Netflix Marvel Series Mini-Reviews, Part I

As part of my Marvel re-watch, I'm watching all the Marvel Netflix series in order for the first time.  Here are some thoughts on the seasons as they progressed.

Daredevil - Season One - April 2015

Expected things to be gritty, but didn't expect it to be totally as violent as it was.  Not complaining about that aspect, but I was admittedly a little surprised.  The series has some high points -- Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk and his burgeoning relationship with art dealer Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer), Deborah Ann Woll's Karen and her connection with Vondie Curtis-Hall's newspaper reporter Ben (complete with a shocking conclusion to that relationship that I was NOT expecting in the slightest.  But there are also some low points as well -- Charlie Cox is one-note as the titular character, the need for every episode to have a big fight grows weary and tiresome.  As I'd soon discover is typical in all of these series, thirteen episodes feels too long and too drawn out.  Disney gets is right with their Disney+ series going shorter in their episode counts.  Nonetheless, a decent start.

Jessica Jones - Season One - November 2015

I'd heard very good things about Jessica Jones and it never lived up to my expectations.  I think the crux of the problem was Krysten Ritter as the titular character -- I don't say this often in my reviews, but something about her acting just felt awkward and forced, making it quite difficult to initially make my way through this.  As her character got fleshed out a bit more, the series got a little more interesting.  Rachael Taylor as Jessica's adopted sister and David Tennant as the evil Kilgrave were standouts, but even the latter fell victim to the thirteen episode length and the repetitive nature of things.  The finale was also hugely anti-climactic to me for some reason.  This is considered by some to be the top season of all of the Netflix Marvel series, but this just didn't work for me.

Daredevil - Season Two - March 2016

This one just delved too much into the supernatural for me to really get into it as much as I wanted.  The subplot with an Asian group attempting to create some all-powerful being was too over-the-top for my tastes.  That said, the addition of Jon Bernthal's Punisher and Élodie Yung's Elektra both added oomph to a second season that could've felt like a retread of the first.  Again, too many episodes draw this out and cause it to be a struggle.  In the end, I think it's maybe not as good as Season One, but it would be a close race in large part because of Bernthal and Yung who add some flavor to this that season one didn't feel like it had.  On the other hand, the lack of a central villain hurts this.

Luke Cage - Season One - September 2016

This one was a huge surprise.  I started off not thinking I could get into this one because, once again, we have a central character who is a bit of a bore on the acting front.  However, everything else about this season was fantastic.  A mid-season surprise in relation to Mahershala Ali was a game-changing shocker.  Rosario Dawson gets a chance to finally shine, Simone Missick is strong as cop Misty Knight, and Alfre Woodard is a gas as she slowly becomes Lady Macbeth.  Add in some strong cultural notes regarding Harlem (and the most realistic villain) and this was excitingly fun to watch -- the first one of these that didn't feel like a struggle to get through thirteen episodes.

Green Book

Green Book (2018)

Starring Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, and Linda Cardellini

Directed by Peter Farrelly

Written by Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie, and Peter Farrelly

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (2018)

Featuring the vocal talents of Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Zoë Kravitz, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Nicolas Cage, Kathryn Hahn, and Liev Schreiber

Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman

Written by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman

***This film is currently streaming via Netflix***

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Free State of Jones

Free State of Jones (2016)

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, and Keri Russell

Directed by Gary Ross

Unfairly maligned upon its release last year, Free State of Jones isn't without its faults, but thanks to strong performances by Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mabatha-Raw, and Mahershala Ali, it's a solid look at a revolt against the Confederacy in the mid-1800s.  McConaughey is Newton Knight, a battlefield medic helping the Confederate Army who secretly returns home after he witnesses the death of his young nephew in battle.  His desertion won't sit well with those fighting against the Union, so with the help of his wife (Keri Russell), Newton hides out at various places in the area before finally having to take up residence in a swamp with several escaped slaves including Moses Washington (Ali) whom he befriends.  While in the swamp, he also comes to know Rachel (Mbatha-Raw), a literate slave, and their friendship leads to a romance.  Eventually, after several failed Confederate battles, more white men come to the swap to hide after desertion and Newton begins to rally these men along with the escaped slaves to form a militia to fight against the Confederate Army's forcible raids of Southern homes for livestock, food, and supplies.  Together, they form the Free State of Jones County and set out to battle the Confederate Army themselves.

The biggest reason Free State of Jones works so well is because of the cast.  McConaughey gives a great performance as the beleaguered Newton, worn down by the death of his nephew and the raiding of the homes of his family and friends.  You can palpably feel his disgust with the Confederacy and their actions and his vigor to try and fight the regime builds crescendo-like throughout the film's second half.  Gugu Mabatha-Raw and Mahershala Ali's characters are slightly less well-rounded, but they nevertheless make their roles captivating.  Mbatha-Raw, in particular, is saddled with the "romance" aspect of the plot and not given a whole lot else to work with, but she's still a great addition here.

The film falters a bit in the pacing by director Gary Ross -- its nearly two-and-a-half hour runtime feels it at times, particularly towards the beginning -- and the fact that a weird time jump to the 1950s that occurs multiple times throughout the piece is strongly out-of-place and unnecessary.  However, this is a better film by far than the somewhat similarly themed The Birth of a Nation which also came out the same year.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures (2016)

Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, and Mahershala Ali

Directed by Theodore Melfi

There's something so refreshing about the simplicity and basic nature of Hidden Figures and its engagingly pleasant and uplifting story that it's awfully tough not to enjoy director Theodore Melfi's film as it jauntily prances across the movie screen.  The great trio of black actresses at the film's center -- Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe -- do a fantastic job of sugarcoating the fact that the film's screenplay is riddled with one-note white supporting characters and its direction is full of clichés.  However, despite the lack of edginess and its rather elementary (and rudimentary at times) treatment of race relations in the 1960s, Hidden Figures is immensely enjoyable and held my attention as the true story of the three fascinating lead characters unfolded.

Hidden Figures succeeds not because it's got great direction or plot, but because it's a mainstream Hollywood film that capably tells an unknown true story headlined by three charismatic lead actresses.  At the forefront is Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Goble, a rather genius mathematician who worked for NASA at the Langley Research Center in Virginia.  After working in the segregated computer lab, Goble is called up to help the head of the Space Task Group Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) as his team attempts to launch an American into space.  Henson's Goble is an extremely intelligent woman, but she's also a caring mother to her three daughters who faces all the challenges thrown at her with perseverance ever after losing her husband a few years ago.  Henson is captivating at the center of the film, balancing heart and humor with ease.

Perhaps the bulk of the film's humor (and this is a surprisingly funny piece at times) is supplied by Janelle Monáe as Mary Jackson, the requisite sassy gal who longs to get her Masters in Engineering but isn't allowed because of Virginia's segregation laws.  While not known for acting, Monáe has proven to be an intriguing newcomer in the field with her work here and in 2016's Moonlight.  She has a presence onscreen that emits strength and grace and she's someone I'm certainly going to pay attention to in the years to come.

The only actress Oscar-nominated for her role here is Octavia Spencer, who plays Dorothy Vaughn, the supervisor of the "colored" computer room.  Spencer is essentially playing the same role here that she played in her Oscar-winning turn in The Help, but she's admittedly good in that no-nonsense type role.  Here, Spencer takes on the motherly role with ease, but I honestly think she's the least impressive of the acting trio -- not saying that in a derogatory way, just in the fact that her role seems the most generic.

The three actresses make this film shine.  Unfortunately, some of what goes on around them proves disappointing.  Kirsten Dunst and Jim Parsons are given rote, been-there-seen-that roles as 1960s white folk seemingly opposed to integration only to have their eyes opened up when they see what other groups have to offer.  Their evil side-eyes and brusque mannerisms are so utterly stereotypical that it sometimes proves laughable as opposed to impactful which is a shame because I'm sure that these three real-life ladies faced some true opposition to their emergence in NASA.  Kevin Costner bucks the trend as Goble's superior, but it's a bit too little to help.

Director Theodore Melfi doesn't reinvent the wheel here in any way, but in the end, that's okay.  Hidden Figures was meant to be a crowd-pleaser, not a deeply innovative piece.  In that sense, it's entirely successful.  In the end, though, it lacks the gravitas or uniqueness to really make a cinematic impact, but the story of the three ladies at its center is certainly a worthwhile historical footnote to learn about.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Moonlight

Moonlight (2016)

Starring Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders, Alex Hibbert, André Holland, Jharrel Jerome, Jaden Piner, Janelle Monáe, Naomie Harris, and Mahershala Ali

Directed by Barry Jenkins

I will readily admit that I wasn't expecting to care for Moonlight in the slightest.  Preconceived notions about a plot revolving around a gay black kid's struggle led me to believe that this couldn't be further from a movie with which I would connect.  However, thanks to a realistic screenplay and a unique directorial structure (both created by Barry Jenkins), Moonlight moves along a fast clip as it explores a central character who we can't help but connect with regardless of our race, gender, or sexual orientation.

Told in a triptych fashion with three segments detailing the life of young Chiron, Moonlight allows us a glimpse into the world of a black child trying to come to grips with who he really is.  We first meet Chiron as a child (played by Alex Hibbert) when he earns the nickname "Little" for his meek, tender personality.  While hiding from bullies in an abandoned hotel room, Chiron is discovered by drug dealer Juan (Mahershala Ali) whose kind persona causes Chiron to open up to him as he questions what makes him so different from the other kids his age including his friend Kevin (played as a child by Jaden Piner).  Chapter Two opens with a teenage Chiron (now Ashton Sanders) still finding himself struggling as an outcast, but beginning to truly understand who he is thanks to Kevin (now Jharrel Jerome).  As an adult, the Chiron in Chapter Three (now Trevante Rhodes) seems to be a completely different person as he deals with the aftermath of a monumental decision he makes at the end of the previous chapter.  His life seems to be on a particular path now (perhaps different than he could've imagined), but that changes when out of the blue he receives a phone call from Kevin (André Holland) with whom he'd fallen out of touch with during high school.

Moonlight seems overly basic when crafting a summary, but admittedly its strength isn't in its plot per se, but in its characters and their awakenings as they discover their paths in life.  Thanks to the rather tender portrayal by young Alex Hibbert of Chiron as a child and the heartwarming camaraderie brought to the screen by Mahershala Ali as his adult father figure, we in the audience are immediately drawn into Chiron's story.  Add to that the fact that his mother (Naomie Harris) is more focused on where to get her next stash of drugs than her son's well-being and we can't help but feel sympathy for Chiron's plight.  Somehow, Barry Jenkins and his casting director give us three (unknown) actors in Chiron who seamlessly meld into one another each taking on the quiet, subdued character creating more depth as the film progresses and ending with a final segment that proves heartbreakingly sad and emotionally effective in its simplicity.  While it's true that Mahershala Ali is getting the bulk of the awards season talk from the film, it's Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes who carry the bulk of the emotion in the film.  In fact, Ali is perhaps the slightest bit overpraised in his role which is quite small.  While he has one very heartwarming scene, I found the performance to be nice, but not overwhelmingly "awards-worthy" by any means.  Similarly, Naomie Harris is a bit too histrionic in her too-stereotypical role as Chiron's drug-addled mother.  There's little depth and originality to her character which felt too stock and rote to this reviewer.

Moonlight is well-directed for sure, but feels "independent" all the time (a la Boyhood from a few years ago although this is a superior film).  That's not really a criticism, but it's not able to break out of the "low budget" feel like the similarly independent Room was last year.  Still, I found myself drawn into this tale much more than I ever thought I would which is a huge credit to writer-director Jenkins and his outstanding ensemble of actors playing Chiron and Kevin.  Together, those six actors created an intensely personal and emotional tale that is surprisingly resonant to audiences across all spectrums.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-