Top Gun: Maverick review

TOP GUN: MAVERICK: 

SEQUEL TO ICONIC 1986 FILM WILL TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Tom Cruise is back in Top Gun: Maverick

 

            Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible franchise, Minority Report, Edge of Tomorrow) jumps back into the pilot’s seat in Top Gun: Maverick, the highly anticipated follow-up to the 1986 classic that made Cruise the incredibly successful action star he is today. I really enjoy the first Top Gun, even though I know it’s not a great film and relies on a lot of style over substance. 

            But as a cheesy 80s action movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously, it’s always an entertaining watch with incredible flying sequences that still hold up today, memorable characters and charismatic performances from the cast, and one of the most iconic soundtracks in film history, I even went to an IMAX 3D re-release of it a while ago, which was cool. 

            Now, we have this sequel 36 years later which had been in development since at least 2010, but its future was put into question after the unfortunate passing of the first film’s director, Tony Scott in 2012. Thanks to the commitment of Tom Cruise and producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Days of Thunder, Bad Boys trilogy, Pirates of the Caribbean franchise), the project did see the light of the day with Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy, Oblivion, Only the Brave) in the director’s chair. 

            Given that I’m a fan of Tom Cruise when it comes to his stunt work and how he’ll put his life on the line for our entertainment and that I enjoyed the first film as a dumb popcorn flick, seeing the sequel is a no-brainer and…wow! This is a decades-later sequel done right as it honors the original film countless times as well as improving upon it and paying respect to the old characters while also allowing the audience to grow attached to the newcomers, not to mention the amazing flying sequences that can only be seen on the IMAX screen. 

            Set three decades after the events of the first film, test pilot, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Cruise) is tasked to return to Top Gun to train a new group of graduate fighter pilots for their biggest and most dangerous mission yet. To fly through enemy territory and blow up a uranium enrichment facility in the mountains that’s armed with surface-to-air missiles and fifth-generation fighters. 

            That’s actually the least of Maverick’s problems as one of the pilots happens to be the son of his late best friend and wingman, Goose who is now all grown up and goes by the call sign of Rooster (Miles Teller-The Divergent Series, Whiplash, Only the Brave) and resents Maverick for personal reasons. Haunted by his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation against his greatest fears, but with the compassion of an old fame by the name of Penelope “Penny” Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly-Labyrinth, The Rocketeer, A Beautiful Mind) and charisma of his team, Maverick hops back into the cockpit to lead this group of Top Gun graduates on a life-threatening mission of epic proportions…and hopefully reconcile with the son of his deceased friend and partner. 

            The film also stars Ed Harris (Apollo 13, A History of Violence, Appaloosa) as Rear Admiral Chester “Hammer” Cain, Jon Hamm (Mad Men, Baby Driver, Richard Jewell) as Vice Admiral Beau “Cyclone” Simpson, Glen Powell (The Dark Knight Rises, Everybody Wants Some!!, Hidden Figures) as Hangman, Lewis Pullman (Battle of the Sexes, The Strangers: Prey at Night, Bad Times at the El Royale) as Bob, Monica Barbaro (Chicago P.D., The Good Cop, Splitting Up Together) as Phoenix, Charles Parnell (The Venture Bros., The Last Ship) as Warlock, Jay Ellis (The Game,Insecure, Escape Room) as Payback, Danny Ramirez (The Gifted, Assassination Nation, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) as Fanboy, Greg Davis (Grey’s Anatomy) as Coyote, Manny Jacinto (The Good Place, Bad Times at the El Royale, Belle) as Fritz, Bashir Salahuddin (A Simple Favor, Marriage Story, Cyrano) as Hondo, Jake Picking (Patriots Day, Blockers, Sicario: Day of the Soldado) as Harvard, Raymond Lee (Mozart in the Jungle, Here and Now) as Yale, Lyliana Wray (Maximum Ride, Black-ish, Are You Afraid of the Dark? (2019)) as Amelia Benjamin, Jean Louisa Kelly (Uncle Buck, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Malignant) as Sarah Kazansky, Chelsea Harris (Designated Survivor, Snowpiercer, Stalker) as Flag Aide Angela Burke, and Val Kilmer (Willow, Tombstone, Batman Forever) reprising his role from the original film as Iceman. 

            Overall, Top Gun: Maverick isn’t just a solid follow-up to the 1986 film, but also a love letter to both the original movie and Tony Scott. You can tell just by the way the film opens with a very similar opening credits scene with the crew getting the plane ready for takeoff and the theme music plays immediately followed by Danger Zone to the end credits where they show footage of the actors with their name underneath, and visually the film does capture how his movies looked and felt when watching them. 

            But it doesn’t just pay homage to the original, it also improves some of the things that you could argue didn’t age that well. I said the plot wasn’t anything great in the original, but here the pacing is a lot better, and you understand what they’re training for in the beginning instead of the mission showing up in the last twenty minutes of the film. There is more of a threat this time around and a lot of time is devoted to the characters interacting with each other and preparing for the mission. 

            Maverick may not be one of my all-time favorite Tom Cruise performances, but he continues to bring a lot of charisma to the role and he’s a little more restrained and semi-less arrogant than in the first film. Honestly, I think the best scene with Cruise is when he’s talking to Val Kilmer’s Iceman, if you’ve seen the movie then you already know what I’m talking, but if you haven’t, this is basically the emotional highlight of the entire film with a very heartbreaking ending, but the acting from Cruise is excellent and could possibly be some of his best acting in a long time. 

            The flying scenes are spectacular and is often described as “game-changing” and “revolutionary” when it comes to filmmaking. Most of the plane scenes were done practically with special cameras right inside the cockpits accompanied by the size and scope of the IMAX screen, it puts you in the pilot’s seat of the plane and the climax is one of the most intense and exhilarating sequences out of either one of the Top Gun movies. 

            Top Gun: Maverick has all the workings of a fun summer blockbuster with groundbreaking camera work, exhilarating action sequences, a solid cast, and sense of nostalgia. What more can I say but grab your friends and take the highway to the Danger Zone and watch it on the biggest screen possible…you’re welcome! 

The Bob's Burgers Movie review

THE BOB’S BURGERS MOVIE: 

AS SAMUEL L. JACKSON ONCE SAID, MMM…THIS IS A TASTY BURGER! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

20^TH CENTURY STUDIOS

Teddy (Top left), Tina (Bottom left), Louise (Bottom center), Gene (Bottom right), Linda (Top right), and Bob (Top center) in The Bob’s Burgers Movie

 

            In the tradition of Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, and The Simpsons Movie, the Belcher family makes their cinematic debut in The Bob’s Burgers Movie. The film is based on the incredibly popular Fox animated series of the same name and marks the first feature film based on a Fox cartoon show since 2007’s The Simpsons Movie. 

            I’ve seen a large chunk of the show via reruns on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block and streaming episodes on Netflix. While I don’t think it’s quite on the same level as South Park or the early seasons of The Simpsons or Family Guy, it’s still a very funny, well-written, and extremely likable series with memorable characters, silly hijinks, and strong family morals. 

            Now, we have this movie which seemed like an eternity since it was announced (And not just because of the pandemic!) and that the creators were really trying to get this movie off the ground. I also find it interesting that they chose Bob’s Burgers to follow The Simpsons Movie up with, I always thought Family Guy or Futurama would have gotten the movie treatment way before the Belchers, and yet here we are. 

            Even though I don’t watch the show nearly as often as something like South Park, I was very delighted by this film and found it just as funny and entertaining as the series it was based on. Fans of the show will love it and unlike a film like My Little Equesticles: The Movie, you don’t have to be a fan of the source material to enjoy this tasty, animated burger of a movie…see what I did there, Bob’s Burgers fans? 

            The film follows husband and wife burger shop owners, Bob (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin-Family Guy, Home Movies, Archer) and Linda (voiced by John Roberts) struggling to keep their business afloat after the bank warns them about repossessing their restaurant in one week if they fail to drum up money to pay off their loan. To make things even more complicated, a ruptured water main suddenly creates a giant sinkhole blocking the entrance to Bob’s Burgers. 

            While Bob, Linda, and their friend/#1 customer Teddy (voiced by Larry Murphy-The Venture Bros., Ugly Americans, Delocated) try to find an alternative way to resume business despite the sinkhole, Bob and Linda’s children Louise (voiced by Kristen Schaal-Toy Story franchise, Gravity Falls, Bill & Ted Face the Music), Tina (voiced by Dan Mintz-Adventure Time), and Gene (voiced by Eugene Mirman-Flight of the Conchords, Delocated, Apple & Onion) set off to solve the mystery behind the sinkhole that could potentially save the restaurant. 

            The film also features the voices of Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover trilogy, Puss in Boots, The Campaign) as Felix Fischoeder, Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Road to El Dorado) as Calvin Fischoeder, David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer, Role Models, Wanderlust) as Grover Fischoeder, Sam Seder (Who’s the Caboose?, Sex and the City, Pilot Season) as Hugo, Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation, Epic, Master of None) as Darryl, David Herman (MADtv, Office Space, Futurama) as Mr. Fond, Gary Cole (Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Family Guy, Kim Possible) as Sgt. Bosco, Brian Huskey (Childrens Hospital, Veep, Another Period) as Regular-Sized Rudy, Jenny Slate (Parks and Recreation, Zootopia, The Secret Life of Pets 1 and 2) as Tammy, Ron Lynch (Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Home Movies, The Sarah Silverman Program) as Ron, and Stephanie Beatriz (Short Term 12, In the Heights, Encanto) as Chloe Barbash. 

            Overall, The Bob’s Burgers Movie has all the laughs and charm of its television counterpart except stretched out to feature length and even those not familiar with the show will likely be entertained by it. Like South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, the film is also a musical and while the songs aren’t quite as strong as the music from South Park’s movie, there’s a lot of foot-tapping, catchy songs and equally fun musical numbers. 

            Even though this movie has Bob’s name in the title, it’s actually Louise’s movie as a good chunk of the film revolves around her trying to prove to everyone that she isn’t “Mommy’s little baby” which leads to her, Gene, and Tina trying to solve the mystery behind the sinkhole, and we get a bit of a backstory behind that rabbit-ear hat she always wears. She’s always been one of my favorite characters of the show, so I’m happy the film gave her a lot of time in the spotlight. 

            I also like how Tina has a bit of a side-plot where all she’s trying to do is ask this boy at school that she really likes to be her “Summer Boyfriend” and it’s actually a very sweet, wholesome subplot and by the end the whole audience just went “Awwww”. It’s similar to the Lisa Simpson and Colin subplot from The Simpsons Movie except I think these two are the cuter couple even if the boy is a little bit dim-witted. 

            The writing is as witty as ever and the majority of jokes stick the landing, it really does feel like you’re watching the show as a movie, and I mean that in the best way. It works both as a movie for those already familiar with the show and as a decent starting point for newcomers. 

            I will admit, the plot itself is very cookie-cutter, especially when it comes to theatrical movies based on animated shows. You do start to piece together the mystery Louise, Gene, and Tina are trying to solve and catch on to who the mastermind is going to be. 

It also turns into another one of those “Race to save the neighborhood before it’s destroyed” films which we’ve seen many times before especially in big-screen adaptations of popular cartoons. However, the writing is so funny, and the characters are so likable, you don’t really care that the plot isn’t super original. 

The Bob’s Burgers Movie delivers a delightful and delicious burger of a film with a lot of laughs and a surprising amount of heart. Whether you’re a fan of the show, newcomer, or just looking for a fun animated romp for the family (Though it is rated PG-13), this ain’t a bad trip to the burger shop. 

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers review

CHIP ‘N DALE: RESCUE RANGERS: 

DISNEY’S LOVABLE CHIPMUNK DUO FOLLOWS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ROGER RABBIT WITH A PRETTY DARN ENTERTAINING CAPER! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

DISNEY+

Chip and Dale are on the case in Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers

 

            Chip and Dale make their feature film debut in Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, the new live-action/animation hybrid based on the titular Disney Channel animated series of the same name. I’ll be completely honest; I didn’t really grow up with Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers or most of the Disney Afternoon shows as most of my cartoon-watching was from the late 90s-2000s, but I’ve seen a few episodes and got the basic gist of it. 

            For those who don’t know, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers was a TV series on the Disney Channel from the late 80s-early 90s and was a spin-off of the Chip and Dale characters from the Mickey Mouse cartoons where they go on adventures as detectives with the help of their friends, a mouse inventor named Gadget, a mustachioed, adventure-loving mouse known as Monterey Jack, and his housefly friend, Zipper. I’m not a purist on this show, but from what I’ve seen it’s a very enjoyable kids’ cartoon and was part of the holy trinity of Disney shows back then which also included DuckTales and Darkwing Duck. 

Also, fun fact for newcomers, the outfits Chip and Dale wore in the series were based off Indiana Jones and Thomas Magnum from Magnum P.I.

Now, we have this live-action/animated hybrid film which at first, I was very skeptical about because Disney already rebooted another one of their animated shows into a live-action film with the 2019 version of Kim Possible and it…wasn’t very good to put it lightly and was concerned it was going to be another botching of a beloved Disney property. I quickly changed my mind when the trailer first came out for the movie and was basically like a spiritual successor to the 1988 film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit which remains the best mixture of live-action and animation to this day. 

Honestly, when the trailer dropped the hype surrounding this film was almost as huge as Spider-Man: No Way Home because it seemed like anything was possible. A bunch of characters from Disney shows and movies, Marvel heroes, and even a handful of non-Disney characters making appearances like The Mane Six from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the Ugly Sonic design from the original Sonic the Hedgehog movie trailer. 

Now that the film is finally out on Disney+, I can gladly say that I had a really good time watching this movie. I don’t think it’s quite on par with Who Framed Roger Rabbit or Wreck-It Ralph, it does follow in those films’ footsteps and gives a very unique, meta, and thoroughly entertaining caper that often satirizes Hollywood filmmaking fads like Robert Zemeckis-style motion capture animation and a lot of references and callbacks to various shows and movies in yet another universe where toons and people co-exist. 

The film follows Chip (voiced by John Mulaney-Saturday Night Live, Documentary Now!, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) and Dale (voiced by Andy Samberg-Saturday Night Live, Hot Rod, Hotel Transylvania franchise), the chipmunk duo who was once on the top of the world thanks to the success of their show, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers. But after the show’s cancellation, the two of them fell on hard times, Chip is now an insurance salesman while Dale has gotten the “CGI surgery” and has been spending his time on the fan convention circuit. 

However, when their friend and former co-star, Monterey Jack (voiced by Eric Bana-Black Hawk Down, Hulk, Hanna) suddenly gets captured, Chip and Dale must reunite, solve the mystery, and save him with the help of a rookie LAPD cop, Det. Ellie Steckler (KiKi Layne-If Beale Street Could Talk, The Old Guard, Coming 2 America). Along the way, they encounter Ugly Sonic (voiced by Tim Robinson-Detroiters, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, Saturday Night Live), hideous CGI abominations from the Uncanny Valley, and the boy who never grew up…except he did…and is now a fat, middle-aged crime boss named Sweet Pete (voiced by Will Arnett-Arrested Development, Blades of Glory, The Lego Movie franchise)…and wants to kill Chip and Dale. 

The film also features the voices of Flula Borg (Ferdinand, Tangled: The Series, The Suicide Squad) as DJ Herzogenaurach, Seth Rogen (Superbad, Kung Fu Panda trilogy, This is the End) as Bob the Viking and reprising his role as the voice of Pumbaa from The Lion King (2019), J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man franchise, Whiplash, Zootopia) as Captain Putty, Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele, Tomorrowland, Keanu) as Bjornson the Cheesemonger, and Tress MacNeille (Animaniacs, Tiny Toon Adventures, Futurama) reprising her role as Gadget. 

Overall, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers may not be the movie longtime fans of the series probably wanted, but for those looking for a very funny satire of the film industry with a lot of meta humor in the same breakfast club as Roger Rabbit, you will have a blast with this movie. Much like Roger Rabbit and Wreck-It Ralph, there are so many characters and references scattered all throughout the film that you probably won’t be able to catch them all in one viewing. 

Some of my favorites included Ugly Sonic, which had me laughing hard whenever he appeared onscreen, and I was so grateful that he’s in the movie more than you’d think. Also, this monster Chip and Dale fight during the climax that’s made up of different toon body parts like a Transformer leg, Woody the Cowboy’s leg, an arm cannon, Wreck-It Ralph’s fist, and…the head of a certain villain from the original show. 

There’s also this brilliant subplot about famous characters getting “bootlegged” where they alter their designs and ship them off to star in those knock-off movies you always find at your local thrift store. I think that’s somehow a lot eviler than melting Toontown with a bunch of Dip…by the way, there’s also a brief reference to the Dip from Roger Rabbit in this movie. 

The animation is great and it’s neat to see a bunch of different animation styles, live-action people, and puppetry interacting with each other. It reminded me a lot of the Cartoon Network show, The Amazing World of Gumball as I was watching it. 

The voice acting is excellent, John Mulaney and Andy Samberg are the perfect picks to voice Chip and Dale in a meta-universe, their banter is quite funny, and they do sell the heartfelt moments. Not to mention, they cleverly work in the original Chip and Dale voices in a similar way they worked the original Pikachu voice into Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. 

I was, however, very disappointed that the other Rescue Rangers, Gadget, Zipper, and Monterey Jack weren’t utilized that much in the film. I’m glad they weren’t cut from it, but I felt they could have done more with them especially since the movie is called “Rescue Rangers”. 

Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers isn’t a perfect film, but it’s a very fun movie that fully embraces nostalgic and modern animation with a clever and witty premise to boot. 

Men review

MEN:

ALEX GARLAND DELIVERS ONE MESSED UP FILM! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

A24

Rory Kinnear in Men

 

            A widowed woman goes on holiday in a mysterious village but soon transforms into a living nightmare in Men, the new film from writer-director, Alex Garland (Ex-Machina, Annihilation) in his third directing effort. I’ve been a huge fan of Garland’s work whether as a writer and/or director, Ex-Machina I thought was a brilliant sci-fi film with a very unconventional look at artificial intelligence as well as being one of the best films I saw in 2015, and Annihilationwas a fascinating and suspenseful creature feature. 

            Naturally, I was intrigued to see what he was going to do next and once it was finally announced as Men, I made it a top priority to go see it. It’s…not as good as Ex-Machina or Annihilation, but that doesn’t mean I dislike it. 

            This is still a well-made movie with an otherworldly and foreboding atmosphere, beautiful yet haunting music score, superb performances by its cast, and a jaw-dropping, mindf*ck of a final act, but it doesn’t quite have the thought-provoking storytelling or emotional weight of Garland’s other films. It’s also one of those films that’s extremely difficult to describe, but I will certainly do my best. 

            The film follows a woman named Harper Marlowe (Jessie Buckley-War & Peace, Fargo, The Courier) who decides to spend a holiday alone at a cabin owned by a man named Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear-James Bond franchise, Wild Target, The Imitation Game) in the village of Coston, following the suicide of her husband. However, as she explores the village and woodlands Harper notices a bunch of strange-looking men that appear to be stalking her and quickly realizes that something is up with this village…something horrific. 

            Harper will need to survive the night and outsmart the men if she hopes to escape from this living nightmare. 

            The film also stars Paapa Essiedu (Murder on the Orient Express (2017)) as James Marlowe and Gayle Rankin (The Greatest Showman) as Riley. 

            Overall, Men may not be Alex Garland’s best film, but it certainly takes the cake for being the strangest and craziest film he’s made so far. I should make this perfectly clear for those going into this expecting a traditional horror movie with a ton of jump scares and gore, it’s not that kind of movie, there is gore and a lot of horrific imagery, but it’s also a very slow, atmospheric film that takes its sweet time before getting into the really suspenseful moments. 

            The first half of the film has a similar tone to The Night House and even follows some of the same beats, a woman with a troubled past goes to a cabin or old house in the wilderness and a bunch of subtle creeps start to happen. However, by the time the climax begins it goes from somber and artistic to full-on exploitation film with a bunch of gore, body horror, and one of the most batshit crazy final acts I’ve ever seen in any movie…and I’ve seen a movie that ends with animated, anthropomorphic food having sex with each other! 

            The music effectively sets this beautiful yet foreboding tone that’s carried until the end of the film and these haunting operatic pieces make it sound like you’re about to enter the great unknown. It makes perfect sense that this movie has excellent music given that it’s an A24 film and most of them usually have awesome music scores. 

            Despite a very small cast, the acting is superb from just about everyone, Jessie Buckley really sells her performance as this woman whose life pretty much came crashing down and looking to heal from her traumas. Rory Kinnear is surprisingly the standout role in this movie as he does an excellent job flipping back and forth from being charming, creepy, and a little funny, but saying more would require going into spoilers so let’s just say this is Rory Kinnear’s equivalent to Jim Carrey from A Series of Unfortunate Events. 

            While I praise a lot of aspects of this film, it does have its share of flaws, one is that the story, while fascinating is very uneven at times and does a lot of telling rather than showing. Also, the themes and subject matter can be very hit-or-miss and I kind of predicted that one of the themes was going to be mistreatment of women and granted, that is a very serious and important issue in the world, I felt it was handled a lot better in the 2020 version of The Invisible Man. 

            Men is probably one of the most divisive movies out in theaters right now as I have no idea whether or not people going into it are going to like it very much. There’s a lot of great aspects of it, but all the unsettling and disturbing sequences or bizarre storytelling might not sit well with everyone. 

            It’s definitely the kind of film that sparks conversations with film purists and analysts and if you’re someone who loves talking in great detail about a movie’s subject matter, then this is one to watch. Those looking for a more traditional horror movie or thriller should probably check elsewhere. 

Firestarter review

FIRESTARTER:

SECOND FILM VERSION OF STEPHEN KING NOVEL GOES UP IN FLAMES! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: * out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Ryan Kiera Armstrong in Firestarter (2022)

 

            A young girl with pyrokinetic powers and her dad must outrun a shady organization out to catch them in Firestarter, the latest film adaptation of a Stephen King novel and the second Firestarter movie following the 1984 version. I’m not familiar with the original book, but I did watch the 1984 film prior to watching this one and it’s…average. 

            The original movie definitely isn’t one of the strongest Stephen King film adaptations and has a lot of pacing issues, but the performances by Drew Barrymore, David Keith, and George C. Scott carry the entire movie and it leads to an incredible final act, not to mention the music by Tangerine Dream is legendary. 

            Now we have this second adaptation of the story produced by Jason Blum (Get Out, Halloween (2018), The Invisible Man (2020)) and directed by Keith Thomas (The Vigil), which seemed like a good idea when it was announced because a remake could potentially improve upon the original and fix most of the flaws the first time around. Yeah, that’s not what we get here and if anything, this movie makes the original look like Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining by comparison. 

            This is a very dull slog of a movie devoid of just about everything that made the original somewhat watchable. It’s an example of a remake that should have been great but ultimately ends up going up in flames faster than the character herself. 

            The film follows Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong-American Horror Story: Double Feature, The Tomorrow War), an eleven-year-old girl with an extraordinary gift…the power to create fire. She and her parents, Andy (Zac Efron-Neighbors 1 and 2, The Greatest Showman, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile) and Vicky (Sydney Lemmon-Helstrom, Succession, Fear the Walking Dead) have been on the run for more than a decade from a shadowy federal agency that wants to harness Charlie’s powers and weaponize it. 

            Charlie’s powers are triggered by anger and pain and Andy has taught her how to control it, but as gets older, the flame gets harder and harder to defuse. To make matters worse, the organization deploys a mysterious hitman known as John Rainbird (Michael Greyeyes-Fear the Walking Dead, True Detective, Wild Indian) to hunt the family down and seize Charlie for good, but Charlie has other plans. 

            The film also stars Kurtwood Smith (Star Trek, RoboCop, The X-Files) as Dr. Joseph Wanless, John Beasley (The Sum of All Fears, Walking Tall, The Purge: Anarchy) as Irv Manders, and Gloria Reuben (ER, Lincoln, Cloak & Dagger) as Captain Jane Hollister. 

            Overall, the new version of Firestarter is another prime example of how not to do a remake and serves as another entry to the long list of Stephen King adaptation misfires. What should have been a film that improves and expands upon the ideas from the original ironically takes away a lot of what made it endearing and fascinating. 

            Say what you will about the original, but at least it took time to establish the characters, story, and ideas in a mostly effective way. This version feels like it’s on autopilot and tries to condense all the key moments from the original down minus the humanity and passion to the point where you just don’t care what’s happening onscreen. 

            I think what hurts this film the most is how underdeveloped the villains are this time around. While the villains in the original were the stock, shady laboratory scientists who want to get Charlie and her family, they at least had plenty of scenes to establish their reasoning behind it. 

             This one has like a scene or two where the head of the laboratory and the hitman talk about their plan, but that’s all we get. I’m also very disappointed there wasn’t much of a connection between Charlie and the hitman (who pretended to be a friendly janitor in the original and eventually betrays her), the hitman is sent to catch the girl, kills the mother, captures the dad while the girl runs into the forest, and at the end of the climax he takes her in his arms and carries her across the beach…then the credits roll (WTF!?!). 

            Even the climax, which was arguably the best scene in the original feels half-ass and lazy this time around. She goes in to rescue her kidnapped father, incinerates a bunch of scientists, and (Barely) burns the whole place down, significantly less exciting and epic than the original where she was pretty much a walking, talking, time bomb. 

            I will highlight some positives regarding this film, most of the acting is decent and the musical score is awesome, especially given the fact that John Carpenter composed some of it. Also, I appreciate how this version does try to give Charlie and the family more of a backstory before they get hunted down, whereas the original begins and they’re already on the run. 

            Sadly, those are the only positive things I have, this was not a fun watch at all and it’s easily the worst Stephen King film adaptation I’ve ever seen. Even the worst films based on his work have at least some entertainment values, but this isn’t like Maximum Overdrive or Dreamcatcher and instead falls more in the same breakfast club as The Dark Tower movie…but even that movie had more things I liked about it. 

            I would say stick with the original, but even the original wasn’t that great to begin with either so…just stick with Brian De Palma’s version of Carrie, a far superior Stephen King film adaptation about a girl with powers. Watch that and throw this version of Firestarter into the flame. 

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness review

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS: 

SAM RAIMI MCU FILM LIVES UP TO ITS TITLE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

MARVEL STUDIOS

Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

 

            The multiverse is unleashed upon the Marvel Cinematic Universe (again!) in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the latest installment of the MCU and follow-up to 2016’s Doctor Strange. Despite not knowing much about the character, I really enjoyed the first Doctor Strange movie and thought it was a very interesting installment of the MCU that explored the world of wizards and sorcery. 

While a lot of MCU films can be formulaic at times, Doctor Strange had a unique visual style and energetic action sequences that felt like the superhero movie equivalent of Inception and The Matrix while also exploring a lot of fascinating ideas about the possibilities of magic and of course, other universes, not to mention the perfect casting of Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, The Imitation Game, The Courier) as the titular sorcerer himself. 

Now we have this sequel following the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which also featured Doctor Strange and revolved around the multiverse. Cumberbatch once again reprises his role as Dr. Stephen Strange and in the director’s chair this time is Sam Raimi (Evil Dead franchise, Darkman, Spider-Man trilogy), who is no stranger to directing Marvel movies as he had previously directed the Spider-Man film trilogy from 2002 until 2007…and there was a Doctor Strange namedrop in Spider-Man 2, so it all comes full circle. 

When Raimi was announced as the new director after Scott Derrickson stepped down, I was excited and curious to know how it would play out. Was it going to be a director on hire scenario like a lot of Disney and Marvel projects have been like lately or would he have the freedom to do whatever he wants and make a Marvel movie in the style of Evil Dead, but still in the PG-13 realm? I am happy to report that the latter is exactly what this movie is, and I love it because of that. 

This is very important when going into this movie, it’s a Sam Raimi movie first and an MCU film second and it takes full advantage of that. The film has several of Raimi’s signature directing tropes especially when it comes to the visuals and camera angles, dark humor, and even some downright disturbing moments, it’s a film that earns its PG-13 rating but not in the same way Avengers is PG-13, this is a Drag Me to Hell PG-13 movie. 

Following the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Dr. Stephen Strange has been having the same dream repeatedly every night where he and a mysterious girl are fighting to save the multiverse. It turns out that dream he was having was actually going on in an alternate universe and this girl named America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez-The Baby-Sitters Club) has the power to travel through the multiverse who befriends Strange after he rescues her from a monster that was hunting her for her multiverse traveling powers. 

Strange enlists the help of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen-Martha Marcy May Marlene, Godzilla (2014), Wind River) who has witnessed alternate universes already during her time in Westview (The town from WandaVision). However, Wanda has been corrupted by an ancient artifact known as the Darkhold (Basically the MCU equivalent of the Book of the Dead) and is becoming the Scarlet Witch. 

Wanda believes that Chavez’ powers can be used to reunite with the children she created in Westview which causes a conflict between Strange, Chavez, Wanda, and the entire multiverse. It becomes a race against time as Strange, Chavez, and Sorcerer Supreme Wong (Benedict Wong-Marco Polo, The Martian, The Personal History of David Copperfield) must travel to different universes with surprise characters, evil versions of the heroes, zombies, etc. and find a way to save the multiverse and hopefully Wanda as well before the Scarlet Witch takes over. 

The film also stars Rachel McAdams (Mean Girls, Sherlock Holmes 1 and 2, Eurovision Song Contest) reprising her role as Christine Palmer, Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, The Martian, The Lion King (2019)) reprising his role as Mordo, Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man, Lincoln, Steve Jobs) reprising his role as Nicodemus West, and of course…Bruce Campbell! 

Overall, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness offers a chaotic and wildly entertaining throwback to Sam Raimi’s glory days and one of the few MCU movies that rightfully earns the PG-13 rating. This is definitely not anAvengers: Endgame PG-13 where it’s a somewhat edgy PG movie with a 13 at the end because PG-13 superhero movies make bank, this is basically a late 80s/early 90s, practically R-rated PG-13 where characters die in horrific ways (There’s no blood though!) and a lot of the imagery shown in this film can be quite disturbing at times to the point where the tone shifts from an MCU movie to a straight up horror movie. 

I will say the first film is debatably the better crafted movie, but the one I was most entertained by is easily this one. It’s definitely one of the most ambitious and weirdest MCU films that’s really thinking out of the box with its ideas and Sam Raimi is the perfect choice to direct something this crazy and out there. 

There’s a scene in particular that involves Doctor Strange battling a villain literally with the power of music and the visuals and darkly quirky tone of the situation are so odd you can’t help but love it, and another sequence where Strange takes the form of a zombie version of himself with black angelic demons surrounding him that talk like the Deadites from Evil Dead. It’s pure Sam Raimi chaos consuming this MCU movie, and I welcome that wholeheartedly. 

Benedict Cumberbatch is once again great as Strange and has a lot of charm and his character has a strong dynamic with America Chavez. Elizabeth Olsen on the other hand steals the show as this hero turned villain who was corrupted by an evil force and just wants to see her children again, it’s a very tragic and heartbreaking concept and there’s even quite a few times where she’s pretty damn frightening as Scarlet Witch (Yeah, Elizabeth Olsen and frightening, that’s a sentence I never thought I’d say!), she’s the standout performance in the entire film. 

The visuals and action sequences are stunning and very imaginative, it also takes full advantage of the IMAXformat. With a movie this bizarre and filled with eye-candy, it kind of warrants a watch on the largest screen possible. 

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness delivers the Sam Raimi goods while also being an entertaining MCU entry. Whether you’re watching it on IMAX, IMAX 3D, or as a double feature with Everything Everywhere All at Once (Which is honestly, not a bad idea!), this is a relentlessly entertaining and wild film that shows off the “Stranger” side of both the multiverse and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.