Poor Things

 

Score:  A

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

Starring Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef

Running time: 142 minutes

Rated R

Long Story Short:  Poor Things is a top Oscar contender, a wild un-categorizable adventure from the creative mind of Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Favourite).  You can call it a retelling of Frankenstein, but that only skims the surface.  Emma Stone gives a great, wide-ranging performance as the "monster" in leading a movie that engages the senses but also will keep you thinking long after it's over.  Highly recommended.

In 19th century London, a medical student, Max, (Youssef) struggles for the attention of a doctor he admires, named Godwin (Dafoe).  Godwin finally hires Max as his assistant to take notes on an experiment he is conducting with a young woman named Bella (Stone).  Bella behaves very strangely and Max discovers that Godwin keeps a horrifying secret about her.  Bella undergoes rapid changes, however, and insists on leaving the confines of Godwin's home to explore the world.  While her companions don't always have the best intentions, Bella nevertheless continues to grow as she embraces her independence.

Poor Things is an odd but impressive film, taking inspiration from both old and new movie traditions to create a uniquely entertaining and thought-provoking experience.  The basic plot is a modern take on Frankenstein and while it certainly has some elements of horror, the main focus is on the "monster"'s development into a human being.  Bella has a long way to go: in the very first scene, she bangs away discordantly (also setting the horror mood) on a piano.  The first act is in black-and-white, which seems to evoke both the old monster movies as well as Bella's more primitive state.  On a small, room-level scale, the movie features realistic sets, but wider shots reveal a much more fantasy, even doll- or dream-like world.  This balance helps you to somehow both take the drama and characters seriously while also realizing it's really a conceptual exercise - tricky to do, but it worked (for me).  The visuals are also interesting in and of themselves, reminding me a little of Wes Anderson.  Still, I admit that I didn't like the movie a lot early on: even though I found Bella's bizarre behavior fascinating - particularly Stone's impressive physical performance - it leans more heavily on the horror, with all its characters feeling menacing and/or mysterious (most of them come to show at least a slightly softer side later on).

Once Bella leaves London with her questionable lawyer companion, Duncan, however, the movie really takes off.  Duncan is smooth but sleazy, and at first you fear that he'll take advantage of Bella.  However, after introducing Bella to the carnal pleasures of the world - from sex to great food to exotic cultures and locales - he soon finds that she is impossible to control.  This is where the movie's humor really flowers; while there's a bit of gloomy humor earlier, the combination of Ruffalo's loutish/buffoonish Duncan with Stone's ever more aware yet startlingly blunt Bella is often hilarious.  While sailing on a cruise ship, Bella learns more about the world around her, too, and is deeply moved, intellectually and morally, by philosophy and poverty.  When the cruise joy ride comes to a sudden end, the learning and laughs continue.  Bella, as much out of curiosity as necessity, tries out prostitution in Paris (yes, there is a LOT of sex in Poor Things.  But it's neither gratuitous, nor patronizingly silly).  The experience offers yet more growth for Bella, especially in the close relationships she forms with some co-workers.  Ultimately Poor Things can be seen as a fantastical yet potent feminist story as Bella discovers and embraces the joys and power of womanhood while also facing many of its obstacles.  I was especially intrigued by the masculine obstacles: the final one involves Bella delaying her "happily ever after" in order to glimpse her previous life and lover.  The horrific truth is soon revealed, and she quickly serves the bastard his just deserts before returning to the life path she deserves.

***

Poor Things has received quite a few Oscar nominations and when I found that it was coming to my theater, I jumped at the chance to see it.  The director's previous efforts, plus the opening parts of this one, made me a bit hesitant, despite their potential.  Yorgos Lanthimos is one of the most interesting filmmakers working today, but an uneven one: The Lobster was one of the worst movies I've ever seen, but The Favourite was quite interesting.  Poor Things is his best yet, and I like it better the more I think about it and write this review.  I think it does an especially great job of straddling multiple tricky lines: it's both vivid and unique in its presentation, while retaining a solid, watchable structure; it's also both subtle in many of its themes and character works but also refreshingly direct and clear.  I strongly recommend it for any adults - be prepared for the plentiful sex scenes and a few gross bits - but it's a unique and rewarding experience.

* By Searchlight Pictures - IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73929537

Aquaman 2: The Lost Kingdom

 

Score:  B

Directed by James Wan

Starring Jason Mamoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Running time: 124 minutes

Rated PG-13

Long Story Short:  Aquaman 2 is a nice follow-up to the 2018 original, with Jason Mamoa as entertaining as ever in the lead and plenty of fun action.  The plot is nothing new, but the movie does well to add a few neat wrinkles and often execute the well-worn ideas nicely.  It's a good-natured movie with lots of laughs, and it's probably your last chance to see this particular world in theaters.  Recommended for those looking for a nice blockbuster in the depth of winter.

Arthur (Mamoa), better known as Aquaman, struggles to juggle two very different roles: king of the powerful underwater nation of Atlantis, and father to a young human boy growing up on the coast.  As he attempts to keep it all together, an old nemesis, David Kane (Abdul-Mateen II), relentlessly searches for ways to exact revenge on him.  Kane, aka Black Manta, stumbles upon the remains of another, long-forgotten underwater kingdom, and with it the power to challenge Arthur and Atlantis.  Kane's power has become so great, and the threat to the world so high, that Arthur reluctantly turns to his half-brother - and former deadly rival - Orm (Wilson) for help.

Aquaman 2 is a solid, fun superhero movie, though somewhat anticlimactic considering it's (partially) the end of a major Hollywood era.  The story is fairly typical superhero adventure stuff, although it does get off to an impressive start by emphasizing the ridiculous yet charming duality of Arthur/Aquaman's roles: as both leader of Atlantis and father of a regular human baby.  Both of these are sources of great pride and joy, but each is quite challenging, with some amusing scenes of Aquaman dozing off in committee meetings and getting bombarded with various substances by his young son.  The villainous plot is fairly derivative: Kane/Black Manta seeking revenge on the hero and resurrecting a forgotten yet powerful civilization to do so.  But I was both surprised and impressed that the villain's plot is also directly tied to climate change - a real crisis!  It's fantasy-heightened, of course, but still great to see it featured so prominently in a blockbuster (and hopefully will help get more people to pay a bit more attention in the real world... OK, off my soap box!).  Manta also gets some interesting henchmen who get at least as much screen time as he does.  Aquaman doesn't bring his baby boy along on his adventures, of course, but instead turns to his brother, Orm, who he defeated in the first movie.  Again, there's plenty of familiarity to this dynamic, but it's still well done.  They have distinct, well-matched personas and the actors have good chemistry and engaged performances.  It also doesn't devolve into a revolting macho contest like the Fast & Furious movies.  Finally, there's plenty of fireworks action and humor throughout, making it an ideal theater movie.  Little of the action stands out from its peers, admittedly, but it also doesn't go overboard or become numbing, and there's good variety and interesting visuals to enjoy.  After defeating the villain, Arthur begins a hopeful first contact with humanity, and makes a nice tip of the hat to a superhero founding father, Iron Man, as a final sign off.

The release of Aquaman 2 also marks the end of what's been called the DC Extended Universe, a series of films that began with 2013's Man of Steel.  To me, the DCEU was always the Pepsi to Marvel's Coca-Cola, or the DreamWorks to Marvel's Pixar.  Still, I enjoyed most of the movies, and feel that the criticism it received often went too far.  The crucial moment came early, with the second movie, Batman vs Superman.  I was skeptical about this before I saw it, too, but I was actually impressed.  It's by no means perfect, but it has an interesting visual and tonal style that - crucially - was vastly different from Marvel, which had already conquered Hollywood, not just the genre.  After its panning by critics, though, DC quickly responded by essentially trying to copy Marvel.  This worked fine a few times, especially with the great Wonder Woman movie and, to a lesser extent, the first Aquaman.  But it also led to Justice League, a disastrous attempt to copy the Avengers and its superhero team.  Later, there were some other decent successes - I particularly liked the Harley Quinn spin-off, Birds of Prey - but also flops like Black Adam.  DC simply could never seem to decide how to approach its superhero movies, and ended up throwing everything at the wall to see what stuck.  It practically regurgitated its final four movies in 2023, as if to cleanse the system before - sigh - rebooting again.

***

We're now pivoting to a new era for the superhero genre, what has become probably my favorite and has certainly been the most successful in Hollywood over the last fifteen years.  But it's a very uncertain pivot, with many in the media predicting the genre's imminent decline.  Even Marvel appears - to some - to be in trouble after a disappointing 2023 (even I'll admit that it was a down year).  I believe the genre still has plenty of creative possibility left, though scaling back the output is probably a good idea.  Marvel has shown the rich story and character development potential of interconnecting its movies as if it's a gigantic TV - or comic book - series.  But it must still do so carefully and thoughtfully, seeing how the current narrative (i.e., the movies after Avengers: Endgame) has gone somewhat adrift.  For DC, who knows - it would be nice for them to take a breather for a few years, but if there's money to be made, they'll be back at it sooner.

* By IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68072093