Kraven the Hunter

Posted on December 12, 2024 at 5:41 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for strong bloody violence and language
Profanity:	Some strong language, f-words
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol, potions
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended and graphic action and comic book style violence with disturbing and bloody images, knives, poison darts, bombs, fire, guns, bear traps, spears
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	December 13, 2024

Another day, another second or third-level Marvel character “from the Spider-Man universe” given main character energy as Sony makes sure it takes every possible advantage of the contractual carve-out that gives it a small piece of the Marvel universe that isn’t run by Kevin Feige and Disney. The best I can say is that “Kraven the Hunter” is a bit better than the dismal “Madame Web” and less goofy than Tom Hardy’s “Venom: The Last Dance.”

This is the sixth of the Sony films about ancillary Spider-Man characters, the longest (2 hours, 7 minutes), and the first to be rated R.

The rating is primarily for extended bloody violence, as indicated by the poster showing Kraven’s face with specks of blood (not his) and the sobriquet “Hunter.” In the comics, he hunts Spidey because he wants to test himself against the most challenging prey. That character is inspired by Richard Connell’s short story about hunting humans, “The Most Dangerous Game.” But this movie is an origin story, and Kraven hunts bad guys.

It opens in present day, where a bus is taking men in chains to a remote Russian prison. We see the man we will come to know as Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) holding his meager bedding as he enters his cell. An extremely tough-looking guy watches him enter, then says, “I do not like roommates.” Kraven tells him that he will be gone within three days; if not, his cellmate can hit him. Kraven stays long enough to kill another prisoner, one of those still-running-the-crime-syndicate-from-prison kingpins. And then he escapes, automatic weapon bullets all around him as he races to catch the plane that was sent for him.

Flashback to 16 years earlier. Teenage Sergei Kravinoff (Levi Miller) and his half-brother Dimitri (Billy Barrett) are attending a posh boarding school in upstate New York when they are told their father has come to pick them up. He is Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), a powerful crime boss and the embodiment of toxic masculinity. He abruptly tells the boys that Sergei’s mother has committed suicide because she was “weak” and disturbed. There will be no funeral; instead he is taking his sons on a safari, so they can prove their manhood by killing dangerous animals.

Nikolai teaches his sons that the only things that matter are strength and power; they must never show weakness or fear. Sergei, who is brave and thoughtful, tries to protect his sensitive and vulnerable younger brother. When a legendary lion many hunters have failed to kill approaches them, Sergei puts himself in danger and is fatally mauled. But he is found by Calypso, a young girl on a photo safari with her parents. Her grandmother, a tarot card reader with some mystical power, had just given Calypso a vial with a potion that can “heal someone in undreamed ways.” She pours it into Sergei’s mouth and later, at the hospital, after he is pronounced dead he suddenly recovers. Between the potion and the lion’s blood that dripped into his wound, Sergei now has the powers of the world’s apex predators.

Yes, this is a superhero story about daddy issues. Nickolai is a narcissist who belittles everyone around him, including his sons and also some random guy named Aleksei Sytsevich (Alessandro Nivola) who tagged along on the safari in hopes of persuading Nickolai to allow him to be a part of all the criming. We will see him again later. When Nickolai tells Sergei he is taking him into the family business, Sergei runs away, leaving his brother behind.

Sergei becomes Kraven, living in a remote Russian forest on property once owned by his mother’s family. And he becomes a hunter, trying to balance his father’s ruthless brutality by taking out bad guys. He tracks down Calypso (Ariana DeBose), now an American lawyer working in London to thank her for saving his life and ask for her help in locating some bad guys. And then Dimitri is kidnapped, and Nickolai refuses to pay the ransom, because it will make him look weak.

All of this is just a light framework for a lot of impressive stunts. Kraven is old-school, so while people are shooting at him, he is using spears, knives, poison darts, and bear traps. At least the action scenes relieve us from the clunky dialogue and bad accents.

Parents should know that this is a very violent movie with constant action and comic-book-style chases and fight scenes and many graphic and disturbing images. A teenager gets mauled by a lion. There is a very unsympathetic discussion of suicide. Weapons include machine guns and rifles, spears, knives, poison darts, bear traps, and bombs. Characters drink alcohol and use some strong language.

Family discussion: Why did Sergei and Dimitri respond so differently to their father? What were Kraven’s strengths as a hunter? What mistakes did he make?

If you like this, try; “The Most Dangerous Game” and Taylor-Johnson’s “Bullet Train” and “Kick-Ass”

Moana 2

Posted on November 26, 2024 at 6:37 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for action/peril
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Toxic darts
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended fantasy peril and violence, scary monsters
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	November 27, 2024

MOANA 2 – © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

“Moana 2” is colorful and exciting, often beautiful to watch, with some catchy songs. But the storyline is overcomplicated and it does not have the heart (or the Lin-Manuel Miranda bangers) of the first film. It is episodic, with a complicated array of different places, characters, and stakes, evidence of its original version as a series for Disney+. The mid-credit scene is a cliffhanger that makes the entire film seem like a teaser for what comes next, most likely a series that keeps the story going.

At the end of the first film, Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) came home in triumph having — with the help of demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) — restored the balance of the universe by returning the heart of Te Fiti and removing the curse that was blighting her island. You don’t need to worry about whether you’ve seen the first one or not; there’s a recap.

Three years later, Moana has grown up a lot. She has the same adventuresome spirit and is proud of being a “way finder,” but has more confidence and skill, as we see her maneuver her boat, handling the ropes and sails like a seasoned salt. She adores her little sister, Simea (Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda) and her loving parents are very proud of her vision and leadership.

As in the first film, Moana sets off on a journey. The first journey was to reconnect with the history of her people and remove the curse on her people. This time, she is in search of other people from other places and cultures. She assembles a crew. Moni (Hualalai Chung) is a Maui fanboy, a storyteller tied to the legends of the community, and very enthusiastic. Loto (Rose Matafeo) is the gear-head everyone needs on a voyage, filled with ideas about how to make everything work more smoothly. But her most valuable assets are her unquenchable enthusiasm, quick problem-solving, and her ability to turn disastrous damage into something that will still get the group where they need to go. The most unexpected addition to the crew is Kele (David Fane), a grumpy elder whose speciality — farming — and lack of enthusiasm seem like impediments, at least at first.

Of course no Moana journey would be complete without her animal sidekicks, the scrawny rooster Heihei (Alan Tudyk) and the little pig Pua (left behind in the first film but along for the ride this time).

Moana and the crew land on an island of the Kakamora, cute but fierce coconut creatures (think the Ewoks except they are either wearing or made of coconuts). They have paralyzing darts (children will enjoy where the toxic gel comes from) but they also have the antidote, a large, green, jello-like creature. One of them joins the voyage.

They also have an encounter with a mysterious woman whose song has an unusual message for a wayfarer. Her name is Matangi (Awhimai Fraser) and her advice is to “get lost, cut loose, and lose your way.” She is friends with bats. She captured Maui. And she seems to be a captive herself, all of which should make Moana (and us) a suspicious. Is Matangi trying to help Moana and her crew or is she trying to help herself? Moana takes it as permission to worry less about finding the right way and allow herself to enjoy the freedom of not knowing exactly where she is going. And once Maui is on board (literally), giving him a chance to spit some rhymes in the lickity-split fast “Can I Get A Chee Hoo” you can expect to hear children rapping non-stop.

The visuals are as Disney-sublime. Water wishes it could be as water-ish as the water in this movie. Songwriters Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear created good, singable songs that help tell the story. The mechanics and rigging are superbly imagined in the musical numbers and the action sequences with characters and pieces of the boat flying in every direction. The new characters are welcome additions, especially Loto, but they are thinly imagined and we do not get enough time with them to form a connection. So much was happening and the mythology underlying it was so complicated, I kept wishing for a better balance between story and action. Also, it takes much too long to reunite Maui and Moana. Johnson, who also produced, should have made sure his energy was boosting the first third of the film.

So, this is not top-level Disney, but Moana remains an appealing character and if she gets a bit lost in this chapter, we will wait for her to find her way.

Note: stay for a mid-credit sequence that sets the stage for the next chapter

Parents should know that this movie has some scary monsters and some gross-out humor. Characters are in peril. Moana has contact with her ancestors, including her late grandmother.

Family discussion: How do you learn who you’re meant to be? What do you think Matangi will do next? What would you like to ask your ancestors?

If you like this, try: “Moana” and “Lilo and Stitch”

xXx: The Return of Xander Cage

Posted on January 19, 2017 at 5:28 pm

This ridiculous but ridiculously entertaining third chapter in the “XXX” action series is basically script by Mad Libs: Let’s have Vin Diesel in a . Which is how we get a motorcycle race over water and a ski jump into jungle. Plus a shoot-out in zero gravity. And why not. Sick of winter? Tired of the news? Here is a summer movie in January, with chases and explosions for days, badassery of all kinds, and many thousand yard stares, all presented for your delectation in gorgeous IMAX 3D.

So, to recap. In the first XXX movie, released in 2002, extreme sports and extreme tattoo anti-hero and adrenaline junkie Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) was recruited by federal agent Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) to do some tasks that normal military and government operatives were not cool and crazy enough to do. Chapter 2, “XXX: State of the Union” (2005) had Ice Cube stepping in for the reportedly deceased Cage. Twelve years later, it turns out that Xander Cage was just too cool to kill. He’s been enjoying life with crazy stunts and beautiful ladies. But tracks him down because has to be taken away from , and so once again his special skills are needed.

That special ops boss is Marke, played by Toni Collette as though she is doing a bad drag queen impression of herself, as opposed to the good drag queen impression she did in “Connie and Carla.” She helpfully provides X with a team of military tough guys. He dispatches them quickly by throwing them off a plane and rounds up his own Benneton ad of a team, a motley crew of wisecracking with and no fear: “the bad, the extreme, the completely insane,” we are reminded, as though that isn’t the very reason we are there. The movie helpfully skips over exposition that might get in the way of chases, explosions, shoot-outs, fight scenes, and quippy threats and bragging by providing helpful title cards for each character outlining, like Power Point on crack, their most significant achievements, characteristics, and useful other information like their go-to karaoke song or the fact that one of them, meeting with Samuel L. Jackson, thinks he is being recruited for the Avengers.

Everyone loves to run, jump, shoot, and fight except for Nina Dobrev as the Velma of this Scooby-Doo crowd, with oversize glasses, super-duper tech ability, and an inability to stop talking around X. She babbles anything that comes into her mind, explaining so thoroughly (in the world of this movie, more than six words in a row is a monologue) that she is not a field agent that we know eventually she will have to shoot a gun at someone, and adding, as she swoons over X’s muscles, “It’s not that I have a safe word or anything; it’s kumquat.”

X-Men style, this Island of Lost Toys bunch of misfits keeps shifting loyalties, so, gets to fight and fight alongside , too. It’s all delightfully preposterous but crazy fun and .

Parents should know that this film includes constant action-style peril and violence, chases, explosions, assault weapons, knives, terrorism, sexual innuendo and non-explicit situation, and some strong language.

Family discussion: Do you agree with Xander’s comment about rebels and tyrants? How do the characters decide when to be loyal and who to be loyal to?

If you like this, try: the earlier “xXx” movies and the “Transporter” and “Fast and Furious” series

Sully

Posted on September 7, 2016 at 2:00 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for some peril and brief strong language
Profanity:	Brief strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Acohol
Violence/ Scariness:	Intense peril, dire and tense real-life situation, airplane near-crash
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	September 9, 2016
Date Released to DVD:	December 19, 2016
Amazon.com ASIN:	B01LBWHQRA

Pay attention to the numbers in “Sully,” the new movie from director Clint Eastwood, with Tom Hanks as “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who lost both engines and landed his plane safely on the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. 208 is the number of seconds that Sully and his co-pilot, Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart) had from the time two “bird strikes” took out both of the plane’s engines. 1549 was the number of the United flight, an Airbus A320-214 flying from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to a stopover at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. 155 is the number of people whose lives were saved by Sully’s quick thinking. And 17 — I will let you find out for yourself why that number matters in one of the film’s key turning points.

We know what happened. No one can forget those images of the passengers standing on the wings of the plane on the river in freezing weather. And 208 seconds, no matter how tense and exciting, is not enough for a film. Screenwriter Todd Komarnicki sets the film in the days after the “controlled ditching” (that is the technical term), as Sully and Skiles are lauded as heroes by the media and cross-examined with skepticism by the investigating authorities, overseen by the National Transportation Safety Board. The facts were improbable, even unimaginable. The panel chair (“Glee’s” Mike O’Malley) notes dryly that they have never before listened to the “black box” recording in the presence of the people on the tape. Everyone in the room knows that is because they were all dead. When asked about “the crash,” Skiles interrupts to correct the choice of words: “It was not a crash. It was a ditching, a forced water landing.”

Even Sully, following the intensity of the emergency landing and his concern for what he refers to as the “155 souls” on board, including the crew, is in something of a daze. He is peppered with questions: “When did you last have a drink? Are you having trouble at home?” He is interviewed by Katie Couric and appears with the crew on David Letterman’s show. And yet, he is facing a challenge every bit as daunting and far more complex than losing two engines at a low altitude. There is the relentless, often hostile, dissection of every one of those 208 seconds through an extensive government investigation and the media spotlight, reviewing every decision, every risk assessment, every protocol. Was that second engine really out? Could they have made it to a runway in New Jersey? The only questions tougher and more suspicious than those of the investigators are those Sully asks himself. He is numb from the trauma of the forced landing and especially from the excruciation hours until he was told that all 155 souls were safe.

The script from screenwriter Todd Komarnicki, based in part on Sullenberger’s book, is one of the most well-crafted, tightly constructed screenplays of the year, efficient in providing us the information we need without getting us lost in technical jargon, and making each return to the seconds of crucial decision-making more revealing and more compelling. Hanks, as always, is superb in conveying the ultimate of decency and integrity. And I promise, after this, when they recite the safety details at the beginning of your flight, you will listen.

Parents should know that this movie has extreme, intense peril with some disturbing images. Characters drink and use some strong language.

Family discussion: What experience and character qualities made it possible for Sully to think through his options so quickly and figure out a way to save everyone on board? Were any of the questions they were asked unfair?

If you like this, try: “Apollo 13” and “Captain Phillips,” two other fact-based films with Tom Hanks in charge of a vessel in trouble.

The Walk

Posted on October 1, 2015 at 12:17 pm

If you have vertigo or acrophobia, you will have trouble with “The Walk,” the story of Frenchman Philippe Petit’s tightrope walk between the towers of the World Trade Center. If you don’t have vertigo or acrophobia, you might have after you watch the movie, with the most stunningly realistic 3D effects ever put on screen. At least I think they’re still just on the screen. It sure feels like it goes on way, way behind it.

“Man on Wire,” a documentary about Petit’s 1974 stunt, or, as he might prefer to say, coup, won an Oscar in 2008. In this film, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, with an accent that just manages to avoid Pepe LePew dimensions, plays Petit, a street performer who saw a photograph of the World Trade Center in the waiting room of his dentist and was instantly consumed with the dream of a walk in the sky, more than 1300 feet above the sidewalk, between the towers. Like Petit himself, the movie does not bother with the question of why this might be a good thing to do. If pressed, he might just say, like Mallory, “Because it’s there.” The problem is that he doesn’t have an answer but still keeps talking and talking. For no reason we keep going back to Petit narrating the story from the torch of the Statue of Liberty. It is distracting and dull.

Petit could not or would not articulate it, but I think I know why. When huge institutions get together to create a world-record setting edifice — taller than the Eiffel Tower, the Frenchman notes — there is something irresistibly enticing about coming back as a lone soul and literally topping it. Director Robert Zemeckis, who can get more excited about the technology than the story in his films, may identify with that challenge. Petit wanted to walk across the sky, with an audience to appreciate it. And Zemeckis wants to recreate that experience for us, taking us to the roof of the Towers, and inviting us to look down.

Still, while we love movies about dreamers of impossible dreams who make them come true, we do like to have a reason, and Petit edges over the line from audacious dreamer to inconsiderate narcissist, despite Gordon-Levitt’s considerable appeal. This lends a hollow quality, overcome less from the story of the film to what is in our own hearts as we watch, knowing what the tragedy that lies ahead for the World Trade Center.

What works well in the first part of the film is Petit’s tutorials with a tightrope master played by Sir Ben Kingsley and the procedural elements once Petit and his team get to New York and start preparing as though they are getting ready to rob a bank. Indeed, it becomes a heist film of a sort because they have to find different ways to sneak into a building that is still under construction and gather the information they need to figure out how to install the cable and keep it from swaying or buckling. And then to install it. There are a lot of problems along the way, including Petit stepping on a nail and injuring his foot and dropping his black turtleneck from the roof when he is trying to assume his performer persona. They omit, however, my favorite detail from the documentary: Petit explains that in America, if there’s pencil in your pocket everyone assumes you are part of the construction team and are entitled to be there. Like the loss of the buildings themselves, Petit’s ability to exploit lax security is a poignant reminder of what we no longer have.

The last half hour or so of the film is breathtaking and well worth the price of admission in IMAX 3D. You will feel that you are on the tightrope with Petit. As the crowd gathers below and the police arrive (who thought a police helicopter would be a good idea?), Petit is suspended in the clouds, mentally, emotionally, and physically. For just a moment, Zemeckis and Gordon-Levitt bring us up there with him, and his dream, however frivolous and ephemeral, becomes ours.

Parents should know that this film has very risky and dangerous behavior, vertiginous 3D effects, brief nudity, some strong language, and smoking and drinking.

Family discussion: What big dream would you like to make come true? Who would you want to be your team?

If you like this, try: the documentary “Man on Wire”

Related Tags:

3D Based on a true story Drama IMAX