Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

** out of ****

I can’t claim that seeing the sequel to 2014’s disappointing reboot of one of my favorite things from childhood (which really wasn’t that good in the first place) had any guarantee in lifting my spirits through a nostalgia high, but characters such as Bebop, Rocksteady and Krang were all due to make their first cinematic appearances and I couldn’t deny whatever remains of a Turtles fan in me, that there might be some dumb gratification in that.

I was right about the dumb part. The newly added characters typically known from the cartoon series resemble their original looks pretty well, but in a pandering way. Bebop and Rocksteady also somehow mutate into their animal forms with an explanation that would have had me calling bullshit when I was a child. Hell, the plot to The Lobster would have worked better! 

The Turtles are still spending a lot of time on the tops of famous well-lit prime real estate skyscrapers, rather than dark alleys in bad neighborhoods. I am among few people from my generation who doesn't mind the way they look in their CGI incarnations, but I still prefer men in suits and animatronic masks.

Still, the special effects and color aesthetics in these new movies continue to be somewhat exciting (even though they are displayed with the kind of physics-defying simulated cinematography that reminds you that what you're seeing can't be real) but the movie continues to get simple things wrong. The epic-sounding orchestral score is, once again, very unfitting for the material.

Making simple characters who don't require much description also continues to be a challenge for the people running the show. First, April O'Neil was downgraded from a professional news woman to Megan Fox's girly Maxim pinup; This time Casey Jones is deprived of his grungy unkempt persona to being... a cop. 

Not kidding, that vigilante known as Casey Jones is now a young cop played by Green Arrow himself: Stephen Ammell. They ought to call him Straight Arrow in this movie. After being put on suspension by an unrealistically demeaning superior played by Laura Linney (yes, she's in this), Jones fights crime his own way but seems eager to be polite to all non-criminals.

Tyler Perry as Baxter Stockman is an interesting choice, given that his character was black in the original comic before he was whitewashed for the cartoon series. I still prefer his character to be a cowardly scientist forced into crime rather than Perry's portrayal as one filled with glee in his amoral endeavors.

Oddly, Shredder has been recast from Tohoru Masamune in old-age makeup to young-looking Brian Tee with no makeup. I don't know what happened except for the further surrender of the attempted whitewashing of his character in the last movie, which only cast Masamune during reshoots to correct the identity of The Shredder when fans found out what was happening.  

As expected, the story is overstuffed with bad exposition that leads from one major set piece to the next including the now-standard trope of a portal opening up in the sky above a major city and a bunch of jargon about how to stop it. The loud cluttered Michael Bay-approved action storytelling naturally makes the movie longer than it needs to be. The change in directors doesn't make much of a difference either. I'm still thankful that Bay hasn't directed either one.

This franchise’s inability to grow along with its fans is still there, but its new incarnation should still manage to entertain kids in the way that the older version once entertained me as a fourth grade boy.

The lean, green fighting machines deserve a grungier New York, a score with a beat, and a story that comes from a gifted thirty-something writer who wants his -or her childhood heroes to work better from an adult perspective. This is how Batman and so many other icons came to have better incarnations. Sadly, it's not looking like that will happen anytime soon.

Green Room

***1/2 out of ****

I'm originally from Oregon and I have a tendency to idealize its often overcast weather with dark valleys shaded by evergreen trees as a place of peaceful beauty. I couldn't have expected that writer/director Jeremy Saulnier would set his latest dark rural thriller in such a place after the material worked so well in his Virginia-set revenge movie, Blue Ruin, which was closer to my current whereabouts.

There are scary people everywhere and Green Room stages a terrifying face-off between a traveling punk band and Neo-Nazi skinheads at a secluded venue deep in the woods. The all-in-one-night war/western structure is easily reminiscent of John Carpenter films, but with more of a hard-boiled edge and much more gruesome violence.

Along with the relatively unexplored cinematic territory of this film is a villain at the center played with subtle menace by the brilliantly cast Patrick Stewart who plays against type so well, he disappears into his quiet yet ruthless white supremacist leader.

Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, and Saulnier regular, Macon Blair, all enhance their resumes with roles that are unique in their respective bodies of work. The rest of the cast is also amazingly convincing in their roles as the people of this dark underworld.

Like Blue Ruin, the movie is about people unfit in their challenge of going up against people who deal in violence and murder. The movie does a great job at subverting the viewers expectations for who lives and dies. Some characters survive their circumstances unbelievably, considering the film's realism, but believability and predictability are always at odds when you're storytelling. 

Green Room is a thankful detour from the standard action movie and rightfully challenges the comfort of an audience seeking savage violence for escapism. This is one of those movies that is so beautiful at being ugly. 

The Lobster

* out of ****

The Lobster is a surreal dark-comedy starring Colin Farrell as a single man living in a world where failed relationships require institutional correction at resort centers where you must find a mate within a given amount of time or you will be transformed into an animal of your choosing.

The movie dares to portray its characters without any level of emotional outrage toward their circumstances. Along with Farrell, the talented cast includes John C. Reilly, Rachel Weisz, Ben Whishaw and Léa Seydoux –all delivering perfect deadpan.

I was not so turned off by this film’s irreverent weirdness. Movies, such as Steven Soderbergh’s Schizopolis and Quentin Dupieux’s Wrong managed to entertain me immensely in their abandonment of comprehensible narrative structure. I found the beginning of The Lobster quite funny in its vague plot of people having difficulty following absurd life rules or meeting silly personal expectations. However, at the halfway point, the movie starts over in a completely different setting where people are seeking liberation from society, but ironically finding another harsh dogmatic structure imposed upon them.

After this development, the movie became so unbearably miserable and unfunny for me that I saw almost no merit to the early parts that made me chuckle or the ambition of its maker (Yorgos Lanthimos) who dedicated to such an oddball venture. 

I didn’t care if I was missing something or misinterpreting its subtext; I thought The Lobster was a cinematic suicide note with only a couple of funny jokes.

The Nice Guys

*** out of ****

Shane Black’s violent noir comedy The Nice Guys is a film that feels like a reprise to his best work, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. The new movie stars Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling as different brands of the sleazy private detective: Crowe's character is experienced and dangerous; Gosling's character is amoral and incompetent. The two don't get along but wind up crossing paths on the same case of a missing porn actress in 1970s Los Angeles.

Gosling makes a pretty funny person but Crowe looks as if he's struggling to understand the energy required with certain one-liners. The struggling energy between them in some scenes is helped with the disruptions of Gosling's character's intellectually superior pre-adolescent daughter (Angoury Rice) who wants to take part in the investigation. The chemistry manages to function but not to the same effect that Harmony, Harry, and Gay Perry had in KKBB.

Co-written by Black and Anthony Bagarozzi the movie takes ironic nostalgic glee in the many ways that the past was an uglier time. Black continues his fondness for a convoluted noir plotting and recently stated in an interview that he never sets out to make a comedy, but as he writes, the jokes keep coming. As expected, this movie has plenty of fun setting up clichés and subverting them with hilarity along with plenty over over-the-top instances of horrific violence for shock laughs. I liked it.

A Bigger Splash

**1/2 out of ****

A Bigger Splash, is an example of European cinema once again calling for more subversion of traditional techniques with odd results, which will divide audiences. I may stand somewhere in the middle with this movie, but I must do this in reaction to how seductive and off-putting it manages to simultaneously be.

The film follows a rock star, (Tilda Swinton) taking a vacation with her boyfriend (Matthias Schoenaerts) on a small Italian island when their quiet time is cut short by an unexpected visit from her bombastic manager/ex-lover (Ralph Fiennes) and his daughter (Dakota Johnson).

The Mediterranean location is captured in a way that nearly provokes a sense of being there with these privileged people who you may resent through envy or contempt. The soundtrack selections of director Luca Guadagnino's specific taste give it as unique an atmosphere as his previous film, I Am Love (which also starred Swinton).

The movie seems to fixate on its own sense of beauty, some of which I have trouble agreeing. It also uncomfortably reminds us of the contrast between the super-wealthy entertainment world and impoverished people on the outskirts of their comfortable lives. Politics are often unavoidable when Italians make movies.

This movie's great acting and unforgettable atmosphere stuck with me as much as the lack of comfort it gave me. I can, however, promise that if you regard Tilda Swinton as an erotic goddess (which I don’t), this movie is waiting patiently for you to see it.

Keanu

**1/2 out of ****

It's fair to say that we should have expected more from these two in their movie debut, as a rightfully beloved comic duo. I count Keegan-Michael Key and Jordon Peele to be among the best sketch comedy teams in history. Unfortunately, Keanu, a violent crime comedy starring two simple guys in over their heads doesn't do much to show the range of these comic actors, nor does it offer up an effectively funny comic twist on the genre they're lovingly mocking, with the exception of the film's title character: a kitten.

The kitten is the pet of a drug lord who is gunned down by two rogue assassins resembling the main characters (because they are played by Key and Peele -but as mute demon-like forces of evil) who take interest in the undeniable cuteness of the animal before it runs away and is eventually found by a depressed stoner played by Peele who finds new invigoration in life through the adorable creature he names Keanu (after the Hawaiian word for "cool breeze" -and not the actor known for being in baddass action movies).

His best friend, played by Key, is celebrating a slight vacation from his yuppy life after his wife (Nia Long) goes on a trip with friends. One night the two return to the stoner's apartment to find the place ransacked and Keanu missing. It turns out that the apartment was mistaken for his marijuana dealer's (Will Forte hilariously playing a wannabe urban thug).

After interrogating the dealer they find out Keanu was taken by someone higher up the criminal chain, played by Method Man, who the two approach pretending to be criminals in order to make a deal for the return of Keanu. Unexpectedly, they are mistaken for the two rogue assassins and are given a deal for the kitten if they perform some unsavory work. 

More comic misunderstandings ensue, while the majority of the movie depends on the question of how convincingly they can pretend to be gangsters. The two often feud regarding their sense of racial identity with the punchline often being how "white" they are. These jokes continue throughout the film and are hit-and-miss until the movie eventually finds itself beating dead tan-colored horse.

If you've seen their show, then you know their less-funny dry banter sessions spliced in between the sketches. This movie invests too much in the belief that this particular schtick of their's can last the length of a movie.

What makes the movie function is the Pineapple Express style contextual humor of producing the film as if it were a serious action movie in contrast with the ridiculous premise. We may have seen this kind of a comedy before but we've never seen a kitten averting bullets and explosions in slow motion - a repeat device of this movie that actually doesn't get old. And yes - Keanu Reeves finds his way into this movie.   

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

**** out of ****

I'm not sure if The Lonely Island's Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is truly a great film. Time will tell if this movie's mockery of today's pop-music culture will hold up in the years to come. All I know is that this hyperactive movie didn't miss a beat and I laughed from beginning to end, which is rare in my current relationship with comedy at the movies.

As a fan of the comic trio, I can observe that this movie has been a longtime coming. Ever since the group's internet shorts led them to an unaired work for Fox followed by great recognition through Saturday Night Live, they've had a lot of trouble taking their talents, as a group, to the big screen.

Andy Samberg became an overnight celebrity, while Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer stayed mostly offscreen writing, directing, and producing Lonely Island albums continuing their legacy in spoofing pop-rap music with Samberg. Until now, the closest thing the Lonely Island had to a movie was the uneven, yet funny, Hot Rod, which functioned as a starring vehicle for Samberg and co-starred Taccone while Schaffer stayed mainly behind the camera as director.

How appropriate it is that they've made a mockumentary about a pop-rap boyband that broke apart when their most popular member, Conner4real (Samberg) went solo. The movie beautifully follows in the steps of 1984's This Is Spinal Tap by lampooning how modern musicians are captured in documentaries. 

Unlike the recent disappointing Key and Peele vehicle, Keanu, which was restricted by an action movie narrative structure, Popstar utilizes its segmented documentary nature to give the trio the freedom to show the variety of their comic antics from well choreographed music performances to situations that allow something similar to sketch comedy.

There is also the endless parade of celebrities who grace this fake documentary with their presence while playing themselves or hilarious side characters -such as a movie-stealer of a running gag involving Will Arnett, Chelsea Peretti, Mike Birbiglia and Eric Andre as the members of a TMZ-like newsroom reveling in snark.

This movie may be The Lonely Island's greatest accomplishment and it unjustly opened poorly at the box-office against lesser movies. It may demand repeat viewings for me to feel sure of the high recommendation I'm giving it, but I feel rather confident that in a couple years it will find a growing audience.