Forgettable Films of 2018

Alicia Vikander in Tomb Raider. Image courtesy Warner Bros.

For the last few years I've done a best of list to cap off a given year, along with a special spot dedicated to the worst movie. As 2018 ends, I wanted to try something a little different and instead give some final attention to movies that won't garner a lot of attention in 2019 and beyond. These are movies that don't stand out this year, films you'll skip over while browsing through Netflix, HBO GO, or Amazon Prime. Some are big budget flops that won't deliver a sequel, some are good movies that just can't find an audience, and others are missed opportunities.

Before we pour one out for the forgotten flicks of 2018, here's a short list of some of the best and worst 2018 had to offer.

Highlights: Thoroughbreds, Black Panther, Tully, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, First Man

Lowlights: Death Wish, Fifty Shades Freed, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Uncle Drew

Kyrie Irving in Uncle Drew. Image courtesy Lionsgate.

What is it? A continuation of Kyrie Irving's Pepsi Max commercials starring the eponymous old baller.

Is it good? Nope.

Is any of it memorable? Watching Irving dribble is always a treat. Chris Webber was clearly having a good time, and Tiffany Haddish is always fun. There's not much more to say about this movie otherwise; Irving isn't much of an actor, and the plot is uninspired.

The Sisters Brothers

Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly in The Sisters Brothers. Image courtesy Annapurna Pictures.

What is it? A neo-Western about greed, friendship, and dedication to family.

Is it good? Very much so.

Is any of it memorable? The opening scene is efficient, brutal, and sets the tone for the rest of the movie. John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix show great camaraderie as the titular siblings, and the film continually defies genre expectations. It's a really, really good Western, which sort of dooms it to be ignored.

Life of the Party

Melissa McCarthy in Life of the Party. Image courtesy Warner Bros.

What is it? A modern take on Back to School starring Melissa McCarthy.

Is it good? Not at all.

Is any of it memorable? Maya Rudolph earns a few laughs for being herself. Gillian Jacobs and Heidi Gardner play characters who belong to a way more interesting movie than this. McCarthy's talents are wasted in this movie, which is particularly strange given she and her husband, Ben Falcone, wrote it.

Skyscraper

Dwayne Johnson in Skyscraper. Image courtesy Universal Pictures.

What is it? Dwayne Johnson's take on Die Hard.

Is it good? Unfortunately no.

Is any of it memorable? Just Johnson's performance. This is all the more disappointing considering even his lesser movies offer some redeeming value.

I Feel Pretty

Amy Schumer in I Feel Pretty. Image courtesy STX Films.

What is it? A send up of body swap movies starring Amy Schumer.

Is it good? It's pretty bad.

Is any of it memorable? Aidy Bryant and Busy Philips get a lot from underwritten roles. The premise is clever, with potential for both high comedy and pointed social criticism. It doesn't deliver though due to a mix of poor directing, an unclear premise, and precious few jokes for Schumer.

Tomb Raider

Alicia Vikander in Tomb Raider. Image courtesy Warner Bros.

What is it? A reboot of the Tomb Raider series, with Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft.

Is it good? It's fine.

Is any of it memorable? A couple of the fight sequences are solid. Vikander shows promise as an action heroine. The idea behind watching Croft grow into her eventual role as an iconic adventurer is interesting. With a better script (one that adhered more closely to the video game) and stronger direction this could have been a pretty spectacular action flick.

Aquaman excels as spectacle, falls short on story

Jason Momoa in Aquaman. Image courtesy Warner Bros.

Aquaman has an appreciation for an epic scope, to be something big and robust and oozing bravado. It fashions itself as somewhat operatic in its storytelling, with huge stakes and mythological beings fighting amongst one another for the fate of the planet. While the movie does meet the sizable benchmark for spectacle – the visuals are often bold and grand – it lacks the intellect needed to be as epic as it wants to be. For all of the film's bluster and ray visors, it can't tell the story it wants to tell in the way it wants to tell it.

Following the path laid by fellow D.C. characters Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman, Aquaman tells the origin story of the eponymous hero Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa). Born the son of an Atlantian queen (Nicole Kidman) and a simple Maine lighthouse keeper (Temuera Morrison, sporting nary a Maine accent), Arthur is seemingly fated to serve as the bridge between humans and Atlantis. Despite literally saving the world in Justice League, all Arthur wants is to drink and engage in random acts of heroism as an excuse to punch people. Princess Mera (Amber Heard) has other plans, dragging him into an internal conflict against Arthur's half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson), who plans to battle against the humans. As Arthur fights against Orm's plans, he must contend with a new archenemy Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), and his self doubt. Willem Dafoe is around to give Arthur some tutelage, and Dolph Lundgren gets to be mighty as Mera's father.

The battle between Arthur and Orm is designed to be Shakespearean, an epic story about brothers fighting to rule a magnificent kingdom, and in this case all of the sea. Yet Aquaman can't tell its story right because it lacks the intellect to do so. There's no intrigue with Orm and his quest, nothing driving the ambition and drive. He's often cruel for the sake of cruelty, without any true motivation for destroying the world above. He's a blunt instrument, never as clever as he believes himself to be, nor as smart as the movie requires him to be either. Palace intrigue needs cunning and savvy from the characters and the story; Aquaman doesn't want to put the effort into being intelligent.

 

The movie is more akin to its titular character, a big dumb dude who excels at punching. And Arthur Curry punches a lot of people, fish beings, submarines, water, and other punchable things in a lot of time on screen. Even when he dreams of abdicating his duties and following a simpler life, all Arthur wants to do is keep punching, because punching often results in success. Unsurprisingly, the movie is at its best when Aquaman gets to beat on some bad guys or a boat or a dude with a giant laser on his head, in part because director James Wan is comfortable throwing two people (or fish creatures) at each other and letting fists decide the winner. Although the special effects are hit or miss, the action sequences are pretty good, with the right amount of bravado and some surprisingly stunning shots. In terms of action sequences, Aquaman is the best D.C. has done since Zack Snyder took over.

 

Aquaman has a lot of those sequences over the course of nearly two and a half hours, enough to result in audience fatigue because the story can't match up with the action. Between the shots of Aquaman and Mera taking on some bad guys are uninspired plotting and oodles of exposition, resulting in an unbalanced movie. Most astounding is how the movie has almost two and a half hours to work with and such little organic character development. The relationship between Mera and Arthur is not fleshed out to make their eventual coupling believable – an issue exacerbated by the lack of connection between Heard and Momoa. Orm's motivations remain uninspiring, and his redemption at the end is never sold either; he's more of a blank slate than an engaging villain. Arthur is, well, a dude who likes to punch people, which is fun. But his love of punching doesn't make for a great hero's tale, and the movie doesn't develop him enough to make his inevitable quest for heroism work. Aquaman focused so much on being big it missed some vital small things, concepts like plot and characters that make epics memorable.

Review: Two and a half out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG-13

Run time: 143 minutes

Genre: Action

tl;dr

What Worked: Action sequences, Spectacle

What Fell Short: Acting, Plot, Character Development

What To Instead: Wonder Woman

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse makes Spider-Man spectacular again

Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Image courtesy Sony Pictures Animation.

There is always just a hint, if not more, of hyperbole when using descriptors like “best” or “worst”. So when I write that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the best Spider-Man movie, it comes with some exaggeration to go along with some recency bias. In this case though, there is a more than a skosh of sincerity to the exclamation, as Into the Spider-Verse is very often brilliant in all definitions of that word. It's gloriously animated with a great cast and overflowing with heart and humor. Whether it's the best of the Spider-Man films is a fair statement to debate – Spider-Man 2 and Homecoming are both pretty great – but it's far more difficult to argue against this film's overarching excellence.

Into the Spider-Verse focuses on middle school prodigy Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore), who opens the film transitioning awkwardly into life in private school. Everything changes though once he gets bit by a radioactive spider while hanging with his Uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali), which results in some spider-related physical changes. Events get even stranger with the arrival of another Spider-Man, a 30-something Peter Parker (Jake Johnson), as well as Gwen Stacy, also known as Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld). They're pulled into Miles' universe due to experiments being done at the behest of mob boss Wilson Fisk (Liev Schreiber) and Doc Ock (Kathryn Hahn), who are exploring multiple universes to find other versions of Fisk's family. They are soon joined by more spider beings – Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) and Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage) – who need to return to their respective universes before they glitch out of reality. Meanwhile, Miles struggles to control his powers and meet the high expectations set by his father (Brian Tyree Henry).

So, yes, this is a superhero origin story. Even though this Spider-Man is relatively new – not debuting in comics until 2011 – the basics of the origin don't very too much from Peter Parker's. Yet in this case the familiarity with the structure is actually a strength, because it hammers down Into the Spider-Verse's theme of the universality of the human experience. Even removing the cross-dimensional spider bite that gives him his powers, Miles is going through a difficult time in his life, transitioning from the neighborhood he's grown up in to a wicked competitive environment. The new powers exacerbate the issue at first, but ultimately result in Miles finding himself. In his journey to discover who he is, Miles is the first spider entity to not go through it alone. The universe, or in this case the multiverse, is filled with the unexpected, and it's comforting to know there's someone out there who can empathize honestly.

Miles has his spider family to support his growth as a hero, but they exist in Into the Spider-Verse to check some of his worst impulses as well. The film contrasts how Miles, Peter, Gwen and the rest of the spider club process unexpected familial loss to Wilson Fisk. Fisk is a mountain of rage, fueled by an obsession to bring his family back to him no matter the cost to his wallet or to the very structure of reality. To paraphrase a poem, Wilson Fisk is filled with passionate intensity, driven not by the love of his family but by anger, revenge, and denial. For the arachnids, the death of a loved one is an occasion for mourning and introspection; they understand why life matters and devote their powers to making it better. Fisk wants to pretend his actions didn't result in his family's demise without learning from his mistakes. The film does a wonderful job of showing the contrast, allowing viewers to understand the differences without directly pointing out why one side is good and one side is bad.

 

Into the Spider-Verse finds a lot of interesting, fresh material from a well-trod story because it took the origin story as an opportunity to reinvent characters. It's a sign of terrific writing on the part of Phil Lord, as it shows he knows both who the characters are and what the characters can be. Lord – known for his work with Christopher Miller – wrings a lot out of Miles' struggles as a teen and as a new student, as well as the loneliness of Gwen and the misery of Peter's life. It's easy to relate to Miles, Peter, Gwen, and to a degree Wilson Fisk because their struggles are represented as human. The animation, action, sharp dialog, and voice acting make Into the Spider-Verse great, but it's that little touch of humanity in a superhero world that makes this movie spectacular.

Review: Four and a half out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG

Run time: 117 minutes

Genre: Animated

tl;dr

What Worked: Animation, Voice actors, origin story

What Fell Short: A tad long

What To Watch As Well: Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man (1990s animated series)

Anna and the Apocalypse is bloody holiday fun

Ella Hunt in Anna and the Apocalypse. Image courtesy Orion Pictures.

On a visceral level, the chaos-laden Anna and the Apocalypse delivers exactly as it promises. It takes place in the days leading up to Christmas, so there is ample holiday decorations and holiday weaponry. The musical numbers are plentiful with a few rather catchy tunes to replay on Spotify. There are a ton of zombies to demolish with creative flair, particularly a rather eventful bowling alley scene that showcases the filmmakers' ingenuity in blood spattering. And it has a sense of humor that ranges from silly teen jokes to some wicked gallows humor. The movie is fun and infectious, a nice little holiday flick that veers off the beaten path. And it could have been a whole lot more than that.

Ella Hunt stars as the eponymous Anna, a high school girl who dreams of exploring the world before college, much to the consternation of her father (Mark Benton). Alongside her best friend/wannabe romantic interest John (Malcolm Cumming), Anna navigates the rigors of high school, intersecting with ambitious student reporter Steph, (Sarah Swire), aspiring chanteuse Lisa (Marli Siu), her boyfriend Chris (Christopher Leveaux), handsome jerk Nick (Ben Wiggins), and intense headmaster Savage (Paul Kaye). Their dreary high school life ends when an infestation of zombies invades their small town, forcing Anna and her friends to fend for survival against an army of the living dead.

The movie certainly has a spark to it, a joy for dismembering zombies and big, bold musical numbers. But Anna and the Apocalypse still feels like a missed opportunity. The combination of horror, comedy, musical, and holiday occasionally conflict to undermine one another, undermining the premise's selling point. Some of the filmmakers' push for comedy lightens the horror elements, resulting in a movie that is more gory than scary. The songs are a little too hit or miss, coming in to either lessen the horror or stall the movie's momentum and character progression. 

The latter is an overarching issue, as Anna and the Apocalypse doesn't give itself enough time to develop either it's world or it's universe. Blending the zombie film with the musical short changes the character development needed to make their fates matter. Musical numbers are often shortcuts to building characters, revealing motivations openly and effectively. Yet the songs don't cover enough of the space, leaving folks like Nick and Lisa to fulfill their arcs through awkward exposition. The filmmakers using a lot of throwaway lines to compensate for missing potential visual indicators or elaboration from characters. Considering how important these little details are – most notably the existence of a military base never mentioned in act one – skipping over those details muddles the story. And it's especially confusing given how religiously Anna and the Apocalypsefollows Chekhov's Gun, with little things like confiscated car keys or a prop falling apart introduced in act one become very important in act three. It's a weird to introduce some elements and bring them back while trying to patch plot holes with exposition, making some of the plot points a little too obvious and blunt at time

Then again, considering Anna and the Apocalypse's horror and musical roots, subtlety is less important than it would be otherwise. And the filmmakers throw in a couple of surprising deaths to avoid having an apocalypse go easily for a collection of mostly untrained teenagers wandering around a land of doom. The deaths would have hit harder had the film invested more time in character development, but the deaths fit the film's melancholy soul.

Like many a great musical, many an excellent horror flick, and several pretty good holiday movies, happiness is hard to find in Anna and the Apocalypse. The characters' circumstances are consistently riddled with disappointment and hopes for a better tomorrow. Anna is very close to making it out, but the end of the world quashes her dreams of exploration. She does not end the movie in a better place than she started it. The reasons she may have stuck around town are gone, but in the cruelest twist of all she has nowhere else she can go. All that's left is to drive headfirst into the miasma, with neither direction nor clarity to guide her.

Review: Four out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

 

Rating: R

Run time: 97 minutes

Genre: Horror

tl;dr

What Worked: Premise, Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming

What Fell Short: Character development

What To Watch As Well: Shaun of the Dead, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Grinch is more boring than vile

Benedict Cumberbatch voices the Grinch in The Grinch. Image courtesy Universal Pictures.

I'm not quite sure what Illumination was going for with its adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, The Grinch. If there's a point for this film's existence, it never comes out over the course of 90 minutes packed with bland animation and an incredibly boring main character. The film has nothing interesting to say about it's star character that needed to be said. There's little art to be found in this interpretation of a seasonal classic, no real moments of innovation or profundity in sight. Like the rest of Illumination's catalog, the movie's main selling points are shininess and a brilliant ability to be completely inoffensive

 

Narrated occasionally by Pharrell, The Grinch throws Benedict Cumberbatch's voice into the mouth of the eponymous green creature who despises the Christmas season. The Grinch is particularly frustrated by the announcement from his neighbor Bricklebaum (Kenan Thompson) that this Christmas will be three times larger than any Christmas before, and vows to ruin Christmas with the help of his very faithful dog Max. Meanwhile, the young Cindy Lou Who (Cameron Seely) hatches a scheme to meet Santa to ask for a little help for her put upon mother, Donna (a very wasted Rashida Jones). Their paths eventually cross and lessons are learned about the meaning of Christmas.

What stands out about The Grinch is the lack of enthusiasm it has for the Grinch as a character. To put it simply, this Grinch is excessively boring, more irked by the world around him than properly evil. On the one hand, this version of the Grinch is far more tolerable than the aggressively obnoxious portrayal offered by Jim Carrey back in 2000, but there's not much to get a hold on beyond a few fun moments of mild chaziness. He's more akin to a mild-mannered Larry David than the imposing figure voiced by Boris Karloff. Cumberbatch's work drives a lot of this problem; he severely underplays his character's enthusiastic entrances into villainy. Like much of the cast, Cumberbatch comes across as unenthusiastic about his participation in this movie. The problem ultimately falls on the writing. The decision to have this Grinch be more put upon than vile just doesn't make a lot of sense on a narrative level. It reduces the sinister nature of his actions – forcing a dog to carry an enormous sleigh and stealing presents on Christmas is just wicked – and negates the grand change of heart at the end. The Grinch even gives him a few moments of outright decency ahead of his redemption that really undercuts the effect of his turn to kindness. 

 

The Grinch works best as a character whose motivations remain somewhat mysterious. There are conjectures and ideas for his vileness presented, but the fact there is disagreement as to what makes him such a monster makes the character far more interesting. Yet the feature-length adaptations have a real bad habit of attempting to explain the why behind the Grinch. The Grinch links this hatred back to a traumatic childhood event, even tossing in an orphanage for good measure. Aside from being tremendously lazy writing, adding a childhood wrinkle adds humanity to a monster before the monster can find his humanity. The ability for a loathsome creature like the Grinch to find love and joy despite his evil ways is inspiring.

The closest the film gets to finding a character of interest is the Grinch's counterpart, Cindy Lou Who. Her kindhearted nature is mixed well by some rambunctious and a hint of mischief, making her a decently fleshed out character. Cindy Lou comes ever so close to a fulfilling story, but the writers can't keep it together in the final act. Instead of fulfilling her wish, the writers ignore the necessity of her actions and never offer Donna any peace of mind. The Grinch doesn't really Cindy Lou for her efforts, but it does shortchange its most interesting story arc.

The troubles with Cindy Lou's story, and that of the Grinch, are connected by both poor writing and uninspired storytelling. The Grinch has nothing of note to say about its characters or about the meaning of Christmas itself. The best parts are cribbed from Dr. Seuss directly, because the original story is so well done it's very difficult to muck it up. But once the movie starts to stray away from the source material it doesn't know what to do with itself. Ingenuity requires some level of courage, and The Grinch's lack of the latter eliminates the former.

Review: Two out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG

Run time: 90 minutes

Genre: Animated

tl;dr

What Worked: Cindy Lou Who

What Fell Short: The Grinch, narrative arcs, animation, Benedict Cumberbatch

What To Watch Instead: How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Arthur Christmas