The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)

Director: Mike Mitchell

Cast: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Tiffany Haddish

Have I Seen it Before: Nope. Somehow missed the movie while it was in theaters. 

Did I Like It: That above statement might dictate this one once again, but you know what? I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this one is… sigh… awesome.

The first The Lego Movie (2014) was a revelation wrapped up in a movie that had no right to claim anything resembling a revelation. It’s ultimate twist that—like a Toy Story (1995) with a heaping portion of self-awareness—the proceedings are the playful mental wanderings of a boy (Jadon Sand) trying to just play with his father’s massive collection of Lego. It was a deceptively powerful meditation on creativity wrapped up in a movie wherein one of the characters is constantly asking after the location of his pants.

Where could a possible sequel even go from that high example? The first film sets up a new threat by allowing the boy’s sister (Brooklyn Prince) to also play with the massive piles of bricks, thus threatening to ruin all the boy’s master plans, starting the cycle all over again.

And this is where many may want to break ways with the new film. The revelation is gone, and each plot development is predictable first and enjoyable second. 

The question then becomes, is this a problem? Is it fair to compare the film to its progenitor? Is it fair to expect every film clearly made for children to re-wrinkle our adult brains? The answer to all three of those questions are probably no. 

To bypass the question of fairness, and address them in reverse order: It’s not fair to expect every movie made for children to really blow our collective hair back. There are plenty of great children’s films that possess only quality storytelling without any Charlie Kaufman-esque antics in place. 

While it may not be fair to compare this sequel to its predecessor, that comparison is hard to avoid, and through that prism the film suffers slightly. 

But here’s the takeaway: that isn’t a problem. The film is enjoyable, charming, and visually doesn’t let up. It may benefit from coming after the more aggressively disappointing Lego Batman Movie (2017). So what if it isn’t one of the greatest animated movies of all time? Thankfully there are plenty of perfectly fine films within the genre that aren’t as awesome as some of the others.

Brightburn (2019)

Director: David Yarovesky

Cast: Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Matt Jones

Have I Seen it Before: At the time of this writing, this is a brand new release. That being said, I feel like I’ve seen most of this movie many, many times.

Did I Like It: The movie absolutely delivers on its premise. It doesn’t really reach for anything else, however.

The “what if Superman’s origin had gone a little bit differently” conceit has gotten a fair amount of play in the last twenty years. Red Son envisioned what would happen if, instead of the Kansas countryside, Kal-El of Krypton instead landed in the middle of the Soviet Union. True Brit likewise puts the seminal moment of Superman’s origin in the UK and gives him all the inferiority complex endemic to the British identity. Even I once dabbled in the notion, sending the Kryptonian escape pod in the middle of a rally for the Reagan/Bush re-elect, is adopted by the Gipper, and thus solidifies the Man of Steel’s fate as the protector of Truth, Justice, and the Republican way.

It was probably for the best that I never got terribly far on that idea.

So, we are dropped in with a similar mentality into this movie. Here, the environment in which gthe visitor from another world is largely the same. Kyle and Tori Breyer (Denman and Banks) have the same inherent wholesomeness of Ma and Pa Kent, while at the same time making sure everyone knows that their hipness is not to be questioned. Banks dresses in Ramones t-shirts and sings Bob Marley and the Wailers songs like they were lullabies*. 

They’re so boss.

And I think this is where I would have preferred for the film to reach a little bit more. If Brandon (Dunn) were dealing with an environment that either didn’t think he was special or was completely ill-equipped to deal with him at his best, the horror might have felt more tragic and less inevitable. I guess I just want to see the version of the story where Superman lands among people who are more emblematic of the worst the midwest has to offer.

Then he might have had some subversive reason to turn on humanity. As it stands, the film hums along on the promise of its premise, occasionally startling, and a few interesting moments of gore. It won’t be remembered much beyond this weekend, I think.

* Extreme digression alert, but I just now realized that the reason “Three Little Birds” gets so much play in I Am Legend (2007) is because it comes from the album Legend? Is it possible that film has layers? May need to re-watch it for this space.

The Hunger Games (2012)

Director: Gary Ross

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, A Hemsworth, Woody Boyd, and a well-paid Stanley Tucci and Elizabeth Banks

Have I Seen it Before: Yes? Did I see it in the theater? I can’t honestly remember.

Did I Like It: I guess, but… Well, we’ll get to that later.

The cinematic adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ first novel in The Hunger Games series is stylishly directed, and the cast is better than one might expect for the material and genre, benefiting from casting a still-unknown Jennifer Lawrence before she became a bona fide movie star, and other performers like Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, and even Stanley Tucci who might otherwise seem like they were slumming it a bit, appearing in such a YA yarn, but are actually amiable screen presences and professional performers, that you never get the sense that this was anything other than the roles they were meant to play.

And yet…

Here’s my problem, and it actually stems from the books, I suppose, so it’s entirely possible that the filmmakers should get a pass. It is a matter of believability. 

I mean, I think I get that the story is supposed to be a parable tying in elements of the gladiators of ancient Rome, the antebellum south, and thorough reading of the Cliff’s Notes of 1984, but like nobody is happy about the Hunger Games taking place. It puts the powers of the Capitol in doubt, and it’s not like anyone who lives in a District lower than 2 is thrilled with the idea of having to go and fight these things. Why did they agree to all of this? Is there some kind of better explanation for this as the films/novels go on? Maybe I’m in for the whole ride now to find out. Maybe, in that respect, it is less of a flaw than a virtue. I imagine I’ll have thoughts on this issue as things progress.

Also—with a similar level of dubiousness—how did Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) live that long. He should have been out in the initial rush for supplies.