The Best of Enemies (2019)

Score: 3 / 5

The new season's follow-up to Green Book, The Best of Enemies manages to stay afloat largely due to the talents of its cast and its endearing story.

Endearing, if not quite heartwarming. It starts as a delicious mix of stinging comedy and drama as civil rights activist Ann Atwater and KKK leader C.P. Ellis clash time and again in their home of Durham, North Carolina, in the hot summer of 1971. Each leads their respective town factions in attempting to better their lives -- no, that's not quite right. Let's edit it to say that Atwater fights to better the lives of black folk in Durham while Ellis seems quite content to keep things as they are, with the occasional white terrorist attack against the already disadvantaged black folk as a reminder that they aren't welcome.

It's exactly this shift in perspective that reveals the central problem with this movie: Much like the "Best Picture" winner last year, Enemies washes over lots of its issues with a cutesy, sentimental facade that suggests to a casual consumerist audience humor and heart in issues of life and death over racial anxieties. This maudlin sensibility is mobilized as the movie largely moves us through the perspective of the Ellis character, whose character arcs from strong KKK leader to weak KKK leader. It's not terribly dynamic, and its centrality indicates the film's deep ambivalence to the horrors lurking just off-screen.

That said, the character arc is surprisingly realistic, something the film's most vocal critics completely miss. Sure, Taraji P. Henson's Atwater character is severely short-served by the script, but this movie isn't meant to lionize an angry black woman (for better or worse; I personally would favor that movie that allows her to amaze us with her power). It's meant for the bigoted white folk in the audience, however few of them there may be, and for all of us white folk who tend to be silent or distanced from such issues. It's meant to show us how even the slightest change in our mannerisms, behavior, and beliefs can have such a shattering impact on our community.

In this way and in this light, I feel justified in saying I liked the movie. It reads more like a Hallmark special than a feature film, but sometimes that's okay too. As the two factions of Durham engage in their "charrette" -- town hall meetings to discuss and solve a series of self-identified social conflicts -- the film rolls along in familiar, predictable patterns designed to put the audience at ease; a few nasty shocks keep us engaged, though. The performances are solid if bland, the style functional if tasteless, but you can feel the beat of its heart. Good intentions and workmanlike craft make The Best of Enemies worth a watch and discussion, if nothing more.

Pete's Dragon (2016)

Score: 4.5 / 5

Disney's on a bit of a winning streak, and this one is just the latest jewel in its crown. A nostalgic bit of magic, the film reminds us of a time when "Disney movies" meant something, when as a kid I would look at the beautiful Disney VHS cases at rental stores and eagerly look forward to the color and lights, feel the kindness and joy of characters, and feel empowered and affirmed. Sure, I can now recognize some serious ideological flaws in even the oldest Disney classics. But that doesn't necessarily mean I don't still feel a tingle of joy when I consider re-viewing Sleeping Beauty or Snow White. It's that kind of magic Disney is bringing back to its films, but now they (mostly) have stronger, better messages. Look at the purpose and power of Judy Hopps, the feminist and queer dynamics of Queen Elsa, the autonomy of Mowgli, the community of care and love around Dory, and the honest consequences of wishes and actions in Into the Woods. Disney still has its missteps (as in the colossal waste of time and energy of the Cinderella remake), but by and large they are still decent exercises in filmmaking, and they surely bring joy to some.

I don't really remember the original -- with the notable exceptions of Mickey Rooney, absurd musical numbers, and the trippy cartoon beast itself -- but I do remember distinctly not liking it. I was, you might imagine, a little hesitant to go see this remake. Thankfully my worries were proven unnecessary.

Pete's Dragon hits all its marks. It's a totally safe and sweet PG adventure, a rollicking coming-of-age dramedy with some light action, some familiar drama, and a whole lotta heart. It's one of those movies dripping with sentiment that actually works. A pretty thin film, full of breathtaking special effects and wonderful vision, simple and straightforward, never promising more than it gives and relishing the smallest of moments just long enough for us to take everything in. Director David Lowery (Ain't Them Bodies Saints) and cinematographer Bojan Bazelli (The Ring, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Hairspray, Burlesque) imbue the film with a mythic quality that starts small and builds to a charming if safe climax, all while keeping the action controlled and measured. While the effects are massive, there's no overkill; whereas the original was hallucinatory and vivid, everything here is grounded and detailed realistically, including the dragon itself. Furry and green, it emotes perhaps more than any of the actors.

That's not to say the actors aren't on their game, though the script only gives a couple of them anything to work with. Little Oakes Fegley is a wonder to watch and a joy to behold as he commands the screen in every shot. Bryce Dallas Howard is the other joy here, delivering a turn as loving mother and motherly guardian of the Pacific Northwest forest. Robert Redford pops in for a few scenes as the grandfatherly narrator, and both Wes Bentley and Karl Urban run around with appropriate and contrasting energies.

The greater joys for me lie in the production itself. Besides the visual magic, Lowery's screenplay refocuses the story, simplifying the plot and making a clear case for environmentalism. He also continues a trend we've seen in Boyhood and Room, allowing a boy to mature before our eyes, while surrounding him with an amazing mother figure. The music by Daniel Hart is primarily folksy, helping the mythic presentation along, while strengthening major themes of family and home. Home may be where the heart is, but it's also a place in the world, a place in time, and the place with the people we love. Pete finds a home in the forest with Elliott the dragon, he also finds home with his surrogate family in town; Elliott ultimately finds his own home, farther away from "civilization" that ravages the land and his species.

Pete's Dragon is a lovely little meditation on all these and more, and a simple joy to watch. In a summer of films that are largely disappointments, that's a pretty great thing to say.

IMDb: Pete's Dragon

Interstellar (2014)

Score: 3 / 5

It feels important. It feels sometimes dreamlike. It feels like Oscar-bait. Christopher Nolan's newest, much-anticipated cosmic drama was, frankly, a disappointment to me. But it is also quite beautiful, and in unexpected ways.

Typical of Nolan's work, Interstellar makes you think while it awes you with great visuals. Its fanciful appeal keeps the lengthy running time (almost three hours) not quite unbearable. Though not as explicitly dazzling as the special-effects-heavy Oscar winners of the last two years (2013's Gravity, 2012's Life of Pi), Interstellar features truly amazing effects and visual art. Perhaps my attention was most captured by the practical appearance of those effects. I've not read much about the making of the film, but it seems to me that more of the effects were tricks of science and photography, rather than straight computer generation. That's a really interesting choice for a space adventure, and one that keeps it fresh and absorbing.

But the emotional substance of the film falls short of its visuals. Nolan and his brother Jonathan intriguingly wrote the film with an emphasis on human (especially family) drama rather than wild space exploration and adventure. But I think they failed at balancing what might be a moving family drama and what could have been a riveting sci-fi excursion. The film is only occasionally "exciting" in the typical sense of the word, and though a lot of the characters cry most of the time it's never cathartic; this film may tug at your heartstrings, but you can also feel the heavy hand that plucks 'em. Though the dialogue has its moments -- often heightened and abstract -- there are only so many times I want to hear Michael Caine recite the same verse. In fact, I think the most emotional connection I made to the film was through the lovely score by Hans Zimmer.

The acting is really solid, fortunately. Matthew McConaughey gives a powerhouse lead performance that will surely garner some award nominations. Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway tag-team as his strongest supporting castmates, and Hathaway especially delivers in a crucial monologue about the essence of love, about halfway through the film. These dynamic ladies, though, are featured with lots of close-ups of alternating crying and anger; they are giving great strength, but Nolan's direction sometimes works against them. Other actors Wes Bentley, Michael Caine, Matt Damon, John Lithgow, and Ellen Burstyn are all fine, though their roles are all quite brief.

I really liked the first hour of the movie, and the second hour only a little less. The family drama is a little too familiar, but paired with this cast and the high-stakes science, it's no less engaging. Not all of Nolan's dramatic choices work as well as he obviously wanted them to, and frankly I was annoyed and shocked by all the sizeable plot holes in the picture. Nolan usually knits up his plots with incredible detail, so this felt quite uncharacteristic. But in the third hour (or at least the third act, as I wasn't really keeping time), I just checked out. I don't want to spoil anything, but the already out-of-this-world film gets aggressively weird, and I just couldn't take it any more. It felt wildly contrived and forced, and Nolan's already sentimental approach controlled the last half hour so much that I was giggling at the melodrama. That, I guess, is not the response we're supposed to have.

IMDb: Interstellar