OldTriangleHead

Heat Vision and Jack is the silly, unpretentious, and consistently funny pilot to an exploitation TV show that sadly was not ordered by Fox. It has an over-the-top and bizarrely-specific premise, and every participant in its making appears to have had endless fun during it. The music, cheesy 1980s-style special effects, voiceover narration, and great use of Ron Silver as a sinister version of himself are the makings of a "trash" TV masterpiece.

After explaining his origin in the intro, Jack Black again regals us with the backstory of... Jack the astronaut, and his trusty, sentient motorcycle, Heat Vision (Owen Wilson). To explain more would spoil the fun of viewing my favorite thing Ben Stiller has ever done for the first time. It's quite tempting to do so... Heat Vision and Jack must be seen to be believed.

I found Foul Play compelling, coherent, surprising, and almost overstuffed with charm. It's messy in its comedy-thriller endeavors, but it ties itself up in the end (mostly). That's more than I can say for a fair number of comedies. Though it's not nearly as funny as some other Chevy Chase films I've seen recently, this movie is just so action-packed and sweetly humorous that it works for me.

I found Goldie Hawn's Gloria compelling throughout the narrative, but as Chase's Tony got more and more screen time I wasn't sure who the lead was. I guess I should've trusted the poster more; Foul Play is a romcom with Chase front and center, and so attention is shared in the end even if Tony only joins the "main cast" halfway through. Still, I love Chase as an actor, and his performance here goes beyond his usual physical comedy. He delivers deadpan, he drives the plot forward when he starts taking Gloria seriously, and he successfully embodies an Inspector Clouseau-like, bumbling officer of the law without losing that seriousness. It's hard to describe exactly what mix of expected and unexpected Chase variations are present here, but Fletch he is not. That's for sure. Tony is actually one of the nicest Chase protagonists, now that I'm thinking about it...

I was greatly invested in Gloria, and I was sad that some of her power was taken away. Goldie Hawn is an outstanding actress. I would've loved to have seen her in a more intensely slapstick movie opposite Chase; their chemistry is excellent, especially during the quieter, more flirtatious scenes. They do a dance that has strangeness underneath it to match the extremely dangerous feel of the plot. Through this strangeness, the movie avoided alienating me with the energy of romcom clichés. Of course, Hawn nails the scenes without Chase too. Her character exudes fear and foolishness made believable by reasonable preoccupation with danger and frustration when others do not, or cannot, help her. She expects both the best and worst in others. Hawn's got the physical comedy stuff down and, as others have pointed out, she's quite expressive with her eyes. She and Chase are both subtle and attention-stealing in numerous ways as the movie goes on, and somehow their characters embody similar characteristics (like that clumsiness) in totally different ways. I wish I felt Hawn's presence more at the end. I wish they had let Gloria contribute as much to the action as she did in the first half of her story.

Other characters fit in nicely in both comedic and serious roles. Some of the villains are actually menacing, and some blur the lines between comedy and tragedy (like Gloria's fearful friend or the man she meets at the bar). I've seen Burgess Meredith act similarly before, but he was fun here all the same.

This movie was generally fun to watch even if I didn't laugh that much... It made me smile. The music was well-placed, the action felt well-balanced between goofiness and legitimate suspense, and I thought the ending was well-earned. Foul Play is perhaps too unconventional, forgetful of its loose ends, and underappreciative of Goldie Hawn's talents, but it was still pretty enjoyable for me as a comedy fan. I will definitely seek out more work from both Hawn and Chevy Chase.

Elizabeth Olsen definitely steals the show here - but the show is worthy of her, and all the other actors seem complicit in its emphasis on her performance. My second viewing really made me appreciate Benedict Cumberbatch and his choice to be more subtle as a reflection of Doctor Strange's sadness, but even this makes Olsen feel more formidable. The movie is worth watching for her alone.

Like the new Batman, Multiverse of Madness contains exciting horror elements. Like Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy, his new venture has a touch of whackiness as well that would've been sorely missed had another director managed the project. The action sequences feel dangerous and... well, strange, but there are other fun horror tropes interspersed with the superhero ones. These are necessary anchors as Doctor Strange journeys through impressive alternate realities and meets some other Marvel characters who are given unexpectedly violent treatments.

The Multiverse really is mad, as is the tortured Scarlet Witch. She's scary, her dialogue is scary, and the plot is surprisingly twisted. It still has a lot of heart, and its focus on loneliness certainly has cultural relevance. It's directly emotional but never sappy, and Danny Elfman's great soundtrack never compromises this. I suppose I would've appreciated some more memorable leitmotifs, like the ones he contributed to Tim Burton's Batman duology.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' title still makes sense to me. It still follows the titular character, and it feels comic booky. I could see the title sequence translating to an actual comic book story arc. It's just right for Raimi's style, which I thoght worked extremely well throughout the colorful film, especially given that this has a much faster pace than his Spider-Man films.

I guess that it's tough to market a horror-superhero-action-comedy-drama or whatever you'd call this, and I'm not sure what people were expecting from it. I certainly enjoyed it in all its tragic glory, and I'm grateful that Raimi never compromised his style for the sake of the MCU. I hope he continues to make comic book films - I'm still a fan.