Quick takes on 5 films

Creed II doesn’t have any surprises. Anyone who has watched a couple Rocky movies knows exactly what is coming, but damn if it still isn’t incredibly thrilling. Adonis Creed (the fantastic Michael B Jordan) is the world heavyweight champion when he is challenged by Viktor Drago, son of Ivan Drago, the boxer who killed his father back in Rocky 4. Rocky thinks agreeing to the fight is a mistake and isn’t in Adonis’ corner when it goes down, and Adonis loses, badly. Adonis returns to Rocky with his tale between his legs, and Rocky takes him back in order to train for the rematch. Even with the lack of surprises, the film is well written and more exciting that you can imagine; it’s the type of movie where you’ll find yourself cheering aloud and yelling at the screen. Now the question becomes if they make a third film. The original Rocky and its sequel were great, but the series definitely took a bad turn on the third and only recovered because of Stalone’s tenacity in keeping it going through the torturous bad films.

I didn’t see Kin in the theaters because of the bad reviews. I didn’t stream it online later for the same reason. I only watched it recently when it hit the cable circuit. And it is proof again that you can enjoy a movie even when everyone tells you that you shouldn’t. Kin is about a young teenager who finds a high-tech weapon, sort of like a pocket rocket launcher/laser cannon. Shortly after his hidden find, his adopted father’s hooligan son comes home and gets the old man killed from some people to whom he owes money. When those people come looking for the son, the two adoptive brothers go on the run together. Little do they know, they are also being chased by the people looking for the weapon. Really the only thing the film suffers from is poor writing, and the story is indeed very rough. But the acting is decent (if sometimes a bit over the top), the sci-fi scenes are extremely well done, and the action sequences are thrilling. Maybe I only liked it because I went it with very low expectations, but I did enjoy it.

Vice lives up to its well earned reputation as a film featuring fantastic performances by all involved. While Christian Bale is in the lead as Dick Cheney, he is backed by Amy Adams, Steve Carrell, and Sam Rockwell as a bumbling George W Bush, and all are great. However, the movie so clearly has an agenda that it becomes tough to take seriously, even as a piece of entertainment. The movie follows Cheney’s life, starting at his early days in politics, but the film almost plays out like a Michael Moore documentary. And as such, I don’t think it does any good for the people that made it, many of whom attack Trump for bending truths and telling lies. Even as someone who didn’t vote for Bush or Trump, I have a problem with any party who tells flat out lies to attack the other party. Much of what the film shows as shady, behind-door deals Cheney and his cronies did over the years cannot be verified, but is presented here as fact. I have no doubt that Cheney is as crooked as depicted here, but I can’t enjoy this film as it was made.

In the really good historical films, the actor disappears and you forget that this isn’t the real person in front of you, but an actor portraying them. In Stan & Ollie, Steve Coogan and John C Reilly become Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy right before your eyes. In fact, they look and feel more like Laurel & Hardy than Coogan & Reilly. The film starts with a scene in 1937 where Laurel is leaving the film studio where the duo has worked, in search of more power over the films they make, but Hardy is still under contract, and makes a final film with someone else. The movie then jumps ahead to 1953. Laurel and Hardy are attempting a comeback, first doing a tour of small theaters in front of empty seats, but with the hope of securing backing for a new movie. Over the course of the film, they find renewed popularity, while at the same time we are treated to an exploration of a pair of comedic geniuses who have lived with a lot of buried animosity from all their years together. A beautiful film about a pair of comedy’s all-time greats, but just as important, one of its all time greatest friendships.

Jonathan is a drama with a sci-fi twist. Brothers Jon and Jonathan are two very different people. Jonathan is a type A personality, very structured, whereas Jon is more laid back and go-with-the-flow. What makes this film unique is Jon and Jonathan share a body. Jonathan controls the body from 7am until 7pm, when Jon takes over. Each has a job, and they’ve grown to adulthood by following very simple rules (such as no girlfriends) and leaving each other video messages to let each other know who they ran into and what is going on with each other’s life. However, it becomes messy when Jon falls in love and Jonathan only finds out when he hires a private investigator to track him. When Jonathan tells Jon he must break up with her, Jon does so, but then stops leaving messages for Jonathan. Jonathan goes weeks not knowing what his brother is doing with their shared body at night, and in the meantime, Jonathan starts falling for Jon’s ex-girlfriend too. When Jon finds out, he starts sinking into depression. A very interesting film for a lot of reasons, and sometimes very tense. Since we only see the film through Jonathan’s eyes, we don’t know what Jon is doing, and that creates quite a bit of suspension. I really enjoyed this one, great film, and great acting by Ansel Elgort in the lead as a split person.