The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

Director: Mike Mitchell

Cast: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Stephanie Beatriz, Tiffany Haddish, Charlie Day

Year: 2019

Genre: Animated comedy

Predominantly set five years after the events of The Lego Movie (Chris Miller & Phil Lord, 2014), its worldwide phenomenon predecessor, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part continues the story of Emmet (Pratt) and the people of Bricksburg, who face new dangers including destructive Lego Duplo toys and the threats of Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi (Haddish) and General Mayhem (Beatriz).

After The Lego Movie took the animated film industry by storm and surprised audiences with its lovable, hilarious characters and thrilling plot, there was natural cause for excitement upon the announcement of the much anticipated sequel, aptly titled The Second Part, in case it was unclear. The Lego film franchise has produced a number of other titles such as The Lego Batman Movie (Chris McKay, 2017) and The Lego Ninjago Movie (Charlie Bean, 2017), both receiving fairly positive reviews, yet most people were looking forward to the adventures (or misadventures) that Emmet would embark on in his sequel, after a rather intense cliffhanger at the end of the first film. Thankfully, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part was able to deliver.

The general premise of the film is that the Lego Duplo figures caused havoc and mayhem within Bricksburg upon their arrival which sent their society into disarray, and we catch up with the citizens in an apocalyptic world, where morals and rules, that they had rigorously abided by, have long since been abandoned by everybody. Except of course the ever optimistic Emmet. However, disaster strikes when General Mayhem enters Bricksburg and takes five people, those naturally being Emmet's closest friends: Batman, Unikitty, MetalBeard, Benny, and Lucy, leading to Emmet venturing out into unknown space to recover his friends. Along his path, as with The Lego Movie, he encounters multiple allies and friends who help him reach his destination.

In terms of its narrative, while it does not feel as well polished and does not flow as smoothly as The Lego Movie, the plot still feels entertaining. However the plot twists in the third act seem a little bit forced and at times cliche, and the resolutions in the film do feel somewhat too convenient, suggesting that things were solved too easily with not as much poignancy as the resolution in the first film. The character arcs suffer from this too - while there was an emotional significance to Emmet's complete character arc in The Lego Movie, here, and this is not just limited to his character, the events of the narrative seem to weigh less on them as it probably could have done and there feels like no proper development has occurred, or at the very least, the arc and the core message (essentially translating to 'you are good enough' in both narratives) feels suspiciously similar to the first film.

As with its predecessor, The Lego Movie 2 does not lack in imagination for the people the characters meet during their adventure, and in the same way The Lego Movie did, the creators of this sequel fully embrace the absurdity of the other characters, be them friends or foe. And while there is not the same kind of awe and hilarity which was experienced from what the first film managed to conjure up through the use of Lego, it still leads to many funny and entertaining moments. The team behind creating the settings in this film definitely are talented and creative, granting a lot of the locations their own quirky personality, as well as allowing them their own individual identity, and do not feel like a rip-off of something else (they often pay homage to other pop culture, but do not necessarily steal the idea completely).

Furthermore, The Lego Movie 2, as to be expected from the talented writers behind this franchise, is oozing with witty, hilarious and frequently silly comedy. One criticism here is that occasionally it does try quite hard with its humour - while in the first film, the comedy seemed to flow naturally and succinctly, like in The Lego Batman Movie, the writers do try to cram in as many jokes as possible, and this leads to the odd bombardment of puns, jokes and humorous nods that feels a bit much, when they could have settled for the ones that landed well in those scenes.

Ultimately, this film, while being a worthy sequel, does not quite live up to what its predecessor managed to accomplish, and in a way, it would have been extremely difficult to have done so. And while there are a number of flaws with the movie, in essence it does what it says on the tin, that is being an exceptionally entertaining film, hosting the lovable, memorable characters from the first film and allowing its audience escapism into the world of Lego.

Verdict: 6/10

Roma

Director: Alfonso Cuarón

Cast: Yalitza Aparicio, Nancy Garcia, Jorge Antonio Guerreo

Year: 2018

Genre: Drama

2018 boasted many brilliant, emotional, terrific films, many of which deserve much more recognition from the Academy; however, one film that was not overlooked was Cuarón's beautiful masterpiece Roma.

Roma's protagonist is Cleo, a servant for a wealthy family in New Mexico, during the early 1970s. The family is made up of a husband and wife and four children. The parents, Antonio and Sofia, while initially a seemingly happy couple, are attempting to conceal their dysfunctional marriage, which is riddled with arguments and conflicts, from their children. Meanwhile, the four siblings  are mostly supervised by their grandmother Teresa and their two maids, that being Cleo and her close friend, Adela.

Without exploring too much more into the film's synopsis, Roma tells the story of Cleo's life between the years 1970 and 1971, both through her relationship with the family she serves, as well as her personal life, such as her relationship with Fermín, and her friendship with Adela. While at the surface there is not necessarily a solid narrative (there is a vague narrative arc which occurs across the duration of the film, which is readily referenced to, but this does not dominate the film's plot), Roma instead values an examination of Cleo and the people around her, as well as the general culture in New Mexico during the early seventies. It is a beautiful portrayal of family, love and friendship; it explores the joy and heartbreak that exists within these dynamics of life. Yet it is not a film that intends to constantly expose its audience to a flow of emotion and feeling. Instead, it avoids melodramatic sequences, often hiding an argument or a moment of sadness outside of the frame and builds up to the intense, heartbreaking moments, which makes seeing these scenes even more poignant and emotional.

What is instantly striking about Roma is its gorgeous, flawless monochromatic cinematography, photographed by Cuarón himself, and his authorial power vividly speaks through the images he portrays in his film. He takes advantage of the medium of cinema, and intends to tell a story as clearly as possible, even if it means focusing and examining minute details in seemingly inconsequential or banal moments. To reference an early example of this in the film, Cuarón visually explains to the audience how Antonio intricately and pedantically parks his car in the garage. Through a succession of quick close ups, the audience is told that he must drive in and out of the garage a number of times in order to be precise in his parking. Even though the audience are not even shown his face at this moment, we are told that he is a man who prides himself on things being done correctly and prides himself on his property (as he avoids scratching the car, despite the fact that he has only a small area to park it in). Cuarón uses sequences like this to inform character's later decisions and also adds significantly more context and weight to decisions made later in the film. It is arguably a subtle film making choice he makes here, yet it shows that Cuarón himself prides himself on the precision of his own work.

Cinematography aside, Roma boasts an impeccable cast of magnificent actors, namely amongst those being Yalitza Aparicio, who portrays Cleo. Her ability to convey emotion through her body language, even when she hosts a blank, emotionless face is fantastic. Yet her expression of emotion throughout the film feels so authentic and genuine, be that pessimistic or optimistic emotions - Aparicio fully adopts the character of Cleo and often the film feels like the camera is simply observing reality.

According to many descriptions of this film, many people claim Roma is an autobiographical film; be that as it may, there is no doubt that this film is incredibly heartfelt and digs into the core emotions of humanity. Cuarón depicts beauty in every day life, through family, through friends, and through the vibrant city of New Mexico. It is truly a marvelous film, with a central message reminding us that all around us we have people who love us, despite the fact that there are many who may not. A scene within the final act of the film which takes place on the beach beautifully exhibits this message.

Verdict: 10/10

Green Book

Director: Peter Farrelly

Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali

Year: 2019

Genre: Comedy

Set in 1960s America, Green Book follows Frank Vallelonga a.k.a. Tony Lip (Mortensen), who is hired by Doctor Don Shirley (Ali), a black pianist, to transport him across the Deep South of the US for him to perform at various concerts.

From the set up, the audience is made aware that the film is intending to provide another message about the injustice ingrained in society, using the climate of racism in the sixties as an observation on how in many cases, although not as conspicuous in today's world, things have not necessarily changed. However, it also offers a further inspection on the overt racism of the sixties - perhaps a somewhat recycled idea, and in a sense it offers little more than other films of a similar nature have done in the past, yet it is still a poignant message regardless.

Certainly there is no denying that the film is quite entertaining. Most noticeably is the excellent chemistry exhibited between Tony and 'Doc', especially by the end of the film when 'Doc' had accepted Tony's obvious quirks and Tony had been through his slightly forced character arc of becoming respectful for African-Americans and diversity within America. The relationship between the two really acts as a simplified message of discouraging judgement and racism, which for the purpose of the film works somewhat well. At its core, Green Book  does not go out of its way to provide a deep, severe commentary of these issues, like BlackKklansman (Spike Lee, 2018) might have done; instead it aims to bring these issues to light, in the context of the sixties, while retaining its comic aspect.

The comedy in this film improves as the plot progresses, especially as the audience become gradually more accustomed to the two's friendship dynamic. To begin with, the film is slightly clumsy and takes a while to properly find its footing. It throws the audience into a narrative with little context and set ups such as Tony's affiliation with the mafia and his discrimination of other races feel rushed in order to push the plot forward. It is a typical shortcut many of these films might take in order to keep the audience engaged with not much exposition and the smallest amount of information to make sure they are on the same page. 
Nevertheless, once the situation between 'Doc' and Tony, and their conflicts have been established, the film does pick up and becomes much more entertaining. Again, the film is not unique in its depiction of two conflicting forces soon accepting the others flaws and becoming friends - many films have done very similar notions (again, to reiterate, watch BlackKklansman), yet despite lacking originality, as with these narratives, it is impossible not to avoid its wholesome conclusion in the third act.

Mahershala Ali is brilliant in his role as Shirley and manages to evoke sincere and authentic emotions when dealing with personal conflicts, especially during pivotal scenes in the film. It is clear that 'Doc' deals with attackers coming from all sides, yet forces himself to keep a calm facade amidst his interior chaos, and this is beautifully transferred to screen by Ali. Mortensen, while being the central protagonist in the film, often works as more of the comedic relief in most scenes, yet his struggle to adjust to the cruel way of life is equally poignant, as 'Doc' teaches him a refined sense of morality and shows him humanities true colours. 

Ultimately, Green Book is a heartwarming, funny film with a poignant message to offer, which other films may have expressed better or more powerfully, but Green Book's contribution works well. Mortensen and Ali both give great performances and work exceptionally as a double act. The plot lacks complexity and the film does not attempt to explore many of its topics with much depth, leaving much to be desired for the film resolving or elaborating on some key issues, but what the film does offer is enjoyable.

Verdict: 7/10

Metropolis

Movie Recommendation:
Metropolis (1927, dir. Fritz Lang)

For anybody who has a love for films and wants to see a truly spectacular, iconic and beautiful movie, I cannot recommend Fritz Lang's 1927 sci-fi masterpiece Metropolis enough.

Some people have reservations about silent movies and I don't blame them - some of the original, experimental films are quite gimmicky and often dull in comparison to today's standard. Metropolis however definitely breaks such stereotypes of silent features.

Directed by visionary German director Fritz Lang, Metropolis tells the story of Freder, son of Joh Fredersen, the oppressive leader over the dystopian society depicted in Metropolis, in which the aristocrats live a life of wealth and prosperity above the surface, while millions of workers and laborours suffocate and slave away beneath, doomed to work the machines for eternity.
When Freder stumbles upon this underground monstrosity, he decides to help, by trading roles with a single worker, known only as '11811' and he takes up the exhausting, inhumane labour. 
During his time there, Freder falls in love with the pacifistic leader of the workers, Maria, who is also convinced Freder is the much anticipated saviour of the workers. However, she is captured by mad scientist Rotwang who, by order of Fredersen, transfers her image onto the body of a robot, creating a sadistic, hell bent, destructive doppelganger which he utilises to incite a revolution among the workers and seduce and manipulate the aristocrats.

Not only does Metropolis provide a cautionary tale and host critical social commentary from the time, especially in the wake of Bolshevism and the USSR, it is a stunning film to watch. During this period of film making, directors were set on experimenting with camerawork and editing to see what they could create through this new phenomena of entertainment. This is evident in Lang's film, with intricate set pieces and strictly choreographed scenes involving hundreds of actors, marching across the screen. His experimentation with editing is abundant, with multiple uses of montage sequences (evidently one inspired by the works of Sergei Eisenstein and similar directors from the era) and striking images, such as the collage effect used to evoke the notion of an obsessive male gaze in Maria's clone's hauntingly seductive dance routine, which branded the controversial nature of film upon release. This forced Lang to edit the originally 150 minute film down to 91 minutes upon its American release (the thought-to-be lost footage was recently recovered in 2010 of the cut scenes and a now fully restored 150 minute version of the film has been re-released to the public).

Metropolis' influence upon cinema since its initial release spans far and wide. Ridley Scott evidently took significant inspiration from the film when making his equally masterful neo-noir science fiction thriller Blade Runner (1982), in which much imagery shares many similarities with Metropolis. But also, inspiration can be seen in films such as Star Wars (1977, dir. George Lucas), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, dir. Stanley Kubrick) and even The Terminator (1984, dir. James Cameron), and no doubt many more. Its importance in cinema is paramount and to dismiss it as a dull silent film is almost a crime in itself.

Despite it being a silent film, it is a superbly entertaining and gripping movie, with a lot to say about the state of society as well as the path the world appears to be taking. I cannot stress how excellent, poignant, terrifying, and exhilarating this film is. Do yourself a favour and watch it!