Welcome to 5 Favorites. Each week, I will put together a list of my 5 favorites (films, performances, whatever strikes my fancy) along with commentary on a given topic each week, usually in relation to a specific film releasing that week.
Although the movie looks like trash, Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank has an impressive list of actors doing voice work. This week, I’m going to look at one film for each of five members of the cast: Mel Brooks, Michael Cera, Djimon Hounsou, George Takei, and Michelle Yeoh. Since I have done a film for Yeoh previously, I’m going to select another wonderful film for her selection.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Although upon release it hadn’t been the megahit we know today, Star Trek had surged in popularity throughout the 1970s. The first filmic adaptation of the series in 1979 was poorly received, but this second film more than made up for the prior film’s issues. Bringing back a notable villain from the television series’ history, Ricardo Montalban reprised his role as Khan Noonien Singh, a genetically enhanced human who, along with his fellow superhumans, were stranded on an uninhabited planet where they wouldn’t try to tyrannically overthrow governments in pursuit of their own aims.
In this follow up, it’s decades later and the planet they were inhabiting has become inhospitable due to an unexpected planetary explosion in their solar system, but that’s relieved when Khan and his remaining superhuman followers manage to hijack a Federation ship and go in search of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) to seek revenge for the seemingly amenable situation in which he was thrust. Montalban will be forever remembered as one of the most complex and credible villains in Star Trek history and this film is a major reason for that. If you’re a fan of Trek, this or First Contact may be your pinnacle of achievement, but even if you aren’t a huge fan of the franchise, this is one of the more accessible of the films, though The Voyage Home is probably more so. Takei isn’t given a lot to do, he never was, but it’s the best movie he’s ever been in.
No original review available.
Spaceballs (1987)
From science fiction at its finest to parody at its most absurd. Mel Brooks had emerged from the 1970s as one of the preeminent parodic filmmakers. Although he’d struggled to find a suitable follow up to his one-two punch of Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles, he decided to trade on the huge popularity of the Star Wars films by spoofing it mercilessly. Bill Pullman and John Candy star as a riff on Han Solo and Chewbacca. Pullman is mercenary Lone Starr traveling the galaxy with his trusty companion Barf (Candy), a half-man half-dog humanoid. The story surrounds a spoiled princess (Daphne Zuniga) who flees her homeworld rather than being forced to marry a terminally boring prince (Jim J. Bullock).
Brooks also stars in the film and although he often took minor roles in his pictures, this one seems to have the most substantive characters for him to play, which is why I chose the film over his 1974 triumphal pair. Here, he plays two roles. The first is a spoof on Yoda named Yogurt and the second is as the incompetent leader of planet Spaceball named President Skroob. If you’re at all familiar with Star Wars, you’ll thoroughly enjoy all of the riffs and puns made at the expense of that film. Everything, from lines like “may the Schwartz be with you” or “I see that your Schwartz is as big as mine,” is obvious, yet clever. There’s even a moment in the film that jabs the legit franchise for its obscene merchandizing efforts. While much of the humor is crass and cheap, there’s an underlying sense of passion and love for the source material. It’s a hilarious film at times and while it doesn’t take a high intellect to pick up on all the outrageous jokes, it won’t entirely insult your intelligence.
No original review available.
Amistad (1997)
Steven Spielberg has always had a fascination with American history and although his career was highlighted by his genre work, he has never shied away from controversial topics. In this drama, he takes a look at the case of a slave mutiny on board La Amistad, a slave ship bringing what they believed to be property from Spanish Cuba to the U.S. Although the enslaved Africans make the conscious effort to return home, their attempts are frustrated by the helmsman and navigator who steer them to the northern U.S. There, they are put on trial and various entities fight to lay claim to their property while an abolitionist strives to secure their release.
Based on a real court case that was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, Spielberg’s first experience with a courtroom drama comes out well, though his inexperience shows plainly. This was a breakout role for Djimon Hounsou as the leader of the African mutiny, but it’s Anthony Hopkins as John Quincy Adams who lands the best character and works circles around his fellow actors, though Hounsou, Nigel Hawthorne, Pete Posthletwaite, and Morgan Freeman are nearly his equal. It’s a fascinating glimpse into legal history in specific and the contemptable attempt to sell humans as property and treat them inhumanely in general.
No original review available.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
For decades, there has been an attempt to adapt comics and graphic novels into broadly appealing films that speak to broader audiences who might not be die hard fans of the medium. Few managed to lean into the absurdity of their contents more so than Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, a charming anime-inspired adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s niche graphic series about a hapless teen wanting to date a girl who fits the manic pixie dreamgirl archetype perfectly. To do so, he must defeat her ex-boyfriends in combat.
Michael Cera plays the gangly teen with impassioned earnestness, infusing him with sheepish naivety tinged with world weary video game-fused focus. Everyone in the film realizes the type of picture they are making, one that isn’t particularly rooted in seriousness despite its potentially deadly situations. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Alison Pill, Aubrey Plaza, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman, and many others bring this living, breathing wacky adventure to enthused audiences. It’s the kind of movie that won’t appeal to older generations of cinemagoers, but for Gen X and younger, it’s a deviously entertaining flick, one of director Edgar Wright’s best.
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Representation matters. It’s as simple as that. Evidence of this important notion is Crazy Rich Asians, a major motion picture that gave Asian audiences full-bodied representation on the big screen. Directed by Jon M. Chu, the film adapts Kevin Kwan’s celebrated novel about a first-generation Chinese-American economics professor (Constance Wu) who is drawn into a traditionally Chinese family by her boyfriend (Henry Golding) who hasn’t been entirely honest with her. He is the heir to a prominent Chinese business dynasty and when he proposes and brings her back to meet the family, it’s a tough sell for his mother (Michelle Yeoh) who despises the American culture that has become part of Chinese-American values.
For those who aren’t familiar with Asian culture, the film acts as a nice introduction to conservative Chinese customs. Although their world may seem much like our own, their rich and colorful history informs many of their more unfamiliar conventions. The film is likewise infused with both orthodox iconography and American virtues, asking the audience to understand and accept the differences presented while celebrating the ability to rise above the expectations placed on them and, in tandem, us as human beings. Wu, Golding, and Yoeh are phenomenal and the production design is sensational. Awkwafina and Ken Jeong co-star in pivotal comedic roles.
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