"Thunderbolts*" - Review

Years after the death of her sister, Russian spy and trained assassin Yelena (Florence Pugh) is now working in wetworks for CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Juia Louis-Dreyfus) across the world, clearing her dirty laundry. Unsatisfied with her work, and longing for something to break her free of this anhedonia, she takes one last job for the troubled director (in hot water over her various operations) to eliminate a thief at one of her facilities. There, she bumps into anti-social misfit woman able to phase through objects Ava (Hannah John-Kamen); grouchy asshole and government backed, scandal-ridden Captain America John Walker (Wyatt Russell); old friend and fellow assassin "Taskmaster" (Olga Kurylenko) and a lost young man named Bob (Lewis Pullman). Forced to work together when it becomes clear they are being disposed of, the group go on the lam and seek revenge on Fontaine, drawing them into the orbit of washed up Russian supersoldier Alexei "Red Guardian" Shostakov (David Harbour), bionic "dying inside" Congressman and former assassin/supersoldier Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Fontaine's various schemes, a rather dangerous individual, and Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan, forever the best thing about any movie)...

Marvel, the juggernaut studio, have been having a bloody rough time as of late. Underperforming films, a lack of direction, and a death spiral of cannibalising other people's art with this "Multiverse" horseshit (soon to come to an ugly head with the hideous, creatively bankrupt and not-starring Dan Stevens as Dr Doom "Doomsday"), coupled with a recent uncoupling from their wife-beating major arc villain have come together in a brew so noxious that one forgets they were atop the world and are still being imitated and mimicked for their style of fun blockbuster universes.
"Thunderbolts*", against the odds, comes charging out of the gate to remind us why their moves appeal and are fun, and is among their best efforts in years. They've fucking needed it.
Playing to the strengths (a fun ragtag, hodge-podge group of misfits thrust together and forced to work together) and forgoing many of its weaknesses (an over reliance on quips, weak final acts, sloppy finales, and a lack of focus) to forge something which would fit right at home with their earlier and middle efforts. It's rather refreshing just having the movie be "here's a bunch of people, attempting to accomplish a task, and bonding along the way" rather than hopping between timelines and choking to death on bloated references and groundwork for a movie about Grimmo the Taxi Driver or whatever they have going on. On paper it's an ensemble piece, but in practice focuses on Yelena's arc (there's a neat little opening involving a guinea pig in a maze, and some very "West Side Story"-esque overhead shadow shots) and, later, Bob, both of which are excellent. The movie is a fun romp, with excellent details and character bits (I appreciated Walker punching out a character late in the film, very telling and humanizing...) and Harbour's Red Guardian threatens to steal the show as the embarassing dad figure keen on them being a team so he can relive his glory days; but even the underdeveloped characters such as Ava and John get enough to feel real and grounded and have fun with the team. Refreshingly the film takes genuine swings and reaches for themes and ideas, and the final third act is entirely about mental illness and trauma, and (somewhat excellently) has the message of "one cannot cure mental illness, or deny it and despise it, it is a part of one's identity, and you deal with it through love, acceptance and understanding from those who support you and appreciate you." It was good to see.
The more I thought on it the more I liked it, even when it does the usual "fight the big explodey man", it draws back, remembers it is about characters, and rolls with the themes and punches. I appreciated this film and had a good time with it.

"Cat Person" - Review

Margot (Emilia Jones) works at a cinema, and bumps into a semi-regular customer named Robert (Nicholas Braun), and after some initial awkwardness, gives him her number. Her more cynical friend Taylor (Geraldine Viswanathan) has doubts, but they start dating, and going through the awkward trials and tribulations of modern dating.

Jones (who played Alice in "Utopia"... huh) is excellent, playing Margot as unsure and awkward and trying her best to navigate this relationship, with little dream sequences and conversations with herself. There are lots of relatable parts to her, and little moments and touches which throw you into her headspace, including a rather well-done sex scene.
But for me personally, it was the performance of Braun which really stood out: he filled it with little touches like his angry shaking off of a hand at his shuolder when opening a door, his awkward pauses or silences during conversations, his somewhat uncomfortable initial conversations with Margot at the start. He managed to be full of red flags without being overtly, comically sinister, and the whole film became a death by a thousand cuts: he's not abusive or violent, he's just a bit weird and mismatched, but the movie has you thinking that Margot is maybe taking this a bit too far (up until a rather unforgivable point). The makers make EXCELLENT use of the fact that Braun is 6 foot fucking 7. But even after the inevtiable break up, and the crossing of the line from Robert, the film takes pains to have it be relatively realistic in its depictions of break ups and behaviours: was Margot being too naive or was her desperate thrust for politeness and manners going too far? It's a murky, grey, uncomfortable film about the awkwardness of romance.
However.
Tonally, it stumbles in a few places as it doesn't know what it wants to be: is it a wacky dark comedy (where the characters huddle around Margot and shuffle out of the restaurant comically) with quick-talking sassy friend Taylor dishing out sick burns and running away with the entire movie (as Viswanathan is wont to do!) and imagined sequences of wackier murders; or is it a dark thriller with a stalker and a woman's descent into paranoia and danger? The tonal shifts can be jarring. One moment we are watching a toe-curling attempt to appease her step father, the next there is a sequence of her up all night, wondering if she realy did see Robert waiting outside...
It yo yos between these things, and whilst Viswanathan is incredibly funny, it threatens to derail proceedings.
The finale will be controversial, but I rather like it: there's some great payoff to previous moments and recontextualising of her previous assumptions and fears, and some actually rather valid points raised by Robert about all of the behaviour up until this point. It risks "both sidesing" the issue, but I think it balances it relatively well, though after "Bottoms" I am not sure I can accuse any finale of being "out there".

"The Broken Hearts Gallery" Review - From the Vaults

 "The Broken Hearts Gallery"

Lucy (Geraldine Viswanathan, the star of the show in "Blockers") is a young woman in New York aspiring to curate her own gallery, and who also has a personal problem: she holds onto stuff and objects from every single failed relationship she has ever had. When her latest boyfriend breaks up with her and she loses her job, an amusing chance encounter with a builder named Nick (Dacre Montgomery, sexy Billy from "Stranger Things") gives her an idea...

This movie is delightful.

Please watch it.

I said Geraldine Viswanathan would go far, and I am happy to be proven right, she is great in this. And her chemistry with Dacre Montgomery is electric (My fiancee actually went "FINALLY!" when they kissed) and it's worth it for her performance alone. It's a breezy script, witty and with rat-a-tat dialogue, the star of the show in the first half (and pretty much throughout actually) being Molly Gordon, who also was a stand out in "Booksmart" and "Good Boys". The dialogue is sharp, the jokes mostly land, and it's a sweet romantic comedy about moving on from heartbreak and learning from failures.

Between this and "Spree", cast members of "Stranger Things" are making great choices.