Solo: A Star Wars Story review

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY:

THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF A “CLOSE ENOUGH” STAR WARS MOVIE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

LUCASFILM LTD.

Han Solo and Chewbacca on their first adventure in a galaxy far, far away in Solo: A Star Wars Story

            Everyone’s favorite pilot and smuggler is back in the second installment of the Star Wars anthology film series following 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Now director, Ron Howard (Backdraft, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind) brings Solo: A Star Wars Story, the origin story of how Han Solo met Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian and how he managed to perform the Kessel Run with the Millennium Falcon, taking place in between the events of Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope.

            I’ll be honest with you, I wasn’t super hyped for this one, don’t get me wrong I was excited that another Star Wars movie was coming out and will most likely be seeing it. But at the same time the trailers didn’t grab me, we just got done with the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi back in December, and my eyes were drawn towards Avengers: Infinity War and Ready Player One.

            Still I had interest in seeing Solo because it is part of the Star Wars franchise and was curious to see how it would turn out. And…it’s a decent film, not great, not horrible (or even bad), it’s just a fun adventure with Han-Solo and Chewbacca in space, nothing more.

            The film follows a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich-Stoker, Blue Jasmine, Hail, Caesar!) who dreams of one day becoming the greatest pilot in the galaxy, as he encounters a gang of criminals posing as Imperial Soldiers. The gang is led by Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson-Zombieland, The Hunger Games franchise, War for the Planet of the Apes) who decides to mentor Han in smuggling for the deal of a lifetime.

            Along the way he meets his future co-pilot and Wookie friend, Chewbacca, an ecstatic and aggressive Droid Rights activist known as L3-37 (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge-Albert Nobbs, The Iron Lady, Fleabag), and the smuggler who lost the Millennium Falcon to him after a bet, Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover-30 Rock, Community, The Martian) as he races against time to steal unprocessed coaxium from the mines of Kessel for crime lord, Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany-The Da Vinci Code, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Margin Call). However, Vos may have different plans with the coaxium as Han starts digging deeper and deeper into trouble.

            The film also stars Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Terminator: Genisys, Me Before You) as Qi’ra, Thandie Newton (Mission: Impossible 2, Crash, Westworld) as Val Beckett, Jon Favreau (Elf, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Jungle Book (2016)) as the voice of Rio Durant, and Linda Hunt (Dune, Pocahontas, Stranger than Fiction) as the voice of Lady Proxima.

            Overall, Solo: A Star Wars Story is fun summer blockbuster entertainment but in terms of a compelling and engaging Star Wars film, there isn’t much to it. The film is sure to satisfy longtime fans of the series (Unless they rip it apart like The Last Jedi, but I digress) and will probably pull in more bucks for Disney as we wait anticipatingly for Incredibles 2 and Ant-Man and the Wasp later on this summer.

            Ehrenreich portrays a young Solo decently though he is far from being a replacement for Harrison Ford, to me he’s the one true Han Solo, still good attempt there. Paul Bettany hams it up like mad as Vos and I’m assuming he needed a chance to go completely bonkers after playing the calm and wise, Vision in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, nevertheless he’s very entertaining.

            Who really steals the show here is Donald Glover as Lando, oh my God he nails the character perfectly. From the facial expressions, voice, and mannerisms I was almost convinced I was looking at a young Billy Dee Williams, that’s how good he is here and he’s pretty much the highlight of the movie.

            Ron Howard is not a bad choice as a director for a movie like this, he clearly has a good understanding of Star Wars and like Steven Spielberg he’s done so many different kinds of movies. I don’t think it’s one of his best films, it can’t even touch Apollo 13 or A Beautiful Mind but it’s a good attempt and he’s worked with George Lucas before on films like Willow and American Graffiti, it’s certainly better than In the Heart of the Sea, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, or some of Howard’s other work.

            Final thoughts, Solo: A Star Wars Story I’d say is worth a watch in theaters, I don’t see myself seeing it several more times but I’m glad I watched it the first time and will most likely bring it home on Blu-Ray. It’s probably the second-best Star Wars prequel after Revenge of the Sith with less awkward performances.

            If you’re a Star Wars fan then…you’re probably in line to see Solo: A Star Wars Story right now but whether or not you like it, that’s up to you which in today’s world is like choosing between the Light or the Dark Side. The Force isn’t quite strong with this one, but it’s close enough, take it for what it’s worth.

Deadpool 2 review

DEADPOOL 2:

RYAN REYNOLDS KEEPS THE LAUGHS AND GORE COMING IN SUPER FUN SEQUEL!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

20^TH CENTURY FOX AND MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT

(From left to right) Domino, Deadpool, and Cable showing the Avengers how it’s done in Deadpool 2

The Merc with a Mouth from Marvel Comics returns in the highly anticipated sequel to the 2016 blockbuster hit that breathed new life into the R-rated superhero movie genre, Deadpool. The film broke numerous box-office records upon its release, earned positive reviews from critics (Becoming the first February superhero movie release to do so…as far as I know), unintentionally became the highest-grossing X-Men movie of all time, and saved the superhero movie career of Ryan Reynolds (National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, The Proposal, The Hitman’s Bodyguard). 

Naturally a sequel was in the works, which had a lot to live up to after the huge success of the first film. I was both excited to see Reynolds portray Wade Wilson/Deadpool again and to see some humorously over-the-top manslaughter, but also worried that it would be much of the same with little variety. 

Well, the studio that killed Wolverine (Yeah, little spoiler from Logan), the comic book company that killed almost everyone (I’ll stop now!), and Tim Miller, the director of the first film passing over the directing task to David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde) managed to deliver a very enjoyable follow-up with Deadpool 2. It delivers all the gory, over-the-top, 4^th wall breaking goodness that the first film offered and introduces some new characters without it ever feeling like a retread of the first movie though there are a few familiar jokes put in, but they put a new spin to them. 

After a successful two years of working as the mercenary, Deadpool, Wade Wilson finds himself being roped into becoming an X-Men trainee by Colossus (voiced by Stefan Kapičić-Larin izbor, The Brothers Bloom, Big Miracle) in hopes of turning him from a vulgar, wise-cracking, killing machine (You know, everything that made him cool) to a real hero (And by that I mean a spandex wearing tool, what’s next, are you gonna give Deadpool a fucking shield or something?). Unfortunately, Wade’s first day as a trainee doesn’t quite go over well as he must protect a mysterious young mutant named Russell/Firefist (Julian Dennison-Paper Planes, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) from the time-traveling mutant soldier, Thanos, er, I mean Cable (Josh Brolin-True Grit (2010), Men in Black 3, Marvel Cinematic Universe) (Fuck, it’s so confusing when he’s in 2 big superhero movies this summer!) who is out to eliminate him for murdering his family. 

To even stand a chance against Cable, Wade must put together a team (and I ain’t talking about those Avengers douchebags!) of people with extraordinary gifts…and the ability to hold a franchise. I am of course talking…about the X-Force consisting of luck manipulating, Domino (Zazie Beetz-Atlanta, Easy, Wolves), brain scrambling, Bedlam (Terry Crews-Starsky & Hutch, The Boondocks, Sorry to Bother You), alien from Mojoworld (I would make a Powerpuff Girls joke there but…I don’t want to!), Shatterstar (Lewis Tan-NCIS: Los Angeles, Mortal Kombat: Legacy, Iron Fist), acidic vomit spitting, Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgård-The Divergent Series: Allegiant, Atomic Blonde, It), The Invisible…Vanisher (Brad Pitt-Fight Club, Inglourious Basterds, Moneyball), and...some guy named Peter (Rob Delaney-The Smoking Gun Presents: World’s Dumbest, Key & Peele, Catastrophe), and with the help of Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand-First Girl I Loved, Tragedy Girls, The Exorcist (TV series)) Deadpool will be ready to face Cable and give him a good T-bag though maybe Cable might not be as bad as he initially thought as Wade attempts to rehabilitate Russell so he doesn't have to be killed...or some shit like that! 

The film also stars Morena Baccarin (Firefly, Gotham, Stargate SG-1, V) as Vanessa, T.J. Miller (Silicon Valley, How to Train Your Dragon 1 and 2, Big Hero 6) as Weasel, singer, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni (Safety Not Guaranteed, Other Space, Ghostbusters (2016)) as Dopinder, Shiori Kutsuna (Unforgiven (2013), Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, The Outsider) as Yukio, and Reynolds as the voice of the Juggernaut, bitch! 

Overall, Deadpool 2, like its predecessor is a zany, fast-paced, and outrageous departure from the traditional superhero movie genre, while still maintaining some of the genre’s elements that make comic book movies popular in the first place. Luckily the flashy superhero movie tropes don’t overshadow the gory and relentlessly violent action and irreverent humor that Deadpool is known for, and you certainly get plenty of that in the sequel (After all, some of the best family films start with murders). 

Even with all the violence and insanity going on, Deadpool still remains a likable character, despite his comedically over-the-top and at times annoying antics and attitude. He enjoys what he does but he’s never made out to be a bad guy and he has moments of humanity and heart especially with him trying to set Russell on a better path, though not quite as much as someone like Iron Man or Thor. 

The humor is…I mean, come on, it’s Deadpool of course it hits in all the right places, literally from the opening credits parodying the James Bond franchise set to a Celine Dion song to the mid-credits sequences I was laughing and having a great time all the way through. Sadly, there is no Ferris Bueller ending this time around, so don’t bother waiting for the credits to end here except for the Omen-inspired Holy Shitballs operatic Juggernaut theme that plays at the very end. 

I'm not sure if I'd say Deadpool 2 is better than the first movie, but I will say it’s as good as its predecessor. I felt the first one had more of an impact because it was new and superhero movies for adults were sort of losing popularity so it was refreshing to see an R-rated comic book movie that ended up being a huge critical and commercial success. 

Deadpool 2 is a return to feel-good superhero movies after Avengers: Infinity War depressed us all to death a few weeks prior. If you loved the first one (Like I did), then you’re sure to enjoy the sequel just as much…but make sure you don’t bring the kids with you, just saying (Bring them!).

Life of the Party review

LIFE OF THE PARTY:

OCCASIONALLY FUNNY AND SWEET, BUT MOSTLY OBNOXIOUS AND PREDICTABLE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND NEW LINE CINEMA

Melissa McCarthy is going back to school as the Life of the Party

            Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy) collaborates with husband and director, Ben Falcone (Enough Said, Tammy, The Boss) for the third time with their latest comedy, Life of the Party. As a comedian, McCarthy has been very hit-or-miss for me, much like Amy Schumer, if the script gives her enough to work with and she delivers her energetic timing just right she’s absolutely hilarious, but at her worst, she can get annoying really fast.

            Unfortunately, this is not one of those movies, Life of the Party is one of the most tiring concepts you could do for a comedy, a forty-something-year-old person going back to college, didn’t Tom Hanks star in a movie like this not too long ago with Larry Crowne? Aside from a few laughs and some heartwarming moments, Melissa McCarthy’s enthusiastic performance and energy is not enough to save it.

            After a sudden divorce from her husband, Dan (Matt Walsh-Bad Santa, Starsky & Hutch, Ted) while dropping off their daughter, Maddie (Molly Gordon-Animal Kingdom), Deanna Miles (McCarthy) decides to go back to college and ends up in her daughter’s class, who is not comfortable with the idea of attending college with her mom. Deanna plunges into the campus experience and embraces freedom, fun, and frat boys as she embarks on a spiritual journey and discovers her true self in a senior year no one was expecting.

            The film also stars Gillian Jacobs (Community, Regular Show, Rick and Morty) as Helen, Maya Rudolph (A Prairie Home Companion, Bridesmaids, Sisters) as Christine, Adria Arjona (True Detective, Emerald City, Pacific Rim: Uprising) as Amanda, Debby Ryan (The Suite Life on Deck, Jessie, Girl Meets World) as Jennifer, Julie Bowen (Happy Gilmore, Boston Legal, Modern Family) as Marcie, Jacki Weaver (The Five-Year Engagement, Silver Linings Playbook, The Disaster Artist) as Sandy, Stephen Root (Office Space, O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?, Get Out) as Mike, Luke Benward (Dear John, See Dad Run, Ravenswood) as Jack, Jimmy O. Yang (Silicon Valley, Patriots Day, Crazy Rich Asians) as Tyler, Shannon Purser (Stranger Things, Riverdale, Rise) as Connie, Chris Parnell (30 Rock, Archer, Rick and Morty) as Mr. Truzack, Heidi Gardner (Saturday Night Live, SuperMansion, Mike Tyson Mysteries) as Leonor, Nat Faxon (Grosse Pointe, Reno 911, The Way, Way Back) as Lance, and Sarah Baker (The Campaign, Mascots, Louie) as Gildred.

            Overall, Life of the Party ironically doesn’t live up to the title and outside of a few chuckles and sweet moments, it mostly ranges from generic plot structure, predictable clichés, and side characters that are either one-dimensional or flat-out annoying. Though I will say it’s not nearly as painful to sit through as Tammy, at least McCarthy’s character is likable here.

            The plot is pretty standard and several times while watching the movie I was able to predict what was going to happen, which is not a good sign. Both plot clichés and certain jokes were predictable such as a black and white striped outfit that a character was wearing, and I made a reference to Beetlejuice and wouldn’t you know it? A Beetlejuice joke was made, I was one step ahead of this movie.

            However, they managed to surprise me at how lazy the script is even more than the Beetlejuice reference. During the final act of the movie, Melissa McCarthy, her daughter, and the daughter’s friends throw a big party and using Twitter to promote it claiming that a certain celebrity will be attending as a scam. Literally the moment that announcement was made, I figured out exactly where it was going, and those of you who are familiar with clichés like this can already guess what happens by the end.

            I will admit, there are some legitimately touching moments in the film and I like the chemistry between McCarthy and the daughter. The scenes with them bonding with each other, talking about their feelings, and trying to help out one another are undeniably sweet and the film has a nice message about family, in my opinion these are the moments where the movie shines.

            Unfortunately, there’s not enough heartfelt moments to balance out the predictable storytelling, bland and/or annoying side characters, and lame jokes. I’ll give Life of the Party credit that it’s at least a harmless comedy with a few laughs sprinkled in and some moments that tug at your heartstrings.

            If you’re a die-hard Melissa McCarthy fan, then Life of the Party might be up your alley, but if you’re looking for a perfect movie to see with your mom on Mother’s Day, might I suggest Tully over this? It’s a better made movie that’s funny, dramatic, and touching all at the same time, this on the other hand, I’ll probably forget about in a couple days.