Month / Mar 2019

by James Turrell

Captain Marvel

Writers: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck & Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Screenplay) Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck,  Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Nicole Pearlman Meg LaFauve (Story)

Directors: Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck

Much of the press leading up to the latest film in the MCU has been centered upon the gender of the titular Captain Marvel. This is understandable considering that after 21 films, while there have been female characters fundamental to the Marvel Universe, Brie Larson’s Marvel is the first female fronted (and perhaps more importantly, first female director) superhero film Marvel have produced. Given we are 11 years into the Marvel franchise, that is deplorable, and this has given way to a multitude of think pieces from The Guardian to The Hollywood Reporter and has also given rise to a series of negative review bombing campaigns, adding further proof that the well of obnoxious toxicity that fuels the internet seems infinite.

The problem with the focus on Captain Marvel’s gender is two-fold; firstly, if the film is rubbish it is used by sexist fans, simple critics and idiotic studio-execs that the reason is because it was female fronted, and we get treated to headlines such as; ‘WOMEN ARE TERRIBLE AND RUIN ALL PHYSICAL SPACE.’[1] And this will make studios even more reluctant to back female fronted or directed films. This criticism does not work the other way; when The Expendables is released and it is a worse affront to humanity than the Partition of India, the reason is not due to the gender of the cast. Secondly, the focus on gender and its importance in terms of glass ceilings (which is indisputable) allow for films to seem revolutionary when they are not necessarily (see: Wonder Woman). Ultimately, something is either good or isn’t and this focus on gender, both justified and abusive, makes watching the film more political that it perhaps should be.

Anyway, Captain Marvel is, mostly, awesome. Directed by Mississippi Grind’s Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Captain Marvel is the story of Brie Larson’s Vers, a warrior from the planet Kree, who are in a seemingly perpetual war with the Skrulls. The Skrulls are shape shifting lizard-like aliens who engage in endless terrorist attacks against the Kree. Vers is under the tutelage of Jude Law’s Yon-Rogg, a military veteran and leader of Vers’s command. Vers is an extremely powerful fighter, who has the ability shoot deadly magnetic energy from her clenched fists, but according to Yon-Rogg, Vers has no control over her emotions and is therefore a flawed fighter.

Like many Marvel films, especially the origin stories, the first act is laborious. This is partly due to the Memento-like fact that Vers is missing a lot of memories, and is unsure of her past identity. But it is mainly down to the fact we start on an alien planet, which has some kind of AI overlord called the Supreme Intelligence (who manifests as Annette Benning for Vers) but the script does not work well enough for us to understand the planet with any depth. In particular, given the vast array of colours and body-types the aliens that occupy The Guardians of the Galaxy have, why are the Kree so boringly humanoid and white?

While on a mission, Vers’s Kree ship is attacked by some Skrulls and she ends plunging towards a planet called C-53. This is Earth to me and you and Badgertopia to your weird cousin who worships badgers. Vers crash lands into a Blockbuster video store (ask your parents), an extremely funny way establishing the 90s time period. From here the film begins to fly and Vers comes into contact with S.H.I.E.L.D agent Nick Fury, played by a de-aged Samuel L. Jackson. The Skrulls, led by the excellent Ben Mendhelsohn as Talos, are set on infiltrating Earth and it is up to Fury and Vers to stop them. This sets up the film’s central relationship and the buddy cop chemistry of Larson and Jackson is charming and often hilarious. It’s nice to see Jackson and Fury’s character given some depth and nuance, and for perhaps the first time in a Marvel film, Jackson actually gets to properly act and not just walk into rooms telling Iron Man to calm down.

As the mystery surrounding Vers’s identity unravels, the film becomes more and more confident. Larson is excellent as Vers, she is not just tough but has a genuine humour and non-stereotypical sass to her. When she initially lands on Earth, she regards the whole place with a bemused superiority, which is actually funny rather than annoying like Tony Stark’s endless capacity for arrogance. As Vers discovers her identity and the truth about the wars between the Kree and the Skrulls, Captain Marvel’s feminist core is codified. It is not simply the fact that Vers shoots an engine that contains hyper-speed stuff that explodes which she absorbs that causes her to become the most powerful figure in the universe. Rather, her acceptance of her true identity, her ability to see the truth of the Kree is fundamental to her gaining real agency over her life. She can only truly access her powers once she gains agency and fully expresses her emotions, rather than repress them. This is a deeply emotional moment and Larson’s performance as she becomes Carol Danvers and then Captain Marvel is stunning. The deft mixture of confidence and vulnerability is played to perfection and is proof that Boden and Fleck have created a real person, and not a punching meme.

Captain Marvel is certainly one of the best films from the MCU. It’s a period piece certainly, there are not many mega-blockbuster’s that contain a fighting sequence set to ‘Just a Girl’. Larson and Jackson are excellent together, and the VFX for the de-ageing process is staggering. Boden and Fleck, despite the flawed first third, do well to create both alien worlds and a fully realized 90s time period. But most importantly, and perhaps also most stupidly given it needs saying, it has fully destroyed the idea the female superheroes are not captivating enough to hold their own feature. Captain Marvel is fun, propulsive and an excellent feminist hero for the girls and boys who need her.

8/10

[1]  Actual Daily Mail headline. Honestly.

by James Turrell

mid90s

Written and Directed by: Jonah Hill 

Jonah Hill’s first foray into writing and directing is mid90s, a period, coming-of-age piece set in the aforementioned decade and has a surprisingly sweet centre despite many of its characters superficial concerns. The story is centered around teenager Stevie (Sunny Suljic) who decides to become a skater after seeing some ‘cooler’ kids doing it, in an example of instantaneous decision-making only teenagers can manage.  These kids comprise the wise leader Ray, obnoxious Fuckshit, poor Fourth Grade and the groups previous young’un Ruben. The four spend their time skating, drinking, talking about sex and swearing profusely. The dialogue is often funny, and Hill writes the cosmological arrogance of youth well; ‘I’m so much older than you. I drink. I smoke. I fuck bitches.’ 

Mid90s narrative is fairly loose, and we follow the group over several weeks as Stevie becomes initiated in the usual rites of being a teenager, whether using drugs for the first time or his first sexual experience. Hill is a very neutral director and there isn’t, with a couple of exceptions, much stylistic flair. The use of 16:9 framing is humorous and is one of many, many cultural references that pepper the film. There is a particularly gorgeous long-shot, as the group skate down the middle of freeway, the blurred light and focus makes for a woozy, hypnotic frame.  

But the film is lacking any sort of idiosyncrasy. The film treads the familiar plot beats of the coming-of-age film and is not particularly ground-breaking, or even sand-breaking. Katherine Waterston as Stevie’s mother Daubney is criminally underused, and he endless capacity for real humanity shines through in the few scenes she is in.  

As writing and directorial debut, mid90’s offers some proof that Jonah Hill does have a future outside of the acting game. The film’s ending, which involves an interestingly constructed car crash scene, and the way in which the group react with desperate despair at how their actions have landed a 14-year-old in such awful circumstances, suggests a real and intuitive emotional touch.  

7/10