Bill & Ted Face the Music review

BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC: 

THIRD ADVENTURE IS TRULY “EXCELLENT”! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

ORION PICTURES AND UNITED ARTISTS RELEASING (MGM)

Samara Weaving, Alex Winter, Keanu Reeves, Brigette Lundy-Paine, and a whole bunch of “Historical Dudes” on another “Excellent Adventure” through history in Bill & Ted Face the Music

 

            Everyone’s favorite dim-witted, time-traveling dudes are back in Bill & Ted Face the Music, the long-belated third installment of the Bill & Ted trilogy that began with the 1988 sci-fi comedy classic, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and continued with the bizarre Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey in 1991. I actually revisited the first two films specifically for this review and they’re still very fun movies today that have a strong balance of goofy and clever humor, imagination, and two very charming leads that paved the way for other dumb comedic duos like Wayne and Garth from Wayne’s World, Beavis and Butt-Head, and Harry and Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber.  

            The best way I can describe the Bill & Ted movies is like Back to the Future meets Dumb and Dumber and about as funny and smart as those films as well. It’s easy to see why Bill & Ted is such a beloved movie among both kids and adults, with its unique blend of time travel science-fiction and silly humor, a colorful cast of characters, and even some heartwarming moments at times, it’s a comedy that stood the test of time, no pun intended. 

            Now, nearly 30 years since the release of Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey we have Bill & Ted Face the Music with Keanu Reeves (Speed, The Matrix trilogy, John Wick trilogy) and Alex Winter (The Lost Boys, Freaked, In Search of Darkness) reprising their roles as Bill and Ted, Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon returning as writers (The latter also produces this movie), and in the director’s chair this time is Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest, Fun with Dick and Jane(2005), RED 2) to give these two lovable doofuses a most “Excellent” and nostalgia-filled final adventure. While I wouldn’t call it their best or most “Excellent” adventure, it’s nevertheless an enjoyable blast from the past and a very funny movie. 

            The film follows Bill Preston (Winter) and Ted Logan (Reeves) who are now grown up and have daughters of their own, Thea (Samara Weaving-Home and Away, Ready or Not, Guns Akimbo) and Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine-Atypical, Downsizing, Bombshell). However, their rock band The Wyld Stallyns failed to write the prophesied song that would unite the world resulting in Bill and Ted falling on hard times. 

            But when they are visited by a woman from the future named Kelly (Kristen Schaal-Bob’s Burgers, Gravity Falls, BoJack Horseman), the daughter of their old friend Rufus (Originally played by George Carlin in the earlier movies) who informs them that time and space are beginning to collapse and can only be stopped if they write the song that would save life as we know it. 

            Bill and Ted decide that instead of writing the song that would unite the world, they would just use the time traveling phone booth to go forward in time and steal the song from their future selves in a literal race against time to save the universe. Meanwhile, Thea and Billie embark on an adventure through time of their own to bring together a group of historical musicians consisting of Jimi Hendrix (DazMann Still), Louis Armstrong (Jeremiah Craft), Mozart (Daniel Dorr), Ling Lun (Sharon Gee), Kid Cudi (Played by himself), and a drum playing cave woman named Grom (Patty Anne Miller) and form a band to help their dads. 

            The film also stars Erinn Hayes (Childrens Hospital, Medical Police, It’s a Disaster) as Princess Elizabeth Logan, Jayma Mays (Red Eye, Heroes, Glee) as Princess Joanna Preston, Anthony Carrigan (Barry, The Forgotten (TV series), Gotham) as Dennis Caleb McCoy, William Sadler (Die Hard 2: Die Harder, The Green Mile, Iron Man 3) reprising his role from Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey as the Grim Reaper, Hal Landon Jr. as Captain Jonathan Logan, Beck Bennett (Saturday Night Live, Brigsby Bear, The Angry Birds Movie 2) as Officer Deacon Logan, Amy Stoch (Dallas, High Incident, Murder, She Wrote) reprising her role from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey as Missy, Holland Taylor (The Truman Show, Legally Blonde, Two and a Half Men) as The Great Leader, and Jillian Bell (22 Jump Street, Goosebumps, Brittany Runs a Marathon) as Dr. Taylor Wood. 

            Overall, Bill & Ted Face the Music is a fun, light-hearted, laugh-yourself-silly throwback that is sure to put a smile on even the most cynical of movie watchers thanks to its likable characters and laugh-a-minute jokes. The performances by Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are the highlight of the film, they still nail the characters of Bill and Ted and not once does their shtick ever get stale unlike other long-belated returns such as Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels as their Dumb and Dumber characters, or Sylvester Stallone as Rambo. 

            Bill and Ted may be in their fifties now but they’re still those lovable albeit dim-witted rapscallions we knew back in 1988 and 1991 and Reeves and Winter continue to bring their charisma to the characters. It’s also kind of funny to see Keanu Reeves return as Ted after previously portraying Neo in The Matrix and John Wick. 

            Most of the jokes hit bullseye with some of the best being every time Bill and Ted go further in time and encounter their future selves and how each version of them that they come across is awful. Top it off with Prison Bill and Ted and some damn good makeup that gives Gollum a run for his money and you got what I can best describe as a comedic marvel. 

            Another moment that also had me laughing hard was Thea and Billie’s subplot where they use a time machine to round up all the historical musicians for the band and just seeing them all interact with one another. It isn’t quite on par with the mall destroying scene from the first movie but the duet between Mozart and Jimi Hendrix is now officially the most epic thing ever put to film.

            I think the only real negative I have for this movie is that the ending feels extremely rushed and almost like the film just comes to an abrupt stop after Bill and Ted save the day. There isn’t much of a resolution or a proper sendoff for the characters that probably could have been improved by a quick rewrite, thankfully it doesn’t ruin the movie. 

            Bill & Ted Face the Music is a perfect example of a feel-good adventure comedy that has something for everyone. Time travel, goofy characters, silly humor, and a surprising amount of heart, my advice is to get yourself into that phone booth and let the laughs and adventure begin. 

Mulan review

MULAN:

BELOVED DISNEY ANIMATED FILM GETS AN EXHILARATING ALBEIT FLAWED UPDATE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

DISNEY

Liu Yifei as Mulan

 

            Let’s get down to business to discuss this film! Another Disney animated classic is brought to the screen in live-action in Mulan, the latest of Disney’s live-action remakes based on the 1998 film of the same name. The original film was a childhood favorite of mine and I have fond memories of seeing it in theaters as a five-year-old and being entranced by the epic scale of it and also of popping the movie in on VHS as well. 

            While I wouldn’t consider the original Mulan to be among one of the Disney greats like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, or The Lion King, it’s still a very enjoyable movie even today. With its stunning and lively animation, a very likable and badass female empowerment protagonist, memorable characters, thrilling action sequences on an epic scale, and fun songs with I’ll Make a Man Out of You as the highlight of both the film and its soundtrack, despite not being a massive box-office success compared to other Disney films it’s easy to see why this movie has a die-hard and well deserved fanbase.

            Now, keeping in the tradition of the live-action Disney remakes it was only a matter of time before Mulan would be chosen to hopefully bring “Honor” to this hit-or-miss series of movies especially after last year’s Lion King remake despite being a financial success resulted in the “LADRS” (Live-Action Disney Remakes, LADR © Nico Beland, 2020) hitting rock bottom. Despite not fully enjoying some of the recent Disney remakes very much (I was not a fan of Aladdin (2019) and the less we speak of Lion King (2019), the better!), I remained optimistic and open-minded when Mulan was announced and it looked promising by the trailers and advertisements, not to mention the film is directed by Niki Caro (Whale Rider, North Country, McFarland, USA), who also directed the acclaimed and phenomenal Whale Rider. 

            This film takes a more action-adventure/drama approach that’s darker and more adult compared to the light-hearted, musical/comedy tone of the original and removes the comedic side characters like Mushu and the Cricket (Don’t get me wrong, they’re wonderful characters in the original film but given the more serious tone of this version they wouldn’t work here!), also it marks the first live-action Disney remake to earn a PG-13 rating so yeah…don’t expect any songs, silly hijinks and slapstick, men in drag, or Eddie Murphy voiced dragons here. 

            Mulan (2020) had a lot going for it and there are a lot of things to admire about it, but does it make up for the taint of some of the bad Disney remakes in recent years? Not really, but at least this one’s pretty good. I still prefer the animated original because of its energy and passion, but this new retelling of the Mulan story is a welcome companion for it while still remaining a solid, standalone movie on its own merits even if it has a few rusty spots in the armor as is usually the case with most of Disney’s remakes good and bad, but we’ll get to that soon. 

            The film follows Mulan (Liu Yifei-The Forbidden Kingdom, The Four trilogy, The Assassins), a young girl in China trying her hardest to bring honor to her family. However, when her father (Tzi Ma-Rush Hour 1 and 3, Arrival, The Farewell) is drafted into a war despite his frail health, Mulan takes matters into her own hands and takes in place by masquerading as a man. 

            Mulan’s skills will be tested every step of the way as she embarks on a literal and spiritual journey to become an honored warrior and fight to protect her nation and her family from the ruthless Not Shan Yu, Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee-Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, The Jungle Book (1994), Lilo & Stitch) and a powerful, shapeshifting witch (Gong Li-Eros, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Monkey King 2). 

            The film also stars Donnie Yen (Ip Man franchise, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, XXX: Return of Xander Cage) as Commander Tung, Yoson An (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, The Meg, Dead Lucky) as Chen Honghui, Jet Li (Fearless, War, The Forbidden Kingdom) as the Emperor of China, Rosalind Chao (AfterMASH, Star Trek: The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine, The O.C.) as Hua Li, Ron Yuan (Sons of Anarchy, Prison Break, CSI: NY) as Sergeant Qiang, Jimmy Wong (Video Game High School, Feast of Fiction, John Dies at the End) as Ling, Chen Tang (The Jane Pendant, Brian Banks, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as Yao, Doua Moua (Gran Torino, Memoria, Iron Fist) as Chien-Po, Nelson Lee (Law & Order, Oz, Strip Search) as The Chancellor, and Cheng Pei-pei (Come Drink with Me, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Legendary Amazons) as The Matchmaker. 

            Overall, Mulan (2020) may not be perfect but it’s easily one of the better live-action Disney remakes without a doubt that for the most part works as a faithful retelling of the animated film while also being a decent standalone movie as well. It doesn’t hammer the original into your head like a lot of their other remakes do but rather tell the well-known story in a new light and to that I commend the effort. 

            From a visual perspective, this movie is gorgeous and one of the best looking out of the Disney remakes, from the production design and special effects to the exhilarating action sequences, almost every scene feels epic and like it’s been shot on this grand scale, it really makes me wish movie theaters were open again in the area I live in, but I digress (I watched it on Disney+). 

            The film does pay homage to the 1998 movie at times either through dialogue that reference Honor to Us All and I’ll Make a Man Out of You, a cameo by Ming-Na Wen who originally voiced Mulan in the film, and both an English and Chinese cover of the song Reflection during the end credits and unlike something like the Lion King remake which was almost literally line for line from its animated predecessor, the callbacks to it are not distracting at all. 

            For the most part, I still prefer the original but if there is one thing the remake did a lot better was represent Chinese culture, it’s there in the 1998 film don’t get me wrong but not nearly as much as this. The architecture, the costumes, the fight sequences, and even references to the philosophy of fighting and chi. 

            Even though I thought this was a decent retelling overall, it does have some major problems that deem it inferior to the 1998 movie. Some that I personally had issue with are the lack of development for the side characters specifically the other soldiers, the villains are pretty weak, and one of my biggest complaints with most of Disney’s remakes, heavily watering down some of the best character moments from the originals (In this movie’s case, the scene where Mulan takes her father’s armor is severely botched in this version), but those are some (mostly) minor nitpicks to a perfectly serviceable remake. 

            If you’re a fan of the original movie or curious to see how this remake holds up, then you’ll probably enjoy this new adaptation of Mulan, even if it doesn’t quite live up to its animated predecessor. Sure, it’s flawed and has Disney’s thumbprints all over it, but I’ll gladly take this over the Aladdin, and Lion King remakes any day. 

Tenet review

TENET:

NOT ONE OF CHRISTOPHER NOLAN’S BEST, BUT STILL A VISUALLY DAZZLING AND INTELLIGENTLY CRAFTED ENTRY IN HIS FILMOGRAPHY! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES

John David Washington in Tenet

 

            Time travel gets even more chaotic than the Hulk’s explanation of it from Avengers: Endgame in Tenet, the latest film from director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Dunkirk) and the final film in his unintentional Infinity Stone hunt consisting of Mind (Memento), Space (Interstellar), Reality (Inception), Power (The Dark Knight trilogy), Soul (Insomnia), and now Time, sorry I couldn’t resist. Anyway, this was originally intended to be a Summer 2020 release but was delayed three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, now it’s finally released in theaters, how does it hold up compared to some of Nolan’s other films? I like it…but I don’t think it’s one of his best movies. 

            As is normally the case with most of Nolan’s films, Tenet is a visually dazzling and intelligently crafted spectacle that’s filled to the brim with his signature tropes. You know the ones, non-linear storytelling, practical special effects in front of the camera, shooting on IMAX Film, exposition-heavy dialogue, the presence of Michael Caine, and a lot of thrilling, edge-of-your-seat action sequences, for better or for worse all of this is present in the film. 

            The film follows a mysterious Protagonist (John David Washington-Ballers, BlacKkKlansman, The Old Man & the Gun) who is armed with only one word “Tenet” and fighting for the survival of the entire world, journeys into a world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold into something beyond real time. The Protagonist and his handler Neil (Robert Pattinson-Good Time, The Lighthouse, The Batman) teams up with auctioneer Kat (Elizabeth Debicki-The Great Gatsby (2013), Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2, Widows) and fixer Mahir (Himesh Patel-EastEnders, Yesterday, The Aeronauts) to do the unthinkable, manipulate the flow of time in order to prevent World War III and bring down a ruthless Russian oligarch (Kenneth Branagh-Hamlet (1996), Thor, Murder on the Orient Express (2017)/Death on the Nile). 

            The film also stars Michael Caine (The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Kingsman: The Secret Service) as Sir Michael Crosby, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass 1 and 2, Godzilla (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron) as Ives, Martin Donovan (Simple Men, Insomnia, Weeds) as Victor, Fiona Dourif (The Blacklist, Curse/Cult of Chucky, The Purge (TV series)) as Wheeler, Clémence Poésy (Harry Potter franchise, In Bruges, 127 Hours) as Laura, and Dimple Kapadia (Being Cyrus, Luck by Chance, Finding Fanny) as Priya. 

            Overall, Tenet is definitely the black sheep of Christopher Nolan’s films and will most likely require multiple viewings to fully get the picture. It’s arguably the most complex and non-linear of his work that probably won’t get the same amount of praise as something like Inception, The Dark Knight trilogy, or even Interstellar, this film pretty much makes those movies look like walks in the park by comparison, but for those willing to use their brains a little will find an exhilarating thrill ride wrapped around a thought-provoking mind puzzle of a film. 

            I’m not kidding about the “exhilarating thrill ride”, the action sequences in this movie are spectacular and very creative (Not quite Inception hallway fight or the car chase in The Dark Knight where the truck flips over, but still very exciting stuff), because this movie is about time travel, Nolan gets to play around with it a lot during these moments, from a plane crash scene that rocks the auditorium when watching it on IMAX had me on the edge of my seat to various fight scenes, car chases, and battles all done in reverse (Buildings reassembling themselves while blowing up, bullet-holes from a shot-up window that disappear after being shot by a gun, cars driving and crashing backwards, etc.) which I completely fell in love with, it’s a movie that warrants an IMAX viewing, if you’re watching it on a TV, smartphone, or tablet, guess what? You’re not seeing it at all! 

            It will exhilarate you and also make you scratch your head because as we all know Christopher Nolan loves a good mystery and keeping things from the audience so they can figure it out themselves, I just saw the movie today and I feel like there are certain details about this film that I may have missed. Much like Inception, it’s possible that Tenetwill start to make more sense after multiple viewings of it…which I will gladly do because I enjoyed this film. 

            The performances by the lead actors are great especially from John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, and the highlight being Kenneth Branagh who goes full over-the-top crazy as the film’s villain. However, my biggest issue with this movie (and this is a common flaw for other Nolan movies) is that while the acting is legitimately good and the plot is conceptually fascinating, the character development kind of falls flat for me. 

            It isn’t lazy or bad, at this point the heavy exposition dumping in place of character development is also a standard of Nolan’s filmmaking, but to me the people in his movies don’t always talk like human beings and because many of the characters are very mysterious, the film doesn’t really give me much time to grow attached to them or care about what they’re fighting for. That’s basically why I think Batman (1989) has stronger character moments than The Dark Knight because they sound more natural and feel more alive (I love both movies, by the way!). 

            Tenet will give Christopher Nolan fans and film enthusiasts what they’re looking for, a thrilling, head-scratching puzzle with a lot of fascinating themes and concepts, a booming musical score by Creed and Black Panther’s Ludwig Göransson that eerily sounds like the music of frequent Nolan collaborator Hans Zimmer, and plenty of exhilarating action sequences. You may have to think harder compared to his other work to completely understand it, but that’s a small price to pay.

The New Mutants review

THE NEW MUTANTS: 

X-MEN THEMED HORROR MOVIE HAS AN INTERESTING PREMISE, BUT SADLY FAILS TO LIVE UP TO IT! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** out of 4

20^TH CENTURY STUDIOS AND MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT

Charlie Heaton, Henry Zaga, Blu Hunt, Maisie Williams, and Anya Taylor-Joy in The New Mutants

 

            The X-Men mutants show off their dark side in The New Mutants, the final installment of Fox’s X-Men franchise based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, and the first to be released under the 20^th Century Studios label after Fox was acquired by Disney. The film is directed by Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars) and had quite an interesting production history to say the least. 

            Originally slated for an April 2018 release, the film was constantly delayed because of reshoots to make the movie scarier, avoiding competition with other X-Men movies like Deadpool 2 and Dark Phoenix, and Disney buying out 20^th Century Fox to name a few. Yeah, it was delayed so much to the point where it almost became hilarious, kind of like the Thief and the Cobbler of comic book movies. 

After one more delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The New Mutants finally saw the light of day with a theatrical release as promised. So, now that it’s been released, how does it hold up? Well, I’m sad to say that just like Dark Phoenix, the X-Men franchise has now officially ended on a whimper and because this is the final movie in this series before the characters are rebooted for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there is no chance of recovery from this for the Fox X-Men franchise. 

Unlike the previous attempt at ending the X-Men series with last year’s Dark Phoenix where it was a dull, desperate, and passionless attempt at retconning the Phoenix plotline previously adapted in X-Men 3: The Last Stand, The New Mutants at least has an interesting concept that blends superhero and horror movie elements together revolving around a group of mutants trapped in a mysterious hospital that hides a dark secret. This isn’t a lazy, half-hearted retreat of what the previous X-Men movies already did (Which was the case for Dark Phoenix), despite being very unfamiliar with the New Mutants comics, this is a very original and fascinating sounding premise that could have taken the X-Men franchise to new heights…if done correctly. 

Unfortunately, it all boils down to execution and New Mutants certainly ain’t no Logan (Which was a PERFECTLY FINE ending to the franchise, by the way!), this is a sad example of a movie with a brilliant premise getting butchered in the cutting room floor and botched by an inconsistent tone, wasted potential, studio interferences, and the film being cut down to everyone’s favorite rating in cinema, PG-13 (Yep, it’s like Venom all over again!). 

The film follows a group of young mutants consisting of Rahne Sinclair (Maisie Williams-Game of Thrones, The Falling, Early Man), Illyana Rasputin (Anya Taylor-Joy-The Witch, Split/Glass, Emma (2020)), Samuel “Sam” Guthrie (Charlie Heaton-Stranger Things, As You Are, The Souvenir: Part II), and Roberto da Costa (Henry Zaga-Teen Wolf, Trinkets, The Stand) being held in an isolated hospital for psychiatric monitoring by Dr. Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga-City of God, I Am Legend, Predators) who believes they are a danger to both themselves and society in general. When newcomer Dani (Blu Hunt-The Originals, Another Life) joins the other patients in the facility strange occurrences begin to take place that literally transform the entire hospital into a living nightmare. 

The patients are soon plagued by hallucinations and flashbacks from their dark pasts and their new mutant abilities and friendship will be put to the ultimate test as they fight to try and make it out alive. 

The film also stars Adam Beach (Smoke Signals, Flags of Our Fathers, Suicide Squad) as William Lonestar, Happy Anderson (The Knick, Mindhunter, Bird Box) as Reverend Craig, and Marilyn Manson himself as the voice of the Smile Men. 

Overall, I’m glad that The New Mutants was finally released after all the trouble it went through to get to the theater and to its credit it’s not the worst of the X-Men movies (I still consider Dark Phoenix to be the absolute worst), but this just feels like a movie with an amazing concept ruined in the editing department because it feels like a lot of key scenes are missing from the final film and little did I know, that was kind of the case. Remember the scene in the trailer with the faces coming out of the wall, Freddy Krueger style? Guess what, not in the movie! The scene that shows what happened in Illyana’s backstory where she killed 18 men? Not in the movie (She does mention it, but we never see it happen)! 

I swear, this film has the taint of Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four movie and while it’s nowhere near as big a train-wreck as that movie it feels like similar procedures were taken in the editing. Reducing this very adult, disturbing, and unique vision down to something it shouldn’t be, a generic, barebones, and at times dull horror/superhero movie hybrid that waters the violence and terror down to a PG-13 to get those kiddies into the movie theater seats, it tries so hard to appeal to a wide audience that it appeals to no one, I really hope a director’s cut of this movie exists somewhere. 

I’ll give the actors a lot of credit for trying their best to work with the material given to them and I can acknowledge that the acting is good for the most part. However, the characters and character development (or lack thereof) is what’s standing in the way. 

I’m not saying the X-Men characters are the most deep and complex characters in comic books and superhero movies, but they at least had unique personalities, a lot of charisma, and worked off of each other very well. Cannot say the same for these mutants because these ones are stock horror movie characters, we’ve seen a million times before and not in an ironic or fun way. 

You know the ones, we got the new kid, the nice girl, the nice boy, the mean girl, and the mean boy and while the film tries to give them all backstories and attempts to get the audience attached to them, their efforts fail to make up for the bland, charisma-free, New Mutants. Yeah, they may be mutants, but they got a long way to go if they want to live up to the original X-Men team. Hell, they’re barely X-Force material! 

The New Mutants is a slight improvement over Dark Phoenix and clocks in at a breezy 94 minutes, so it doesn’t quite feel like a huge waste of time, and there are some neat ideas explored. But for a movie with a very fascinating and potential-filled concept, this X-Men themed horror movie falls flat and I can only recommend it to those who are extremely curious.