Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)

Predictably fun, this sequel takes the webslinger on a high school trip to the capitals of Europe and the travel photography alone is worth the price of admission. Peter Parker AKA Spider-Man has to juggle his teenage crush on a classmate with saving the world from destruction and the pacing is pretty good.

Returning from the last installment, Spider-Man: Homecoming, we have in the cast Tom Holland (last blogged for Avengers: Infinity War) as Peter, Jacob Batalon as his best friend Ned, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, Jon Favreau (more recently in these pages for Solo: A Star Wars Story) as Happy, Tony Revolori as Flash, and Martin Starr (last blogged for I'll See You in My Dreams) as Mr. Harrington. Notable additions are Samuel L. Jackson (most recently in I Am Not Your Negro) as Nick Fury, Jake Gyllenhaal (last in Wildlife) as Quentin, Zendaya (blog debut in The Greatest Showman) as MJ, and J.B. Smoove (most recently in The Polka King) as Mr. Dell. He says, "Witches!"

Director Jon Watts' last project was Spider-Man: Homecoming and the co-writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers most recently penned Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Sadly, there's no Stan Lee cameo--he died November 12, 2018 at 95. In fact, it's the first Marvel-Avengers movie without Lee's face. But, as usual, there is a scene at the very end, so stick around.

Matthew J. Lloyd (last blogged for shooting The Seagull) is the cinematographer, and the magnificent aerial photography (some by drone) is credited to Jeremy Braben, who was aerial DP on almost 200 movies, dozens of which we have seen and appreciated.

Michael Giacchino's (last scored Bad Times at the El Royale) soundtrack can be streamed on youtube, Apple Music, and more.

No one needs our recommendation to see this. If you're a fan of the franchise you have probably already seen it. But here are the Rotten Tomatoes numbers anyway: 90% from critics and 96% from audiences.

PS. This was our yearly pre-fireworks action movie for 2019. That said, we actually had bought advance tickets to the newest Men in Black, based on the fact that MiB had been released earlier and might not be around so long. But the sign outside the room had a different title (The Hustle--not really on our list). I went to the counter and discovered that, because no one else had bought tickets, that screening had been cancelled. This one was a good choice and still allowed us time to get downtown in time for the pyrotechnics.

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Not the best work of any of the filmmakers involved, this prequel does have good special effects and a hilarious turn by Donald Glover. Jack and I are not Star Wars devotees, though.

Alden Ehrenreich (last blogged for Rules Don't Apply) plays Han Solo as a cocky maverick and Woody Harrelson (Oscar-nominated for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) his not-so-patient mentor Beckett. Emilia Clarke (I've seen only a few minutes of her 56 episodes of Game of Thrones and none of her other projects) is Solo's love interest Qi'ra (rhymes with near-a). As mentioned, Glover (most recently in Spider-Man: Homecoming) chews up the scenery as the arrogant Lando Calrissian. And we like Phoebe Waller-Bridge (she had small parts in Albert Nobbs and The Iron Lady and we've been meaning to watch her Amazon series Fleabag) as the R2D2-like robot named L3-37. Jon Favreau (small part in Spider-Man: Homecoming) voices Rio, the pilot with four arms.

Ron Howard (last blogged for the documentary The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring  Years)  took over the directing reins about halfway through. He and the Kasdans (son Jonathan directed/wrote In the Land of Women (2007) and one other and father Lawrence last wrote Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens) would have been better served by trimming the 2 hour 15 minute running time, especially the fighting. At one point I whispered to Jack, "Who are they fighting?" and he shook his head, replying, "I don't know!" We had read in the trivia that Howard's wife Cheryl (they were already married and had baby Bryce when I met Cheryl in 1982) appears in all of his movies and that this time he had to insert Cheryl's picture digitally after the fact. We missed her appearance--I'm guessing it's in the bar scene. Please comment or write me (babetteflix at gmail) if you find her! I did spot Howard's brother Clint Howard, who, as usual, has a cameo with some hand to hand combat.

John Powell's (before I mentioned him in How to Train Your Dragon 2 he scored Fair Game) one hour 17 minute soundtrack can be streamed from this youtube link.

We picked this over Jurassic World for our yearly pre-fireworks movie because of Glover, Howard, the age of this release (it's been out longer so will leave sooner), and its Rotten Tomatoes' ratings--at 71% from critics' and 64 from audiences, mirroring our feelings--it's still higher than the dinosaur one.

The BFG (2016)

Jack and I enjoyed this live action/animated hybrid of the Roald Dahl book a month ago. A study in perspective, it goes from a little girl's world to the Big Friendly Giant racing through London streets a block at a stride, to his being dwarfed by bigger, meaner giants. Leave it to Steven Spielberg (last blogged for Bridge of Spies) and his team to facilitate new technology for such a hybrid.

Ruby Barnhill, now 12, is adorable in her feature debut (after a TV show in England) as the spunky, curious, book-loving Sophie. But the movie owes all to the nuanced performance of Mark Rylance. When Spielberg was directing Bridge of Spies, he realized he had his BFG in the talented Rylance and was able to put into motion the project that had been in development for almost 25 years. Apparently Rylance was photographed acting all the scenes and the special effects transformed him into a giant, leaving his many facial expressions intact. More cartoony are the other animated characters, including Fleshlumpeater, voiced by the unmistakeable Jemaine Clement (most recently in What We Do in the Shadows), and his sidekick Bloodbottler, voiced by Bill Hader (last in Maggie's Plan). Penelope Wilton (of The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Downton Abbey) has a nice turn in the third act as a human (I'll leave out her character, in case you don't know the story).

Spielberg has worked many times with cinematographer Janusz Kaminsky (who most recently shot The Judge), but this is the first time they've worked on an all-digital project. Composer John Williams (last scored Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens) joins Spielberg for the 24th time on the fanciful score, which can be streamed from this link.

We saw a wonderful featurette in June but I can't find the link. Here's a different one. I chuckled when Spielberg said in this one, "A little higher with the flashlight," because a cinematographer friend once observed that Spielberg likes to shine lights into our eyes.

Not so beloved by the rest of our world, it's averaging 74% from critics and 63 from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. It's rated PG, due to some pretty scary stuff. I suggest parents read the book and decide for yourselves. Much of it is lovely and magical and there's a good helping of girl power. We found it a nice prelude to fireworks this summer.

Jurassic World (2015)

Amy, Nick, Jack and I enjoyed this sequel to the 1993-1997-2001 series in which a beautiful workaholic manager and a handsome scientist try to save her nephews and everyone else when all hell breaks loose at the dinosaur theme park. Lots of action, a high body count, some laughs, high tech special effects, and plain old corn are par for the course for a Steven Spielberg-driven project (he directed the first two and his Amblin Entertainment put out all four, with more on the drawing board).

Bryce Dallas Howard (last blogged in 50/50) is suitably Type A as park manager Claire who can run like the wind in her Jimmy Choos and Chris Pratt (most recently in Guardians of the Galaxy) should have been given more comedy but is getting better and better at this leading man stuff. Irrfan Khan (last in The Lunchbox) moves away from his stereotypical poverty roles and this time plays the wealthy owner in a gorgeously tailored suit. BD Wong (covered in Focus) reprises his role of Dr. Wu from the 1993 movie, and who better than Vincent D'Onofrio (most recently in The Judge) as the angry and reckless head of security? Jake Johnson (last blogged in Safety Not Guaranteed) and Lauren Lapkus (small part as a prison guard in season 2 of Orange is the New Black) have some good moments as computer geeks and it's nice to see Omar Sy moving to this side of the pond from his French roles (most recently The Untouchables), here as a guard.

This movie was our annual splashy pre-fireworks date, so, while we were stuck in traffic downtown, I read to Jack some of the trivia (there's a lot and we didn't get through it all, so I can't properly warn you about spoilers). We liked knowing beforehand that Jimmy Buffet is the guy holding two margaritas in the Margaritaville restaurant, the little boy hugging the giraffe is Howard's own son, and that Jimmy Fallon reads the safety instructions on the Universal Studios tram tours. I appreciated that Howard's all-white wardrobe is an homage to the white suits worn by Richard Attenborough, who had her role in the original. Jack liked that Pratt got to keep the motorcycle.

The director/co-writer this time is Colin Trevorrow, in his second feature gig after the afore-mentioned Safety Not Guaranteed, a small independent movie with little in common with this one other than Jake Johnson, a science fiction theme (albeit low-budget), and writer Derek Connolly. The husband-wife team of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Rise of the Plant of the Apes) are also credited as co-writers and for the story. And of course, the late Michael Crichton wrote the 1990 novel on which all of this is based.

Cinematographer John Schwartzman (profiled in Saving Mr. Banks) shot the lovely and scary pictures, while prolific and admired composer Michael Giacchino (last scored Tomorrowland) provides the soundtrack, which I found surprisingly unmoving for someone of his talent. Listen for yourself.

You already know if you're going to like this, regardless of Rotten Tomatoes' critics (71%), audiences (82), or us. Just think carefully about which kids you bring because we found it quite violent and occasionally terrifying. PG-13 is probably about right.

Four summer movies

In order of how much Jack and I liked them, from better to worse: How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), Jersey Boys (2014), Tammy (2014), Third Person (2013). It just so happens that's also alphabetical. Go figure.

How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) is cute, just like the first one, but not that different. Maybe I had an attitude because I was disappointed because I had wanted to see Tammy that day but got the times wrong (you'll see below that we actually made the right choice). Same director/writer Dean DeBlois, and composer John Powell. All the original voices (Jay Baruchel, Craig Ferguson, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kristen Wiig, T.J. Miller) are back, too, with the addition of Djimon Hounsou (Oscar-nominated for In America (2002) and Blood Diamond (2006), was also in Amistad (1977) and Gladiator (2000), among others) throughout and Cate Blanchett (last blogged in The Monuments Men) arriving in the second act. Still fun for the kids but not too young, in my perhaps over-protective opinion, because there is peril. Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are in love, both averaging 92%. We saw it before the holiday fireworks four and a half weeks ago. Ironically, this is the one of these four we least anticipated and it was by far the best of the lot.

Jack and I were excited to see Jersey Boys (2014) after seeing the stage musical twice, but it didn't pack the punch we hoped. We can't quite figure out why, even under the experienced hand of Clint Eastwood (last blogged as a director in J. Edgar). John Lloyd Young, who played Frankie Valli in the original Broadway cast, kind of left me cold on the big screen. Vincent Piazza (Lucky Luciano in Boardwalk Empire, some episodes of Rescue Me, and the angry brother in Rocket Science (2007)) as Tommy DeVito and Erich Bergen (performed in the touring show for years and has done some TV) as Bob Gaudio try very hard. And then there's an egregious example of my Rule #8, that says Ohio is a place for hicks only. The Four Seasons performed at the Ohio State Fair in Columbus in 1965. Eastwood and his team purposely not only moved the movie Fair to Cleveland (it's been in Columbus since 1851), apparently to parallel something else that happened in Cleveland, but had the Fair audience standing on grass with a cow in their midst. I'm still mad about that six weeks later, especially since they were so meticulous about other facts. Christopher Walken (most recently in Seven Psychopaths), however, turns in his usual brilliant performance. Audiences on Rotten Tomatoes are happier at 69% than its critics at 54.

Two days after training the dragon we did get to see Tammy (2014). What a let down. Not enough slapstick, too much emoting, and Melissa McCarthy (last in The Heat) and Susan Sarandon (most recently in Robot & Frank) caught in the middle. Director Ben Falcone (Enough Said) co-wrote with McCarthy, who is his wife, and they squandered so much star power, including Kathy Bates (Midnight in Paris), Allison Janney (Bad Words), Toni Collette (Enough Said), Sandra Oh (Rabbit Hole), and more. Rotten Tomatoes: 25% critics, 39 audiences.

Third Person (2013) is another one we expected to love and did not. Not one little bit. More squandering of star power, including Liam Neeson (A Million Ways to Die in the West), Olivia Wilde (Better Living Through Chemistry), James Franco (Palo Alto), Mila Kunis (Oz the Great and Powerful), Maria Bello (Prisoners), Adrien Brody (The Grand Budapest Hotel), and Moran Atias (the TV version of Crash), in an ensemble picture that leaves many questions, and not in a good way. Director/writer Paul Haggis won Oscars for co-writing the ensemble picture Crash (2004) and co-writing Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby (2004), which won Best Picture in consecutive years. I loved both of them. I think Jack did, too, though we hadn't yet met, and I can't ask him now because he's asleep, like a normal person. I, for one, expected a lot. We should have heeded Rotten Tomatoes for its then 21% critics and 42 audiences (today, three and a half weeks later, it has soared to 24 and 47). But we seldom do.

The Lone Ranger (2013)

Despite dismal reviews, Jack and I thought this was a hoot. Johnny Depp playing Tonto as a skeptical, complaining sidekick tickled us and, along with the magnificent period set dressing and train-top chases, carried us through the slow parts. I must admit, though, I wasn't a fan of the 1930s flash-forward part, even though it has a few laughs as Tonto is senile and silly. The 1869 part is plenty, with social commentary (the 1% represented by the greedy train-builders) (I must add that we are big fans of train travel), bad guys of all stripes (heinous criminals, dubious "lawmen," greedy train-builders), double-crosses, equine stunts, and an exciting soundtrack by Hans Zimmer. Depp (last blogged in Dark Shadows) and Armie Hammer (after The Social Network he was in J. Edgar) have good chemistry as the wise-cracking Indian and the awkward, righteous ranger. Tom Wilkinson (most recently in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), William Fichtner (some of his work I've liked was Strange Days (1995), Albino Alligator (1996), Contact (1997), Go (1999), Crash (2004), Nine Lives (2005), The Chumscrubber (2005), and his 2009-11 series arc on Entourage), Ruth Wilson (apparently the reason her face was familiar is that she was in Anna Karenina), and Helena Bonham Carter (also last in Dark Shadows) are among the featured players, the latter equipped with a wardrobe accessory that has a nice payoff towards the end.

Be prepared for a high body count and lots of property damage (even accounting for inflation). The script is credited to Justin Haythe (co-writer of Revolutionary Road and two others) and the writing team of Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio (Oscar-nominated for adapting Shrek (2001), co-wrote Aladdin (1992) and every iteration of Pirates of the Caribbean (only 2011 is covered in the blog), among others). Director Gore Verbinski (I liked The Mexican (2001), his three Pirates of the Caribbeans (2003, 06, 07), and particularly The Weather Man (2005), but missed Rango (2011), which won him his Oscar for Animated feature) probably shares with the writers the blame for the bad reviews.

You can stream the rousing Hans Zimmer soundtrack at this link but in order to hear each subsequent track you must make the window active before going about your other business (my regular readers know I often listen to the soundtrack while I write).

Those interested in the critics' vitriol can read the rottentomatoes reviews, where the average is up to a whopping 27%. And although audience ratings average 64, this was number five in sales last weekend. We saw it three weeks ago, as part of our usual Independence holiday, before our grand downtown fireworks. It's certainly not the first movie we would recommend this summer, but it is also not the last.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Every 4th of July, Jack and I go to a big, splashy action movie before the big, splashy fireworks display. This year we went to Spider-Man with Michael and Nick and enjoyed it immensely, even without springing for 3D nor IMAX. Andrew Garfield is adorable as smart-ass, intelligent Peter Parker, and the chemistry with his real-life girlfriend Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy is evident onscreen. Garfield (last in these pages using his natural English accent in Never Let Me Go--though born in Los Angeles, he moved to London as a toddler with his English mother) at 28 seems younger than Tobey Maguire (who was 27 when the first one was released), maybe because of the smart-ass thing, and the humor goes a long way in making this altogether entertaining. We didn't miss the 3D, although I could guess what it would have been like when Spider-Man is swinging successfully around New York. We could have done with maybe a tad less unsuccessful swinging--we get it, he's learning how to do it. Also, why would the Midtown Science High School have dumb jocks, including one named Flash? That makes no sense at all. I know, I know; it's not a documentary. I'm just sayin'. Garfield and Stone (see The Help) met on this movie, and they're cute together, believable as awkward teenagers. Martin Sheen (most recently in The Way) and Sally Field (we like her, not only in her Oscar-winning performances in Norma Rae (1979) and Places in the Heart (1984), but also in The Flying Nun (1967-1970), Sybil (1976), Absence of Malice (1981), Punchline (1988), Steel Magnolias (1989), Soapdish (1991), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Forrest Gump (1994), and, of course, 110 episodes of Brothers & Sisters (2006-2011)) are lovable as Peter's Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Then the very talented Rhys Ifans (profiled in Greenberg) gets to play the megalomaniac Curtis Connors with a computer-generated missing right arm. He apparently did a lot of his own stunts. Jack and I have long been Denis Leary (my favorites are The Ref (1994), Operation Dumbo Drop (1995), Suicide Kings (1997), Wag the Dog (1997), and the TV shows The Job (2001-02) and Rescue Me (2004-11)) fans, so were happy to see him as Gwen's dad, hard-boiled police Captain Stacy. There are dozens more credited and uncredited actors here, but the one that really matters is the mandatory Stan Lee (co-creator of the comic book, which was originally called The Amazing Spider-Man, with Steve Ditko) cameo as a clueless school librarian, which is hilarious, as always.

Director Marc Webb had only one other feature under his belt ((500) Days of Summer) but the pacing and blend of melodrama and action are pretty good. In addition to Lee and Ditko getting credit for the Marvel comic book, the story is credited to James Vanderbilt (yes, that family; he adapted the script to Zodiac (2007) and a few others), and the script to Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent (won Oscars for Julia (1977) and Ordinary People (1980), nominated for Paper Moon (1973), worked on a lot of TV in the 60s, then wrote or co-wrote scripts for, among others, The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), Nuts (1987), White Palace (1990), the story for What About Bob?, scripts for Hero (1992), Unfaithful (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), and Spider-Man 3 (2007)), and Steve Kloves (Racing with the Moon (1984), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), Flesh and Bone (1993), Wonder Boys (2000) for which he was Oscar-nominated, and all eight Harry Potter movies). That's some Hollywood royalty going on.

While writing I've been listening on youtube to tracks from the score by James Horner (among his 335 music credits on imdb, he won two Oscars for Titanic (1997): the score and My Heart Will Go On; was nominated for eight: Somewhere Out There in An American Tail (1986), Aliens (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Braveheart (1995), Apollo 13 (1985), A Beautiful Mind (2001), House of Sand and Fog (2003), and Avatar;  and composed for 48 Hrs. (1982), Testament (1983), The Dresser (1983), Cocoon (1985), Volunteers (1985), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), The Spitfire Grill (1996), Iris (2001), The Chumscrubber (2005), and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, to name some that I liked). Perhaps not royalty, but this guy works and they really, really like him, too.

Audiences weigh in at 84% vs. critics at 74% on rottentomatoes. I expect this has a built-in audience and you don't need me to tell you to see it. It's been out only two weeks and is still second at the box office on the most screens in America: 4318 (the next is the Ice Age sequel at 3881). There are so many good movies out now that you may have trouble choosing. If you don't care about 3D this will be playing for a long while and you can go see some of the artier ones first. You should, however, see it on a big screen for the effects.

X-Men: First Class (2011)

Jack, Ann, Michael, and I saw this prequel before the fireworks two weeks ago and had fun, though I remember little from the others in the series (2000, '03, '06, '09). Big and splashy, lots of great special effects, a huge cast, a dramatic orchestral score by Henry Jackman, and a hilarious cameo by Hugh Jackman (no relation) round out the experience. The leads are James McAvoy (I wrote about him in The Last Station) as Professor Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender (a few comments in Fish Tank) as Erik/Magneto, who bring the requisite gentle intelligence and simmering anger, respectively, to their roles. Erik at 12 is played by Bill Milner who was so terrific in Son of Rambow and Is Anybody There? Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone which earned her an Oscar nomination and The Beaver) plays Raven/Mystique (the blue girl) as a person and not just a mutant, as does Nicholas Hoult (covered in A Single Man) as Hank/Beast. Rose Byrne (covered in Bridesmaids) and Kevin Bacon (favorites: Diner (1982), Footloose (1984), Flatliners (1990), He Said, She Said (1991), A Few Good Men (1992), The River Wild (1994), Sleepers (1996), Mystic River (2003), The Woodsman (2004), Where the Truth Lies (2005)--I love that title, and small parts in Frost/Nixon and My One and Only) are the most-seen humans in the ensemble. According to the long list of trivia, many actresses were considered for the role of Emma Frost, but January Jones (Pirate Radio, Unknown) finally won the role, playing a different kind of 60s woman than Betty Draper in Mad Men and she has a wonderful sexy wardrobe, all in white. Yes, this is a period movie, beginning in the Holocaust and moving into the 60s, with some songs of those eras sprinkled in among the original score. To listen to said score, do as I did and play this, then advance as youtube suggests, one by one.

British director Matthew Vaughn (I wrote about him in Kick-Ass) was also not the first choice but reviewers and audiences have loved this, with its screenplay credited to Vaughn, Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz (Miller and Stentz are among the writers of Thor), and Jane Goldman (co-wrote Kick-Ass and Vaughn's other movies), with story by Bryan Singer (who directed and had a story credit on the first two X-Men) and Sheldon Turner (The Longest Yard (2005), Up in the Air). Rottentomatoes' critics have rated it 86% and audiences 89%. If you're a fan, you've already seen it. If you're not, but you like action and science fiction, you'll probably like it.

Toy Story 3 (2010)

We saw this weeks ago, before the downtown fireworks, so I'll try to reconstruct. Though we found it a bit slow in the first 15 minutes or so, it picked up and we enjoyed ourselves. Plenty of gags for the adults, including, but not limited to, complex Rube Goldberg mechanisms, (Jack caught) the Cool Hand Luke reference (when Buzz is policing the "jail"), the Ken and Barbie first meet-up (which is in the trailer, plus I saw Michael Keaton talking about it on Letterman), and nice use of the Randy Newman theme (including in Spanish to comic effect--in fact the Spanish sequence may encourage kids to read the subtitles). We figure this will get some Oscar nominations (and it had a nearly unprecedented 99% on rottentomatoes) so we made sure to see it in 3-D. Yeah, I got a little teary when Andy went off to college--it's only been two years for me--but can't say that it was all that. The big baby doll was ka-reepy! That and a scary scene near the end make me wonder why this gets a G (here's what imdb has to say about its rating), but perhaps I am no longer qualified to judge. I saw the first Toy Story (1995) but not the second in 1999, and Jack says he liked this without having seen its predecessors. If you haven't seen it yet, go ahead and look up the actors who do each of the voices, or do what I did and check on your smart phone while the show is going on. They're all just fine. I'm not going to write about them now, as I have 2 more movies to blog and plenty more to see in the next few days! If you loved either or both of the series, you'll love this. If you have to take a kid, it's not going to be painful.