The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) Review:

In 2014, Phil Lord and Chris Miller's The Lego Movie (2014) was a surprise hit and turned out to be one of the more successful movies of that year. Prior to that, the Lego brand had delved into motion pictures before, but none in this fashion. The animation was unique because it was not completely animated in CGI and the cast of actors assigned to the characters had a much bigger presence. On top of that, the overall message behind the film hit most families close to home being that many have experience playing with the brand before. Shockingly, getting a sequel to the big screen seemed to be the biggest challenge for the sequel, instead of actually making the sequel itself. Usually studios want one within two year’s time, but five is unorthodox. And like most sequels the freshness was not as new but it is still a very good continuation.

"Coffee?.....It's Decaf....."

With story still being written by original directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord, the story was bound to be handled adequately. The directing though was handed over to Mike Mitchell, who's mostly known for Sky High (2005) and Shrek Forever After (2010). Literally five years after the end of The Lego Movie (2014), what was once Emmet's world is now a dystopian future. In real life, it was Finn's (Jadon Sand) lego universe being invaded by his younger sister Bianca (Brooklynn Prince) and her creations. The world around Emmet (Chris Pratt) has become tougher including his girlfriend Lucy (Elizabeth Banks), except Emmet has not. When the leader abducts Emmet's friends, he decides to go after them, only to cross paths with someone who inspires him to become tougher. His name is Rex Dangervest (also Pratt).

For majority of the film, things remain as they were from the original movie. All the supporting characters like Batman (Will Arnett), Benny (Charlie Day), Metalbeard (Nick Offerman) and Unikitty (Alison Brie) return and continue the charm that made them memorable to begin with. There's also additions like General Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz), Ice Cream Cone (Richard Ayoade) and Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi (Tiffany Haddish) who come from the universe Bianca creates with her Legos. Sadly, other characters from the original do not appear for long like President Business (Will Ferrell) and even Good/Bay Cop (Liam Neeson). And then there are random cameos like Bruce Willis playing himself, Jason Momoa playing Aquaman and Will Forte playing Abraham Lincoln.

The parts of the narrative that doesn't work are two things. First, is the fact that the feud between Finn and Bianca has been active for five years. That's a long time. The other issue being is the continuity between that time and how it connects to the plot. In some ways it makes sense, and in other ways not at all. However, aside from this the rest of the aspects to the film work really well. The animation still has that stilted look like it was almost filmed completely in stop-motion animation and yet it still has a natural visual appeal to it. This also goes for the live-action sequences where the audience sees how the real life decisions affect the lego universe it pertains to. Much of which have pretty cute ways of renaming the land that it references.

Rex Dangervest

For camerawork, Chris Ekstein provided his experience to this. While it wasn't abundant nor was it for long periods of time, the scenes shot work well with what is shown. For the musical score, Mark Mothersbaugh has provided his talent to this franchise once more. After creating the score to the original and to other films like The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017) and Hotel Transylvania (2012), the music is quite appropriate for this feature too. Thankfully a score got released for this feature but with even more content than the last film. This is always a great thing for any film score collector. And while there are some other songs sung throughout the movie, the most memorable is the "Catchy Song", which is bound to be one of the most positive ear worms to date. Nice job Mothersbaugh!

Aside from being slightly off the mark when it comes to how things work in this lego universe, all other components to the film work together like it wasn't an issue. Everything is solid for this sequel, from the actors, music, dialog, and animation.

Points Earned --> 8:10

Pirates (1986) Review:

Long before Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean franchise took center stage in mainstream films, Hollywood had tried to produce action films involving pirates before. Sadly, pretty much all of them were dead on arrival, including today's feature film. All managed to accrue massive budgets with little to no pay off when they were released theatrically. All of which also were much more light in tone and more about being a family friendly adventure. However, for the infamous director Roman Polanski, he wanted to make a film in the same vein (involving comedic elements), but also sought to use the usual tropes that are commonly associated with pirates. That's rare because not a lot of pirate films utilize these attributes, mostly because they just aren't very nice things to do.

"Jack Sparrow ain't nothing without me"

The story is about a pirate named Captain Red (Walter Matthau) and his first mate Frog or Jean-Baptiste (Cris Campion). While out at sea, they happen to cross paths with the Neptune vessel, owned by the Spaniards. Aboard is Don Alfonso de la Torré (Damien Thomas), Boomako (Olu Jacobs) and María-Dolores de la Jenya de la Calde (Charlotte Lewis). Upon being captured by the Spaniards, Boomako shows Capt. Red and Frog a special artifact on the ship located in the armory. With that Capt. Red makes it his mission to take over the ship and take the treasure for himself. All the while, Frog and Maria begin having feelings for each other. The script was written by Gérard Brach and Roman Polanski and for the most part the film entertains quite well. For just a random adventure of two main characters, a lot happens.

The are two weak areas to the script though. First is the relationship Maria and Frog have for each other. It's not the strongest of chemistry's, neither does it completely get fleshed out. It is definitely not the same magnitude as Elizabeth Swan and Will Turner. The other issue is the highly attractive artifact Capt. Red has his eyes fixed on. At one point, the captain of the Neptune states that it holds a curse, almost like the ark of the covenant from Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). But nothing comes of it,...so what was the point of even bothering to mention it? Aside from this though the rest of the film sticks to what it does best. While Walter Matthau is no action star nor are the action sequences themselves choreographed like they are today, the adventure is still there and so is the energy.

There's swashbuckling sword fights, blood, musket shoot outs and all kinds of sneaky things going on. This specifically is where the comedy works too. Being that Walter Matthau has comedic chops, his facial expressions and reactions to various situations will produce the needed levity to all kinds of situations. Even the other actors like Damien Thomas, Charlotte Lewis and Olu Jacobs have a couple scenes that features them. It's also quite amazing just how detailed everything is when it came to the practical effects. The costume design is very authentic and the way the actors play the royal Spaniards is downright uncanny. As compared to Matthau who plays it equally as memorable but to the exact opposite that the others play their roles.

Charlotte Lewis

The set pieces are astonishing to look at being that nothing was green screen at all. The Neptune ship itself is massive. This is depicted exceptionally by Witold Sobocinski, the films cinematographer. The sweeping shots of the ship and ocean surrounding it is as real as it comes. Not to mention the land scenes as well. Perhaps the most impressive supporting component though was composer Philippe Sarde's musical score. While his credits rarely delve into the domestic territory, this collection of tracks is definitely a film score enthusiast should have. There may not be a reoccurring main theme for this film, but the tunes created for each scene is charismatic and appropriate to the situation without losing its character. A great selection of pieces.

The script may not be fully complete with a couple subplots falling short and the fact that it's directed by Roman Polanski. However, the cast of actors, the fantastic cinematography, the action, the comedic scenes and music all make up for that with a pirate film that has gone widely forgotten.

Points Earned --> 7:10

Driven (2001) Review:

Fast cars and racing is usually an exciting activity. There's lots of energy surrounding the sport and octane only amps it up to intense levels. That's the kind of feeling a viewer should get when watching a film related to such an activity. At least, that's what one would think. It can be confusing when the opposite occurs because it just doesn't seem to fit at all. In that case someone should have said that to the people behind the production of this movie. Sadly, the early 2000s was not kind to Sylvester Stallone who stars in this feature. And this one is quite possibly the reason why nothing worked out right, because, this film is just boring. Kind of shocking when it's directed by Renny Harlin, who has worked with Stallone before.

"Do you think I look believable enough?"

The story revolves around Jimmy Bly (Kip Pardue), a rookie racer who's making his way up to the big leagues and may have the chance at winning the world competition. Managing him from behind is Carl Henry (Burt Reynolds) and his brother Demille (Robert Sean Leonard). Looking to win as well is Bly's competitor Beau Brandenburg (Til Schweiger). Both Brandenburg and Bly begin to lose focus of their goals when they get caught up between one girl, Sophia (Estella Warren). Noticing the slips, Henry calls in Joe Tanto (Sylvester Stallone) to get Bly back on track before he ruins his upcoming major break. The screenplay was also written by Stallone, and whatever he did, did not make much sense at all. The focus of the story is very much generic and bland.

Aside from this main thread, Tanto also has a subplot going on about him between an old flame Cathy (Gina Gershon) and a reporter he begins talking to named Lucretia (Stacy Edwards). Unfortunately, this doesn't really go anywhere because the old flame already has a new main squeeze; Memo (Cristián de la Fuente). The biggest issue with this film's story is the pacing. The movie isn't overly long in reality but majority of it feels like an eternity. Renny Harlin should know better, but the story just drags. Most of the main leads do not help in making it any more watchable. The only character to actually feel worth rooting for is Til Schweiger's character. Partly because he's the one has an interesting arc, while the others don't. Kip Pardue is as lifeless as they come and some of his character's decisions make no sense.

It's even worse when veteran actors like Burt Reynolds and Sylvester Stallone are not even a highlight to the picture. They really have no charisma to their characters at all, which is sad to see. The love triangle between the Stallone and Pardue characters are cliché and overdone. It's just baffling to think this is still a thing. Not even the racing scenes are that entertaining. While there is some tension on what'll happen to certain characters, much of it is flat and random. Again, this is disappointing when Renny Harlin and Sylvester Stallone both have worked together and have done action before. There are crash and burns, but it has no weight almost all the time.

Kip Pardue & Estella Warren

Then again, half the time those scenes weren't very clear because the editing team on this feature butchered it so haphazardly. There are scenes in consecutive order where they are different angles of the same shot. It is bizarre to watch. Thankfully the cinematography shot by Mauro Fiore looked professional. Fiore who would also be a cameraman for Get Carter (2000), Smokin' Aces (2006), Avatar (2009), The A-Team (2010) and Southpaw (2015), makes the scenes filmed look decent enough. This doesn't take away though from composer BT's stock score to the film. Even if BT has the skills to produce complex synthesized music, here it's not very prevalent. Oh well BT, maybe film scores aren't your thing.

Cinematography and literally one character stand out as the things to like with this film. The action isn't anything special, the cast of actors are not impressive with their performances and the story is a giant snooze fest. That's rough considering it involves high speed vehicles.

Points Earned --> 3:10