Whether in theaters or streaming it’s a busy weekend for new movies. You’ll notice that three, including the big one, are animated. That’s in tune with the upcoming season naturally. But also notice that the streamers are adding many Christmas favorites these days. Over at Prime Video for instance watch for The Grinch, It’s a Wonderful Life, two new ones, Jack In Time For Christmas and Dear Santa about a spelling error in a letter to the old guy that provokes havoc. And, there’s that standby Love Actually. I mention that because Richard Curtiss, the man who wrote it, is behind a new film that you can read about below. Among these:
Moana 2: 3 stars
Flow: 4 ½
Beatles '64: 3 ½
That Christmas: 3
Sweethearts: 3
Porcelain War: 4
All the Lost Ones: 3 ½
MOANA 2: The most streamed movie ever when it played at the Disney+ site now has a sequel and it’s not surprising that it succumbs to a common problem. It’s not as good as the original. It’s not far back, being colorful, fast-paced and beautifully animated (in Disney’s Vancouver studio). But it’s not as fresh or involving and, for little kids especially, sometimes hard to follow. That’s because it’s overstuffed with incident and characters. Most of the old ones are back, but there are many that seem unnecessary. A grumpy farmer? Why is he needed in a mammoth ocean adventure. The reason may be that this film was developed as a TV series. There extra material is warranted. But after a couple of Disney’s animated films failed, these episodes were joined into one movie and sent to the theaters. It’s expected to be huge.
It’s a few years after the original film. Moana (voiced by Auli'i Cravalho) is now adept at seafaring, having defied the isolationist rules of her community in the original film, allied with a boastful demigod named Maui (Dwayne Johnson) and saved her village. Now a vengeful god named Nalo, who we hardly see at all, has separated the people of the South Pacific region with a curse. A message from her ancestors tells Moana that if she hopes to defeat the curse she must get to a hidden island. It’s shrouded in storms and lightning and that brings fine animation on screen and high adventure to get there. She joins with Maui again, rounds up a crew of characters and even brings along a young sister, who is also unnecessary but very cute. There are ghosts and sea monsters and generally too much crowded into this movie. (In theaters) 3 out of 5
FLOW: Here’s a far better animated film. It’s imaginative, innovative and very engrossing. For children too because it’s all about animals on a forced adventure. A flood has filled their valley with water. Several manage to jump into an abandoned boat and float down river. They have to co-operate despite their nature. A pack of dogs running by seems dangerous at first to the cat we sight at the start of the film. But it becomes friends with one of those dogs soon after and they are separated and re-joined a few times as the story advances. The message is clear: natural enemies don’t need to be that way.
Also on that boat is a sleepy capybara, a statuesque secretary bird and a lemur that’s obsessed with protecting a bag of items it has collected. The film gives all these creatures distinct personalities which are communicated entirely with facial expressions and body posture. No language. Only real animal sounds. Yet so much is said by them. About co-operation, fear at times, anxiety, joy at re-connecting after what seems like losing a friend. Heartfelt it is. And beautiful. The animation is gorgeous, especially noticeable when the perspective changes or the scene pans up or sideways. It feels fresh. The film is from Latvia, which has submitted it for Academy Awards consideration. I’d vote for it. (In theaters) 4 ½ out of 5
THAT CHRISTMAS: Things can go wrong at Christmas. We’ve seen it happens in movies often and every year. This one ups the problem: three things go wrong in three semi-connected stories. They’re from three popular children’s books by Richard Curtis who is best known for writing films (Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral and others). His style of easy humor carries on and delivers a quirky version of a holiday wish: everybody be kind and enjoy times together.
That’s hard to do in the small coastal village in England called Wellington by the Sea. Danny (Jack Wisniewski) misses his dad who has run off with a dental hygenist. His mom works long hours as a nurse. He’s secretly in love with a shopkeeper’s daughter ((Zazie Hayhurst) but too fumbly to tell her so. She meanwhile is worried her sister (Sienna Sayer) is too naughty for Santa this year. Another family, the McNutt’s has the children left at home while the parents go out to dinner. Then a huge blizzard hits, stalling everybody, even Santa who has been narrating this tale from his past. He’s voiced by Brian Cox. There’s also a stern school teacher (Fiona Shaw) who seems an unappealing character but sadly turns out to be alone. How can all this be solved in time for Christmas? While you’re pondering that notice a fun Richard Curtis touch: in an early scene children gripe that their mother makes them watch one Christmas movie yet again. It’s Love Actually, by you know who. Animation veteran Simon Otto directed this one and it’s warm-hearted and pleasant. (Netflix starting next week) 3 out of 5
BEATLES '64: Millions of us watched the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show that February and next morning they were a big topic of conversation in my university classes. Some, including a professor, wondered what it was all about. This documentary tries to address that. It does it by taking us right up close to them on their first trip to America, to see them joking and bantering in their hotel rooms and press conferences. And performing on TV and in concerts in Washington and Carnegie Hall. The sound has been restored to be amazingly crisp and far better than what I heard in the two concerts I attended when they came to Canada. Even better, the film gives us generous portions of those songs, not just fragments.
Director David Tedeschi, with Martin Scorsese producing, tries to explain what it all meant. He’s used new interviews, including with the two surviving Beatles, and a lot of old clips from a great cast, including Marshall McLuhan, Leonard Bernstein, who calls them “terribly important”, even Betty Friedan, who endorses their “softer” masculinity. Smokey Robinson does a soulful version of Yesterday as part of an observation on how they favored black music and how that helped fight segregation. More of a stretch is the film’s contention that they became big because they helped bring Americans out of the depression they felt after the Kennedy assassination that had happened only months before. And that they reflected societal change. Fans just called them “adorable,” and the music “visceral,” which is why they screamed. Nostalgia lives, very well. (On Disney+) 3½ out of 5.
SWEETHEARTS: Here’s a romantic comedy of sorts. There’s quite a bit to chuckle at, not a lot of romance but a great deal of sex talk in very stark language. That makes it very contemporary I imagine. A couple want to be together and to enable that they work to break up with the partners they currently have. Jamie (Kiernan Shipka, who was a regular on Mad Men and sparkling here) and Ben (Nico Hiraga) want to take their long platonic friendship up a notch. They’re both at college in Ohio.
Jamie’s current boyfriend is a dumb jock who somehow got into Harvard. Ben’s girlfriend is still in highschool (that’s explained) but texts him constantly. It’s clear that he wants to get away but not clear why he hasn’t already done it. No matter, loud parties ensue with lots of teenage jokes and references to body parts and character faults. For instance how did Jamie manage to break up her boyfriend’s dad marriage without even doing anything but gain a home wreaker reputation anyway. A lot of this is funny and cleverly written. But also low class. Jordan Weiss (That’s a she) co-wrote and brightly directed it. (A MAX film streaming on CRAVE) 3 out of 5
PORCELAIN WAR: This alternate view of the war in Ukraine was a big winner at Sundance. You see why immediately because it shows life going on amid destruction. The documentary brings us two artists, Slava and Anya, a married couple, as they carry on with their art despite what’s going on around them. He makes figures in porcelain, she paints them (we see a lot of her work, some of it animated and moving). A friend, also an artist, does the filming. We also see them around the war blasted buildings and in subway tunnels where people hide.
And we see them pick up guns themselves, join an army unit, where he trains soldiers in the use of firearms and she contributes decorations for the drones that’ll be used. There’s danger all around but the film startles with the contrast it shows between destruction and the art they create. The tone is positive all the way and perfectly reflected in this sentiment they offer: “Bad people are not as creative at being bad as good people are at being good.” Catch this one for the good feeling that somehow manages to survive amid the devastation. (In theaters: Vancouver now; Toronto and Ottawa next week) 4 out of 5
ALL THE LOST ONES: Remember Civil War, the film about today’s divisions in the United States taken to an extreme? Here’s another one, set in Canada this time, filmed in North Bay, Ontario and also showing militia bands roaming the countryside. They’re part of the so-called United Conservancy which is one side in a civil war. Believe it or not, climate change sparked it. Government brought in regulations, demonstrations opposed them and violence broke out. Pretty alarmist but the movies generally haven’t done well with the subject of climate change.
Taken simply as a thriller this one works though. Mackenzie Donaldson directed and Anthony Grant and Cheryl Meyer wrote it giving us a tough confrontation by the two sides. Three young people, Penny (Vinessa Antoine), Nia (Jasmine Mathews) and Ethan (Douglas Smith) are hiding out and partying in an abandoned building in an empty town. Militia types arrive. Nia kills one on a forage for food. That brings others including a father and son who make mysogynist and racist comments. From then on it’s harrowing. The three have to escape, avoid being seen but get to a boat which they might be able to use to get away. More confrontations, quite a bit of shooting and a lot of tension deliver the thrills. (In theaters) 3 ½ out of 5
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