Alphabetical Menu
Chronological Menu

Reviews for April 5th, 2023

Air

Directed by Ben Affleck




      In 1984, Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) convinces his superiors, Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman) and Howard White (Chris Tucker), to spend all $250,000 of their sports budget on NBA player Michael Jordan (Damian Delano Young) for a new line of shoes called Air Jordans.

      Like the recent Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game, Air The screenplay by Alex Convery avoids turing the plot into a dry, by-the-numbers procedural that merely goes through the motions. It actually stops to breathe some life into the characters by giving them a personality and allowing them to be witty every now and then. Sure, the dialogue feels on-the-nose at times without much subtlety or any major surprises, but those are forgivable flaws. Sometimes playing it safely and resorting to conventions as well as formulas can work as long as it uses those conventions and formulas well. Every film is manipulative and formulaic to a certain degree. Air tries hard to please the audience, and it succeeds more often than not. It also has just the right amount of comic relief. Moreover, Sonny makes for a very crowd-pleasing underdog: he's willing to put his career on the line by taking a huge risk on Michael Jordan. He trusts his gut and won't let anyone get in the way, not even Nike CEO Phil Knight (Ben Affleck), who doubts that Sonny 's risk will pay off. Convery does a great job of incorporating just the right amount of exposition that remains insightful and never boring. Even small details like the NBA's requirement of how much white must be on the shoes of NBA players turns out to be a significant detail. The film truly picks up steam when Sonny arrives at the home of Michael Jordan's mother, Deloris (Viola Davis) and father, James (Julius Tennon), to convince them to sign the deal with Nike instead of with Reebok. Jordan's parents turn out to play a major role in their son's career--even more than Jordan's agent, David Falk (Chris Messina). Much of the film's poignancy comes from the interactions between Jordan's mother and Sonny.

      Viola Davis knocks it out of the ballpark again with another moving performance. She's Air's MVP when it comes to its emotional resonance because she helps to ground the film in warmth and tenderness. The entire film, though, is well-cast, so this is a terrific ensemble because everyone gets their moment to shine and no one feels miscast or distracting. The lively soundtrack with some great choices of songs help to invigorate the film and to keep it entertaining. A lot of money was probably spent just on getting the music rights for the songs, but it was ultimately worth it. Everything from the cinematography to the editing, lighting and costume designs are top notch, so this is a very well-produced movie that feels cinematic with just the right balance of style and substance. At a running time of 1 hour and 52 minutes, Air is a triumph! It's an enormously entertaining, witty and genuinely heartfelt crowd-pleaser.
  

Number of times I checked my watch: 1
Released by Amazon Studios.
Opens nationwide.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic




      Mario (voice of Chris Pratt) and his brother, Luigi (voice of Charlie Day), just started their own plumbing business in Brooklyn before ending up separated in the Mushroom Kingdom where Bowser (voice of Jack Black), the giant turtle, rules. Bowser expects to marry his Princess Peach (voice of Anya Taylor-Joy) even though she doesn't want to marry him. She helps Mario to discover his powers and joins him on his quest to reunite with Luigi.

      The Super Mario Bros. Movie is. Screenwriter Matthew Fogel weaves a plot that's easy-to-follow and family-friendly without taking any major risks. Fortunately, the film doesn't take itself too seriously and establishes its light tone within the first 10 minutes. There's nothing too scary or disturbing or any low brow humor. Not surprisingly, though, you'll find some slapstick humor, i.e. when Mario and Luigi fix a leak in a client's bathroom and end up battling a dog that destroys the bathroom. The plot doesn't spend too much time in Brooklyn; before you know it, Mario and Luigi find a portal into the Mushroom Kingdom. To be fair, there's not enough "world building", so the Mushroom Kingdom isn't really as amazing and imaginative as it could've been. The villain, Bowser, has a few surprisingly campy scenes where he's playing the piano and singing---the joke overstays its welcome, though, and makes him seem less menacing and more goofy instead. Everything else just seems like it's just going through the motions until Mario's inevitable reunion with Luigi. Everything that you predict will happen in the third act ends up happening, so surprising the audience isn't one of the film's strengths, but it does have a few exhilarating and thrilling action scenes.

      The CGI animation is, indeed, one of The Super Mario Bros. Movie's major strengths. Some of the visuals, i.e the water and pipes, look photo-realistic, so you'll forget that you're watching an animated film at times. Mushroom Kingdom looks very bright and colorful which provides some eye candy. There's also some well-chosen lively music except for the song "Holding Out for a Hero" which is also used in Shrek 2 and, more recently, in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Did the music supervisor not realize that or is it supposed to be an homage to the superior Shrek 2? Oddly, the theme music from the video game is barely used except during the opening credits and end credits just like the iconic Ghostbusters theme music wasn't used in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. That said, the pace moves very briskly. It's also just under 90 minutes not including the end credits. The filmmakers clearly made this film for an audience with a very short attention span: kids. Adults, though, will find it a harmless, amusing and pleasantly diverting adventure that's more silly than laugh-out-loud funny. Stay tuned through the end credits for a stinger.
  

Number of times I checked my watch: 1
Released by Universal Pictures.
Opens nationwide.