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Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Sunday, June 25, 2023
"Elemental"
Elemental City’s population is comprised of fire, water, air and earth elements. While this is seemingly a simple story of fire girl meets water boy, not only the way it's rendered is remarkable, this latest Disney Pixar animation also reminds me of zany “Zootopia,” with its allegory of our society.
At the heart of the budding romance of two young people from opposite backgrounds, the story illustrates deeply ingrained intergenerational, family values and the reality of immigrant living in a diverse society, whose denizens are not always welcoming to foreigners or those who are different from them.
Heavy stuff? Don't frett. You'll be so drawn into the amazing animation of the elemental beings and candy-colored cityscapes. The architecture borrows from the four elements, filling the city structures with glass skyscrapers, verdant greenery, water slides, wooden shops and windmill homes – making each community distinctive and feels like lived in.
The fire folks are particularly eye-searing. The fire design that may look static on ads is fierily vibrant and animated, truly like living, breathing beings. The fire head, arms and legs are transparently moving, like real fire glowing in the wind. Water dwellers are liquidy and translucent. Air residents are light and fluffy, like clouds. And earth people are solid like soil. All the elements look so alive and fluid.
Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis) is the only daughter of an immigrant family. Her father, Bernie (Ronnie del Carmen), has sacrificed so much by leaving their homeland for a better future. In Elemental City, he finally found his place, although not without uneasiness, and was able to build a successful shop. When he retires, he will pass down the shop to Ember. Ember grows up in the shadow of her old-fashioned father's plan. She tries really hard to focus on this vision and repay everything her father has done. She believes she does not have any other option.
Ember's temper though gets the best of her at times and finally catches up with her at one point, causing bursting pipes that flood the shop. She is met by Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), one of the water dwellers, a city inspector no less, who is there to investigate and find that the shop does not meet city code.
If Ember burns bright, to the point that she has to cover herself up in some situations, Wade is a super sensitive guy, easily turning on waterworks at the blink of an eye. He easily connects with people, unlike strong-willed Ember. They strike an unlikely friendship, which soon turns into something more.
Ember and Wade must find a way to prevent the shop from being shut down. Venturing into the sprawling metropolitan, they go on adventures, encountering other elemental people. One scene is bloomingly magical. When they finally find the source of the major water leak, it's a tough fix.
Ember also gets to meet Wade's wealthy family, who is very impressed by her artistic talent in creating handblown glass creations using fire. This is such a creative treat to watch. Moreover, there are also surprisingly cute little activities that are unique to each element.
Ember's encounter with Wade makes her wonder if there's more to life than the one envisioned for her. At the end of the day though, fire and water do not mix, or do they? In this melting pot of the world, could they co-exist harmoniously? Who's to say that you have to dim your light? Is there a way to still honor your parents' sacrifices without burying your own wants and ambitions, having the courage to make your own choices, pursuing your dreams and living your life? The ending wholeheartedly comes full circle.
With dazzling designs, creative highlights, socio-cultural commentary and meaningful message, “Elemental” elevates itself into a whole other level, a must-watch in breathtaking living color on the big screen.
Sunday, June 18, 2023
"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny"
From 6/15/2023 press screening:
Harrison Ford (“Enders Game") returns to his final role as Indiana Jones, archaeology professor-adventurer, globe-trotting and treasure-hunting around the world. Famous composer John Williams is also back for the last time with his iconic score. Very few scores are as remarkably memorable as Williams' creations, spanning across movies that define pop culture across generations.
Opening scenes in 1944 where a de-aged Ford mounts a vigorous escape from the Nazis is so convincing, almost making you think that the aging actor could play the titular action hero forever.
From a motorcycle chase through the mountain range, then onboard a wrecking locomotive train, to the top of the train running, fighting, nearly falling and disappearing into the misty air, Indy literally nearly loses his head at least a few times.
Indy and his colleague, Basil Shaw (Toby Jones), are there to obtain a mysterious artifact from ancient times, preventing it from falling into the wrong hand, Nazi scientist Jurgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen). The artifact is a time dial, some kind of a time machine, which has been split into two pieces. Indy's sprints across the globe to prevent the dial pieces to be found and merged. Predictably, this won't be the last time we see Jurgen.
The timeline jumps to 1969, New York, where a desolate Indy is retiring from his college teaching career. His life is much different now, after tragedy struck in the family. Indy's goddaughter (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), Basil's daughter, Helena Shaw, shows up and causes a mess, as the half piece of the dial is found, and baddies are in pursuit. Indy can't hang up his hat and whip yet. He grabs a horse from a police patrolling a festive national parade celebrating moonlanding and races through the streets on a horseback, narrowly escaping through subway tunnels and rail tracks.
Helena, even as a student of archaeology, is all about money though, wanting to auction the time dial to the highest bidder. She also owes a lot of money to some bad guys, which leads her and Indy to Morocco, zig-zagging through market alleys on a tuk-tuk, trying to evade their pursuers, who want the dial.
Sailing into the Mediterranean sea and deep diving into the ocean floor, Indy and intrepid Helena dig up a submerged artifact. They are met again by the bad guys on the boat. A dynamite escape later, a hidden map leads them to old caves and tombs in Italy, where they hunt for the other half piece of the dial.
With a thin storyline, this is nonstop, one extended action set piece after another. It gets a bit tedious, but is never boring. Swarming eels, crawling scorpions and buried skeletons make their appearance.
It goes without saying that you must dial up the suspension of disbelief. In a time setting where the story is set, there is no instant connectivity; no cell phone, let alone smartphone, and no modern navigation system, yet the bad guys appear to be able to track down and show up exactly where Indy and Helena are, repeatedly.
Eventually, everyone ends up aboard a plane flying in a violent stormy night. The unexpected comes when the time dials are made whole. Indy is faced with a major life decision that may alter the course of history.
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” is adventures in all caps, a good old-fashioned fantasy action adventure that takes us back to childhood memories and appeals to the adventurous spirit in all of us.
Sunday, June 11, 2023
"The Flash"
Nearly a decade after the flashy small-screen premiere at Comic-Con with Grant Gustin's Barry Allen donning the fastest man alive mantle, and more than half a decade after Ezra Miller made the scene-stealing appearance on the "Justice League" movie, the Flash is making its solo debut on the big screen, despite of the real-life controversies surrounding Miller. This review is on the movie only.
The opening scenes take off running on a wildly comedic start, in a snazzy new suit and all. All Barry wants is his usual breakfast-to-go from his usual cafe. He gets called for superhero duty in Gotham City due to Batman being occupied, requiring him to run at a lightning speed from Central City. It never gets old seeing the Flash speeding through vibrant city streets and varied natural landscapes of the earth.
If you could imagine a hungry and jittery Barry trying to figure out how to save falling babies from a hospital wing in an imploding skyscraper, you've got an absurdly hysterical sequence amid the catastrophic ordeal.
Batfleck (Ben Affleck; “Air,” “Gone Girl,” “Argo”) makes an action-packed appearance right off the bat, in a high-speed pursuit of some baddies speeding off with a bomb. Another superhero cameo makes me feel like reminiscing. There's so much potential unexplored from the Synderverse (director Zack Snyder's DC Universe) and it's hard not to feel wistful about it.
Throughout his life, Barry has always been carrying the deep pain of his tragic past, his mother's murder and father in prison convicted of the horrific crime. Barry has never stopped trying to prove his father's innocence, from getting into criminal forensics and working on the court appeals. Being able to run faster than the speed of light gives him the opportunity to run back in time and reverse the past.
As we all know though, changing the past has butterfly effect consequences. Not only are you altering the specifics of your future, it would also change everything around and nothing would ever be the same. No matter how much we wish we could change the past, fix things that are broken, we can't, and sometimes we would just have to let go. Without our past the way it was, scars and all, it wouldn't have made us the way we are today.
Needless to say, Barry still goes back in time. He does one seemingly inconsequential act, which prevents his mother's death from happening, and consequently his father from taking the fall, however, it ends up breaking the universe. There are emotional family moments that will tug at your heartstrings.
Akin to “Back to the Future,” Barry encounters his past, younger self and gets into all sorts of troubles. Another experiment goes wrong, resulting in even more disastrous, and oftentimes humorous results. From a storytelling perspective, this is inventively told, springing freshness into the storyline, and making the movie an atypical solo superhero journey. From an acting standpoint, the dual roles are distinctively acted.
Barry realizes not only might he not be able to get back to the future, but he's also stuck in a world where he's powerless to stop General Zod's (Michael Shannon, "99 Homes") invasion (similar to the one in "Man of Steel"). Barry eventually meets up with a stranger of a Batman (Michael Keaton), the Batman of this universe, and tracks down an imprisoned Kryptonian, Supergirl (Sasha Calle). In Barry's true fashion, things do not go smoothly, and misadventures ensue.
If you haven't seen the Flash on CW, it's even cooler to see the scarlet speedster's superpowers. It's neat to see the new team of superheroes, especially with the introduction of Supergirl. At the same time, there's also a downer factor in the fights against Zod, especially in a world without Superman.
When casualties mount and another villain makes himself known, Barry must decide whether he'd be willing to make the ultimate, family sacrifice. With universes colliding and diverging, the movie dials the evocative elements way up by way of surprising cameos flashing through, all the way to the ending.
Rapidly kinetic action sequences, hilarious hijinks, inventive storytelling and heartwarming nostalgia. You may not be able to run at the speed of light, but you can run to the nearest theaters and see "The Flash."
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