“His Dark Materials” Concludes with an Ambitiously Impactful Coda (Review)

How could His Dark Materials be adapted as anything but a television series? The epic scale of the novels may suggest that it should be made for the biggest screen possible, but the sprawling narrative lends itself more towards long-form storytelling, which fits in perfectly with the seemingly unlimited medium of television. Perhaps that’s why the televised co-production between the BBC and HBO has proven to be so successful over the last three years while the 2007 film adaptation of The Golden Compass (the series’ first book) bombed at the box office and never got a continuation.

That long-form storytelling has now paid off in the semblance of the television series’ third and final season, which adapts Phillip Pullman’s third novel The Amber Spyglass. It’s the culmination of dramatic season-long build-up which only began to make itself fully clear near the middle of Season Two, but which incorporates the series’ longer-running plotlines and characters thought to be long-forgotten. In this way, the final season does what any climax should, bringing together everything that has come before in an effort to tie it up in a satisfying manner.

Random Musings: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021)

I know — of all the films to do an additional article about, why Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a direct-to-streaming animated feature I only felt passively positive towards? In my review, I talk about my history with the Wimpy Kid book series and film franchise, and I had some thoughts I couldn’t find a natural place for in my review. Therefore, it’s time for some random, scattered thoughts — and of course, there are spoilers ahead.

• I mentioned this in the review proper, but I’m still conflicted about the movie’s runtime. I think they could’ve expanded it a little bit and included some fun storylines from the first book (including the disastrous school play), but I can appreciate the briskness and “no bullshit” attitude. Granted, the first book in the series is far from my favorite, so if they devote more time to the gradually-crazier sequels, I can get on board for that.

• Is it just me, or does the animation style feel a bit cheap? The characters look odd, and the backgrounds and locations don’t seem very filled-out and are very stock. Sure, in the book the backgrounds and locations are virtually nonexistent (being portrayed as 2D embellishments in Greg’s “journal”), but this is a movie, and a movie needs to at least look appealing.

• As much as I like Brady Noon as the voice of Greg, I don’t think anyone can beat Zachary Gordon’s portrayal in the first three live-action films. He captures Greg’s utter abrasiveness and polarizing nature perfectly, in a way that I don’t think many could do.

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  Speaking of Greg, I’m not sure this adaptation really frames him in the terrible light he deserves. Greg Heffley is a manipulative and disrespectful person, and of course the goal of a story is to show its protagonist in a positive light — but part of the genius of the Wimpy Kid book series is that it has Greg, the narrator and main character, attempting to make himself the hero, but it’s painfully obvious everything he does is wrong. I don’t mean to keep comparing this movie to the books, but that’s clearly what they were emulating, and if they keep adapting the series into these Disney+ films, the comparisons should be expected.

• This has virtually nothing to do with this specific film, but I think this is the perfect place to share a Wimpy Kid theory my friend Xander and I have been cooking for a few years. In the sixth book of the series, Cabin Fever, Greg and his entire family get snowed into their house. They lose and power and everything. Our theory is that Greg actually died in this book, and — hear me out! — the rest of the series shows him in purgatory. What’s the supporting evidence, you might ask? First off, he never gets older. The first six could plausibly take place in his first year or two of middle school, but over the next ten books? Give me a break. Also, while the situations Greg runs into in the first six are relatively realistic and manageable, they get flat-out insane and borderline sadistic in the next ten. Need I continue?

Review: “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is Detrimentally Cheesy

To quote Dune’s Baron Harkonnen, “when is a gift not a gift?”

The third Diary of a Wimpy Kid film reboot is upon us, this time in the form of a 3D animated Disney+ original that strictly adapts the first book (released nearly fifteen years ago…now I’m feeling a bit old). Like the others, Wimpy Kid follows Greg Heffley (voiced here by Good Boys’ Brady Noon) as he navigates the complexities of middle school with his well-meaning best friend Rowley.

I’ll be honest — I’m a big fan of the books. I buy the new one every year, and I usually find them to be enormous fun. I enjoyed most of the other film adaptations (barring 2017’s The Long Haul), and so naturally I was excited for this reboot. When I pulled it up to watch, I was initially hesitant at the scant 58-minute runtime. That technically makes it a feature film, but it’s not a good sign.

“Resident Evil” Review: Stay a While in Raccoon City

I’m told that Welcome to Raccoon City, a total franchise reboot, is much more faithful to the Resident Evil games than the previous six films. I have neither seen the other films nor played the games, so I was going into this completely blind.

I think that might’ve been the best way to do it. Welcome to Raccoon City spells out everything it needs to (sometimes annoyingly so) and the story is simple to understand for us non-gamers. Claire Redfield, played by Kaya Scodelario, returns to the city she grew up in, just as shady corporation Umbrella is moving out of Raccoon City in favor of a new location. However, they’re leaving behind a (literally) toxic mess that quickly spirals out of control, transforming the town’s residents into zombies.

A well-used $25 million budget does the film a service, allowing it to really live up to its premise. There’s no shying away from violence, oftentimes cartoonish and absurdly fun: zombies munching on eyeballs, hell-hounds leaping through car windows and flaming truck drivers are some of the film’s many offerings. Not all of it has to make sense, but it brings with it a certain sense of self-awareness that we’ve been seeing a lot of in the horror genre recently. I don’t mind it — I actually think it improves Raccoon City — but I think this element of modern horror film should start to take a backseat in favor of more original ideas. And from what I hear, Raccoon City doesn’t have too many of those.

Review: “Dune” Tells an Exciting, But Incomplete Story

In the case of a film adaptation of a novel, I’m in favor of letting both stand on their own. After all, the plot, ideas and characters of the novel is being re-interpreted for the screen, and it should cater to a wider audience and not just fans of the source.

The world of Frank Herbert’s Dune is so complicated and detailed, it’s quite a feat to even attempt a film adaptation. David Lynch’s 1984 movie worked for some and not for others, but Denis Villeneuve comes with a different approach: his Dune adapts roughly half of the original 1965 novel, which is both its strongest success and biggest disappointment.

Review: “Dear Evan Hansen” Brings Broadway to Cinema, with Mixed Results

There are certain things that are meant to be seen on the stage. Some of these translate very well to the screen — Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd and Little Shop of Horrors are prime examples — but unfortunately, Dear Evan Hansen isn’t one of them.

I've seen the stage play twice, and I’ve loved it both times. Upon its release, it received praise from critics and audiences alike for being an emotional, empathetic tale about growing up, facing the truth and the value of family — some very strong themes, that by all means should translate very well into any medium.

The film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen brings original Broadway star Ben Platt back as the titular lead, and yes, it’s as jarring as you’ve heard. Platt is a 28-year-old playing a high school student, and that was all I could think about most of the time he was on screen. The aged-down makeup, involving some curly hair to disguise his age, is only partially successful, and it can be distracting. It doesn’t detract from his performance in any way, though — Platt is still the best part of the film, from his stellar vocals to his heartbreaking performance as a teenager struggling with deep-set (if at times stylized) anxiety.

Review: Welcome to the “Jungle Cruise”

I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised when Jungle Cruise, the latest Disney period film to be based on a theme park ride (but almost certainly not the last), opened with an orchestral arrangement of a Metallica song — performed by Metallica themselves! It’s a bit of an odd choice, but the music, courtesy of James Newton Howard, continues to be wonderful throughout the entire film — thank goodness for its strong start.

Jungle Cruise stars Emily Blunt as Dr. Lily Houghton, who travels to the Amazon with her brother McGregor (had to look that one up), played by the pathetically charming Jack Whitehall. In the Amazon, Lily meets Frank, the charismatic and witty skipper of a charter boat played, of course, by guaranteed franchise-starter Dwayne Johnson. The three of them navigate through the jungle (I wish Jumanji hadn’t snatched up “Welcome to the Jungle,” an orchestral cover would’ve been a dream come true) in search of a MacGuffin that will heal the world, or something. It’s all in the name of adventure — the destination is less important than the journey here.

Review: Courage and Honor Drive “The Green Knight”

The best word I could think of as I sat in the theater, watching the credits fly by on screen for David Lowery’s new film The Green Knight, was “wow.” My thought process was soon able to transcend that single word and I could form coherent thoughts. Here they are.

Adapted from the 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, this hybrid fantasy/drama features Dev Patel as the titular Sir Gawain, faced with a choice one day in King Arthur’s court. A knight (played by the unrecognizable, yet incomparable Ralph Ineson) offers a challenge, for any member of the court to lay a blow against him with his own axe. However, one year hence, the knight will be able to do the same to the brave one who dares face him. The brash Gawain, seeking glory and recognition, decapitates the knight, but of course that isn’t the end. For Gawain, the story has only just begun.

As a critic, this film is hard to review. As a viewer, time lost all control as I was pulled into a fully-realized, dirty, grimy, brutal fantasy world, in which the rules of magic are never explained and you aren’t sure what’s real and what isn’t until the film’s conclusion…and even then, not every question is answered. I would be lying if I said this film didn’t spark conversation with the people I saw it with — in fact, The Green Knight led to some of the best film discussions I’ve had in a while.

“The Witcher” Season One Review: Dive Deep into a New Fantasy World

Up until recently, I’d never played a video game, and I’ve never been knowledgeable of the subject, but I knew some of the major ones; and one that I’d always heard of but never paid much attention to was the Witcher games, adapted by the Polish fantasy novels by Andrzej Sapkowski. As with any other game, they never interested me…until Netflix announced a big-budgeted episode series based on the stories of the novels and games.

Now, this didn’t exactly catch my fancy, but I saw news about it. It was given a massive budget, Henry Cavill (known to me then exclusively as the DCEU’s Superman) campaigned for the lead role of Geralt of Rivia, and he eventually got it. Until its release, I put it on my radar.

The week that it was released, a bunch of my friends had already binged the entire series. It was winter break, and so everyone had more time on their hands. On the first day of the new year, I watched the first episode to see what all the fuss was about.

“An American Pickle” Review: Defying All Sorts of Expectations

Despite being a comedy, An American Pickle manages to defy Seth Rogen’s genre.

How, you might ask? How does this new streaming film challenge the typically-R-rated actor’s method of entertainment?

To start off, most of his films are “rooted in realism.” This doesn’t mean their contrived conflicts and insanity could (and would) actually happen, but they’re set in a familiar time, or political climate, that the audience can relate to.

Of course, there are some exceptions. Sausage Party and This is the End, among others, don’t exactly scream ‘relatable.’ However, An American Pickle isn’t a part of that group, but it wouldn’t find a place among his other films either. Instead, it’s in a league of its own.

“The Umbrella Academy” Season Two Review: The Seven Stages of Fun

Note: This review was originally published in The Cape Cod Chronicle in August 2020.

by Rowan Wood

Time travel is a tricky business, that arrives, much like the heroes in the latest season of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, with a whole host of questions: how do you avoid cliché time travel pitfalls? How can these characters grow and evolve, beyond their first-season selves? Most of all, how do you keep things original, and unique to the world you’ve created?

Thankfully, Netflix’s big-budget, ten-episode format is the perfect medium to tell the story that the show needed to tell. After the massive cliffhanger of the first season, the superpowered Hargreeves siblings are stranded at different points in the early 1960s, and must reunite to stop a world-ending apocalypse on November 25, 1963.

“The Umbrella Academy” Season One Review: Addictive, Fantastical Hero Drama

Weird is the new norm for television. And while the first season of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy is certainly not as outlandish and far-reaching as the comic series it’s based on, it certainly (rather gleefully) buys into the strangeness that the world offers.

Set contemporarily (though the timeline is ambiguous, and full of anachronisms), the superbly styled first season picks up thirty years after a number of women around the world mysteriously gave birth, despite having never been pregnant in the first place. Eccentric billionaire Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) manages to purchase seven of the children, and he raises them to be a profitable team of superheroes (given that, aside from one of them, the children all have extraordinary abilities).

“I Am Not Okay with This” Review: A Violent, Profane, Bloody Good Time

The series boasts a strong soundtrack.

Coming-of-age stories are a dime a dozen these days, but most of the genre newcomers manage to put a new spin on it that makes for decently entertaining and original viewing. I Am Not Okay with This is the latest of these offerings, from streaming giant Netflix, and thankfully it’s able to establish itself as a unique enough story to be worth your time.

Adapted from a comic series by Charles Forsman (who also wrote “The End of the F***ing World,” another comic adapted into a critically-acclaimed series by Netflix), I Am Not Okay with This is narrated by Syd Novak (Sophia Lillis), whose adolescence was hijacked by the untimely death of her father. The all-too-short seven-episode series chronicles Syd’s journey as she deals with her budding feelings for her best friend Dina (Sofia Bryant), a hesitant romance with the boy next door (Wyatt Oleff) and a sudden case of alarming telekinetic abilities.

“The Plot Against America” (Episode One) Review: A Relevant and Engaging Introduction

In today’s age of competitive streaming services and premium television networks, HBO is held to a high standard as a reliable producer of intriguing and powerful original series and films. After the rocky ending of Game of Thrones, HBO has come back into the fray with strong series such as The Outsider, Avenue Five, and now, The Plot Against America.

Like most HBO dramas, The Plot Against America tackles intense and hard-hitting themes. It does it earnestly, though, without an obvious direction or path that will keep you glued to your television with cautionary involvement and rapt attention.

“Joker” Review: Put on a Happy Face

Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker look was devised by makeup artist Niki Lendermann.

The iconic Batman villain Joker has been known by several names over his seventy-nine years of life on the page, among them the Clown Prince of Crime, the Ace of Knaves, the Jester of Genocide, the Harlequin of Hate, and many more. However, unlike most comic book villains, he’s never had his “true” origin story firmly established. Until now.

Todd Phillips’ take on the painted-faced maniac stars Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, a man (literally) beaten down by a society that doesn’t care for him. Arthur is affected by a chronic condition that causes him to sporadically laugh uncontrollably, which not only causes him physical pain but is a detriment to the social life he dearly wants to have. Aspiring to be a stand-up comedian, he has a job as a clown-for-hire, while also tending to the needs of his mother (Frances Conroy), whose misplaced hope in Trumpian businessman Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen) is affecting her mentally and indirectly causing her family financial ruin. On top of all that, Arthur’s one chance at stand-up comedy is being mocked by his favorite late-night talk show host, Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro). It seems that life itself has conspired against Arthur, and it takes a toll.