dmansel

Due to the events of Zack Snyder's Justice League, superhero and JL member Barry Allen is convinced he may have the ability to manipulate his Speed Force to travel back in time and prevent his mother's death and father's frame for it. When his attempt to save his family go awry and inadvertently changes the future, Barry becomes trapped in a timeline where Man of Steel's General Zod is on the precipice of conquering Earth. Utilizing the help of the Barry Allen from this dimension, as well that universe's Batman and Kryptonian, Barry is determined to set straight the tears in the fabric of reality that he himself has created.

As far as superhero adaptations go, The Flash is a decent addition. After years of delays with the filming of the movie, saddled with the further baggage of the ill advised actions of its main actor, its end result is a great story hidden within a messy product. After the back-to-back box office failures of Black Adam and Shazam: Fury of the Gods, Warner Brothers looked to The Flash to be the big win that help end the Zack Snyder era while beginning to pave the way for a new regime in storytelling for DC Comics. Sadly, due to a bloated runtime and cripplingly bad visual effects, what could've been a resounding victory for the company ends up being a mid tier movie that fails to cash in on its potential. An interesting premise, a meditation on the fact that even with the greatest power people can't control everything in their lives, is often undercut by late 90s/early 2000s era GCI and oddly placed jokes. With cavalcade of cameos ranging from instantly recognizable to morsels for the fans, The Flash is a serviceable feather in the cap of franchise in the midst of a reorganization but nowhere near the successful product they'd hoped for.

The Flash co-stars Michael Keaton and Sasha Calle as Batman and Supergirl, respectively. While seeing Keaton on screen suited up as The Bat again initially thrills, Keaton himself seems to be rarely present in the scene, delivering his lines without any real conviction or sense of purpose. The thrills mostly come from the recreation of the world Tim Burton and his crew directed (along with composer Benjamin Wallfisch's nods to Danny Elfman's score), with Wayne Manor's exterior shots draped in fog and its interior immediately reminiscent of the mansion's expansive room inside viewers came to love from the set design of the first two live action movies. Keaton's presence, while welcoming, is lethargic and lackluster, getting through his lines in order to collect his paycheck.

Sasha Calle is the breakout star of the film. As Kara Zor-El, cousin of Superman's Kal-El, her entrance into the film gives the audience a much different look at her arrival on Earth. Harkening back to a well received comic book story of the early 2000s, once Superwoman is able to break out and let loose she dominates the screen with her quiet brooding nature that changes as the story unfolds. A delight to watch, Calle would be a worthy addition to James Gunn and Peter Safrin's upcoming DC reboot.

Directed by Andy Muschietti, The Flash was a tall order from the beginning. After a veritably endless carousel of directors walking in and out of the chair, the It and It Chapter 2 helmsman was tasked with picking up the pieces of a number of different ideas and forging them into one unified vision. The end result is a flawed, yet entertaining movie that does a good job at balancing the action with the the character work. While the character work takes a bit of a back seat in the second act, the first and especially the third shows the viewer exactly who Barry Allen is, and the impact of his family on him. Pacing wise, the film wastes little time establishing his whereabouts since last seen in Zack Snyder's Justice League and the titular character attempting to justify to Bruce Wayne his intent to time travel. The story's second act, easily the weakest in the narrative, as well as being interminably long, loses the momentum gathered in the first before having to ramp back up to a fairly strong narrative conclusion. With General Zod being more of a side story than an actual plot device used to propel Barry's story forward, the confrontation between Flash, Zod, and Zod's troops serves as nothing more than a desperate clinging to what came before with Man of Steel.

Overall, The Flash is a decent enough superhero film. While there's justifiable frustration at the fact that inside the over convoluted kitchen sink of a story lies a possibly great film waiting to be unearthed, the result the audience is left with is a passable one. It's main star, while being overshadowed by Michael Keaton and Sasha Calle, takes the best of what worked with the character in previous movies and finds ways to continue fleshing him out. A fun enough adventure that pales greatly in comparison to the other multiverse film released a mere two weeks ago, The Flash will likely be remembered more for its controversial lead actor than for the movie itself.

Set 16 months after the events of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Across the Spider-Verse sees Miles Morales settling into his life as both Miles the son and student and Earth 1610's Ultimate Spider-Man. After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Miles is introduced to the concept of the multiverse, encountering Spider-Men of different dimensions. Upon meeting Miguel O'Hara, a clash of ideologies finds Miles at odds with every other Spider across the web. On his own, Miles has to find a way to thwart the Spider-Verse to save the ones he loves most.

Featuring the return of the main vocal talent of the first Spider-Verse film, Across the Spider-Verse has given the actors the opportunity to further explore the characters and this deepening of understanding has resulted in richly layered performances. Shameik Moore continues to delight as Miles Morales, less precocious than his initial outing and more fully inhabiting the role of your typical middle teenager attempting to navigate life while adhering to the 'great power/great responsibility' ethos that inhabits all who don the Spider mantle. Moore still continues to charm both the characters and the audience while also handling the weighty elements. Similarly, Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy shoulders a large slice of the drama as well. With the story's opening focusing more on her (this is just as much her movie as it is Miles'), Steinfeld rises to the challenge, giving us a conflicted Gwen that pulls Miles into a larger world. Oscar Isaac is properly menacing as Miguel O'Hara, Spider-Man 2099, the most tortured and driven member of the Spider collective. This is Isaac as unhinged as he's been in a film, animated or otherwise, and seeing a new facet of his performance is exhilarating.

Unfortunately, Isaac's O'Hara is almost a little too effective. His introduction into the movie near the halfway point completely overshadows the film's main villain The Spot, voiced by Jason Schwartzman. Starting out with a villain-of-the-week status before graduating to something more sinister, he's instantly likeable at the film's outset as a minor nuisance, pulling petty jobs to survive. His growth in stature might be one of the few weak points of the story; too much attention is paid to Miles and his various relationships to both his parents and Gwen, and not enough to The Spot. Spinning out of the events of the first Spider-verse film in a way that doesn't seem ham fisted, The Spot's back story is solid enough but his leveling up through the movie seems more an afterthought than an element worth focusing on.

In a number of instances when a project has multiple credited writers and multiple credited directors, that can spell disaster. Too many cooks in the kitchen is an oft quoted phrase and for the most part it's true: even when well intentioned, clashing ideologies, differing interpretations of the source material, and personal wishes can collide to create a final product that's unbalanced or downright sloppy. Such isn't the case with Across the Spider-Verse; the combined talents of Phil Lord, Chris Miller, David Callaham, Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson are in near perfect harmony, delivering a story that manages to balance character work and action. While differing animation styles coexisting on the screen may seem jarring at first, the blend is done in such a way that allows the characters to inhabit the same space while highlighting their origins. From a technical standpoint, this film will be the one all other animated stories chase. From a narrative focus, while not as enriching as the first movie, the writers have set the bar for an emotionally charged, high stakes sequel.

Overall, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is easily one of the year's most creative and entertaining films. Again, Lord and Miller, along with David Callaham, have provided a story that is not only wildly creative, but remembers to keep the characters and their relationships at the center of everything. With great vocal work from the returning cast, as well as the addition of Oscar Isaac, Jason Schwartzman, and Issa Rae, Across the Spider-Verse has set the standard for animated films going forward.

A high-end art thief becomes trapped inside a luxury, high-tech penthouse in New York's Times Square after his heist doesn't go as planned. Locked inside with nothing but priceless works of art, he must use all his cunning and invention to survive.

If you've seen the trailer, Inside is exactly what you think it is: a man trapped in a high-end condo with no avenues of escape. The no-frills, approach to the story hits the ground running with Willem DaFoe's Nemo trapped within the first 10 minutes. These 10 minutes are enough to establish the only necessaries the audience needs: art thief, in a penthouse loaded with expensive artwork, owner out of the country. The other 95 minutes showcase Nemo's ingenuity, his many setbacks, and his decaying thought process as the penthouse deteriorates into a wasteland of filth, a visual representation of his mental state. As a one man show, it's incredible to watch DaFoe's Nemo work through his obstacles and observe how he navigates his failures. As a movie, it's longer than it needs to be, wearing its premise thin before Nemo reaches his final conclusion.

Willem DaFoe is a one man force in this movie. While it's been done countless times throughout cinema to varying degrees (Sam Rockwell in Moon, Redford in All Is Lost, Tom Hardy in Locke), the concept of seeing only one person on the screen for the vast majority of the performance is a tall task for an actor and DaFoe's slow descent into madness is expertly conveyed. An actor who's shown multiple times over his career to play characters that are a bit unhinged or or coming apart at the scenes, DaFoe calls upon those past roles to portray a man losing his grip on reality the more desperate he becomes. The internet loves to poke fun at DaFoe's crazy eyes and wild performances, and Inside shows just how good he is with these types of roles.

Directed by first time director Vasilis Katsoupis, Inside shows promise in an interesting directing career while also displaying some flaws. A one person story that carries across an feature length runtime is a difficult enough feat for a veteran storyteller; Katsoupis tackles it right out of the gate. Inside is highlighted by its minimalist nature; the only things the viewer has to focus on is Willem DaFoe and the penthouse. To its credit, the production design is well thought out, lending a sense of someone with far too much money having just enough items scattered about to give Nemo a fighting chance at survival. Katsoupis and screenwriter Ben Hopkins dole out enough small victories (and a number of setbacks) to keep audiences baited and rooting for the thief.

Overall, Inside is a decent feature debut from Katsoupis. At 105 minutes, the pacing drags at times due to not having enough material to justify its runtime. Had 15-20 minutes been shaved from the story, viewers would've experienced a much more lean, faster moving story of a man desperate to escape. As it stands, though, it's a great vessel to spotlight Willem DaFoe's talents and let him shine. Great production design, an intriguing premise, and an actor talented enough to hold the audience's attention for the majority of the time, the film is good enough weeknight watch after work.