It is not common to have two animated films in the same week. But one is big, being part of the ongoing battle between DC and Marvel. The other is only partially animated to illustrate memories of a great disappointment. Add a small Canadian drug addiction film and a small English film with several big themes, and we have an interesting week.
Here is the list :
DC League of Super Pets: 2 ½ stars
My old school: 4
Revenge: 3 ½
River route: 3
Ali and Ava: 3 ½
what people read
DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-FAMILIES: I’ve complained about it before and this film gives me another chance to say it. These days, major animated films have action, flash and noise, but rarely emotional content. It’s what makes a movie memorable, but the producers don’t seem to need it. They could learn a lesson from the Minions, yet. Even without a lot of emotion, you can be a big hit if you have characters that kids can relate to. DC didn’t care about that here. This film is driven by marketing.
Background: DC reunited many of its heroes in the Justice Society of American in the 1940s, let it expire when interest waned, brought it back as the Justice League in the 1960s in the comics and on television and as a counterpart to Marvel’s Avengers. So what can you do again? Kids will love this: a movie about their pets. Superman (John Krasinski), Batman (Keanu Reeves), Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and more have been captured by super villain Lex Luthor (Marc Maron). They are locked in cages. Who should try to save them? Their pets, of course, led by Krypto (Dwayne Johnson) and Ace (Kevin Hart). Spectacular animation (made in Vancouver) ensues with great chase scenes, a collapsing building, a stomping monster but little to stir your heart. Good family entertainment for undemanding families. (Theatres everywhere) 2 ½ out of 5
MY OLD SCHOOL: It’s a documentary but not like anything I’ve seen before. And with an utterly unbelievable story, except it’s true, and it’s been a legend in Scotland since 1993, when it happened. A new pupil arrives at a Glasgow high school with a strange personal story: Canadian, son of an opera singer mother who died in a car accident and get this, his name: Brandon Lee. Remember that Bruce Lee’s son, Brandon, died that year in a filming accident. This Brandon was into hip music like Joy Division and Husker Du and very smart judging by his surprisingly advanced classroom comments on relativity and an Arthur Miller piece. Nobody suspected something was wrong?
Director Jono McLeod, who attended the same school, tells it all. Brandon was actually Brian, not a teenager but 32 (how the staff and students were duped is a mystery) and his family situation was stranger than he let on. And there was the question of his great ambition: to be a doctor. It’s a key part of the evolving story. To tell it, McLeod had to resort to a unique format. Brian was to appear in the film then backed out. He had, however, told his story on audio tape and actor Alan Cumming appears syncing his lyrics. Former students and staff recount what they remember and these stories are presented in animation. As a film, it is one of the most captivating and confusing of all time. (Two theaters now–Toronto (Hot Docs Cinema) and Vancouver (Vancity). More to come). 4 out of 5
REVENGE: For a police film a bit light this film is heavy with ideas. Too much maybe and ultimately not perfectly clear is what they stand for but certainly interesting along the way. The writer, director and star is BJ Novak who was a writer and producer on The Office TV. That same mix of thoughtful and funny is evident here, although the funny isn’t very high. Good, because it would be a case of city intellectuals making fun of country hicks. Novak doesn’t stoop to that as he dramatizes a New York podcaster and New York writer’s investigation into a woman’s death. He had slept with her; got a call from Texas letting her know she had died, attended the funeral, and stayed to find out what happened to her to talk about her on a podcast. Her producer (Issa Rae) already has a title for it: “Dead White Girl,” a sly take on the true-crime podcasts that are so popular these days.
In Texas, Novak’s character receives widely varying theories about what happened to him. One suggests a drug overdose, even though she was not a user. Her brother says she was killed by a Mexican immigrant who had a crush on her for years. Another theory involves a local record producer played by Ashton Kutcher. She wanted a singing career and he worked with her, while expounding a house philosophy. Kutcher has a few long scenes laying out his thoughts on storytelling, small town thinking, and what he considers a real no no: refusing to go along with your creative ideas. Novak’s thesis is really about a more common failure these days: avoiding the truth and instead embracing conspiracy theories. In this story, what people believed and suspected is just not true, not really. Point well done, amusing even, but wobbly in what it means. (In theaters) 3 ½ out of 5
RIVER ROAD: There have been a lot of movies about drug addiction. This one isn’t groundbreaking but it’s a good take on the basic story. The rock musician is exhausted after a long tour. A woman who saw him in Brooklyn and came all the way to Vancouver to meet him urges him to take cocaine. Oops, turns out it’s heroin. They want more, the price is high, the dealer is a badass and they turn to petty crime for money. Eventually, as predicted in the very first scene of the movie, they rob the convenience stores.
The story as written and directed by Rob Willey is much more involved than that, but it shows the downward path that these characters are on. Cody Kearsley as Travis and Lexi Redman as Zoe go through both the drug’s hold on them and the attraction. They separately tell their stories to A.A. sponsors. As he puts it, he “felt like all my friends were hugging me at the same time.” The scenes with the drug dealer are quite different as Steven Roberts portrays him as a menacing and intimidating loudmouth. He steals this movie with this performance, even bragging about not cutting the H with fentanyl (“for the good of the community”). The film, which played at several festivals, has little new but knows it’s stuff. It also has lots of Vancouver and nearby Delta scenery where the real River Road is. (Starts Wednesday on Apple TV and August 12 on Amazon and Google Play) 3 out of 5
ALI & AVA: This real-life movie is so observant that sometimes you might think not much is going on. In fact, there’s a lot going on. Issues of race, class, age differences, regrets over wrong turns and unfulfilled dreams, difficult relationships with parents and children are all subtly wrapped around a love story. Some might shout and lecture about them, but writer-director Clio Barnard has them in the background, affecting things but never taking over. They co-exist with ordinary everyday events, don’t feel forced, and help make the romance feel authentic as it grows.
The story is set in Bradford, the Yorkshire town in England where Barnard herself is from. Adeel Akhtar plays Ali, a landlord’s son who, driving a girl to school, one day meets her teacher, Ava, played with cheerful goodwill by Claire Rushbrook. Later, when it rains, he takes her home and a relationship begins. They are both alone, both immigrants (he is of Pakistani origin, she is Irish) and both have stories that they gradually share. He is married, although separated. She is a widow. Both his sister and son oppose the growing affair. They continue anyway. They find that the biggest difference between them is the music they prefer. He likes rock and punk. She loves country and folk. That will be key and part of what makes this low-key movie so engrossing. (Played in nine art house theaters from Ottawa to Vancouver, two in Toronto) 3 ½ out of 5