Solo: A Star Wars Story: Has All The Grace And Quality That All Star Wars Prequels Do

Once upon a time there was a Han Solo spinoff movie being directed by two filmmakers largely known for making comedies. These men are known as Phil Miller and Chris Lord. They previously helmed The Lego Movie, 21/22 Jump Street, and several episodes of The Last Man on Earth. It's not uncommon for low key directors to take over big budget productions because they bring something different to the table-- I mean, hell, the guys who did Avengers: Infinity War were coming off of Arrested Development episodes and You, Me & Dupree. The reason, I imagine, Miller and Lord were selected for this project is their sense of humor aligned perfectly with who Han Solo the character is and was. The two had yet to make a bad project and their way of making movies, though apparently unorthodox, worked when it came to the final product. However, Star Wars has never been a franchise for the unorthodox filmmaker. The producers don't like anyone messing with their structure any longer. And when it came out that Miller and Lord were encouraging improvisation in nearly every take, this did not sit well with Disney. After filming over 75% of the movie, Miller and Lord were fired and replaced with one of the SAFEST directors in Hollywood-- Ron Howard. It's not that I think Howard is a bad director, he's made some great films in the past. But Howard is more paint-by-numbers than staring at a blank canvas and creating something beautiful. Howard knows how to adhere to what the Studio heads want instead of what makes a compelling film. Howard knows how to listen. And so... we get Solo: A Star Wars Story... a tame, lame, and uninspired paint-by-numbers film that fails to live up to any expectations. As I walked out of the theater I could only think one thing-- I really wish I could see the Miller/Lord version of this movie because it couldn't be as lousy as the one I just watched.

Let's throw this out there right off the bat-- Solo is not a good movie. I didn't have super high expectations for it to begin with due to the number of problems it had during production (which is never a good sign), but it failed to even live up to those shallow expectations. First off, and this may be an unpopular opinion-- but Alden Ehrenreich is WRONG for the role of Han Solo. I didn't buy him for a single second in the film. And it's not like he was really even doing his best "Harrison Ford impression" and failed, he really did try to make the Solo character his own-- but it wasn't Han Solo. I don't know who I watched a movie about, but it wasn't Han Solo. His cockiness seemed forced, his "toughness" counterfeit, and his stupid grin looked like something the real Han Solo would've punched. Trying to portray the younger version of an American legend is no easy feat, but Ehrenreich was more like Jake Lloyd's Anakin Skywalker than he was anything resembling Han Solo. So, when your star and title character don't work from the get-go, your movie is going to suffer some. And when you try to give us a love interest with said character-- it's not going to go well either.

Apparently, Solo was in love once. And love was all that mattered. Her name was Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke) and she had zero and I mean ZERO chemistry with Han (as he has zero with her as well). The plot hinges upon us caring about these two's relationship, when we really, really don't. It's hard for us to accept the fact that everything Solo does in the film is in service of getting to Qi'ra when we know the two don't end up together, Solo winds up a hardened, flirty, reprobate, and, you know, the whole kinda-important Leia thing. So, the initial mistake (and the mistake most prequels make) is if we know the outcome of the character, don't give us disingenuous stakes for the character's motivations when we're aware they won't mean a damn thing. Clarke's character will also get on your nerves. She's not great as a standalone character and because she and Solo have, I repeat, Z E R O chemistry together, she's not exactly someone you genuinely care about or root for in the film. It also doesn't help that she gets the worst and most clunky dialogue of any character, but I'm not sure cleaning that up a little bit would help the character as a whole.  For some reason, Solo thought that the last few Star Wars films (whether on the main timeline or the spinoffs) were written too well and had dialogue that didn't make you want to bash your own face with a rubber mallet, because a lot of the dialogue, especially in the first hour, is BAD. It's filled with on-the-nose explanations of things we definitely didn't need and none of it feels natural or organic. The opening scene with Han and Qi'ra has them explaining their relationship and their future plans... to each other. That's like you going to your mother and being like: "Hello, my mother. It's great that you've been my mother for thirty-one years. I love the fact that after carrying me in your womb for nine months, you gave birth to me. And that's what makes you my mother." What's even better-- is there is a bit of textual information given to us before the film starts. It's on title cards instead of the classic Star Wars scroll-- but the info given there DOESN'T MATTER AT ALL FOR THE SET-UP OF THE FILM! Had I walked into the movie two minutes late and missed the words on the screen-- I would've been able to understand EVERYTHING. So, why did they not use that time to give us the info that Han and Qi'ra apparently had to spill out to one another???

It doesn't get much better from there in terms of a lot of characters just not sounding authentic. Jokes are written for some of the characters and I'd say 1 in 10 pay off because they're clearly pre-planned jokes. None feel natural and off-the-cuff (because remember... improvisation isn't what anyone wants in a Star Wars film). There's even a moment in the film that felt like a big F**K YOU to Miller/Lord (and it could legitimately be coincidence) but when Han and his team are about to enact one of their plans-- Han's mentor Beckett (Woody Harrelson) specifically yells, almost to the camera, "stick to the plan. No improvising!" Like this is what makes a plan (*cough* movie) work. When you improvise and deviate from the set plan-- everything goes to shit. Then, of course, they do improvise and the plan only works BECAUSE they deviated, but whatever. Miller/Lord clearly got the shit end of the stick. Or maybe the audience did? Let's call it 50/50. I don't know how the film looked when Miller/Lord were in the directors chairs, but I seriously hated how it looks now. The film is so dark and grainy it was difficult to tell what was going on. The beauty of the Star Wars movies is that we're given worlds and creatures and ships and space that we've never seen before. It's all new for us and it is generally visually stunning-- that is... when you can actually SEE what it is you're watching. Solo was filmed so dark and cloudy, it was like watching the movie through six layers of cigarette smoke. You can tell people are doing stuff, it's just difficult to tell what they're actually doing and it's actually very frustrating. There's a moment when Chewbacca actually rips a guy's arms off. Yeah! How awesome does that sound? I know. However, I didn't get a chance to laugh at it because it took me until the shot was basically over to realize what Chewy had done and that he was holding arms. Not because I was in shock of it, but because I visually couldn't tell what he was holding, the movie is so dark. I don't know who thought this particular aesthetic was the best choice for Solo, but have fun enjoying a movie that looks like you're watching it while sitting in a Vegas casino full of 80-year-old chain smokers.

I think the heart of the problem with Solo comes down to the fact that we really didn't need this movie. I don't know anyone who even wanted this movie. Yes, Star Wars fans are going to see it, but when Disney sat down to figure out how they're going to Marvel-up the Star Wars franchise and give us an infinite amount of spinoffs-- I doubt anyone was clamoring for Han Solo. He's one of the few untouchable characters from an actor whose portrayal is maybe more iconic than the original trilogy themselves. It suffers from the same problems the prequels (Episode I-III) do, including bad dialogue. I didn't need to know how Han actually got the name Solo (in fact, I'm kind of annoyed that's not actually his birth surname). I don't need to know the backstory of the "dice". I really didn't need to know the details of how he and Chewy met (because it kinda sucks-- but it's too dark to really see anyway, so who cares). And I sure as shit didn't want to know any of the details about the Kessel Run. Ever since Episode IV, the Kessel Run has been a running joke in Star Wars and it works because we, as an audience, don't know what any of it means. What would the Kessel Run entail? What is a parsec? It's funny because we don't know anything about it, but it's such a big deal to everyone else in the movies. It's got its own mythos that was better when we all had to imagine what it could possibly be. Showing it to us was never going to live up to our own imaginations-- and while the run was better than I expected it to be-- it was still somewhat of a letdown.

I do believe the one area of Han's past that I did want to know about was the backstory his him and Lando. Donald Glover is one of the few shining stars in the movie that make it not a complete loss. It's clear that the film should've been about Lando and his adventures and his misdeeds because they got his character right. Sure, it helps that the casting for it is perfect, but Glover IS Lando both in look, speak, and swagger. He's perfect in the movie and I would see any number of Lando movies. Solo... I wish I could tell you this was going to be a one-off like Rogue One (which is still a far superior film). But, of course, this film has been set up for a sequel, so we really don't get any of the answers we want (especially those surrounding three years of Qi'ra's life that's pretty important for us to understand). And, without spoiling anything, there's a cameo of a past character to set up a sequel that makes legitimately NO SENSE. It's a dumb as balls moment that's only really in the film so Ron Howard could see the stunned look on all our jerk faces (probably).

Look, Solo does have a few redemptive moments here and there. Usually when Lando is around or Woody Harrelson's character is around, but as the film goes on, it does tend to get a little better, but for the most part there's nothing that exciting to latch onto and actually care about. Let me put it to you this way-- in the middle of the movie, during a pretty important-to-the-plot action sequence, the sound cut out in my theater for a solid five minutes. The audience was yelling "rewind it!" Several people left their seats to get someone to fix the film. When the sound came back on, everyone was shocked that they just continued the movie, and there were several mutterings that "they better give us passes", which I assumed they would. When the film was over, and my sold-out screening walked out of the theater, there was no one waiting to apologize or hand over any passes. Some people were downright pissed and some people just kinda shrugged it off and left. This is how Solo feels. The studio has given you a movie in the way they feel they needed to give it to you. Whether that's in line with how you actually enjoy films or not, that's the way it is and they're not going to apologize for it. You can get mad or you can shrug it off and realize that this is the just a drop in the ocean of Star Wars spinoffs to come and there's no sense of expending any further energy feeling much else toward it. I just hope the studios see that in order to keep the franchise exciting and fresh and new... they need to start taking risks with their filmmakers and, for the love of God, stop making PREQUELS.

D

Deadpool 2: A Lot Of The Same, But In A Good Way

Marvel is having a very good year. The top two movies at the box office with nearly three billion dollars earned are Marvel movies. You know who's having an even better year? Josh Brolin. You know those two Marvel movies both resting comfortably at the top of the box office charts I mentioned earlier? Josh Brolin plays the villain in both of them. And he's not done. We all knew Avengers was a two-parter, so the dude is gonna be back in Thanos purple next year too. Mad respect for the Brolin. Anyhoo, there's really no point I was trying to make about Brolin, I just thought that little tidbit of information was relatively interesting. So... onto Deadpool 2. What can I say? I am a big Ryan Reynolds guy and it's nice to see him in the spotlight once again. He's got to be one of the most charming and charismatic actors around and not many would be able to do the Deadpool character and make audience members fall in love with him as opposed to sickened by him. I liked the movie. I didn't love it. I liked it. In fact, I liked it just as much as I liked the first one. I've only seen it once. I might watch it again in the future, but it's a movie I was happy to see. laughed at, and moved on from. This is exactly how Deadpool 2 is. If you can't be better than your predecessor, at the very least, don't get worse. And Deadpool 2, while it isn't really better, it certainly isn't worse.

It's the same schtick. Reynolds is Wade Wilson-- a human "avocado" looking anti-superhero who dispenses justice in violent and sickeningly awesome ways. He's crude, he's crass, he's vulgar, and he's hilarious. He frequently breaks the fourth wall with his narration and points out the major faults in most of the pop culture surrounding other Marvel and DC superhero movies. He's the anti-superhero superhero. This time he faces off against Cable (Brolin), a soldier who sends himself back in time from the future to stop the person responsible for causing the deaths of his wife and daughter. It's very Terminator-y, but that can be overlooked because Reynolds' Deadpool is there to acknowledge this and remind us how lazy his writers constantly are with his movies. The action is good, the comedy is good, the CGI is... well... it's sometimes pretty awful. Overall, it's pretty passable, but with each Marvel movie showcasing an ever-evolving technology where most CGI is frighteningly realistic-- there's some pretty bad and cheap CGI. It's not involved with many of the larger scenes, but it's pretty evident the studios cut costs on the quick moments they needed effects. This also could've been done on purpose as an in-joke to the movie constantly complaining about its own budget, but it does stand out like a sore thumb.

We get to meet a few new characters, but the two that stand out are Domino (Zazie Beetz) whose superpower is that she's lucky, and Peter (Rob Delaney) who has no superpower whatsoever, he just found a flyer for the "auditions". There's almost a Mystery Men feel to the middle of the movie and it's definitely not unwanted. There's also a lot more X-Men involved in the plotline-- none of the familiar ones, of course, but they do play more into the central arc of the story. And, finally, audiences who aren't me who were waiting anxiously for it get the inception of the X-Force. The rest of the movie pretty much plays out like the first one. There's the rise and fall of a villain or two. There's the rise and fall of Deadpool himself. There's a lot of swearing, a lot of cool violence, and a lot of narration that holds the movie together. I will say this-- I was impressed at the amount of funny material the first movie generated, but there were a lot of jokes that just didn't land. Or maybe they did land, but they fell very flat. This one has less of that. It's very funny, but the story had me wanting more. The two movies compliment each other very well as they make up for each other's faults.

I do kind of hope that this is one of the last Deadpool movies. Not because I don't enjoy them, but they're so experimental, they should quit while they're ahead. Eventually, the novelty of the movie will fade and it'll ruin what magic it once had. I'm impressed they've been able to make such quality films twice without bordering on offensive and/or failing to achieve an actual comedy value to the film. But, while it's out, it's worth watching. There's a lot of fun to be had and you need to stay for the end credits scenes because they're funnier than they should be. Deadpool doesn't break any new ground with the character and they may have gone a little bit overboard with the self-awareness of being in a movie, but if you liked/loved the first film, it's a lot more of the same. And for once, that's not a bad thing.

B

Tully: Visual Birth Control

--Written by Guest Reviewer Ashley Green

PAUSE!!!!!

THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW!!!!!

HOWEVER!!!!!

THEY DO NOT NECESSARILY SPOIL THE MOVIE. IN FACT, I BELIEVE THEY ENHANCE THE MOVIE-GOING EXPERIENCE.

BUT!!!!!!!!!!!

IF YOU PREFER NOT TO SPOIL THE FILM FOR YOURSELF... JUST READ THE FIRST TWO PARAGRAPHS.   


I'm not a mom, but I thought I'd like to be one someday. After seeing Tully, that day... is... far, far, far away... beyond sight... if it even still exists.

Tully is not a feel-good movie. Tully will gut punch you with the realness of motherhood and then laugh at you because you were dumb enough to think it's all cute baby clothes and an occasional shitty diaper. Tully will make you feel bad for all the moms ever.

Marlo (m-fing Charlize Theron-- God bless everyone) is an overwhelmed, totally exhausted mother of three... well, two in the first twenty minutes of the movie. Her husband, Drew (Ron Livingston, who is aging decently if you were wondering), is an aloof and absent dude. Not a terrible guy, but definitely not in the top percentile of husbands or fathers. The two have been drained by life. The film opens with Marlo brushing (with an actual brush) the body of her son Jonah, a therapy technique she discovered, meant to help with his "quirkiness". This "quirkiness" is arguably Asperger's, but it's never confirmed in the film. Also, I'm not a doctor. But I'm like 85% sure it's Asperger's. I was raised by a childhood behavioral therapist. Not because I was in a facility or anything, that was just my aunt's job. Whatever. I'm pretty sure I'm right.

Marlo's day-to-day life is stressful. Even sitting in the audience, knowing what I was watching was just an effing movie, my anxiety was on par with hers. She is constantly going. Whether it's getting her kids from point A to point B, breaking down over Jonah's meltdowns, or listening to Jonah's principal telling her that he needs an aide or needs to leave the school. Marlo is consistently at a 10. Or rather, life around Marlo is consistently at a 10. And she's pregnant.

Even the time she tries to take for herself is sad. There's a scene with Marlo at a coffee shop, trying to order a decaf coffee and some asshole lady informs her that there are "trace amounts of caffeine, even in decaf", but Marlo doesn't care. Then, the asshole lady is outraged that Marlo ordered it anyway. THEN Marlo's ex, the totally hot Violet, bumps into her and is clearly horrified by what has become of Marlo. And Marlo is clearly horrified of what she's become as well. Side note, I AM LIVING FOR BISEXUAL CHARLIZE THERON.

After visiting her extremely wealthy brother (Mark Duplass) and his we're-better-than-you-guys-and-we-know-it family, we find out that Marlo and Drew weren't planning on having a third kid and Marlo's brother can see that she's not particularly overjoyed about it. So, he gives her the number of a "night nanny", a person to take care of the newborn overnight so she can actually get some sleep. He tells her that he'll pay for it, and that she needs to take care of herself. Marlo stares at him and I want to give all of the awards to the person who painted on those dark circles under her eyes.

CUT TO: the birth of her third child.

It's a quick montage of what some movies draw out. Her water breaks, she and Drew go to the hospital, she's in the designated birthing room, she's screaming because she's having a baby, etc. The thing is, throughout all of these quick scenes, Marlo doesn't say anything, and Drew really doesn't either. It feels like, to them, this is just another thing to get done. When we see Marlo after she's given birth, she's indifferent to the baby next to her and Drew has fallen asleep in the chair. She gets out of the hospital bed and walks toward the bathroom, her adult diaper the main focus of the shot. I could feel my own vagina sewing itself shut.

After countless nights of taking care of her newborn and dealing with her two very young children, Marlo caves. She's no longer above her hoity-toity brother's night nanny gift.

Enter Tully.

Tully (Mackenzie Davis who is so cute I want to SCREAM) is basically an overbearing hipster, but she's sweet and she's kind and she makes everything better. Marlo's life changes drastically. She's laughing again. She's having fun. She's playing with her kids and enjoying life and dressing up Tully in an old school diner waitress outfit and then letting Tully bang the shit out of her husband, but it's fine! Marlo's there too and she's giving direction! Everyone is happy! Tully's existence in Marlo's life is actually really beautiful to watch. Mackenzie Davis and Charlize Theron have such good chemistry that it's like seeing a genuine and real friendship unfold. While Davis' character isn't very dimensional, she pulls depths from Theron's and helps to create a fleshed out, whole version of Marlo.

Of course, whatever happiness we're given in this movie is quickly taken away because duh. Tully arrives one night riled and upset. She convinces Marlo to out with her and party. They spend the night in New York, driving through Marlo's old neighborhood, drinking, and attempting to drunkenly visit Marlo's ex, Violet. It's a whirlwind of drunk emotion centered on the life Marlo lived before getting married and having kids. After some sad and destructive moments between the two, it's revealed that Marlo's maiden name is, in fact... Tully.

We were Palahniuk'd, people! It's Tyler Durden all over again. Although it isn't very surprising, it doesn't feel cheap. It actually works for the movie. Without Tully, we wouldn't really know Marlo. We would have been stuck in a ceaseless, mundane insanity without ever getting to understand what is beneath Marlo's Postpartum depression and why her depression exists in the first place. What Tully brings to the table is an intimate and heartbreaking look into mental health. It enhances the moviegoing experience, which is why it's a spoiler, but not like a, you know, Avengers-spoiler.

This movie was good. It was really, really sad, but it was good. Charlize Theron is such an incredible actor and your heart will be all kinds of broken when you leave the theater. I think any and all types of moms will like watching it because it probably captures the loneliness of motherhood. I think anyone who wants to be a mom should watch it because we are all naïve and dumb and know nothing of motherhood. I think expectant mothers should maybe not watch it because if I had a kid in my gut and saw that life play out in front of me... needless to say, I'd be really stressed out.

B

Arrested Development Season 4 REMIX Is Better

TV can be a cruel mistress. There have been a handful of shows whose genius was realized too late. Low viewer ratings and cancellations have taken away some great shows before everyone has a chance to truly appreciate them (on the other hand, there are shows that have never been good that have been around for FAR too long-- I'm looking at you CBS). Arrested Development is one of those shows. It was too smart for a 2003 audience. Had the show been released in the 20-teens, it would've soared and assumedly been one of the highest rated shows on television. But, alas, lovers of the show only got three (more like two and a half) seasons of one of the smartest and funniest shows ever created. I've been an Arrested D fan for as long as I can remember. What's great about the show is that it has a very high re-watch value because of how intelligent and intricate its writing is. Each subsequent viewing of previous seasons-- there's something new to catch. There's subtle jokes you can miss having watched the seasons as often as even I have. There's callbacks missed. Easter eggs discovered. It's like watching a new show each time. Hell, it's one of those shows where it's difficult to pick a favorite character because they're all so uniquely amazing (and terrible) that you're unable to leave anyone out of the favorites list.

So, when Netflix announced five years ago that they'd acquired the rights to the show and were planning on releasing a new season, all the fans that had turned the show into a cult following rejoiced. However, due to the popularity of nearly everyone in the cast, getting everyone's schedules to fit into filming another season of the show became problematic. The creators found a somewhat clever way around this-- to change up the format of the show. Each show's format centralized on the main character, Michael (Jason Bateman), and the absurdity of the chaos the rest of his family creates in his everyday life. This is how it was for the first three seasons. The family dynamic is what made the show so great. Now, with everyone's celebrity booming, the new structure had dedicate its episodes to only one character at a time with other characters crossing over only briefly and generally never more than one crossover per episode. By the end of the season, the seemingly random episodes have all collided into one large narrative that would take a hundred viewings in order to piece together and make fully coherent. This was not really the problem with Season 4. The show has always had a bit of an esoteric approach to the arc of each season and that's what makes re-watching them so much fun. The problem with the season was separating the characters.

The beauty of Arrested Development was watching each of the characters interact. Each character's flaws have something to do with how others in the family view them and treat them (and how they were raised). Each scheme concocted by every character influenced and wrecked other characters on the show. When one character decides he/she has had enough and finally stands up for him/herself, it inevitably leads to a catastrophe for another character. These interwoven stories were what brought the best comedy. Plus the fact that this cast had some of the best chemistry in television history. In the last twenty years, I would say the only rival for cast chemistry to Arrested D is The Office. And while the season wasn't a complete failure... it didn't FEEL like classic Arrested D. The jokes became more funny in concept than in execution. The farcical narrative was funny "if you think about it" and not laugh-out-loud funny. The new characters in each episode were able to contribute to the nature of the show, but didn't hold a candle to the old formula. There's a reason the character of Michael is the focal point of most episodes because some of the characters are BETTER as side characters. Gob doesn't have enough character weight to be able to lead two full half hour episodes alone. Neither does Lindsay. Or Buster. Or Tobias. And that's what they tried to do. And while I didn't hate Season 4 of the show... because, come on, it's Arrested Development and I'll take what I can get while I can get it... when re-watching the seasons several times over the past five years, I always attempted to watch Season 4, but each time gave up after a couple of episodes.

This is why what creator Mitchell Hurwitz decided to do before the release of Season 5 this month, is remix the season to give it more of a structure like the first three seasons. Because he's literally the only human being on the planet who would be able to put more of a linear storyline together out of Season 4, the show now feels like the classic episodes of the earlier seasons. Instead of 13 individual episodes featuring one singular character as the focal point for thirty plus minutes, it's now 22 episodes with interweaving storylines at about 22 minutes a pop. And it's much better. Even through the majority of the season the family isn't all together and you can tell how each separate character's stories played out-- they're interspliced with the other stories and it FEELS like the older episodes. Instead of watching Lindsay's thirty minute solo story, we get to see what's happening with Tobias and Michael and George Michael and Gob throughout the episode. And, by doing this, we can follow the overall season-wide narrative a lot more clearly. Now, some of the laughs that were only funny in concept, are a little more laugh-out-loud worthy. I found myself chuckling while watching this remix of Season 4 than I ever did watching it the way it was originally released.

If you weren't a fan of the way the creators pulled off Season 4 originally, I would say give this re-edited season a chance. I'm not saying it's strong enough to live up to par as the previous three because it is still the weakest season of them all-- but it's not as weak as it used to be. It's a lot more fun to watch and the way it's presented now almost tricks your brain into believing that all the characters were in the same episode together (even though none of them really ever interact with one another). Also, it gives those solo episodes that were on the weaker side and lacking comedy, a bit more funny while interspliced with episodes that had more comedic weight. Overall, I think it was a great decision for Hurwitz to try this experiment because what we've been given now is a better product-- one that feels a lot more Arrested Development than it did. Another positive to take from this is that Hurwitz actually LISTENED to what fans of the show had to say about it. He took their criticisms as constructive and hopefully carries that over into Season 5.

No matter how strong or weak Netflix's first foray into the world of Arrested D is... it's still one of my all time favorite comedy shows and I genuinely can not wait until the 5th season arrives. There hasn't been a specific date announced as of yet, but it's been confirmed that it will be released sometime this month in May. I assume Netflix and Hurwitz will wait a few weeks for the fans to catch up with the show and get an opportunity to watch the remix of Season 4 (that had to have taken more time to re-edit than it did to film and write) and be fully prepared for an all new season.

Until then, Happy Cinco De Quatro, everybody!