Power Rangers
I thought about Power Rangers for a while after finishing it. I really wanted to find the value in this movie. I’d heard from others that the action was fun, the cheesiness was endearing, and the actual human storylines of the characters were surprisingly interesting, despite the entire product not necessarily being of a high quality. Well, I agree with some of those feelings. The movie is definitely not of a high quality. And unfortunately, try as I may, I just couldn’t find much to like here.
First, let’s talk about the characters. Basically, they’re as cliched as you can get. There’s the jock who sometimes is a jerk and sometimes is nice. There’s the nerd. There’s the fallen popular girl who wants to go punk rock. There’s the rebellious girl whose family just, like, totally doesn’t understand her. There’s the mysterious school drop out with a heart of gold. There’s the all-knowing alien currently living in a wall in his space ship. Okay, that one isn’t really a cliche, but you get my point. The characters just aren’t interesting. In fact, thanks to most of the dialogue, they’re actually quite annoying. Billy, the black nerd who is also the Blue Ranger, comes closest to being likable, but he feels the least like a real person. There are little side stories, like Zack’s mother being sick and him having to take care of her, but these mostly amount to narratively manipulative scenes designed to make us feel sorry for the characters. It didn’t work for me.
The sort of exception to all of this is Elizabeth Banks’ Rita Repulsa. I’ll say her performance is insanely over the top, and only works maybe 30% of the time. But that 30% is actually fun, and there are some scenes early on that were pretty damn terrifying. But once she goes full-on in her character about halfway through the movie, it becomes incredibly schlocky.
The action and scale didn’t really do anything for me, either. There are plenty of training montages that have no impact, and the big final fight scene relies so heavily on CG that all stakes are lost. And there just isn’t enough fighting in general. I think we could have used a scene earlier on with the Power Rangers fighting on the ground, but this wouldn’t have worked with the narrative because the movie stupidly doesn’t allow the rangers to morph until the third act. Because why would we want to see Power Rangers in the Rower Rangers movie?
My final — and largest — complaint about the movie is the tone. Power Rangers goes back and forth between acknowledging just how dumb it is and trying to take itself way too seriously. Power Rangers is inherently dumb. It just is. Angel Grove, the different colored rangers, Alpha 5, words like “morph,” freaking giant mechs that look like dinosaurs, and just the whole idea that a bunch of 16-year olds are the saviors of the world. It’s stupid. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun, if handled well. The tongue in cheek nature rears its head every once in a while, like when the rangers first charge the scene with the old theme song blaring. But more often than not, the music feels dichotomous to what’s happening on screen and the tone is very inconsistent. Because of this back and forth, neither approach works. And neither does Power Rangers.
6.3/10
Togetherness – Season One
Togetherness is a show I heard a lot about when it first aired. I’m a big fan of Mark Duplass both as a writer and as a creator, so I was definitely interested in checking out his new show, co-created with his brother. As a side note, it sounds super cool when two brothers create something together. The Duplass Brothers, The Duffer Brothers, The Coen Brothers. Sadly, The Castle Brothers doesn’t sound as cool, so my brother Kyle and I probably won’t be co-creating a new show anytime soon.
What interested me most about Togetherness was that it seemed like real life. And not like real life in that way the Parenthood or This Is Us say they’re about real life. Those are emotionally manipulative shows that concoct scenarios designed to make the viewer feel something. Real, actual human existence is not a goal of those shows. Some of the reactions might feel real to life, but the storylines feel ripped from soap operas, just with better writing. Togetherness, on the other hand, feels like a real marriage, a real sisters relationship, and a real friendship. It’s certainly an odd show with odd people, but they feel real.
The biggest negative I can pull out is Michelle, the wife on the show. It’s nothing to do with her acting — Melanie Lynskey’s performance is varied and vulnerable — but her character is just such a shitty person. These are all very flawed people, but she goes too far for me. The show tries to make you see things from her perspective, and definitely lobs its fair share of blame at Mark Duplass’ Brett for their failing marriage, but it doesn’t really work. There’s a big moment that the latter half of the season is building to, and without spoiling everything, the way that it plays out makes me significantly less interested in watching season two. This isn’t villainy the way that Game of Thrones has villainy. Michelle isn’t the “bad guy” on the show. But that’s what makes it hard to watch. You do feel for her a little bit and can understand her perspective on things. But the way she handles those issues goes so far against how I feel about marriage that I kind of hate her. On the positive side, her relationship with Brett has opened many long discussions with my wife about relationships and marriage, so I thank the show for that.
I don’t mean to come down too hard on that particular character or imply the show is bad because of her. That isn’t the case. It’s just that I like the show so much, and it has so much to offer, that actively disliking her character arch bums me out. Of course, I’m going to keep watching the show because I’m invested in these characters, but it’s with a bit of trepidation. And I haven’t even made mention of Steve Zissis’ Alex, who’s the real heart of the show. His performance in season one was Emmy-worthy, in my opinion.
Overall, Togetherness is phenomenally well written and acted, and I believe there’s a fair amount of improvisation that happens. Some of the subject matter goes against my personal life experience, since it’s very clearly focused on the hipster California crowd, but that didn’t hurt my enjoyment. It can be a challenging watch at times due to the frustrating mistakes the characters make, but I strongly feel like it’s indicative of real life and real people.
9.2/10
The Babadook
I’m not a horror movie person. I don’t like being scared, and I think the whole “cover your eyes whenever anything scary happens” attitude kind of takes away the entire point of watching a scary movie. But, every once in a while, my wife will convince me to watch a horror movie with her. I usually regret it, because most horror movies are terrible. Modern American horror films rely far too heavily on jump scares and lazy, contrived writing and situations. Thankfully, The Babadook doesn’t fall into that trap. I’d also say it’s more creepy than it is downright scary — but in this case, that’s a good thing.
The general conceit is that a woman and her husband get in a car wreck, he dies, and she lives on with her only child. She resents the kid because he’s a pain in the ass and it’s clear that she’d rather have her husband back than her son. The kid has nightmares and violent outbreaks. Somehow a scary, haunted book enters the picture. This monster, the Babadook, enters their house and terrorizes them by possessing the mom on several occasions. I’m dumbing this down a lot because the concept isn’t the most creative or fresh.
What really sold me on this movie was the mother’s performance. She plays with many different levels throughout the film, even before she’s possessed. It’s clearly a very complicated relationship that she has with her son, and it shows. There’s guilt, anger, resentment, love, and shame all wrapped up in her scenes. And that arch continues to the resolution of the film. Thematically, it’s not about letting go of the past, but about acknowledging it, embracing it as a part of you, and learning to manage those terrible memories of the past. It’s a very dark film (obviously), but the message is perhaps even more depressing once you start putting the pieces together about the story and the origins of this monster.
The cinematography is also outstanding. Most of the film takes place in their house, and the framing is often creative and really sells the tension and sense of unease. While not a traditionally “scary” movie, The Babadook has elements that most modern horror films lack — good acting, actual pathos, and an ending that offers some mystery while not being a lame cliffhanger.
9.0/10
Any thoughts on this week’s reviews? Let me know in the comments below, and be sure to check out my other Quickie Reviews!
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