The Bad Guys 2: Animated mayhem

The Bad Guys 2 (2025) • View trailer

Four stars (out of five). Rated PG, for mild rude humor

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 8.3.25 

This madcap adventure is even more fun and crazed than its 2022 predecessor.

 

Director Pierre Perifel definitely knows how to pace an animated action comedy, and he has ample support here from co-director JP Sans, elevated from his previous role as head of character animation for the first film.

 

The Bad Guys — Mr. Wolf, Mr. Shark, Mr. Snake, Mr. Piranha and Ms. Tarantula —
triumphantly confront the owner of the prized item they're about to steal.

The script, by Yoni Brenner and Etan Cohen — once again drawing from Australian author Aaron Blabey’s popular children’s graphic novel series — contains the same blend of visual slapstick and subtly sly adult humor. (As co-producer Diane Ross suggests, in the production notes, the goal is an homage to complex heist films, with a soupçon of Quentin Tarantino.)

As before, this romp takes place in an alternate universe with humans existing alongside anthropomorphized animals, where an oversized shark can successfully impersonate a man half his size. (It’s all in the costume and attitude, donchaknow.)

 

Rather than open precisely where the previous film concluded, we first get a flashback prologue that shows our quintet of bestial baddies — Mr. Wolf (voiced by Sam Rockwell), Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos) and Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina) — operating at their larcenous best, stealing a one-of-a-kind sportscar from a vain gazillionaire’s heavily guarded mansion.

 

The resulting vehicular pursuit — totally breathless — showcases Jesse Averna’s imaginative smash-cut editing.

 

Back in the present day, however, the former Bad Guys — having gone straight as the first film concluded — are finding it impossible to obtain gainful employment, since everybody associates them with their larcenous past. The only bright spot is Gov. Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz), who helped secure the group’s freedom, and now maintains an arm’s-length flirty relation with Mr. Wolf.

 

The world still doesn’t know that Foxington formerly was an elusive master thief known as The Crimson Paw.

 

Local law enforcement — headed by the anger-prone Police Commissioner Misty Luggins (Alex Bornstein) — is baffled by a series of high-profile burglaries conducted by an elusive and never-seen culprit. The most troubling detail is that this mysterious individual has been using some of the distraction gimmicks once employed by The Bad Guys ... which turns Luggins’ attention to them.

 

Realizing it’s in their best interest to help identify the actual criminal, Mr. Wolf employs his detail-oriented observational skills to suss out the likely next target for theft; he realizes that all stolen objects were made of a precious metal dubbed MacGuffinite (and there’s a sly joke for long-time movie buffs).

 

Alas, in an increasingly complex escapade laden with double, triple and even quadruple-crosses, things often aren’t what they seem. Except when they sometimes are.

Twisters: Prepare to be blown away!

Twisters (2024) • View trailer

Four stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, for intense action and peril, fleeting profanity, and disturbing images

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 7.21.24

Although this film leaves no doubt that it’s a summertime, popcorn-laden rollercoaster ride — and quite a suspenseful one — there’s no denying the cautionary message also embedded in Mark L. Smith and Joseph Kosinski’s storyline:

 

With an EF5 (Enhanced Fujita Scale) tornado about to blow into town, Kate (Daisy
Edger-Jones), Ravi (Anthony Ramos, center) and Tyler (Glen Powell) try to determine
the safest place to hunker down.

Climate change is real, and those who ignore Mother Nature’s increasingly catastrophic warnings, do so at their own peril.

Because, as this thriller distressingly depicts, there will come a time when the financial damage, and tragic loss of life, become too great to dismiss.

 

(I’d have thought this was blindingly obvious years ago ... but certain segments of humanity do have a distressing habit of burying their heads in the sand.)

 

Anyway...

 

This sequel’s power comes not merely from special effects supervisor Scott R. Fisher and visual effects supervisor Ben Snow’s awesome action sequences, but also the crucial attention paid to characters and their interactions. That’s no surprise; director Lee Isaac Chung earned two well-deserved Academy Awards nominations for 2020’s Minari — easily one of this decade’s most sensitively emotional dramas — and he also helmed a 2023 episode of television’s The Mandalorian, which likely served as a testing ground for this big-screen feature.

 

Let it be said: Chung and editor Terilyn A. Shropshire move things along at a breakneck pace.

 

But as always is the case with such films, the best ones succeed because we grow to admire and care about the people involved. That’s definitely true here, since the viewers at Tuesday evening’s sold-out preview screening were riveted, worried and at the edge of their seats, during this saga’s ferocious climax.

 

But that comes later.

 

A prologue finds Muskogee State University graduate student Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and colleague Javi (Anthony Ramos) heading into Oklahoma’s “Tornado Alley,” in order to test a theoretical chemical invention that she believes could squelch small twisters, before they become larger monsters. Their team includes Kate’s boyfriend, Jeb (Daryl McCormack), and students Addy (Kiernan Shipka) and Praveen (Nik Dodani, recognized from his supporting role on the Netflix series Atypical).

 

(In a nice touch of continuity, Muskogee State was the alma mater of the characters played by Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, in 1996’s Twister. Indeed, that film’s writers — Anne-Marie Martin and the late Michael Crichton — are granted credits here.)

 

Alas, the experiment ends in tragedy.

In the Heights: The highest high

In the Heights (2021) • View trailer

Five stars. Rated PG-13, for mild profanity and suggestive references

Available via: Movie theaters and HBO Max

By Derrick Bang

Like, wow.

 

The sheer, dazzling exuberance of this film is breathtaking; we’ve rarely (never?) seen this much energy on the big screen.

 

Benny (Corey Hawkins, left) trades quips — and rat-a-tat lyrics — in the impressively
stocked bodega run by Usnavi (Anthony Roberts, right), with assistance from hi
younger cousin Sonny (Gregory Diaz IV).

If you were impressed by the initial freeway dance in La La Land — and who wasn’t? — wait until you experience the opening sequence in this stunner. I’ve never seen so many dance extras in a single number. (Literally hundreds, all named in the end credits.)

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights already was a knockout on Broadway, winning four of its 13 Tony Award nominations (including, no kidding, Best Musical). Director Jon M. Chu and choreographer Christopher Scott have done the impossible here, by improving on perfection; they’ve “opened up” the play in a way that takes full advantage of the film medium.

 

When people talk about the cinematic “sense of wonder,” this is the sort of razzmatazz they’re thinking about.

 

In the Heights preceded Miranda’s Hamilton, and in some ways is more approachable and audience-friendly. It’s a bit shorter, and the character palette isn’t nearly as extensive. The interwoven stories are traditional — almost clichéd — but Miranda and co-scripter Quiara Alegría Hudes (who wrote the book for the stage production) make them fresh and vibrant, thanks to Miranda’s freestyle rap/patter/hip-hop musical signature: a style unmistakably his own.

 

Add plenty of salsa, R&B, bachata, merengue and pop — along with other stuff I likely couldn’t identify — and the result is, well, spectacular. Cinematographer Alice Brooks is kept very busy, and she rises to the occasion.

 

It all borders on light opera, but not quite; we do get moments of spoken dialogue in between the two dozen (or so) musical numbers. 

 

Events take place over the course of a few days, in the primarily Dominican neighborhood of New York City’s Washington Heights. Usnavi de la Vega (Anthony Ramos) owns and runs a small bodega, assisted by his younger cousin Sonny (Gregory Diaz IV); the establishment, adjacent to the 181st Street subway stop, is something of a focal point for all the locals, who find a reason to visit at least once a day.

 

Usnavi also narrates this saga, via a framing device set somewhen else, and someplace else — a beach? — while four enthralled young listeners hang onto every word.

 

He has long been sweet on the stunningly gorgeous Vanessa (Melissa Barrera). She works in a neighborhood salon run by the larger-than-life Daniela (Daphne Rubin-Vega), who cheerfully encourages the often racy gossip exchanged among her clientele. Alas, Usnavi lacks the courage to approach Vanessa, who — although friendly — seems oblivious; she dreams of a high-profile career in fashion about 170 blocks south of the Heights.

 

Honest Thief: Routine, but enjoyable

Honest Thief (2020) • View trailer

Three stars. Rated PG-13, for violence, crude references and brief profanity

By Derrick Bang

The Taken series — starting with the first one, back in 2008 — turned Liam Neeson into an action hero, which he has embraced enthusiastically.

 

And who can blame him? Strike while the iron is hot.

 

Forced to go on the run with Tom (Liam Neeson), whom she suddenly realizes has been
concealing a lot about himself, Annie (Kate Walsh) begins to worry about her own
life expectancy.

Director Mark Williams’ Honest Thief — available via Amazon Prime — is an unremarkable, cookie-cutter thriller; even so, Neeson brings his customary dignified gravitas to the project.

 

The script, by Williams and Steve Allrich, is pure formula: a reasonable set-up, a despicable villain, a token (brief) car chase, familiar co-stars, a cute dog and a satisfying conclusion. All told, it’s a reasonable way to spend 99 minutes on a mindless Friday evening.

 

Boston-based Tom Dolan (Neeson) has been a master thief for years, carefully sussing out banks with older, easy-to-crack vaults. The smoothness of his one-man jobs has seen him dubbed the “In-and-Out Bandit” — a moniker he loathes — by the media and FBI agents who’ve never gotten anywhere near nailing him.

 

Dolan has amassed $9 million … but, oddly, hasn’t spent a penny. His motivation, we eventually learn, leans more toward retribution than avarice.

 

He has a chance encounter with Annie Wilkins (Kate Walsh, refreshingly age-appropriate), a clerk at the storage facility where he hides his ill-gotten gains. They banter briefly; the room’s atmosphere shifts.

 

Flash-forward one year.

 

Tom and Annie are a solid item, and he has given up on bank jobs, but nonetheless feels guilty about having to conceal his larcenous past. (One wonders what he has told her, in terms of how he earns a living, but this script doesn’t worry about such details.) He therefore decides to negotiate a trade: He’ll turn himself into the FBI, and return all the money, in exchange for a lenient sentence with visitation rights.

 

Enter local FBI Chief Sam Baker (Robert Patrick) and agent Sean Meyers (Jeffrey Donovan), who take Tom’s phone call. They don’t initially believe him, because they’ve been hearing from all manner of nut-jobs who claim to be the In-and-Out Bandit. 

 

The irony here is amusing: Tom wants to come clean, but can’t.

 

A Star Is Born: Loses some sparkle

A Star Is Born (2018) • View trailer 
3.5 stars. Rated R, for relentless profanity, sexuality and nudity, and substance abuse
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 10.5.18

This saga is as sure-fire as The Three Musketeers, and it has been brought to the big screen almost as many times.

Jackson (Bradley Cooper) is at his best when he stops drinking long enough to noodle
a new song on the piano. Unfortunately, as Ally (Lady Gaga) soon discovers, such
moments are becoming increasingly rare.

The original William A. Wellman/Robert Carson story set the template back in 1937, with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March starring in the alternately exhilarating and melancholy tale of a wannabe actress’ chance encounter with a sympathetic veteran: her star on the rise, and his on the wane. Ships passing in the night from opposite directions, their encounter incandescent and mutually beneficial … but all too brief.

Shifting the narrative to the music industry was a brilliant touch, as took place in subsequent remakes of this rock-solid story. That solidified the formula, because there’s always a new diva-to-be waiting in the wings, as musical taste evolves.

So yes, this 2018 edition of A Star Is Born has much to recommend it: most notably an impressive big-screen dramatic debut by Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, better known as Lady Gaga.

Definitely a (dare I say it?) star-making performance.

She’s a standout during this film’s first act, as her character reels from wary vulnerability to giddy enthusiasm, not quite willing to believe the opportunity that has dropped into her lap. She’s touching, bubbly, feisty and wholly convincing as a nervous neophyte singer/songwriter who’s terrified of exposing herself to public censure: quite remarkable, for somebody with Lady Gaga’s actual performance chops.

You’ll detect a definite echo of 1968’s Funny Girl, where — in its first act — the already quite accomplished Barbra Streisand similarly conveyed the panic of inexperience. (In a droll touch, Lady Gaga’s Ally also is self-conscious about the size of her nose.)

It’s difficult to ascertain if Lady Gaga’s acting ability is instinctive, or whether first-time director and co-star Bradley Cooper coaxed something magical from her; we won’t know until she has more film work under her belt. But there’s no denying the result: She’s equally powerful whether delivering a song, or during a particularly heartbreaking dramatic moment.

Too bad Cooper didn’t trust her more.

He makes several mistakes, as a first-time triple-threat hyphenate (also co-credited for scripting, alongside Eric Roth and Will Fetters, with a nod toward Wellman and Carson). The screenplay isn’t deep enough — sidebar characters are shamefully underused — to justify a running time of 135 minutes. He should have let editor Jay Cassidy do his job. 

(In fairness, the 1954 Judy Garland version is even longer, at 154 minutes.)

Cooper also is too self-indulgent. He favors slow reaction shots, particularly with his own character; it often feels like he’s struggling to remember his lines. And yes: Even for a quasi-musical, and even given the strength and appeal of the original songs by Lukas Nelson, Jason Isbell, Mark Ronson and Lady Gaga herself, there are too many of them. This is supposed to be a melodrama, not a concert documentary.