SKYSCRAPER: 2 ½ STARS
Dwayne Johnson has saved his family from an earthquake, fought a volcanic demon and prevented a wild, overgrown ape from destroying Chicago. If you鈥檝e got a life-or-death problem, yo, he鈥檒l solve it. His new film may be his fieriest yet. 鈥淪kyscraper鈥 sees him hundreds of storeys above the earth, trying to save his family from certain death. Let鈥檚 see him revolve that.
Johnson is former FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader and U.S. war veteran Will Ford. After a bomb blast left him with a prosthetic leg, he went into business as a security expert for big companies. His latest gig takes him and family, including wife Sarah (Neve Campbell) and twins, to Hong Kong where he will assess the security concerns for a building nicknamed the Eighth Wonder of the World. At three times the height of the Empire State Building, The Pearl is one of the world鈥檚 greatest architectural achievements -- but is it safe? That鈥檚 what billionaire owner Zhao Min Zhi (Chin Han) wants to know. It鈥檚 the tallest, most advanced building in the world, it鈥檚 a vertical city, but, as Ford says, 鈥測ou have brought with it every single safety and security challenge I can think of. Not only have you brought them all indoors but you have trapped them 240 floors in the air. No one really knows what would happen if things go wrong.鈥
Of course things go wrong鈥攖here鈥檇 be no movie otherwise鈥攚hen some terrible people sabotage the building鈥檚 security systems, starting a blaze on the ninety-sixth floor. Ford鈥檚 family is trapped above the fire line, so our one-legged hero must rescue them while fighting the bad guys and convincing the cops the fire wasn鈥檛 his fault.
鈥淪kyscraper鈥 is the kind of over-the-top action movie that used to star Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone. It鈥檚 a manly-man movie that values sweaty action over narrative logic, rockin鈥 schlock over the laws of physics.
It鈥檚 Johnson in full-on the video-game hero mode. Fun to watch but whatever high-wire antics he gets up to ultimately the stakes aren鈥檛 very high. (SPOILER ALERT) The Rock is not going to plunge to his death, leaving his family to become lumps of coal in the world鈥榮 biggest inferno. 鈥淪kyscraper鈥 is all about the stunts, the adrenaline and even then they give away the film鈥檚 best deed of daring on the poster and in the trailer.
Johnson is charismatic, has a way with a line but here he is reduced to his most obvious asset, his over-developed body, capable of superhuman feats of endurance and skills. He is Hercules a slab of grade-A muscle who can power his way out of any situation, most often with a roll of duct tape in tow. (Begging the question, how much did the makers of duct tape pay in product placement. Not since 鈥淭he Red Green Show鈥 has the sticky stuff been so essential to the plot.) As a man of action he鈥檚 second to known, as a character in a film, however, he not as muscular. There鈥檚 not much to Will Ford鈥攐r any character here鈥攐ther than a look of grim determination and a flex arm. Even the bad guy, Kores Botha (Roland Møller), is just a Hans Gruber wannabe but without the evil charm or nasty one-liners.
鈥淪kyscraper鈥 is a loud, over-the-top flick. The action may entertain the eye but with no characters to care about all that鈥檚 left are plumes of smoke and fire.
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3: SUMMER VACATION: 4 STARS
The Invisible Man, Frankenstein, the Mummy and let鈥檚 not forget Dracula all make appearances in 鈥淗otel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation鈥 but the new, animated Adam Sandler movie isn鈥檛 about the monsters. It鈥檚 about the importance of kindness and family.
At the beginning of the film Dracula (voice of Sandler) is feeling down, stressed out from the pressure of running his luxury hotel. On top of that, it seems even the Prince of Darkness has trouble meeting women. He鈥檚 forlorn, hasn鈥檛 had a date in 100 years and his voice-activated dating app is no help. 鈥淚鈥檓 lonely,鈥 he says. 鈥淵ou want bologna?鈥 it replies.
Noticing her dad is depressed, daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) arranges for a special treat: some time away with family and friends. 鈥淚 figured you need a vacation from running everyone else鈥檚 vacations,鈥 she says. She books passage on the monster cruise of a lifetime, a journey into the heart of the Bermuda Triangle.
Once onboard, Drac immediately falls for Captain Ericka (Kathryn Hahn). The heart knows what it wants, even if it is a cold, un-beating heart. They hit it off, but it turns out Ericka might have an ulterior motive for returning Drac鈥檚 advances.
鈥淗otel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation鈥 is filled with the easy sentimentality that mars Sandler鈥檚 live action films. Good messages about acceptance鈥斺淲e鈥檙e here, we鈥檙e hairy and it鈥檚 our right to be scary!鈥濃攖radition and finding your own way in the world鈥斺淵ou have to honour the past but we have to make our own future,鈥 says Drac鈥攁re hammered home like a stake through the heart.
Surrounding the family-friendly clichés are an untraditional cast of cute monsters and that鈥檚 the movie鈥檚 strength. The fun of 鈥淗otel Transylvania 3鈥 is in the details not the story. The kid-friendly creepy crawlies, deadpan fish cruise ship staff, Grandpa Dracula鈥檚 (Mel Brooks) skimpy withered green body and Captain Ericka鈥檚 underwater craft that looks like it just floated in from 鈥淵ellow Submarine鈥 are all a hoot. Come for the creatures, stay for the silly fun.
鈥淗otel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation鈥 doesn鈥檛 add up to much story-wise鈥攎usic and dance numbers, though inventively staged, pad out the running time to feature length鈥攂ut the messages of tolerance and kindness are important themes in today鈥檚 increasingly serious world. 鈥淕otta be great-a than the hatas,鈥 says one monster. That鈥檚 advice you can take to the (blood) bank.
WHITNEY: 4 STARS
Like the recent Amy Winehouse documentary, which tells the story of a prodigiously talented woman lost in life to a lifestyle that she couldn鈥檛 or didn鈥檛 want to control, 鈥淲hitney鈥 is a study of a very public downfall.
Director Kevin Macdonald is tasked with telling the all-too-common story of the rise-and-fall of an icon. The details will be familiar to anyone alive and reading the tabloids when Whitney Houston, the preeminent singer of her era, flamed out in spectacular fashion, dying at age 48 after years of well-documented erratic behaviour.
鈥淲hitney鈥 tells the story, from good to bad to worse, with a dose of empathy. From her youth, the daughter of musical legend Cissy Houston and a dodgy official in the Newark government, as a bullied girl with a beautiful voice to a superstar who became the only artist to have seven consecutive U.S. number one singles, Macdonald sets the stage with dozens of interviews with the singer鈥檚 family, friends and associates. He emphasizes the chasm between Houston鈥檚 public girl-next-door image with her considerably more wild private life.
Career highlights are showcased, including her stirring version of 鈥淭he Star-Spangled Banner鈥 at Super Bowl XXV in 1991 and her blockbuster version of Dolly Parton鈥檚 鈥淚 Will Always Love You鈥 which remains the best-selling single by a female artist in music history, but it is the personal side that intrigues. Interviews reveal blockbuster allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of cousin Dee Dee Warwick, early drug use with brother Michael and half-brother Gary Garland, and a troubled financial history with her father. It鈥檚 the kind of toxic stew that tabloid stories are made of but instead of exploiting Houston, Macdonald digs deep to tell the story, presenting both a biography and a cautionary tale of excess.
MARY SHELLEY: 2 STARS
Today Mary Shelley is a household name even if her best-known book, 鈥淔rankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus,鈥 the first true science fiction tale, was originally published without her name.
In director Haifaa Al-Mansour鈥檚 new biopic 鈥淢ary Shelley,鈥 Elle Fanning plays the title character as a rebellious daughter of philosophers, smitten with ghost stories. Dreaming of a life less ordinary鈥"I have a fire in my soul," she says early on鈥攕he begins a scandalous affair with married poet and radical Percy Bysshe Shelley (Douglas Booth). Theirs is an unconventional life, embracing free love and literally and figuratively in the form of Mary鈥檚 step-sister Claire Claremont (Bel Powley).
As scandalizing as her lifestyle may have been to her contemporaries, it is her best-known book that sent shock waves through the publishing world. Written in 1816 as part of a competition between Mary, aged 18, her husband, flamboyant Romantic poet Lord Byron (Tom Sturridge) and writer John Polidori (Ben Hardy) to see who could write the best ghost story, 鈥淔rankenstein鈥 becomes a way for Mary to funnel her feelings鈥攖he heartache of losing her family amid the scandal and her sense of otherness鈥攊nto print.
鈥淢ary Shelley鈥 is a nicely turned out film, with beautiful period particulars and an eye toward detail in décor. It is a shame then, that director Al-Mansour hasn鈥檛 applied the same level of rigour to the script. In what feels like an attempt to make Mary Shelley鈥檚 search for her voice relatable to a modern audience, her daring edges have been blunted. Her radical lifestyle is alluded to but the presentation feels sterile, funnelled through the prism of romantic drama rather than history. Fewer scenes of Mary and Percy arguing and more of the author鈥檚 ground-breaking lust for life and the movie might have been a more fitting tribute to a true original.
鈥淢ary Shelley,鈥 despite a solid performance from Fanning, is a conventional look at an unconventional life.
SORRY TO BOTHER YOU: 4 STARS
鈥淪orry to Bother You鈥 is set in an alternative reality version of present day but feels like a throwback to the politically charged satires of the 1980s and 90s. Echoes of 鈥淩epo Man鈥 and the like reverberate throughout, but nonetheless, director Boots Riley is never less than original in his telling of the tale of a telemarketer who trades part of his identity for success.
The story centres around slacker Cassius Green (LaKeith Stanfield), a young man who lives in his Uncle Sergio鈥檚 (Terry Crews) garage. 鈥淚鈥檓 just out here surviving,鈥 he tells his performance artist girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson). In need of money鈥攈e鈥檚 four months behind in rent鈥攈e goes to a telemarketing job interview armed with a phoney resume and some fake 鈥淓mployee of the Month鈥 awards. Lies notwithstanding he gets the gig. 鈥淭his is Tele marketing,鈥 says his new boss (Robert Longstreet). 鈥淲e鈥檙e not mapping the human genome here. You will call as many numbers as possible. You will stick to the script we give you and you will leave here happy.鈥
After a rough start, Cassius gets some advice that changes everything. 鈥淚f you want to make some money here use your white voice,鈥 says the guy in the next cubicle (Danny Glover). 鈥淚鈥檓 talking about sounding like you don鈥檛 have to care. Like you don鈥檛 really need this money. It鈥檚 what they wish they sounded like.鈥 The technique works (David Cross provides Cassius鈥檚 white voice) and on the eve of a strike in the telemarking office Cassius is promoted, bumped upstairs to the elite Power Callers floor. 鈥淲elcome to the Power Caller suite,鈥 says his new boss (Omari Hardwick). 鈥淯se your white voice at all times here.鈥
The new job involves selling power鈥攆ire power and manpower, specifically the services of WorryFree, a service that offers lifetime work contracts to desperate people. Run by mogul Steve Lift (Armie Hammer), the company has been accused of selling slave labour, and now Cassius is their number one salesperson. His success comes at a cost, however. His girlfriend doesn鈥檛 approve and his striking friends call him a scab. The new job may be on the wrong side of the ethical divide but, at first at least, Cassius grins and bears it. 鈥淚鈥檓 doing something and I鈥檓 really good at it. I鈥檓 important.鈥
From here the story goes places that will not be spoiled here. Suffice to say Riley takes viewers on a journey unlike any other. The film is an audacious capitalist nightmare, heavy on anti-corporate, pro-union rhetoric filtered through a kaleidoscopic lens. It鈥檚 risky and witty, edgy and inventive and unrestrained in a way that makes it utterly unique. Scathing commentary on the state of the world鈥斺淚f you are shown a problem,鈥 says Squeeze (Steven Yeun), 鈥渁nd can鈥檛 do anything about the problem you get used to the problem鈥濃攊s coupled with creative, confrontational filmmaking.
In 鈥淪orry to Bother You鈥 Riley has created an apocalyptic world that looks like ours but tilted 180 degrees. He鈥檚 populated it with offbeat characters who forward the story but bring humanity to the strange world they inhabit. Their takes on race relations, employment and relationships feel real even though nothing else in the movie does. It鈥檚 the peak of satire to heighten the situation but still make real, humanistic points. Riley does both in a way that is both experimental and entertaining.
THE DEATH (AND LIFE) OF CARL NAARDLINGER: 3 STARS
鈥淭he Death (And Life) Of Carl Naardlinger鈥 takes place at the place at which identity and humanity intersect. A metaphysical and occasionally absurdist comedy, it stars Matt Baram as one of the title characters.
Baram is Carl Naardlinger. Married to real estate mini-mogul Pam (Grace Lynn Kung), he鈥檚 an IT guy, spending his days solving people鈥檚 computer problems on the phone. His well-ordered suburban life is thrown askew with a knock on the door from a police officer from the missing persons bureau. Detective Renton (Anand Rajaram) is on the hunt for a man who鈥檚 disappeared, a man with the unlikely name of Carl Naardlinger.
The interaction leaves Carl unsettled. Over time he becomes fixated on finding the man who shares his name even though he鈥檚 presumed dead. His search becomes muddied when he finds the man鈥檚 identical twin brother (Mark Forward).
鈥淭he Death (And Life) Of Carl Naardlinger鈥 has laughs but it isn鈥檛 quite a comedy. Instead it takes its bizarre premise and mines some real emotional moments from the material. The quirky idea could have made for an all-out farce, a film with broad performances, but Katherine Schlemmer and cast opt for a thoughtful, po-faced approach. It鈥檚 that gentle, humanist attitude that allows the absurdist elements of the story to feel as grounded as a movie that hinges on coincidence and doppelgangers could probably ever feel. As quirky as the idea may be, the search for identity and what it truly means to understand your world is a universal desire and the film does a nice job of essaying that search.
