Den of Iniquity

I'd heard that Den of Thieves (2018) (and especially it's sequel) is a cool, modern action movie, and it maybe even sets a new standard. So I was psyched to watch. Ms. Spenser, of course, was not interexsted. 

It starts with an immaculate heist. A gang dressed in full coverage suits with googles and gasmasks attack an armored car. It's going smoothly, when someone gets antsy and a gunfight breaks out, leaving many dead, including one of the crew. They get away with the car - but empty.

We meet the gang, and it's leader, Pablo Schreiber. This plan is all part of a scheme to rob the Federal Exchange of all the cash that is to be destroyed (and is therefore in no databases) before it is destroyed. OK, not bad.

Then we meet Gerard Butler. He is a hard-drinking, womanizing, soon-to-be-divorced piece of shit cop. He and his gang of Regulators make Schreiber their main suspect, and round up O'Shea Jackson. Instead of "taking him downtown", they hold him incognito and threaten him until he breaks.

So the movie is split between the gang, who are cool, ruthless and smart, and the cops, who are sloppy, ruthless and arrogant. I'm afraid the first group didn't really grab me, and the second were repulsive. Jackson seemed to be too stupid to live, etc. Then my DVD started skipping (it happens, especially on older library discs). 

It worked ok for the scene where Butler's daughter is being taken on a first date by a young man. Butler takes him to the garage for a short man-to-man. All his Regulators are there, and they threaten him with dire consequences if Butler's precious daughter gets hurt. He leaves and then they all laugh and laugh.

That scene is so overused, so cliche, that you just can't take it seriously - but I think the movie did. I think the brutal, amoral Regulators were supposed to be cool, not alarming. The Regulators are/were a real thing, and not a good one. So I bailed, just quit there.

I might have finished this if it wasn't skipping. I understand there are some good twists and better heists. But I have no regrets. The sequel is supposed to be a little more self-aware, but I doubt I'll watch it, either. 

Japanese Depatures

Departures (2008) is a bit of a departure for us - not a comedy, action, or any genre, just a gentle Japanese drama. Ms. Spenser saw it on an airplane, and asked me to get it out of the library to watch together. 

Cellist Masahiro Motoki plays with a Tokyo symphony, which folds. Out of work, he decides to move with his wife back to his home town of Yamagata prefecture, so he could move into the house his parents left him. His father ran a bar out of the ground floor until he ran away with a waitress. Then his mother ran it as a coffeeshop until she died. 

As he is looking for work, he finds a sort of vague ad offering good pay and no experience required. The job is "assisting departures". He goes to the location, and slowly discovers that it is an encoffining firm - they prepare bodies to be placed in the coffin before they are cremated. The ad should have read "assisting the departed."

He goes out with his boss, Tsutomo Yamazaki (the owner and only other worker, except the receptionist) on a job. The ceremony is beautiful. The body is cleaned, has makeup applied, then dressed in a kimono, all with the greatest respect and with the family watching. The boss gives Motoki his pay in cash, and sends him home. He doesn't tell his wife what the job is.

The next job, they have to perform this ritual on a woman who died unnoticed for days. This is very hard on Motoki. After work, he feels defiled, and people notice a smell. So he goes to the sento public bath he used to go to. The old lady there recognizes him, and asks about his cello job. He doesn't tell her what he's doing now.

Eventually, his wife finds out what he's doing, and puts her foot down. She happily went to Yamagata with him, but doesn't want to live with someone who handles corpses. But after leaving him alone for several months, she sees him perform an encoffinment, and is moved by the tenderness and respect of the ritual. 

But he still has unresolved issues with his father.

This is a slow, quiet movie. It includes several scenes that just show the seasons changing, birds migrating, the snow coming, then going. A few scenes show Motoki out by the river embankment, playing his childhood cello. Even the scenes of the town in Yamagata, a small provincial city, are beautiful - the bath house, the old coffee shop where Motoki and wife live, the river, the rice fields, and the mountains. The people are prejudiced against people who work with the dead, but are mostly warm and friendly. The actual ritual of encoffinment is interesting and meditative. This is a very sweet movie.

For a while I was annoyed that Motoki didn't tell anyone what he really did, not even his wife. But I think this is somewhat cultural. Husbands tend to compartmentalize their work and family lives, and don't share a lot of their true selves in public.

My only complaint is that it is a bit too sweet, in some ways a typical Japanese family drama. But the quirky characters, like the boss and the receptionist, and the people we meet at the funerals, put it a few notches above that. 

Actually, They're Both Monsters

Just the other day, I was suggesting to Ms. Spenser that we watch Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein (2025). She thought i was joking - we had watched it a week ago. I argued about it a little, then I remembered all the Young Frankenstein jokes we were making, and it all came back to me.

It starts in the Arctic. A Danish ship is stuck in the ice, and a badly wounded man shows up. It is Oscar Isaac, Victor Frankenstein. He is being chased by a monster, and he tells the tale. 

He was the older son of a tyrannical doctor (Charles Dance). His mother died giving birth to his younger brother, and he struggles for the approval and respect of his father. He becomes a brilliant but arrogant surgeon, and begins experiments to reverse death. He is expelled from medical school, and wealthy Christoph Walz offers to fund him, giving him a deserted castle/laboratory and unlimited funds. Meanwhile, Walz's niece Elizabeth, Mia Goth, becomes betrothed to Isaac's brother - although Isaacs wants her too.

When Isaac finally creates the monster (Jacob Elordi), he becomes annoyed that the only thing he can teach it to say is "Victor". Of course, maybe frequent beatings isn't the best teaching method. He has the creature chained in the basement when his brother and his bride come to visit. When he shows him to them, they are appalled. Goth is tender to him, and he says his second word, "Elizabeth". When they leave, Isaac burns the castle with the creature chained inside.

At this point, the creature shows up on the Danish ship to tell his side of the story.

Ms. Spenser and I both loved the way this movie looked. The cast and their performances were fine. BUt we were both somewhat underwhelmed by the story. Possibly it has just been done too often, hence the Mel Brooks feeling. I felt the same way as I did about Crimson Peak - the art direction was the best part. 

This may be unfair to the picture. There are plenty of reasons why I might forget I watched something - I'm not that reliable. But we enjoyed, even if it wasn't our fave Franky. That might still be Young Frankenstein. 

Fantastic Feast

Pretty excited to finally see The Fantastic 4: First Steps (2025). As I have mentioned, FF are my favorite superheroes. I loved two Tim Story movies, hated the Josh Trank one. I was hoping that this one would be the one to get it right.

It skips the origin story, and goes right to Reed (Pedro Pascal) and Sue (Vanessa Kirby) Richards. They are married and living in the Baxter Building. Reed is looking for iodine for a cut he got in his last battle. Sue reveals that she is pregnant. 

This version of the FF is world famous and well loved for the many villains they've thwarted, and the world loves the idea of their baby. 

Meanwhile, Pascal has the family robot, HERBIE, building a crib for the baby, while he studies some strange anomalies. Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn, Stranger Things) promises not to tell Sue that he is shirking his family duties to do science. And Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is wandering around Yancy Street, where he meets a nice Jewish girl, Natashe Lyonne, outside a synagogue. 

It turns out that those anomalies were the Silver Surfer - a naked silver woman, played by Julia Garner. The Four try to fight her, and she barely notices. They chase her into space, discover the remnants of destroyed planets, and finally meet - Galactus!

This Galactus is more or less comics accurate. We find out about his diet of planets, and his plans for Earth. But Galactus makes an offer - he will spare Earth in exchange for the Richards baby. He can see that the child will be powerful, powerful enough to take his place as planet destroyer.

When they get back to Earth, they tell the world that they did not defeat Galactus, and aren't giving up their child. Now the world turns on them. And Galactus is coming. 

A couple of fun things about the movie: It's set in an alternate 1960s, so the Fantasticar has tailfins, and the president (maybe) is named Bobby. It's a fun look. Director Matt Shakman directed the WandaVision shows, so he's used to retro timelines. Also, he wanted to use a lot of practical effects vs. CGI. But I'm pretty sure the Thing was CGI.

I liked the casting. I don't like Mr. Fantastic with a mustache, but I did like Pascal. Kirby's Invisible Girl was a lot like the Sue Storm I imagine. Quinn's Torch was a lot like Chris Evans', but not as obnoxious. And Moss-Bachrach's Thing face, with a pronounced brow ridge, was just right. Also, he hates the phrase "It's clobbering time," because that's from the cartoon.

Altogether, I liked this a lot. I have two related quibbles. One is that I have trouble accepting a world where the Fantastic Four are loved and idolized. I'm more used to them being in trouble for the damage caused in their fights with the villains, and always being behind on the rent. Then, there's the occasional monologue, like the one Sue makes to a crowd. They are very uplifting and corny, and the crowd reacts by going right over to her side. Yeah right. Maybe it's intended to be "comic booky" - I think a lot of the other dialog is. 

In conclusion, I still like the Tim Story pair best. We'll see after I've watched this one a few more times. 

Yard Goods

Ms. Spenser got a little free time, so we put on a horror movie: The Woman in the Yard (2025). We went in knowing nothing, except that it was "psychological horror" (not slasher) and Blumhouse, which was pretty much enough for us. 

It starts with mom Danielle Deadwyler sleeping late whule watching a video of her husband telling her about a dream -- a dream that the house they had bought is complete. Her teen son, Peyton Jackson, despairs of her getting up and starts the morning chores: collecting the eggs and making breakfast for himself, his mom and his little sister, Estelle Kahiha. He is dutiful, but plainly tired of living in rundown house where nothing works. You could tell, just from the video Deadwyler was watching, that his father died before getting the place under control. Also, the power is out, and the bill can't be paid until Monday.

At breakfast (scrambled eggs and Doritos - the kids like it), Kahiha notices that there is a woman in the yard. She is shrouded in black, just sitting at the edge of the property. Since this is a small farm, that is pretty far away. They can't call the police, because no one's phone has a charge. When mom finally agrees to check her out, she gets nothing but vage threats and insinuations. 

Then they notice that she's coming closer. 

Most of this first two-thirds of the movie is like this - a shadowy threat, the single mom overwhelmed with grief and a hard life, the son trying to step up and be a man when he's far too young. The family is being torn apart, nothing works and everything is too hard - although there is still a lot of love in the family. The Woman (a very spooky Okwui Okpokwasili) deepens the divisions, and in the last third, her meaning and mission becomes clear - or clearish, the ending is a little confusing.

One interesting thing about the movie, is that this family is black, but it makes almost no difference to the story. This sort of race neutrality is impressive.

Director Jaume Collet-Serra has made a number of thrillers that we haven't seen, and Jungle Cruise and Black Adam which we did. But we liked both of those movies, critics (and audiences) be damned. I don't know if Woman is a more personal movie for him, or just a simpler, lower budget movie. Anyway, Mrs Spenser thought it was a little intense - more traumatic than scary, and I thought it was a little obvious, and the ending a little muddy, But a decent horror without much gore or jump scares. 

Batavia Girl

I guess you could say that Valentine (2017) is just another Indonesian female-led comic book movie, like Sri Asih. If there are any others, I'll probably watch those as well. 

A near future Indonesian Batavia City is in the grips of a crime wave. A journalist, Matthew Settle, thinks that if people had a role model, preferably female, it might turn the tide. He wants to make a movie, but can't find a pretty girl who is skilled at martial arts. Then, in a cafe, some toughs start acting up, and pretty waitress Estelle Linden lays them to waste. So Settle offers her a new job as star of his movie.

On their first outing, Linden quickly realizes that this "movie" is going to be wandering around the city. looking for crimes, her defeating the bad guys, and Settle and crew filming it on phones for social media. 

I won't get into the plot, because I've forgotten it. I did note that at no time did the populace seem to take hope from this young superhero - at least, they never turn on the gangsters. I'll also note that the fight choreography is mid-tier at best. But the style is largely pencak silat, which I enjoy watching, even if only on an amateur level. 

So, not a great comic book movie, or martial arts movie, or even a movie to encourage us to fight crime in our community. But fun enough so that I'll probably watch any other Indonesian comic book movie I find. 

Super Dog!

I was looking forward to seeing James Gunn's Superman (2025). The buzz was good, there's a dog in it (Krypto), and some other Justice ... Thingy members. 

It starts in the middle of things: Supes (David Corenswet) has been clobbered into the Arctic ice by a foe from over the horizon. He has recently stopped one comic opera dictatorship from invading a poorer neighbor, and the super-villain is aligned with the dictatorship. So he's pretty low. However, faithful dog Krypto shows up - to play with him. It takes a while, but he does get Krypto to drag him to the Fortress of Solitude, where his robots (voiced by Alan Tudyk, Michael Rooker, and Pom Clementieff) revive him with yellow sunlight. They also play his parents, Jor-el (Bradley Cooper) and Lara Lor-van's final message to him - up to where it is damaged.b

Back in Metropolis, Supes is again clobbered, and we get to see part of why. Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) is controlling the fight from a nearby skyscraper. His tactics are based on years of studying Superman. But he calls his henchman off - this is just softening Superman up. By the way, Hoult is a great villain. He's been killing it lately. 

We get to see Corenswet as Clark Kent hanging out with coworkers, and fake-feuding with Lois. Because this Lois (Rachel Brosnahan) knows who Clark Kent is. At her apartment, she goads him into giving her an interview, and it gets under his skin. This is a cute scene, letting Corenswet get a little deeper into Superman's concern with Right and people's lives - and getting frustrated that everyone doesn't see it.

When Lex sends a tiny but quickly expanding kaiju to Metropolis as a distraction, Superman doesn't have to fight it alone. The Guy Gardner Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), bowlcut ad all, along with Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi) show up to help out. Fillion, a bit of a jerk, announces them as the Justice Gang, a name Merced denies. 

During this distraction, Lex's team invade the Fortress of Solitude, and steal the damaged message from Supe's parents. He is able todecode the damaged section, and discovers that the Kryptonians were urging their son Kal-El to conquer the puny Earthlings and bend them to his will. Releasing this causes everyone to turn on Superman, and for him to even start doubting himself. So he hands himself over to the government, who hand him over to Luthor. Who puts him in a pocket dimension prison, along with his ex-girlfriends. And he keeps him there with kryptonite.

Aside from being a well-made piece of modern action film, this movie has two things going for it. One is Corenswet's sweet, kind, ethical Superman - a man who says that trust in others is punk rock. The other is the goofy subversion of superheroes, like the obnoxious Guy Gardner. Ma and Pa Kent are decent, but basically toothless hicks. Jimmy Olsen is his old-style dweeby self, but also irresistable to women, including Luthor's bimbo girlfriend. And the biggest joke of all, Krypto - an annoying. poorly trained dog, who turns out to be Supergirl's. And she neglects him to go to party planets. 

I wonder if this is sustainable. The funny, deconstructed superhero movie seems to be ascendant now, with Gunn's The Suicide Squad or Thunderbolts* as examples. But keeping that tome with a hero who is sincere, kind, and just not that goofy might be tough. And even if Gunn (now in charge of the DC-verse) pulls it off, is this what we want? Are we never to have a serious, or scary, or awe-inspiring superhero movie again?

Who knows? who knows if the superhero movie will survive, or even movies at all. I guess I'll take them as they come.