Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

When you hear about Roald Dahl’s famous 1964 book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, chances are that you will instead think of one of its many adaptations, most likely either the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (Willy Wonka) directed by Mel Stuart or the 2005 film directed by Tim Burton that was named after the book (Charlie), if not the more recent 2019 film Wonka that serves as a prequel to the 1971 film. As someone who grew up with Willy Wonka and had read the book maybe once at some point, I was curious about the 2005 film and saw it in a theater when it first came out, only to generally dislike it in favor of the original adaptation. Following a theatrical screening of Wonka that was followed by another rewatch of Willy Wonka, I more seriously considered giving Charlie another chance, even reading the book shortly beforehand since it was meant to be more accurate, and finding that the preceding film was not quite as inaccurate to the book as some people make it out to be. After streaming the 2005 film on Max (formerly HBO Max), since I no longer owned a DVD copy, I appreciated it a little more for its attempts at book-accuracy, but still found myself overall preferring the 1971 version.

Joker (2019)

In the midst of their slate of big-budget action-driven superhero films, Warner Bros. has released a, comparatively, low-budget character-driven film based on one of DC’s most iconic villains, the Joker. Giving the Joker his own film and making it a psychological thriller is rather fitting, but making it unconnected to the larger, and still-ongoing, DCEU is a bit of a gamble, if only due to the risk of confusing audiences about continuity. This risk seemed to pay off early, however, when it got an eight-minute standing ovation at the 76th Venice International Film Festival, where it also won the Golden Lion, the festival’s highest prize. After I saw the film in its opening weekend through a 35mm print, I walked away feeling like I generally agree with its praise, but there are certain elements that are not for everyone.

Ready Player One

When Ready Player One, directed by Steven Spielberg, was first announced, I didn’t know what to expect. When excerpts from the New York Times bestselling book floated around, I got the impression that it was basically wall-to-wall 80s pop culture references connected by a mediocre plot. This was one reason I didn’t see the movie when it came out initially, but after months of social pressure I finally caved in and actually watched it. To my surprise, it was better than I had expected, though still not that great of a movie.

In the year 2045, people escape to a VR universe known as OASIS, created by James Halliday (Mark Rylance) and Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg) of Gregarious Games. After Halliday’s death, a pre-recorded message is sent out to world, revealing that whoever can find three hidden keys can unlock a hidden gate, behind which is an Easter Egg that will grant them complete ownership of OASIS, along with $500 Billion. Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), an orphan living in the “stacks” in Columbus Ohio, seeks the Egg so he can have a better life, along with his online friends Aech (Lena Waithe), Daito (Win Morisaki) and Sho (Philip Zhao). His biggest hurdle, however, is Nolan Sorento (Ben Mendelsohn), owner of Innovative Online Industries (IOI), who seeks to control OASIS for himself by using countless employees and indentured servants, called “Sixers”, to find and complete the challenges.

The story is not that hard to follow, a plus considering the setting, but the individual plot points can be pretty hit and miss, oftentimes relying on certain coincidences/contrivances to help advance the story. For example, without spoiling anything, it apparently took thousands of players four years to even consider looking for an invisible wall during one of the challenges to obtain a key. Another challenge requires taking creative liberties with Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) to “actionize” it, with one character saved from death, aka “Zeroing Out”, entirely because the plot needed him to stay alive. On perhaps a lesser note, it’s noticeable that the police don’t get involved at any point in the story until the very end.

That isn’t to say that Ready Player One doesn’t have interesting ideas, like the setting and the technology, just that the execution is unrefined.

One of the more obvious references; Wade Watts as Parzival (Tye Sheridan)
about to race with a replica of the DeLorean from Back to the Future Part II.

Perhaps the most notable thing about Ready Player One, and presumably the reason a number of people saw this movie is the first place, is the numerous pop culture references. In-story, characters practically worship 1980s pop culture, as they believe that this period of time, which Halliday grew up with, could contain the necessary clues to finding the three hidden keys. From what little I saw in the novel, the references made as a result could result in unwieldy descriptions literally lasting at least a whole page.

In the movie, these references are comparatively far subtler, like a modern “Where’s Waldo?” where eagle-eyed viewers may spot some visual reference to their favorite icons if it’s not already pointed out. Some of these references, just from memory, include Minecraft, Overwatch, The Iron Giant, Gundam, Akira, Street Fighter, Back to the Future, Superman, The Atari 2600 (both the console and games), The Shining, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Battletoads, Looney Tunes, Sanrio properties, King Kong and Batman (1966). And that’s just merely scratching the surface. I personally liked this execution of the references, since the game VRChat allows a system where player avatars can resemble copyrighted characters, though it’s rather noticeable that all the characters that Warner Bros. didn’t need to license are all characters owned by them in some form. As a result, the usage of the Giant from The Iron Giant, while somewhat justified in-universe and from a production standpoint as a replacement for Ultraman, feels wrong considering the message of the movie it’s from. I’ll also mention here that not even the music is safe from references, since aside from the licensed music, the score itself references composer Alan Silvestri’s work on Back to the Future and music from The Shining.

There’s not much I can really say about the acting, as the actors can’t do much about the general lack of depth in the characters, but T.J. Miller, surprisingly enough, stood out in his role as i-R0k. i-R0k doesn’t really do very much, but he manages to be a good source of levity due to his casual nature despite also taking his job as an antagonist seriously.

Ready Player One is very much a Spielberg film, but ultimately one that’s just okay. It’s not a bad movie, since the story does have some interesting ideas and a better execution of pop culture references than the novel, but the general lack of depth and a host of small issues ultimately hold it back from being great. Give it a try if you’re a Spielberg fan or someone who just wants a chance to see a lot of their favorite things onscreen, but this is otherwise a game you don’t need to play.

Edge of Tomorrow - Live. Die. Repeat.

Many of you have probably heard of the movie Groundhog Day, known for its plot involving its central character going through a time loop until circumstances allow him to break the cycle. This type of plot is also present in many other works, so much so that this type of plot is referred to as a Groundhog Day Loop, including a Japanese light novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka called All You Need Is Kill, in which this same plot line is used to depict a soldier going to war against an alien threat. I have not read this light novel, but I have read its manga adaptation in the US Weekly Shonen Jump digital service, adapted by Ryosuke Takeuchi and illustrated by Takeshi Obata (best known as the artist of the Death Note manga by Tsugumi Oba). This adaptation was released during the time leading up to the release of another adaptation of All You Need Is Kill, being the movie Edge of Tomorrow, the subject of this review. While I enjoyed reading the manga version of the story, I had an interest in seeing Edge of Tomorrow to see how close/different it would be from the source material. Having seen this movie recently, I can say that, while it obviously takes some liberties with the plot, I actually enjoyed it for what it was.

The world has been invaded by an alien race called Mimics, with countries doing everything they can to put a stop to them, among the better soldiers fighting the Mimics being Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt). Through TV broadcasts, we are introduced to Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) from the US, who is later called to see General Bringham (Brednan Gleeson) in London about the Mimics. General Bringham soon reveals to Major Cage that he (Cage) is being sent to France in order to fight the Mimics on the front lines. When Major Cage refuses and makes threats to give a bad impression of the General, he is placed under arrest and knocked unconscious. Cage later wakes up at a base at Heathrow Airport, where he is in handcuffs and greeted by Master Sergeant Farrel (Bill Paxton); though Cage tries to get out of it, he is brought and assigned to J Squad, where he becomes acquainted with the soldiers there. The next day, Cage is put in a suit of armor, or Jacket, like his squadmates, though before they can be properly deployed onto a beachhead below them, the carrier they are flying in gets blown up; the members of J Squad make it down intact, though soon there are casualties. As Cage and his squad are facing off Mimics, all while Cage tries to ask how to turn his safety off, they eventually have to fend off a Mimic while taking cover in a pit. Cage manages to turn off his safety in time to survive the Mimic attack, taking out a blue Mimic in the process. However, he is taken out as well and is splattered in the Mimic’s blood. Afterwards, Cage wakes up at the base at Heathrow Airport, where everything plays out as it did the day before, though only he is aware of it.

Being a film adaptation of a book, specifically a Japanese light novel, it should be expected that there are differences between the two versions. However, the changes made to suit the movie work in its favor, giving it a unique feel while still preserving the basic story and terminology (they don’t even shy away from Rita Vrataski’s nickname in-universe, the “Full Metal Bitch”). The movie also takes opportunities to expand on parts of the story to suit the new narrative, though giving examples might create spoilers for those who have yet to see Edge of Tomorrow. The romance angle between the two leads (Cage and Vrataski) is an element preserved from the original All You Need Is Kill story, which the movie handles really well, coming off as feeling like a natural part of the story rather than feeling shoved in for the sake of a romance, helped by the performances of Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt portraying their respective characters near flawlessly. The movie also does a good job of explaining its mythos while keeping itself internally consistent, which is a must for this type of story.

William Cage (Tom Cruise) facing off against an unusual Mimic.

As mentioned, Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt perform their parts well, allowing their parts to feel more natural and thus you are able to feel for their characters. Tom Cruise in particular does well with displaying William Cage’s character arc as he goes from wanting to stay away from the field of battle to figuring out how to work with the hand that he has been dealt over the course of the movie. However, the actors portraying the secondary and minor characters in the movie also pull off good performances, with each character feeling unique given the amount of screen time they have and their personalities come across as believable within the context of the story.

The visual effects are also pulled off really well, with the CGI Mimics blending well into the movie and not feeling out of place with the rest of the action. I also enjoyed seeing the animation of the Mimics themselves, since, while it is of course a different interpretation of their appearance than in the manga adaptation, I thought their designs were interesting and helped set them apart from other depictions of aliens in other movies. Though the Mimics have a general appearance to them, there’s still some visual variety among the different types of Mimics so that they don’t seem monotonous. The designs of the Jackets that the soldiers wear are also interesting, seeing them in action even more so. There’s also some visual variety in the Jackets, even if it’s just an aesthetic difference, and I liked seeing how different parts of the armor work to activate different functions. Visually, this movie does not disappoint.

Edge of Tomorrow is not only a good interpretation of All You Need Is Kill (again, based solely on having read the manga adaptation beforehand), it also works well as a movie on its own. The acting from the main leads is very impressive and believable, the visual effects are pulled off well, and the story makes good use of the Groundhog Day Loop plot. This is a movie I would recommend for those who are familiar with All You Need Is Kill in some way, though I would also say to watch it at least once if you are a fan of action movies (and /or Tom Cruise) since it manages to work well on its own. Having enjoyed it myself, Edge of Tomorrow is a movie that I wouldn’t mind watching again.