Author: Matt Conway

National Champions: The BRWC Review

National Champions Synopsis: Three days before the college football national championship game, star quarterback LeMarcus James (Stephen James) and teammate Emmett Sunday (Alexander Ludwig) ignite a player’s strike — declaring they won’t compete until all student-athletes are fairly compensated. With billions of dollars at risk and the legacy of their coach (J.K. Simmons) on the line, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Sports films often fixate on athletes’ day-to-day struggles toward superstardom, utilizing a bevy of time-honored cliches and warm, crowdpleasing moments to inspire viewers. Similar to the sports themselves, these fantastical renditions often tell a story that overlooks the darker minutiae lying under the surface – with modern athletes often sacrificing their health and image for a system that silences any dissension.

Director Ric Roman Waugh’s latest vehicle National Champions takes a much-needed look at college athletics and the industry’s free labor practices. Despite a few clumsy missteps, Waugh and screenwriter Adam Mervis conjure a fittingly complex detour from the sport’s glitz and glamour in a well-informed and hard-hitting drama.

Akin to the rich complexities of 2011’s analytical baseball film Moneyball, National Champions reflects a strong understanding of its subject matter and its underlying nuances. Mervis places audiences in the shoes of LeMarcus James, an athlete driven by meaningful protests as he fights for industry-wide change for college athletes. It’s no surprise that James’ journey offers a searing denouncement of the NCCA’s practices, but Mervis thankfully forms his film as something grander.

National Champions works at its best when digging into the institutionalized roots behind modern sports practices. Similar to real-life advocates Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid, James’ journey intelligently taps into the avenues institutions take to control and denounce those who speak against the money-making conglomerate. The system James battles is far more imposing than any competitor he faces on the field, with the subdued racial and classist undertones creating an environment that limits student-athletes at every turn.

Stars Stephan James and Alexander Ludwig deliver performances radiating with conviction and emotional sincerity as two friends who step out on a slippery slope against the NCCA. James, in particular, possesses natural movie star gravitas onscreen, often transforming the character’s amalgam-like development into a distinctly felt presence onscreen. J.K. Simmons delivers one of his best performances to date as LaMarcus’ traditionalist coach. The actor balances equal parts hard-headed stubbornness and emotional vulnerability as a man with little purpose outside of dictating his team’s every move. Character acting stalwarts Jeffrey Donovan, David Koechner, and Uzo Aduba also shine as members of the corrupt NCCA.

National Champions always has its heart in the right place, which helps mitigate some of the film’s earnest heavy-handedness. Melvis and Waugh settle too often on shouting their message from the rooftop, utilizing too many overwritten speeches and melodramatic devices to communicate their perspective. Melvis’ screenplay also endures some bizarre structural problems. A subplot involving the coach’s wife and her affair with one of LaMarcus’ professors only works to congest the narrative, with stars Kristen Chenoweth and Timothy Olyphant having little to do in their underdeveloped roles.

Issues aside, National Champions delivers a well-textured spotlight on the unjust stranglehold athletic institutions have upon their athletes. I hope films like this continue to provide valuable lip service for the industry’s overlooked complications.

National Champions is now playing in theaters.

10th December 2021
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The BRWC Review

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Synopsis: Greg Heffley is an ambitious kid with an active imagination and big plans to be rich and famous. The problem is that he has to survive middle school first.

As a child growing up in the late 2000s, Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series presented a fresh perspective on the doldrums of middle school life. Kinney developed a succinct voice on the page, blending his charmingly straightforward stick figure cartoon design with a plethora of relatable childhood pratfalls. The author’s breakout novel morphed into a beloved childhood brand, including an endless onslaught of sequel novels, a TV series, and four film adaptations.

While the live-action films had some charming appeals, the brand makes a welcomed return to the cartoon sphere with this Diary of a Wimpy Kid reboot. Borrowing exclusively from Kinney’s novel – he has the only screenwriting credit – the film delivers an earnest yet entirely disposable iteration of the novel’s charms.

It starts with enough promise. Director and Animation stalwart Swinton O. Scott III reintroduces audiences to Kinney’s comic book-esque designs in his opening frames, a decision that acts both as a charming homage and an expressive vehicle for the madcap childhood vignettes. Scott and Kinney are serviceable-enough in their cinematic adaptation, weaving the novel’s mix of slapstick gags and tongue-in-cheek humor in a way that should please the young diehard fans of the material.

The film may please its intended demographic, but Diary of a Wimpy Kid performs the bare minimum in entertaining anyone outside that limited sphere. The barely feature-length 56-minute runtime never finds a coherent voice, delivering little characterization or storytelling structure as it lazily reincorporates gags from the page. Even with Gregg never being the kindest of protagonists on the page, the film struggles to convey the self-deprecation streak that made him a relatable everyman for readers to follow. The character’s on-again-off-again friendship with the overbearing Rowley also feels like a vacant shell of what existed on the page.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKhCPUa-glo

Then there’s the animation. After welcoming viewers with the refreshing sights of the novel’s time-honored iconography, the film bizarrely switches up to a 3D style that is frankly unpleasant to look at. The approach maintains the blockiness of the novel without conveying any of its expressiveness, coming off more as a cheap knock-off rather than a sincere way to modernize the material. It just seems like Scott and his team did not have much of a budget, with this reimagination delivering a bargain bin rendition of the elements that worked so well on the page.

Even as someone viewing the film with nostalgic, rose-tinted glasses, Diary of a Wimpy Kid provides no discernable reason to exist aside from continuing the franchise’s money train. Whether fans like it or not, a sequel is already on the way…

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is now available on Disney+.

3rd December 2021
Matt’s New Release Breakdown: Thanksgiving Edition

The holiday season is under way! After last year truncated COVID calendar, it’s been a joy to see several award hopefuls and cheerful Christmas titles debut for the season. For this mini new release breakdown, I take a closer look at House of Gucci, King Richard, and 8-Bit Christmas. Let’s get rolling!

House of Gucci

Synopsis: When Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), an outsider from humble beginnings, marries Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), her unbridled ambition begins to unravel the family legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge — and ultimately murder.

Sinking into a dysfunctional family dynamic akin to Shakespear, acclaimed director Ridley Scott finally brings House of Gucci to the screen (he was attached to direct in 2006 with Leonardo DiCaprio and Angelina Jolie originally starring). The material offers a delicious page-turner that’s too hard to pass up, but Scott’s wishy-washy execution creates more of a modest mixed bag than the next award’s staple.

To little surprise, Gucci’s eclectic all-star cast steals the show. Spotting vivacious energy and a killer accent, Lady Gaga sinks her teeth into Patrizia’s sinister persona. It’s the type of high-energy performance that could steer off rails in lesser hands, yet Gaga conveys the deeply-seated insecurity and lust for grandeur buried underneath the bravado. Adam Driver’s suave delivery personifies Maurizio’s journey from a mild-mannered student to a cutthroat business leader, while Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons unsurprisingly deliver veteran poise in droves. Heck, even Jared Leto’s unhinged vigor feels like a fitting choice to display Paolo’s unending search for acceptance.

While I prefer this Ridley Scott film to his previous effort this year, the acclaimed director struggles to command the material. After the first hour glides with exuberant energy, Scott’s film oddly comes to a melodramatic halt. The director’s straightforward visual presentation and lack of substantive imprint eventually create an uneven experience. Screenwriters Roberto Bentivegna and Becky Johnston don’t help the unevenness – with an overload of needless historical backstory and biopic contrivances taking much of the air out of the story’s raw emotionality.

It’s a close call, but I still would recommend House of Gucci for its compellingly inconsistent take on a fascinating true story.

House of Gucci is now playing in theaters.

King Richard

Synopsis: Armed with a clear vision and a brazen, 78-page plan, Richard Williams (Will Smith) is determined to write his two daughters, Venus and Serena, into history. Training on tennis courts in Compton, Calif., Richard shapes the girls’ unyielding commitment and keen intuition as they grow into superstar athletes.

Marked as an early Oscar favorite, King Richard combines two familiar staples – the biopic and feel-good sports movies – into one crowdpleasing package. Unlike some esteemed dramas that strain themselves for pathos, director Reinaldo Marcus Green conjures a winning blend of warmth and meaningful complexities.

While Will Smith remains the casts’ major spotlight, the ensemble effort deserves equal praise. After two remarkable performances on the small screen (Lovecraft Country and When They See Us), Aunjanue Ellis is a true breakout as Oracene. The actress conveys the conflicting support and frustration she shares for Richard with raw naturalism, never striking a false note in her delivery. Young stars Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton excel at conveying the Williams’ sisters demanding journey to greatness – while Jon Bernthal brightens the screen with a balance of comedic charm and dramatic heft.

Of course, Smith is also terrific in the titular role. The A-lister seamlessly disappears into the character’s stubborn yet well-intended persona, employing vulnerable emotionality under the character’s countless grand statements. King Richard operates at its best when magnifying the Williams family’s journey for success. Along with tireless sacrifices on the tennis court, Richard and company also fight for authorship as dozens of outside parties try to define their legacy. Green and screenwriter Zach Baylin astutely convey the sociopolitical undertones while still scoring several poignant moments from the film’s inspirational sports movie mold.

Is King Richard the most complex version of this story? Perhaps not (the Williams family oversaw the production, which leads to a bit too much straightforwardness at times). That said, King Richard is about as good as it gets for sports crowdpleasers. I’ll be rooting for Will and company to get some much-deserved recognition come award time.

King Richard is now playing in theaters and on HBO Max.

8-Bit Christmas

Synopsis: In 1980s Chicago, a ten-year-old sets out on a quest to get the Christmas gift of his generation – the latest and greatest video game system, the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Basking in the nostalgic joys of a simpler time, 8-Bit Christmas models itself as a modern-day iteration of A Christmas Story. Writer Kevin Jakubowski utilizes the familiar narrative playbook with some success – particularly in his warm-hearted third act reversal of Christmas’ commercialized image. The cast also imbues good-natured charms into their roles, with Steve Zahn, Neil Patrick Harris, and newcomer Winslow Fegley mining yuletide cheer from their archetypal roles.

While mildly pleasant, 8-Bit Christmas struggles to subvert its by-the-numbers foundation. Jakubowski’s earnest dedication to his beloved source material becomes a hindrance as the screenplay weaves through played-out contrivances. I admire sincere nostalgic homages, and A Christmas Story is worthy of some playful modernization. However, Jakubowski and by-the-books studio director Michael Dowse settle rather than elevating their worthwhile aspirations.

8-Bit Christmas delivers enough earnest energy to please diehard Christmas movie fans. For everyone else, the film doesn’t incorporate enough distinctive elements to elevate this feature past its like-minded peers.

8-Bit Christmas is now available on HBO Max.

Readers can also check out my full-length reviews of other holiday titles like Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City and Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

29th November 2021
Resident Evil Welcome To Raccoon City: The BRWC Review

Resident Evil Welcome to Racoon City Synopsis: Once the booming home of pharmaceutical giant Umbrella Corporation, Raccoon City is now a dying Midwestern town. The company’s exodus left the city a wasteland…with great evil brewing below the surface. When evil is unleashed, the townspeople are forever changed, and a small group of survivors must work together to uncover the truth behind Umbrella and make it through the night.

While his bombastic style never suited critical interests, Paul W.S. Anderson is one of the few craftsmen to prosper in the dreaded video game movie subgenre. With Resident Evil, his six-film series forwent the brand’s favoring of atmospheric storytelling, using the horror sandbox as a platform for highly-stylized actioners that effectively danced around the game’s busy plotlines. I understand why fans still hold mixed feelings toward W.S. Anderson and his creations, but the director’s visual electricity behind the camera always drew me to his creative universe.

After a short reprieve, Hollywood is already resurrecting Resident Evil from the dead with Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. Liberally combining elements of the first two games, Welcome to Raccoon City possesses an earnest appreciation for the franchise and its time-honored roots – but this spirited revival struggles to define its own lane amidst a flurry of fan-centric homages.

Still, Welcome to Raccoon City shines favorably compared to the muck of tasteless disasters that dominated the videogame movie-sphere for much of its existence (looking at you Uwe Boll). While he doesn’t imbue the same visceral vibrancy behind the camera as Anderson, new franchise helmer Johannes Roberts skillfully incorporates his pedigree in genre B-movies (47 Meters Down and Strangers: Prey at Night are vastly underrated).

From the desolate, rain-soaked dreariness of Raccoon City to the dimly-lit corridors of each close-quarters location, Roberts demonstrates expertise in eerie, atmospheric filmmaking. The director also showcases impressive ingenuity with his small-budget assets, utilizing practical make-up work and inventive stylistic wrinkles to mask the inherent limitations (a one-take shootout set to a familiar 80s rock tune is a particular standout). I think fans of the series will be pleased by Roberts’s dedication to the franchise, with the director showcasing a keen understanding of the visceral blood-drenched allures behind the franchise.

Unfortunately, the director’s strengths behind the camera do not translate to his listless screenplay. I am sympathetic to the difficulties of incorporating hours of lore and exposition into a truncated two-hour package – yet the decision to blend two games into one film leaves audiences with nothing to latch onto. Roberts creates a dull mishmash of franchise cornerstones, relying more upon fans recognizing familiar faces rather than delivering their personalities to the big-screen. I couldn’t even imagine watching this film as someone with no prior knowledge of the games. Without imprinting his own stamp on the brand, Roberts struggles to invest viewers into his half-baked reboot.

Welcome to Raccoon City never fully encompasses the games’ narrative strengths. Umbrella Corporations’ abusive practices and disenfranchisement of its neighboring community always stood as a deft depiction of pharmaceutical malpractice – but here – the thematic concept reduces to a few bluntly-formed lines that clumsily spell out the central conceits. The characters are similarly thankless in their construction. Aside from a few spirited performances from recognized character actors (Neal McDonough as the wicked William Birkin and Donal Logue as a foul-mouthed police chief steal the show), most of the cast deliver performances akin to cheap cosplay interpretations. It’s impossible to convey the soul of a property when the adaptation maintains little of its storytelling appeals.

Resident Evil: Welcome to City will please diehard fans with its earnest competence. Outside of that core group, the film’s dysfunctional narrative will likely struggle to generate new fans for the franchise.

Resident Evil: Welcome to City is now playing in theaters.

24th November 2021
Ghostbusters Afterlife: The BRWC Review

Ghostbusters Afterlife Synopsis: When a single mom (Carrie Coon) and her two kids (Mckenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard) arrive in a small town, they begin to discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind.

Few throwback titles exude the effortless cool of Ghostbusters. Director Ivan Reitman and his quadrant of talented stars, Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Harold Ramis, crafted an effortless melding of playful genre sensibilities. From the spooky allure of lurking spectrums to Murray’s satirical reflections on brand cynicism, Ghostbusters still serves as a fitting reminder of what goes right when creative talent is allowed to play in the sandbox.

Where fans of the original see an anomalous blend of sci-fi, horror, and comedy, Hollywood studios view the franchise’s passionate fanbase as another source of blockbuster income. After the unfairly maligned 2016 Ghostbusters reboot (fans never gave the charming comedic rift much of a chance), Sony has tapped Ivan Reitman’s acclaimed son Jason to spearhead the latest reboot, Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

The Juno director approaches the property with sincere respect for its roots. After a fittingly spooky opening, Afterlife starts with scientific wunderkind Phoebe and smart-ass Trevor, two kids moving to their grandfather’s abandoned house. They soon discover that their hermit grandfather was Egon Spangler (the recently deceased Harold Ramis), a member of the iconic Ghostbusters team that saved New York City from a larger-than-life Stay Puft marshmallow.

Reitman’s film finds its spark when allowing the new protagonists to spread their wings. Star Mckenna Grace imbues charisma and star-making presence as Phoebe, spotting the nerdy look and precise intelligence of her elder. It would have been easy for her role to exist as a dollar store version of Ramis’ aloof charm, but the actress exhibits skill beyond her years in creating a character that feels distinctly her own.

Wolfhard makes for a fitting comedic foil as her angsty older brother, while Logan Kim’s affable sincerity makes Phoebe’s best friend Podcast a beloved scene-stealer. Afterlife’s older cast also elevates the proceedings. Few can convey down-on-their-luck goofballs with Paul Rudd’s skilled comedic touch, with the comedic stalwart sharing a breezy rapport with Carrie Coon’s sarcastic presence as Phoebe and Trevor’s mom.

I jived with the patient plotting and breezy simplicity behind screenwriters Reitman and Gil Kenan’s first half. The duo effectively establishes a new face for the ghostbusting brand, using a medley of time-honored coming-of-age tropes to represent a welcomed youthful edge. Unfortunately, the playful, albeit slightly formulaic, universe eventually reduces to the cheap appeals of nostalgia pandering.

Reitman has always been an unappreciated voice in my eyes (The Front Runner and Men, Women, and Children never received proper recognition), but the director’s inexperience in blockbuster cinema shows as the narrative starts to unravel. His skills in methodical character-building assist the first half tremendously. However, it’s a shame Reitman never possesses a strong grip on the chaotic action frames. The director’s competent yet stylistically stagnant visual touches only work to cheaply pay homage to its predecessor, with the director lacking the imaginative eye to build upon the brand’s beloved foundation. Added with a poorly paced finale that rushes to the finish line without proper resonance, Reitman never truly feels in control of the narrative that he’s steering.

Unlike 2016’s Ghostbusters, which spiritedly trod new ground despite some mixed results, Afterlife desperately wants to carry the torch of the 1984 original. Well-earned nostalgic tributes can often warm the hearts of fans and franchise newcomers alike, but Reitman and Kenan struggle to create a meaningful sendoff. Afterlife’s numerous attempts at brand synergy represent unwarranted distractions, with the film’s narrative coming to a screeching halt when introducing needless lore and unsurprising cameos. Without well-earned sentimentality, the nods feel like another tacky reminder of Hollywood’s desperate desire to commercialize the beloved brand.

Afterlife is never joyless and holds some of its own distinct charms. It’s just a shame that Hollywood reboots fail to represent what made their source material so significant in the first place.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is now playing in theaters.

21st November 2021