Collateral Beauty (2016)

This year I'm seriously committing to watching all those movies that have been on my watchlist since the dawn of times because I always put them off. Collateral Beauty is one of them and since it was on TV some nights ago, I  finally watched it. 

The film mostly focuses on Howard Inlet (Will Smith), a successful advertising executive who has completely lost it after the death of his daughter. Building domino chains and writing letters to Love, Time, and Death, is all he does, and he's driving his company on the verge of bankruptcy. His three friends and business partners, Whit Yardsham (Edward Norton), Claire Wilson (Kate Winslet), and Simon Scott (Michael Peña), fear for the future of the company so, in order to save/sell it, they hire three actors, Amy (Keira Knightley), Raffi (Jacob Latimore), and Brigitte (Helen Mirren), to play Love, Time, and Death respectively, and convince him that nobody else can see them so to prove he's mentally unstable. 

It's a story with a lot of potential, unfortunately it was poorly executed —not only the entire plot is revealed within the first 15-20 minutes, but after a while it just stops going anywhere and it becomes just a dull sequence of events that lead to a first twist that was obvious from the character's first appearance and a less obvious second twist at the end that still fail to wow you. It feels like Collateral Beauty's wants to be a poignant, emotional story about loss and pain but also love and hope, but it just comes off as bland and cold. I didn't lose my interest but still, I wasn't compelled by it. 

The characters aren't much better than that as they are, just like the story, bland. We don't care about any of them and the ending is a relief only because it means the movie is over. Despite his interactions with Love, Time, and Death, Howard doesn't grow nor change in any way. The friends' motives are questionable at best. Furthermore, these characters are just fillers, their stories are tremendously rushed, feel forced and take away the focus from the mains storyline which ends up feeling like a subplot. 

Warner Bros. Pictures

The performances are meh. Will Smith pretty much gives the same performance he gave in The Pursuit of Happiness and Seven Pounds but this time around he didn't succeed in moving me to tears —I guess the director did the trick in the movies I just mentioned. Edward Norton was bad, and it really hurt as I'm a huge fan of his. Kate Wins finds herself stuck with one of the most generic roles ever. Helen Mirren is probably the only one trying here and as a result she gives a compelling performance as Brigitte/Death. 

Ultimately, Collateral Beauty tries to be a deep movie but it ends up being flat. There's some meaningful lines here and there, mostly delivered by Helen Mirren, but they come out of nowhere so they don't have much of an impact on us. Also, I'm not entirely sure I understood the whole concept of collateral beauty. I guess I'm too rational for this kind of movie. 

A Wrinkle in Time (2018)

I have a crush on Chris Pine since he did that movie with Linsday Lohan —I don't remember the title, it was something about luck, I think— so of course I wanted to see A Wrinkle in Time when it hit theatres. But then the bad, really bad reviews came and I skipped it. And I'm glad because I finally gave it a chance and it was a huge waste of time. 

The film follows Meg Murry (Storm Reid), her younger brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe) and her classmate Calvin (Levi Miller) as they join three magical beigns —Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon), Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling) and Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey)— to travel across the universe to search for her father (Chris Pine) who disappeared four years earlier.

I haven't read Madeleine L'Engle's novel so I don't know who is to be blamed for it, but the plot is absolutely not well put together, it does not flow smoothly as it just  jumps from place to place —at least, that's what it felt like—, it's filled with clichés and holes, and it's extremely boring.

The characters aren't any better than the plot. They are shallow, to say the least, every single one of them. It's impossible to connect with them and care about them. They have no development whatsoever and make the most idiotic decisions ever, and for no apparent reason. In other words, they are bland and uninteresting.

Just like the actors who play them. While Chris Pine tries to do something with that little he's given —there isn't a lot to do though—, the rest of the cast is just terrible. Reese Witherspoon and Oprah Winfrey are dull, and Mindy Kaling is annoying as hell and the kid actors simply can't act. When will Disney start hiring talented actors instead of these pretty but cringy kids? Also, Zach Galifianakis plays a character who had the potential to be wonderful if Michael Peña played him. Instead, they had Peña play a bland dude with red eyes.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

If anything, A Wrinkle in Time is visually beautiful with its nice cinematography and great special effects. Unfortunately, this cannot make up for the messy plot, the lack of any kind of action that would prevent it from being dreadfully boring, and a cast can't do anything or doesn't know what to do with the script. I can't believe Ava DuVernay, the same woman who directed Selma, made this. I just can't.

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Yesterday, now that basically the entire world, except for Portugal, China, and Japan (according to IMDb), has seen Ant-Man and the Wasp, Marvel's latest film finally hit theatres in my shithole country and since I love Marvel, I got the 9pm ticket hoping that I would not fall asleep in there (backstory, I wake up a 5am every day and I haven't been getting a lot of sleep in the past few days).

Set after the events of Captain America: Civil War but before those of Avengers: Infinity War, the film finds Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) under house arrest as he struggles to entertain himself. When he only has days left of confinement, Scott has a strange dream and decides to call Hank Pym (Michael Douglas). Pym and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) then approach Scott with an urgent new mission and Scott must put on the Ant-Man suit to face a new enemy.

Pretty much like every single Marvel movie out there, Ant-Man and the Wasp too has a very simple and rather predictable plot. And it isn't particularly compelling either as it lacks exciting plot points, solid twists and real complications as the obstacles are overcome way too easily. Also, there are several subplots that don't add much to the film, like the romantic subplot between Ant-Man and the Wasp, which deserved way better than this, and the worn out father and daughter subplot that is heartwarming as it's still a lovely relationship between a dad and her adorable daughter, but isn't properly developed.

The characters are kind of a mess too. The returning characters, Scott Lang, Hope van Dyne, Hank Pim, and Luis, are pretty thin; the new ones, specifically Hope's mother, Janet van Dyne, not only lacks development but doesn't have anything resembling characterization. Despite these flaws, I found myself caring about them and wanting them to succeed.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Which wasn't that hard since Ant-Man and the Wasp easily has some of the worst villains in Marvel's latest movies. Walton Goggins's Sonny Burch is completely useless as he doesn't have any motivation whatsoever and doesn't even work for humour. The worst though is Hannah John-Kamen's Ava Starr/Ghost. She is a really interesting addition to the film, we are given some backstory and her motivations. Unfortunately, she isn't particularly developed and soon the film gives up on her. And John-Kamen's performance makes the character even more forgettable.

All of that being said, Ant-Man and the Wasp still is an entertaining and enjoyable film, the main reason being some of the main actors. While Michael Douglas, but especially Laurence Fishburne and Walton Goggins are wasted in the film, Paul Rudd, who basically plays Paul Rudd, is wonderful as always, and once again makes for a strong and entertaining lead as he delivers plenty of humour. But it's Evangeline Lilly who steals the show every time she is on screen.

The film has pretty good humour too. While some of the jokes and gags fall flat --there'll still be that one person who laughs at every single joke though--, it is overall funny. Also, the action sequences and special effects, although they are pretty much copied from the previous film, are pretty awesome, and the soundtrack fits the film quite well.

12 Strong (2018)

I'm not the biggest fan of war movies and I usually avoid them, especially when I haven't heard much about them, whether it's good or bad things. 12 Strong stars Chris Hemsworth though and there's also Michael Shannon in it so I gave it a chance. 

The film tells the true story of a US Special Forces team, led by Captain Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth), who, weeks after 9/11, was sent into Afghanistan to retaliate. There they form an alliance with an Afgan warlord, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum (Navid Negahban), in order to fight a common enemy, the Taliban, and secure the strategic city of Mazar-i-Sharif. And they have to face off tanks and rockets on horseback.

And that's basically the reason 12 Strong was made, to bring to the screen a heroic and inspiring true story which to me, someone who is not American, looks like yet another propaganda against the Middle East and Islam in general that highlights how Americans saved another country and civilians from terrorists. 

If I were to leave that out, 12 Strong still wouldn't be nothing but a barely average war movie. The story isn't consistently engaging. It's interesting at first but it eventually becomes quite boring, and if it wasn't for Hemsworth's charisma, I would have probably stopped watching. Also, the story isn't even that moving. 

The characters are pretty basic and by that I mean that we learn pretty much nothing about them, with the three main characters being three strangers to us. We learn that they all have a family, period. They have no depth whatsoever and it's kind of hard to care about for them.

In spite of the lacklustre screenplay, the actors do a pretty good job overall. As I mentioned above, Hemsworth is charismatic and makes for a pretty good lead; Michael Shannon is a bit underused but he's great as always and Michael Peña brings some comic relief. 

Warner Bros. Pictures, Lionsgate

The action, on the other hand, is pretty good. If you are expecting 2 hours of pure action, you'll be disappointed. If you are expecting some intense and realistic action sequences, you won't be disappointed. It's a little confusing to watch at times because of the shaky camera you can't always tell who is who, but the sequences are pretty good.

Overall, 12 Strong isn't a terrible movie but it's definitely too long and quite boring. If you want to see something more compelling, watch Michael Bay's 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.