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Movie Review: The Marvels

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When actress Brie Larson was chosen some years ago to play “Captain Marvel”, the original movie released in 2019, she signed a contract, obligating her to play this Marvel character x number of times. With the release of the latest Marvel movie, “The Marvels”, it is now obvious that Larson did not have the legal right to refuse to play this role if the script was bad. In this case, not only is the screenplay for The Marvels bad, but it could be one of the worst ever developed in the history of the movie industry. There is no story, no continuity, no explanation of what is going on, no logic. This film is nothing more than a haphazard collection of garbage action scenes, and an ongoing series of events and dialogue that makes zero sense.

The new movie The Marvels is so unbelievably bad, that there is danger that this film has caused serious damage to the Marvel franchise. It is impossible to understand, considering the millions of dollars involved with both the Captain Marvel and Marvel franchises, that a screenplay this horrendous, could ever be greenlighted to be made into an actual movie.

This film starts with three women, two of them Marvel super heroes and an ordinary person Kamala Khan, played by Iman Vellani and Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers played by Brie Larson and Monica Rambeau played by Teyonah Parris transporting from space, to a spaceship to an ordinary house, over and over again – totalling around 20 times – with no reason or explanation. There is some sort of a problem with two wrist bracelets that are causing a wormhole, in space. Around the time the 15th transport occurred, I was actually hoping I would be transported to a different movie, knowing that I was once again going to be tortured for another 2 hours..

There are other scenes that involve visiting other planets, one planet where the inhabitance communicate only through singing. There is an evil female antagonist Dar-Benn, played by Zawe Ashton, whose existence and why she is fighting are never defined or explained, degrading into another reason for ridiculous hand to hand combat and explosions.

While sitting through this horrendous mess, I was amazed that so many people, meetings, discussions, and millions of dollars could result in a movie so bad. This is another example where the wrong people in charge believe that costs can be cut and time can be saved, by forgoing a good story in favor of action scenes and relying on the Marvel name to bring people to the theater. This time around, this film will bomb at the box office, hopefully changing this throw anything at a wall laziness and something this bad will never be produced again.

I was amazed at the only 61% low ratings on Rotten Tomatoes for this disaster, with my rating of 10% and a run for your life never see this film in your life final opinion.

Movie Review: Priscilla

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The new movie “Priscilla” is directed by Sofia Coppola, based on the book by Priscilla Presley Elvis and Me about the relationship that started in the late 50’s between a young 14-year-old girl, Priscilla Beaulieu and 24-year-old Elvis Presley when he was stationed in Germany when he volunteered for the United States Army. Numerous questions come to mind while watching this film, starting with why Priscilla’s parents let their 14-year-old daughter become involved with Elvis Presley when she was way underage and he was an adult 24-year-old man, and world famous.

This entire movie is the story of the relationship between Elvis and Presley starting with their first date in Germany to Priscilla moving in with Elvis for years before they finally married. In the beginning, Elvis was extremely kind and respectful to his very young girlfriend, but over time, Elvis became so rude and cruel to Priscilla to the point where I wondered why she ever married him in the first place. Elvis also shared his prescription drugs with Priscilla, that included uppers to stay awake and downers to fall asleep, even when she was very young.

Elvis also had several well-publicized affairs with other famous actors while making his movies including Ann Margeret and Nancy Sinatra. Rather than apologize or try to hide his many affairs, Elvis became angry and Priscilla when she mentioned them and never apoligized for his cheating.

There are many scenes when Priscilla is required to just stay home for months, waiting for Elvis to return from a movie he is making or another tour. In so many scenes, seeing this very young woman around a chain-smoking Elvis and his entourage made up of 40-60-year-old men, was hard to watch because it was obvious she never fit in and had no business being in this life with a man who was both a drug addict and a serial cheater. Elvis even bought Priscilla several guns that matched her different outfits.

Towards the end of this story is the birth of Lisa Marie Presley and shortly thereafter Priscilla’s final realization that being married to Elvis Presley was not only impossible for her but for any woman. A marriage and relationship is difficult enough, but a life and career as insane as Elvis Presley during the peak of his fame was never going to work, especially with a woman who was so young.

The acting in this film is outstanding, with 25-year-old newcomer Cailee Spaeny, stealing this movie and receiving a major Oscar buzz for best actress. She has a perfect face for movies, and has without a doubt arrived as a bankable actress for future roles. Jacob Elordi, who plays Elvis Presley is also very good, although while he was excellent at capturing the way Elvis used to talk, his mumbling at times was very hard to understand.

I agree with the high ratings on Rotten Tomatoes for Priscilla and do recommend this movie.

Movie Review: What Happens Later

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There are several good aspects to Meg Ryan’s new movie “What Happens Later”. During the pandemic Ryan collaborated with two other screenwriters and wrote a screenplay about a man and a woman, meeting in a regional airport after they broke up over 25 years earlier. It took courage for Ryan to create a screenplay where there are only two actors, Willa, played by Meg Ryan, and Bill, played by David Duchovny. This entire movie is a conversation inside an airport that is shutting down due to a major snowstorm where the two characters finally figure out what really went wrong with their relationship so long ago. The only other time in recent memory that any movie has been about only two characters and a 2-hour conversation between them is “Before Sunrise”, 1995 and “Before Sunset”, 2004, starring Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke.

Around the end of the 75% mark, there is a major revelation about a misunderstanding between Bill and Willa is finally revealed. Without this one misunderstanding 25 years earlier Bill and Willa might never have broken up. The message of this best part of this film “in a relationship, communication is everything”.

Most of the dialogue in this very unusual film is good, but some other parts do not work, including the airport intercom worker who at times has an ongoing conversation with Bill and Willa. This idea of having a conversation with the airport intercom did not work and reduced the realism of the story.

The acting with Duchovny and Ryan is very good throughout this film is very good and after a long layoff and a Hollywood career high and low like Ryan has lived through, it is good to see her back in a movie again. I hope, despite the relatively low ratings for this film, that Ryan can make a movie comeback.

Unfortunately, the Rotten Tomatoes rating for this movie is a low 51%, with my rating 70% and a marginal recommendation, mainly for the courage to make this film and the dialogue.