played by Micheal B Jordan, and Jordan's character wants to send out a support structure to Africans across the globe to overcome their oppressors. T'Challa was given the leadership to keep Wakanda a secret. It is an interesting conflict between empowering people and helping them, vs. the isolationism that T'Challa grew up with.

I enjoyed the movie, but I am not sure I’ll see it again, even though a friend wants to see it this weekend. I love the inspiration this movie will provide. As the representation for African Americans was great. There were hardly any threatening white faces and that was quite refreshing. There was tons of diversity and the female characters were wonderful because they didn’t need saving, like the usual damsel in distress that superhero movies do. No, these women were fierce and smart. In a way, it almost made T’Challa a bit of a bumbler, but with a good heart. Either way, you’d be foolish to miss this movie. And if you get a lanyard, hook a charmander up!

Movie Review: Proud Mary

I love Taraji P Hensen. She’s great in everything, even with that ultra-awkward forced love storyline in Person of Interest. This movie was pretty straightforward, not a lot of twists and turns, really. The story had promise, but I didn’t feel like it executed as well as it could have. The story follows a hit-woman who accidentally kills a guy who has a kid, then follows the kid around as he lives on the street, perhaps not accidentally killing the small fish he worked for. Wackiness ensues. A hit-woman having a child is weird enough, but then, of course, she wants to leave her job killing people and that isn’t what the people she works for wants. I do wonder if they opened a bed and breakfast, like one of the other bad guys suggested.

There were a lot of curious moves for this movie, like for me, why was it set in Boston? Also, why would a hit-woman be driving a Tesle, a 4-door Tesla no less. Like, who else was ever going to be in the car with her? Towards the end of the movie, the car gets shot up real good and somehow it turns right back on, really? Come on, now. The kid was not running around trying to shoot people once he discovers that Taraji has all those guns, really? The guy she used to date ends up kidnapping the kid and threatening to kill the kid, which I thought was kind of presumptuous. I mean, if he killed the kid, then their relationship is over, but if he doesn’t, then Taraji is going to put that dog down. A lot of plot holes, as best I can see it. The action was decent, fun even, but the movie didn’t have a ton of staying power, if any at all. I’d say you’re not missing much not seeing this movie. 

Can't say much about the diversity in the movie when it was primarily African American actors. Would have been interesting to see other races represented. Also, there were no other women except the title character.

Movie Review: Victoria and Abdul

Yes, you read that correctly. I, Hina, went to see a non-horror, non-action, non-animated movie. Look, mom wanted to see it and her hot date (Dad) was not all that excited, so I buckled up, sans popcorns, and went with mom. This movie is based off of a book (surprise! Hollywood stole a book and turned it into a movie). I haven’t read the book, but mom was giving me asides throughout the movie. 

The story is about what you might expect. Dame Judi Dench plays Queen Victoria and Abdul is played by some guy I don’t know. Queen Victoria is getting on in years and is very lonely, the vultures of her family circling for her death so they can take over. There is a ceremony to be held in England and they are looking for two tall Hindus (to the British, I suppose there’s no difference between Hindus and Muslims). At the police station that Abdul works at, he is the tallest. The two are told not to make eye contact with the Queen, but of course Abdul can’t help it and when she sees him, she comments to someone else that he is quite handsome. The story pretty much spins from there. I would hate to SPOIL this movie, but it is rather predictable.

This is not a movie I would normally see, but I do so rarely get to spend time with my mom. It’s easier to talk sports with my father, and with the DC teams always collapsing, we have a lot to talk about. Mom wanted to see the movie so I went. It was enjoyable. There were a lot of good things about it and a few heavy handed things as well. In this political climate it isn’t easy to hit a nice balance, but this movie veered far to the side of racism and whites hating anyone who wasn’t white. Given the time period the movie was set in (late 1800s), it was sad how similar our current circumstances are to these.

As per my Hina test (strong female characters, diversity) this movie is an easy pass. Dame Judie Dench is wonderful. The fact that there are a variety of ‘brown’ people in the movie meets the pretty low bar of diversity. What is more, the movie had a lot of diversity of thought. If we are to believe the journals that the book is based off of, Queen Victoria was learning Urdu (an Indian language), learning about India, from Abdul. It is rare to see a movie where a person is open-minded and wants to learn about another culture. If you have time, this is a movie you can see with anyone (family-friendly) and worth seeing.

Movie Review: Flatliners (2017)

In the long saga of Hollywood believing that if it worked once, we should repackage it and sell it again, this is a remake of a 1990 movie, one I did not see at the time.  Having not seen the original, I can only assess the current movie. The story made sense about halfway through, then got quite tame and sort of boring as it moved on. There may be SPOILERS ahead, but please, don’t waste too much money seeing this.

The movie opens with some sort of flashback of Ellen Page’s getting into a car accident. The next thing we see is her working at a hospital with other young doctors. For whatever plot jumping reason, she decides to get two of her friends to help her with a so-called experiment, letting her body die and come back to life. This already seems like a poorly thought out plan, but whatever, they do it, and suddenly she like unlocks all this stuff and can do all these things. The other kids go and it doesn’t really get better. Each of them begins to be haunted by misdeeds they did in the past. This is just as stupid as it sounds. I really stopped paying attention, but basically Ellen Page’s ghost of her dead sister pushes her off of a fire escape, but everyone else escapes just fine.

With respect to me diversity and strong female representation test (the Hina test), this one gets a very small pass. The main character was a gay woman. Even though this wasn’t explicit, the way Page’s character dressed left little misinterpretation. There were two other women, one white (Nina Dobrev of Vampire Diaries) and some African American girl that seemed familiar. There were no other minorities really present, but it had a good mix. It wasn’t like last week’s Friend Request where the entire cast was white.

Overall, this was not a very good movie and I’m glad I paid under $7 to see it. Plus I stole ice from the theatre to ice my knees, so that was fun. 

Movie Review: Terminator 2 Judgement Day 3D

The streak continues! I managed to drag someone to this movie (thanks, LaToya!) and I ate a lot of her popcorns. If you are unaware of this movie, somehow, then there might be SPOILERS ahead, however, the movie was modified, I’m told, though I’m not such a huge fan that I’d be able to tell the difference. The premise of all the Terminator movies is that machines are going to take over the world and the resistance keeps sending people/machines back in time to try to stop the machines from trying to kill the human leader, John Connor. The concept from the first movie seems pretty crazy, but the opening sequence with the second movie gives a visual representation of what that war between machines and humans might look like.

From a nostalgic point of view, other than the antiquated technology, the movie feels like a solid snapshot in time, a good illustration of a future demise. It was campy when the movie referenced dates that had already passed, and the machines had not taken over. Additionally, from the Hina test, diversity and strong female characters, this movie actually has mostly solid representation considering the one African American man dies a hero, sacrificing himself and the one woman in the movie is a complete badass. I would like to have seen more diverse characters, but I can’t argue with a twenty year old movie that did such a good job on diversity, something a current movie couldn’t boast.

I would say, if you were ever a fan of the Terminator series, then this is a movie you should see. If you never saw the movie or don’t remember it well, this is one that you should see. I do appreciate that James Cameron is not someone I could ever root for, but he occasionally makes good movies and this is one of them.

Movie Review: Atomic Blonde

The summer of women empowerment movies seems to continue, though this one didn’t resonate quite as much as Wonder Woman did. This movie was very much a spin on James Bond, but with a strong female character in the lead role. The story is not as strong as it believes it is. There is a lot of action and that takes away from the hollow takeaway. The star of the movie is Lorraine, an otherwise unnamed spy who works for British intelligence. She is tasked with acquiring a list of all spies ever during the falling of the Berlin Wall in Berlin itself from a Russian defector and a fellow British spy. There are tons of things that get in the way to getting the list out, but ultimately the spy overcomes all obstacles to succeed.

I’ve never been a huge fan of spy movies. While I do love action movies, the predictability of knowing there are going to be dozens of betrayals makes the movie tiresome, and there might be SPOILERS ahead. I wonder if I’m just burned out on the idea. Charlize Theron is stunning as the blonde bombshell that beats the stuffing out of her attackers. I do find it interesting that the movie takes a page from Daredevil and the pummeling scenes continue for quite long periods of time, no enemy going down with just one hit, either from a fist or a bullet. James McAvoy plays opposite Theron as another spy, one who’s allegiance we’re constantly reminded need to be questioned. She also meets a French operative played by Sofia Boutella. There is a calm humanizing aspect to Theron’s interactions with Boutella, but the pairing still seems strange and caustic. There is a particularly graphic bedroom scene shared between the two that is jarring to watch. It also minimized the impact/effect of Boutella on Theron, more on that later. While I can’t say I didn’t enjoy the movie, it had little staying power and didn’t inspire me as Wonder Woman did. However the two movies could not be any more dissimilar save for the fact that both are led by strong female characters. 

With respect to the Hina test, this movie gets a barely passing grade. Yes, the movie had a strong female character in it. Yes, there was one minority character in it, but she was (SPOILER) killed during the movie, bringing some question to the fact that either the director thought he would vary the concept of ‘bury your gays’ in his movie. It was commendable to see Theron’s spy played as bisexual. It brought that decision into question by killing off the love interest. Most spy movies do this, though, so then I’m not sure if this is falling into a trope, or into an inevitable trap for the story itself. I kept thinking, after McAvoy kills Boutella, how interesting it would be to see Theron reunite with her somehow. To me, that would have made the movie, the story, more interesting. A missed opportunity. This movie is entertaining. For $7, it was well worth seeing.

Movie Review: Wish Upon

I might be trying to get back into going to the movies on a regular basis (hey, I have $15 in AMC bucks – very exciting!). As I’ve said countless times before, horror movies are pretty formulaic. Part one, establish a lovable loser type character. Part two, let lovable loser see a glimpse of what it would be like to not be loser through some sort of supernatural means that said loser doesn’t understand. Part three, everyone dies/suffers consequences. This is pretty much that, but slightly worse because the teen actors are kind of annoying, except it was nice to see Barb from Stranger Things alive and well!

The plot of the story is pretty simple. Young girl walks in on her mother committing suicide. Fast forward and her dad, for some reason dumpster dives as a career (Ryan Phillippe, what happened to you?) and finds something that he cleans up and gives to her. She can’t open it, takes a pic of it to school to her Chinese teacher (her high school teaches Chinese?) and ends up making a wish while holding it. Wackiness ensues. 

Some slight SPOLIERS ahead. Let’s face it, horror movies have a tough act to overcome. At some point, most scares have been done. Jump scares still get me to jump, but the cumulative effect is long gone. The rules of the movie didn’t seem to make sense either. The music box the dad gives his daughter is supposed to provide seven wishes (with no catches, which is kind of nice), but requires a blood price, ie, someone you care about/know dies. The variety of people who are killed strained the rule quite a bit. 

From the perspective of the Hina test, the lead was a girl, however selfish and stupid she was. Her friends comprised of a wide variety of people. It frustrated me that the friend who died was an African American gamer and a friend of a friend who helped her translate the Chinese, Asian, was killed. But Barb, from Stranger Things and the boy who she wanted to love her (white) were unharmed. I’m giving half points for having the diversity, but then killing off said diversity. It was cool to see Art from Orphan Black as the friend of the dad. I was worried Art was going to get killed. 

The movie is something you might watch on TV, but there is no staying power. The main girl doesn’t evoke any sort of real sympathy. I don’t want to be That Person, but I also found her not attractive at all. A movie like this would have been slightly more interesting if the main character had been a person of color. The movie had potential for something more and clearly just gave up.

Movie Review: Spiderman Homecoming

I believe this is the fourth or fifth reboot of Spiderman I’ve seen. There were at least two cartoons and three different movies. While we were teased this Spiderman in the last Avengers movie, this was the movie that let him stand on his own two feet. Before getting too far, I would like to point out, why is it the last two onscreen Spidermen were both British? Both Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland are Brits. Are there no American actors that can embody the wall crawler?

Unlike most super hero movies, this one does not open with an origin story. In this iteration of Spiderman, the fans are treated to a seeing Spiderman/Peter Parker after he has teamed up with the Avengers. The first sequence follows Parker as he is anxious to leave school and get out to be a super hero. It is a really cute sequence and proves how young Parker is compared to all the other super heroes. The only part of the origin story that the audience sees is his close friend Ned, finds out about him and tries to help him (the formulaic buddy part of the movie). 

While there is nothing really new that this movie brings to the table, it tries new things with mixed results. There may be SPOILERS beyond this point. There was a lot more diversity to be seen. The friend group at Peter’s science school was made up almost exclusively of minorities. It was a nice change of pace. Considering it was a special science school, it isn’t a reach to believe that the student body would be more diverse than your average school. I did find it slightly frustrating that Peter, the white kid, was of course the smartest and best at everything. I realize that is who he is in the comics, but it would have been a nice opportunity for the movies to diverge a little. Having said that, the friends surrounding Peter were well placed. I expect to see a lot of humor in Spiderman movies. I did wish that this version had Spidey himself being slightly funnier, but given that he’s new at super-heroing, it isn’t really surprising that the wise cracks weren’t constant.

There were quite a few cameos. The best was Captain America, by far, in this videos being shown at Peter’s school. Iron Man appeared a few times, but was more of a scolding figure than a guide. It set the tone that Peter was on his own, not a part of the Avengers, but someone who could assist them as needed. The stage has been set, another superhero for the Marvel Universe. After Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, the debacles of those two movies, this was a breath of fresh air. The movie and story were both enjoyable. We saw the movie in one of those fancy Dolby theatres and I was surprised the surround sound didn’t blow me out of my chair. The Marvel movies are always great and this was no exception.

With respect to my Hina test – the movie passes, but not by much. The movie centers around two white men, Spiderman and the Vulture. To make matters worse, so to speak, the guidance Peter gets is either from Happy, Tony Starks’ assistant or something, or Tony himself, also, all white men. The supporting cast is wonderfully diverse and it gave me hope for future movies. The female characters, especially Michelle, were strong, not always in need of Peter’s help, certainly not as Peter. 

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy 2

A sequel can rarely, if ever, live up to the original. The fact that the source material for this piece is so little known helps with the overall effect. I didn’t know anything about Peter Quill and crew until seeing the first movie and was pleasantly surprised where the second movie picked up where the first one left off. If you’re unfamiliar with Guardians of the Galaxy, you might be missing out on a diamond in the rough of oversaturation of comic book movies. On the one hand, I do wonder if Marvel and ABC are just bringing anything and everything out because they can make it marketable. On the other hand, the movie is well done and the characters are fully developed, even if we don’t always know as much as we would like of them.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 picks up with the group working for some superior alien race, protecting their batteries from another alien. It isn’t long before wackiness ensues and the team breaks up into smaller groups, only to be reconnected later in the movie. I will do my best to avoid any SPOILERS, but there could have been far more scenes with the core cast than there were, yet still, the breakoff groups were equally effective. It was nice to see more from Drax and a newcomer, Mantis. Together, those two were quickly stealing the scenes that were previously stolen by Rocket and Groot. Seeing a baby Groot made things cute, but also made me wonder about the whole BB-8/Groot dynamic, having a character that can’t really communicate but is cute. Isn’t that a staple of everything Disney?

I really had little to complain about. I would say, as far as the Hina test goes, this barely gets a passing grade. Most of the movie centered around white men. There were other alien races, but for the most part, they were either wearing tons of makeup or looked white/gold. The Alt Right was perfectly represented by the golden aliens from the beginning. Even if Gamora had a prominent role, it still felt like she was firmly in second place to Peter Quill. I couldn’t tell someone not to watch this movie, but by that same token, I couldn’t tell you it was must see either. I enjoyed it and that’s really all I can take away from the experience. 

Movie Review: The Fate of the Furious

A prescient disclaimer: I was forced to watch this movie. My cousin was dying to see it and I just wanted popcorn. If you haven’t seen any of the previous iterations of this series, you’re not the target audience. The basic premise is: fast cars go fast. I have been an avid fan of seeing these movies. Something about the latest trailer, about the movie going forward without Paul Walker, doesn’t sit well with me. While I always applaud the movie for featuring diversity, in almost every form and fashion, this edition just felt hollow and forced.

Without divulging too many SPOILERS, the story brings together varying factions to work together to stop Dom, the main character, from doing illegal things. He has been duped by a newcomer, Charlize Theron, who is forcing him to work for her in some plot that seems crazy. The best I can say about the story is, by the end, it sort of made sense and came together nicely.

As far as the Hina test goes (don’t worry, I’ll be adding that to the last two reviews I forgot to add it in), this gets a half passing grade, overall pass. The cast is diverse, there are strong female characters all around. It was really at my cousin’s comment that made me add that last part. If not for Leddy, this movie wouldn’t have one truly positive female character. Michelle Rodriguez may not be the most likable person off-camera, but her delivery of hard-nosed driver is perfect for any young girl who probably shouldn’t be watching a movie like this. If not for Leddy, this movie would just be a bunch of boys running around in fast cars. She gives the movie a much needed heart now that Paul Walker’s character is gone. If you like big budget movies, you’ll probably see this. It was just okay.

Movie Review: Get Out

It has been over a month, almost two, since I felt the urge to actually go to the theatre and see a movie. What makes me sad is that there were movies I wanted to see, I just never felt like going. I could comment on the overall movie-going experience, but at the end of the day, we all hit phases. I probably saved a hundred bucks not going in that time.

I had debated seeing this movie opening weekend, but I have to be in the right mood to see horror movies. After the reviews came out last week, I figured this was one I didn’t want to miss. I didn’t find the plot twist to be all that surprising, once it was revealed, but the build-up and the tension throughout the movie was quite interesting after you see the ending. I will do my best not to SPOIL the movie, but you’ve been warned.

Get Out centers around Chris, an African American man who is dating a white girl. Amazingly in 2017, this is still very much an issue. As they embark on their trip to visit her parents, you see his clear discomfort at going, but being a good boyfriend, he goes along. The apprehension doesn’t fade, even though the girl’s family seems quite kind and good natured. The family has two servants, both African American. Their behavior is also strange, to say the least. The weekend continues with a big party that Chris is told happens every year at the same time. The mother is a hypnotist and the father is a neurosurgeon. The mother somehow manages to hypnotize Chris, helping him to quit smoking, but also face his past and perhaps something more. The party progresses the next day and all of the patrons, save one, is white, and older. Everyone takes a special interest in Chris, as if it were unusual to see an African American person.

Chris’ anxiety increases as he sees a young man who seems familiar. When he sends the image to a friend (a TSA agent), the man is recognized as someone who had gone missing six months prior (in the movie, he is in the very first scene). After this, Chris knows he needs to leave. He stumbles upon a box full of photos of people with the girl he is dating. Two of them are there, the two African American servants. While this clearly raises an alarm, Chris doesn’t suspect his girlfriend until she refuses to relinquish the car keys. The brother (who is played by the same kid who played the brother in The Last Exorcism) easily overpowers him and he’s then revealed what the end result of his visit will truly be.

On the surface, the movie is a classic commentary on racial stigmas. By virtue of being born a different color, Chris is subjected to a very different way of life than the rest of the cast of the movie, save his TSA friend, for the most part. The experience for Chris is, of course, not normal, but the subtle nuances of how people treat him and act towards him are very telling of what a few minutes in the life of an African American person must be. The very first sequence and the very last are telling. In both cases, just by being African American, the two men in those scenes immediately assume they are at fault or need to remove themselves from a situation solely because they know they won’t be treated fairly. In this day and age, this is becoming more and more apparent, especially with the current rise of the white nationalist movement in the White House. A movie like this might open a conversation, but from my experience, those that are racist and bigoted will not see past their own perspective. In some ways, this movie might do the opposite of what it hopes to just by placing all white people as evil (within the context of the movie). If there had been one redeemable white character, the narrative would be vastly different. Towards the end of the movie, one of the white characters claims he’s color blind, but what he is really saying is that he doesn’t care about people of color, not that he cares about them. At one point the girlfriend also states her family isn’t racist, but then why would they only target African Americans? I almost feel like I have more questions about the decisions made by the writer and director. At the very least, no matter your perspective, the movie will make you think.

I forgot to add the overall Hina test score on this when I first posted it. It is hard to argue the diversity in a movie that centers the plot around diversity. It is also hard to argue with strong female characters when the mother of the girl the main character is dating is the one who is masterfully hypnotizing everyone. The girl in question has also been playing the main character perfectly. If you’re looking for diversity, this movie has it. If you’re looking for a movie with strong evil female characters, this movie is for you.

Movie Review: Hidden Figures

I’ve been in quite the ornery mood lately. I haven’t seen a movie, it seems, since November. I really haven’t been motivated to do too much. I hadn’t really seen a ton of trailers for Hidden Figures, but given everything that’s happening in this country (post election 2016), this seemed a movie I had to see. The movie is based on a book about three African American women who were integral in getting John Glenn to orbit the Earth. This was the time when the US were in a tight race with Communist Russia to get into space. The 1960s setting seemed to be more familiar than not. Take away the segregated bathrooms and that movie could be taking place now. The cousin I went to see the movie with commented that this could be a glimpse into the future instead of a story of triumph from the past.

The movie follows the story of three African American women, all of whom, from an early age, excelled at either science or math. Any woman, let alone a minority, would not be welcome in these fields. The fact that these women were African American, before people decided everyone should have equal rights, doesn’t accurately display how hard their struggles must have been. There are microcosms of incidents where the superiority of the white co-workers is used to show how different the world was then. In truth, those situations are very much still alive and well. I noticed that the woman who the main character is based on is still alive and I wonder what she would think about how little it feels like things have changed.

I digress. The story starts with a young African American family getting money that had been collected in the community to send their child, a kid, not a young adult, to college. The girl, Katherine Johnson, turns out to be a complete math whiz. The African American women are placed in a part of the Langley campus that is far removed from where their work needs to be done. There are dozens of scenes where Katherine is running across the campus to use the bathroom. The culmination of that scene was the perfect slow burn, a mere snapshot of everyday life for those who are not born with pale skin.

The narrative is nothing new, yet the story seemed somehow fresh. Each of the three characters had distinct storylines, distinct hurdles they had to overcome to be successful. Janelle Monáe stole every scene she was in. Kevin Costner was surprisingly accessible, where I expected him to be another hurdle, instead he worked towards equality, stating something along the lines of ‘wanting whoever could do the work’ to be involved. That shattered much of the boys club that existed within NASA. The often unlikable Kirsten Dunst was true to form, being unlikable, on purpose, and being put in her place by Octavia Spencer’s firey Dorothy. All in all, the hype is well given and the story is absolutely one you will not regret seeing.

As for the Hina test, it would be hard for me to find something amiss in this movie. The three main characters were African American women. The white characters were evolving to accept that being different wasn’t a bad thing. The sole criticism I could give this movie is that other than African Americans, there were no other minorities represented. I find it hard to believe there were no Asians or Hispanics at all in Virginia in the 1960s. However, at this point, that would really be quibbling with what delivers a powerful message to those that believe white supremacy is the only way forward. If not for this unknown story, our space program would have been leaps and bounds behind Russia.

Movie Review: The Blair Witch

Come on, if you didn’t see this coming, you must be very new to this blog. If there’s a horror movie out, no matter how bad it might be, I will watch it. I still remember seeing the first movie and not understanding what had happened until we see those fatal, final shots. I went into this movie with pretty high expectations. I should have reset that to something far more realistic. The original movie was made with practically no script and a shoe-string budget. This movie had way more hype and funding and yet it still was basically the same movie.

In case you’ve never heard of the original, The Blair Witch Project, the movie centers around a found-footage premise where three filmmakers go out to investigate the folk lore about the Blair Witch and never return. The movie itself was quite revolutionary at the time. The found-footage genre was barren and the idea of having the actors double as cameramen saved majorly on the budget. The three filmmakers decide to camp in the woods, which are purported to be haunted, and terrifying things begin to happen. The map is the first thing to get lost (long before GPS) and the group walk in circles for days. One member goes missing and then the last two members end up at an abandoned house, never to leave it. The movie ends on that note. A sequel was made, but I never subjected myself to it, so I couldn’t tell you what it’s about.

Fast forward about fourteen years and the audience meets James, the then four-year old brother of Heather, the only woman in the first movie. James stumbles upon some guy uploading a video to YouTube with a clip that may, or may not, be his sister. The footage was supposedly found near where she disappeared. James’ friend, Lisa is making a movie for school and decides to make James’ search for his sister the subject. The two are joined by James’ childhood friend Paul and his girlfriend Ashely (both are African American). The four set out to meet the guy who found the footage. The audience meets Lane and Talia. These two are characterized as the usual small town hicks. They insist on going out with the friends and this creates some tension, as Lane has a Confederate flag prominently displayed in his house.

Without divulging too many SPOILERS the movie follows very closely to the original. The African American characters are the first ones to be attacked or go missing, fulfilling the usual horror trope. The antics that plagued the first film crew repeat, though with some added assistance from Lane and Talia, who plant some evidence, only to be proven to have planted the items in the first place. It is at this point that the group disbands. Lane and Talia are sent away and the other four friends try to make their way out of the forest, only to get hopelessly lost. The rest of the story devolves further into the original, instead of really introducing anything new except the idea that you shouldn’t look the witch in the eye.

And this is the point where I was more frustrated than anything. This was the chance for the filmmakers, real ones, not the ones in the movie, to add to the lore, to enhance what has been said about the Blair Witch. I think of the infinite possibilities. It almost cheapened the movie to have her on-screen, however grainy that might have been. The concept of ‘time travel’ through the movie was also mind numbing. Lane and Talia are lost for a week, but James and Co (the characters being followed) are lost for a half a day. This is never fully explained. There were so many places where the story could have improved upon what was a pretty strong base, but it just fell flat and wasn’t scary at all. For my new-found Hina test, this did pass, but barely. There were three female characters, all strong in their own right. There were two minorities in the movie, one making it almost to the end of the movie. None seemed forced into the story. I have to give this a pass on the Hina test.