The Lego Batman Movie

Spoiler-free.

After the explosive success of the bright, hilarious and unexpectedly deep The Lego Movie, it's no surprise that the series was continued. This spin-off flick was given to Will Arnett for his brilliantly rendered serious goof of a Batman. No other character deserves the solo spotlight more, and it couldn't have been handled any better -- leaving me wondering whether it might have actually surpassed its mother film in hilarity and excellence.

Because... he's Lego Batman.

Right off the bat (Get it? It's a bat pun!) there's around twenty minutes of non-stop gut-busting comedy. Really smart stuff too. Jokes flew over the heads of the crumb-crunching, popcorn-barfing target audience at the same impressive speeds at which the plot moved along to keep them interested. I think I laughed more than they did. Will Arnett was already the comedy highlight of the last Lego Movie; here, the entire script was catered to that wonky, surprisingly highbrow style of comedy that works so well for the humorously serious, satirized character of Lego Batman and leaves me in stitches embarrassingly often... some might say.

The humor does tone down eventually, just enough so that the plot can be developed with the proper amount of importance. There's not much to the plot -- the threat of the movie being directly connected with Batman's character development, with just a few unusual elements, so everything fits together neatly and simply. Just as it should be. It leaves more time for the delightful wise-cracks and overly-dramatic parody, and you gotta pack it in with the kiddie run time.

The wit is strong with this one.

The theme is similarly connected and similarly simple. Granted, it didn't move me nearly as much as the theme of The Lego Movie, but it did have some nice things to say about unity and love that mean a lot it the world today -- but was presented more tactfully than most movies with a purposeful message these days, without placing blame or pointing fingers or encouraging the creation of bad guys at all. With help from a Michael Jackson song, it says to take a look at yourself first when there's a problem, and suggests that the people you're fighting against may actually be important in the big picture and not as evil as you might think.

The movie made me very happy with the amount of movie references it made, including many references to other Batman films, and also films outside of the universe. The supporting cast, made up of Michael Cera as Robin, Ralph Fiennes as Alfred, and Rosario Dawson as Batgirl in the core group, to Zach Galifianakis and Jenny Slate, and spreading out into cameo after cameo including many returning cameos from The Lego Movie, Jemaine Clement as the Eye of Sauron and Siri as... a... computer... -- they were all great. I'm bad at the game of "Guess the Actor without Seeing Their Face" but I enjoyed playing nonetheless.

You might think the Joker is played as the main villain by now... which is perfect for this.

In direct comparison to The Lego Movie there are some wins and some losses. It's at least just as funny. I would argue funnier. The plot isn't as creative or original, but it's a Batman movie, and in spite of being Lego is somehow is relevant when held up against even the best live action portrayals of the character, which cannot be a small feat. The theme wasn't as personally effective and moving as the last Lego film, but I enjoyed it plenty, and (for whatever it's worth) approved of it equally.

One random comment: the medium of this film allows for something to be done with Batman that no other film has done -- make the Wayne mansion huge. It was really, truly, mindbogglingly, depressingly, no-way-even-James-Cameron-could-get-the-budget-for-live-action-scale-like-this massive. Almost as cool as that was how it was used not only for comedy, but for effortless dramatic effect too. For some reason all that impressed me.

But, mostly, it's just a whole bunch of goofy fun.

It was almost exactly what I expected, so color me a satisfied consumer. The biggest worry I had concerning this spin-off was that it might just ride the coattails of the original flick, but that apparently wasn't even a potential issue that was worked around. Hardly even worth being called a spin-off at all -- it is after all, Batman. Comedy or drama, fighting or dancing, saving the day or beat-boxing, Batman -- and especially Lego Batman -- flies on the merit of his own wings.

GET IT?

Upcoming Movie Roundup - July

Last month was theater-free for me. Warcraft tempted me a few times, as did May's X-Men: Apocalypse, and I even made an agreement with my brothers that if Independence Day: Resurgence got good enough reviews we'd go see all three -- but it didn't, and we didn't see the other two either. However, I did finally see one March movie that I would have gone to the theater for if it had actually played in my theater -- Midnight Special! I took a small risk and bought it, pretty confident that I'd like it and it paid off spectacularly! Not only did I love the film more than enough to want to watch it multiple times, it was also worth it for some neat and informing special features. A review will be incoming soon, but I'll go ahead and say that I strongly recommend it.

How was your month of June? And how is your July looking? Happy Summer!


The Legend of Tarzan
Jul 1st; PG-13
I'm pretty much only mentioning this one because I thought it looked interesting before any reviews came out.  Now, of course, it seems obvious that it would be no good -- now that I've actually sat down and watched the trailer. I didn't expect it'd be great, but I probably should have seen a low RT score like this coming. The adventure appeal of it distracted me a little. And someday, if ever I can get it for free and am feeling resilient to disappointment, I probably won't be able to help myself from watching it for that same reason.




The BFG
Jul 1st; PG
The latest from Steven Spielberg is a kiddie movie based on a book. Giants and magic and sweeping music is involved. I like Spielberg (who doesn't?) and the cast has Mark Rylance and Jemaine Clement who are great (but they're both playing animated giants so you can't actually see them, though the BFG does look quite a lot like Rylance (I actually recognized his face before I did his voice)) and it looks like a good kid's adventure movie, but maybe not quite to the point where it'd be a great movie for adults too. Especially for people like me who don't have a sentimental attachment. Still, the director and cast practically guarantees that I'll wind up seeing it someday. And I wouldn't be surprised if I enjoyed it.




Ghostbusters
Jul 15th; PG-13
Da-da da-da. Dada da-da da-da. Okay, no. I debated even mentioning this one, but decided to so that I could voice my opinion of how much I wish this movie didn't even exist. Based on the epic number of dislikes on the trailer, most people share my opinion, but I wanted to make my view clear anyway. Set out to attempt to destroy the classic by association, and so steeped in extreme feminism that all criticism of it has been (and probably will continue to be) labeled sexist, this is a film that I am happy to announce I will completely avoid for all eternity. The trailer is painfully unfunny, and the idea is completely pointless. Who you gonna call? The real, ORIGINAL Ghostbusters.




Cafe Society
Jul 15th; PG-13
Woody Allen's latest venture is set in the 30's, and focuses on the glamorous life of society people in Hollywood and New York through the eyes of Jesse Eisenberg. Also starring Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively, Steve Carell, and Corey Stoll. This one seems slightly similar to Midnight in Paris which is my favorite of Allen's films. It look like it has lots of vintage style and classic Allen-esque quirky conversations. Early reviews aren't as promising as my previously mentioned favorite's, but I think it'll turn out to be worth a look.




Equals
Jul 15th; PG-13
Another Kristen Stewart movie. Sometimes I surprise myself by watching her movies, but then I remember that I've never actually disliked her in anything -- and she's slowly wearing off the stain of Twilight... Anyway in this one Nicholas Hoult co-stars and it's a sci-fi, so it certainly has my attention. It does look very moody though, and that may very well be a downfall. But I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have to find out for myself.




Star Trek Beyond
Jul 22nd; Not rated yet
This is hands-down the most exciting release of the month, yet it has a a very sad side to it, because of the untimely and tragic death of Anton Yelchin who plays the fan-favorite Chekov. He will be sorely missed in the years to come. Beyond doesn't have the guaranteed success that Into Darkness seemed to either because of the new director coming on board. However, I think, and have thought from the first that this installment looks every bit as good as the last one. I like the episodic, smaller-scale nature it seems to be bringing, and am very excited to see how Simon Pegg's script turned out. A definite must-see!




Jason Bourne
Jul 29th; PG-13
Bourne is back and bigger than ever. Actually, I'm not sure "bigger than ever" is a good thing; at some point things are going to go over the top, and the grounded feel of the previous Matt Damon Bourne's was a huge part of the appeal. However, I doubt it'll matter much -- this film looks solid. With Damon and Greengrass back, how could it not? Julia Stiles is back too, and it's also got Tommy Lee Jones, and Alicia Vikander, which means promises of good things. This may very well be a must-see as well!

Don Verdean

Some Spoilers.

From Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess comes another strange, off-kilter and satirical movie about a strange guy with a strange, memorable name. Don Verdean (Sam Rockwell) is a Biblical archeologist, who dug up his fame in the form of ancient pair of shears that may or may not have been the ones used to cut Sampson's hair. Ten years later he's still trying to ride that wave with a book tour, a motor home, a scheduling assistant (Amy Ryan) and a Jewish friend in the Holy Land (Jemaine Clement). But the pastor of a church (Danny McBride) and his wife (Leslie Bibb) who are fighting for "flock members" with a reformed Satanist across the street (Will Forte) decide to fund Don for more expeditions and digs -- as long as he brings back his finds to display at their church!

My man, Sam Rockwell.

So this is a movie that satires Christians. As you can imagine, it's a "thin ice" kind of thing. Even I, when the film was released in theaters wondered if it would be funny and all in good fun, or just annoying and purposefully degrading. Turns out it's neither. I can only speak for myself of course, but I found it funny, but also a little deeper than just "good fun." The Hess's know their Christian stereotypes, and makes caricatures out of them just enough to pull you out or reality and into the film's parallel world, and then it doesn't pull any punches. It pokes fun mostly at your typical "Bible Belt" types, and the funny and sometimes quite strange things Christians sometimes do or say.

And while the film has an overall light and casual tone, it also points out some other, more serious things. Like while the (probably not) reformed Satanist is an obvious villain, the other pastor, Tony Lazarus and his wife Joylinda are obviously more about the size of their congregation and the fame and the money than actually teaching and sharing their faith and encouraging others. They pressure Don into things, convincing him that if he illegally brings back Biblical relics, it will prove the Bible's truth to people, and they will be saved. His friend Boaz pushes and blackmails him even further -- all for personal gain. Don's crimes keep getting worse and worse, but it's always clear that his heart is in the right place and his faith is genuine. And so is his assistant Carol's -- she is the steady moral compass in the film.

I really enjoyed her character, and the drama between these two.

So people take quite a beating from the movie's ragging, but the Christian faith itself is treated quite respectfully, and by the end of the movie a Christian message has been deftly surprised on us all. Not the Gospel message, but one that is no less true and fits the film like a glove. Sam Rockwell doesn't get the opportunity to be his usual crazy and funny self here, but his more subtle and downtrodden character is still great. I loved Don's journey, trying to figure out how he can lead people to Christ, but failing so miserably until finally he finds himself at the end of the film in a place where he can actually do some good.

The end was pretty predicable actually, but the way they got there was a series of some of the craziest, most unexpected things to happen in a movie. Well, it's a Hess film, so it was pretty fairly par for the course. Besides a huge Indiana Jones reference, a lot of the humor will go over the heads of people who aren't knowledgeable in the culture that these characters hail from; and the really good jokes are few and far between. I spent more time staring at the screen in an amused and slightly confused silence than I did actually laughing out loud, but when the jokes did hit, they were whoppers, and the amount of laughter they caused made up for the duller, simply strange bits in between. Jemaine Clement was the cause of most of the moments worthy or roaring laughter. His put-on accent and persona made everything funnier with automatic effortlessness.

Nothing goes together like oddball characters and Hess films.

Don Verdean isn't by any means a perfect movie. It got off to such a slow start that after a little while I began to regret starting it, but it gradually and steadily became more and more worth it right up until the very end, and like that, managed to surprise and impress me. Obviously it's not the kind of film everyone would like, but at the same time it's nice that the filmmakers didn't tone anything down -- in any direction -- for the sake of not offending anyone, or including the uninitiated. It's niche film that only some people can appreciate, but it's certainly a film you won't be able to find anywhere else. It sets itself apart with wackiness and that distinct Hess tone, tapping into a plethora of unused jokes and making good use of them alongside a solid story with a sincere heart.