tick, tick ... BOOM! — Explosively dazzling

tick, tick ... BOOM! (2021) • View trailer

Four stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, for dramatic intensity, brief profanity and fleeting drug references

Available via: Netflix

By Derrick Bang

The creative process can be soul-deadening.

 

We in the outside world tend to think solely in terms of a result. For example, Rent was a smash success from the nanosecond it opened on Broadway in April 1996, and it brought creator Jonathan Larson the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, along with Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score, along with a boatload of other honors.

 

While working his day job at the Moodance diner, Jonathan (Andrew Garfield) suddenly
finds himself dancing with — among many others — Bernadette Peters, during a
high-spirited production number titled "Sunday."

But how did Larson get there?

Like most so-called “overnight successes,” Larson was anything but, as this musical reveals. tick, tick … BOOM! got its start as a one-man autobiographical “rock monologue” initially titled Boho Days, and performed by Larson at the Village Gate and New York Theater Workshop on December 14, 1992. The piece is a painfully autobiographical account of the struggle he endured while spending eight years writing his first professional musical, Superbia.

 

Not quite a decade later, tick, tick … BOOM! was reconstructed by playwright/director David Auburn as a three-person show at New York’s Jane Street Theater, where on November 11, 1992, a 21-year-old theater major named Lin-Manuel Miranda attended a performance.

 

We all know what happened to him.

 

It’s therefore not merely serendipitous, but absolutely proper, that Miranda make his feature film directing debut with this screen adaptation. And — no surprise — he has done a superb job.

 

The film is anchored by a sensational lead performance from Andrew Garfield, starring as Larson: a mesmerizing blend of acting chops and heartfelt singing, given that he anchors or solos most of the musical numbers. It’s the sort of exhilarating effort that transcends artifice; not even half an hour into this film, we’re firmly convinced that it is Larson on the screen.

 

Steven Levenson’s screenplay follows Jon during the eight frenzied days leading up to a crucial workshop performance of Superbia. This coincides with the looming arrival of his 30th birthday: a milestone that weighs heavily, because he regards it as the last-gasp chance for being “discovered” at the appropriate point of what he hopes will become a career.

 

The pressure of this “ticking clock” — which we occasionally hear, albeit faintly, when it isn’t overwhelmed by the frequently passionate songs — acts as a metronome for everything else being balanced: his day job as a waiter at the Moondance Diner; the dwindling relationship with girlfriend Susan (Alexandra Shipp), whose desire to pursue her own ballet career is pulling her elsewhere; and the decision by longtime best friend Michael (Robin de Jesús) to abandon the acting grind for a stable, 9-to-5 job in advertising … which Jon regards as a sell-out (while nonetheless being envious of Michael’s doorman apartment).

 

And, as these eight days pass, the advancing specter of the AIDS epidemic also looms large.

Bad Boys for Life: An excessive final (?) rodeo

Bad Boys for Life (2020) • View trailer 
Three stars. Rated R, for strong bloody violence, relentless profanity, sexual candor and brief drug use
By Derrick Bang

Too long, too loud and too laughably ludicrous.

Too profane, as well. Along with deplorably violent.

In characteristic fashion, Marcus (Martin Lawrence, left) wants to reason with a highly
agitated suspect, whereas Mike (Will Smith) prefers the more direct,
confrontational approach.

Par for the course, in a film co-scripted by Joe Carnahan (who previously brought us Narc, Smokin’ Aces and 2018’s remake of Death Wish, among others).

Carnahan got an assist from co-writers Peter Craig and Chris Bremner, and the result — the very late-arriving threequel to 1995’s Bad Boys — delivers precisely what this series’ fans expect. I’ve no doubt they’ll all go home satisfied.

That said, this bloated cop thriller would be a slog without the mirthful banter between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, returning as forever bickering “bad boys” Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett. Except that they’re no longer “boys, as their much younger colleagues frequently point out. They’ve become the cop equivalent of creaky old-timers, and the story has fun with this dynamic.

Marcus, a newly minted grandfather, is more than ready to call it a day. Mike, lacking his partner’s family ties, stubbornly hangs onto his bad-ass rep … while clandestinely dying his signature goatee, in order to conceal the grey. He believes the rep is all he has, despite Marcus’ insistence to the contrary.

Bad Boys for Life — something of a surprise, given the space between it and 2003’s Bad Boys II — is fueled by a classic “one last rodeo” plot. It’s laden with nonstop mayhem: gun battles; sniper assassinations; landscape-pummeling vehicular pursuits in cars, motorcycles, sidecars and helicopters; and several gratuitously gory deaths. Scores of assault gun-wielding thugs are dispatched bloodily, like swatted flies.

It’s all quite over the top; at a self-indulgent 123 minutes, this film definitely wears out its welcome. It also stretches credibility way past the breaking point, starting when Mike unexpectedly takes four to the chest from a semi-automatic assault weapon. And survives.

Seriously?

Catching one bullet would be sufficient for story purposes; four is an early indication of the absurd excess favored by Moroccan-born co-directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (who built their résumé with the Belgian crime dramas Image, Black and Gangsta). 

And no; that’s not really a spoiler, since this intended assassination takes place scant minutes into the film. 

Dog Days: Should be buried in the back yard

Dog Days (2018) • View trailer 
Two stars. Rated PG, for suggestive and mildly rude humor, and brief profanity
By Derrick Bang

Rarely has an August release been better titled.

If you’ve ever wondered about a director’s impact on a film, look no further than this woeful misfire. 

Dax (Adam Pally) doesn't know a thing about looking out for a dog, when he's abruptly
dragooned into caring for his sister's pooch Charlie. Fortunately, they bond quickly over
junk food and bad movies.

From its first scene to the last, Dog Days reeks of directorial incompetence, because almost nobody in the sizable ensemble cast delivers a credible performance. Line readings are flat, wooden and unconvincing; the so-called acting is stiff, clumsy and insincere.

Potentially amusing bits of dialog land with the dismal thump of a proverbial lead balloon. Not that it matters much, because nothing is fresh about Elissa Matsueda and Erica Oyama’s uninspired script, which can be anticipated at every turn.

Marino and his writers apparently have tried to duplicate the parallel interlocked storylines and gentle romantic comedy vibe of Garry Marshall’s Valentine’s Day (2010) and New Year’s Eve (2011), with minimal results. The multiple character dynamics don’t work when the interactions are so forced and unnatural, and the interactive elements feel contrived.

Were it not for this film’s many four-legged co-stars — kudos to veteran animal trainer Mark Harden — Dog Days would be a total bust.

The two-legged players, in no particular order:

• Perky but rather stiff Channel 6 morning show newscaster Elizabeth (Nina Dobrev), recently jilted by her two-timing boyfriend, is forced to take on a co-host: former NFL star Jimmy Johnston (Tone Bell). She dislikes him on sight, but grudgingly bonds, over time, because their dogs — Sam and Brandy, respectively — get along so well.

• Radiant coffee shop barista Tara (Vanessa Hudgens) frets about her wasted college degree in marketing, while swooning over hunky veterinarian Dr. Mike (Michael Cassidy), and oblivious to how much socially awkward, rescue-dog agency owner Garrett (Jon Bass) wishes that she’d notice him. This dynamic shifts when Tara finds an abandoned Chihuahua she promptly dubs Gertrude.

• New parents Greg (Thomas Lennon) and Ruth (Jessica St. Clair), overstressed by the arrival of twins, foist their labradoodle Charlie onto her irresponsible brother Dax (Adam Pally), a musician forever seeking gigs for his band, who isn’t allowed to have dogs in his loft apartment building.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island — Harmless adventure

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) • View trailer
Three stars. Rating: PG, and pointlessly, for fantasy action and mild profanity
By Derrick Bang


This film has one of the silliest scripts I’ve ever encountered.

That’s not necessarily an unkind indictment; take it more as a warning. Most films require a certain suspension of disbelief; this one demands that we abandon disbelief entirely.

On this very mysterious island, things that are supposed to be large, are
small ... and vice-versa. That'll mean plenty of huge insects waiting to
menace, from left, Hank (Dwayne Johnson), Gabato (Luiz Guzmán), Sean
(Josh Hutcherson) and Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens).

It genuinely feels as though writers Brian Gunn, Mark Gunn and Richard Outten were busily scribbling pages as the film was being shot, and madly handing fresh sheets to director Brad Peyton just in time for the next scene. Logical continuity? Forget it. Character development? What’s that?

All concerned appear to have aimed for the viewership that has made Scooby-Doo such a long-running franchise, and more recently embraced deliberately silly action shows such as the Cartoon Network’s Level Up. Nothing wrong with that, necessarily; there’s something to be said for jes’ plain dumb fun.

On the other hand, at times Journey 2: The Mysterious Island flirts with something a few rungs further up the intellectual ladder. At such moments, I was reminded of Disney’s marvelous 1962 adaptation of Jules Verne’s In Search of the Castaways, which gave Hayley Mills one of her better ’tween roles. She and co-stars Maurice Chevalier and George Sanders dealt with an avalanche, an earthquake, a volcano, a flash flood, alligators, jaguars, mutineers and cannibals, all while somehow retaining a level of droll sophistication that this film can’t deliver at its best moment.

Clearly, veteran director Robert Stevenson — who also gave Disney The Absent-Minded Professor, Mary Poppins and The Love Bug, among many others — understood the formula far better than young Mr. Peyton here, whose only previous big-screen credit was 2010’s Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.

The prosecution rests.

But I truly come not to bury this film, but to praise its virtues ... however modest they may be.

For starters, there’s something to be said for skipping the angst and exposition that normally would lace the first act of such a story. Peyton and his writers waste no time dumping our heroes into the adventure of their lives, and then it’s just one catastrophe after another, as we breezily race through this film’s economical 94 minutes. You may find it silly, but you certainly won’t be bored.

Bandslam: Slammin' good fun

Bandslam (2009) • View trailer for Bandslam
3.5 stars (out of five). Rating: PG, for very mild sexual content
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 8.13.09
Buy DVD: Bandslam• Buy Blu-Ray: Bandslam [Blu-ray]


Only in the movies can a shy, tongue-tied high school nerd wind up locking lips with both the gorgeous lead from the High School Musical franchise and the hotter, sexier half of the real-world pop duo Aly & AJ.

But hey: That's why we love cinema, right? It's the ultimate in wish-fulfillment.

Sa5m (Vanessa Hudgens, left) watches warily as Will (Gaelan Connell) becomes
ever-more attracted to Charlotte (Aly Michalka), who "can't be trusted." The
emotional angst notwithstanding, few high school boys could complain about
being in such close proximity to these two hotties.

Director Todd Graff's Bandslam is a lively, frequently charming underdog saga: the sort of musical fairy tale Hollywood has done superbly since the genre was born in the 1930s.

Although not quite as squeaky-clean as Disney's High School Musical series, I expect this film will play quite successfully to the same audience. The only nod toward being "edgy" is that the music involved here is more rock 'n' reggae, with an occasional glimpse of punk.

It seems to have become something of a cliché for today's geeky high school underdogs to be alt-music savants, and Will Burton (Gaelan Connell) is no exception. As a recent transplant to a New Jersey high school that is obsessed with an annual band competition — Austin, Texas, locations actually stand in for Jersey throughout this film — Will hopes to remain a quiet part of the wallpaper, content to air his starry-eyed hopes and dreams in long, rambling e-mail letters sent to (of all people) David Bowie.

Needless to say, Bowie never answers.

But anonymity isn't in the cards for Will, who winds up the object of attention on two fronts. During his first lunch period, he meets another misfit: a quiet, neglected bookworm (Vanessa Hudgens) who has dubbed herself Sa5m. ("The 5 is silent.") At the same time, some chance remarks about the early alternative music scene prompt "reformed" cheerleader Charlotte Banks (Aly Michalka) to invite Will to critique the efforts of her garage band.

I could make a snide comment about the utter ridiculousness of a gal as adorable as Hudgens being cast as a neglected wallflower, but hey: You gotta go with the flow.

High School Musical 3: They want it all!

High School Musical 3 (2008) • View trailer for High School Musical 3
3.5 stars (out of five). Rating: G, and suitable for all ages
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 10.24.08
Buy DVD: High School Musical 3 • Buy Blu-Ray: High School Musical 3: Senior Year (Deluxe Extended Edition + Digital Copy + DVD and BD Live) [Blu-ray]


Hey, the kids have put on another show!

Although it takes almost half an hour to build the proper momentum, High School Musical 3: Senior Year demonstrates — and quite enthusiastically — that the franchise is well-equipped to make its leap to the big screen.

Is it their actual prom, or the prom-within-a-play? The lines blur quite cleverly
in this film, as four of our favorite characters — from left, Chad (Corbin Bleu),
Monique (Taylor McKessie), Gabrielle (Vanessa Hudgens) and Troy (Zac
Efron) — cut a rug in one of the many opulent production numbers.

Indeed, it seems genuinely sad that the film's finale hints at closure, as if — mirroring the transition its characters are making, from high school to various colleges — we'll never again see these fresh, apple-cheeked faces on the same stage again. Of course, that could well depend on box- office returns; if Johnny Depp can be persuaded to sign on for a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean entry, then I suppose Disney could somehow coax these talented young people into another round.

After all, the summers between college years offer at least three more opportunities, right?

Director/choreographer Kenny Ortega hasn't changed the formula a jot, which is both good and bad. Good, because the production numbers are just as inventive and irrepressibly buoyant; bad, because we've lost the first film's freshness.

It's not that the 10 new songs are any less sparkling than their predecessors; I remain impressed by the witty lyrics and clever rhymes, which hearken back to classics from the great American songbook. It's more a function of familiarity: Ortega stages his film in such a way that we know when it's time for a romantic pas de deux between Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens); we can anticipate the angst-filled solos by Troy and Gabriella; we smell fresh betrayal in the wind when Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) glances with unholy glee toward the camera and gets set for one of her numbers.

(By the way, the decision to call Troy's power ballad "Scream" seems a questionable swipe from beat poet Alan Ginsberg's "Howl.")

No doubt this franchise's avid fans — many of whom audibly swooned, during Wednesday evening's preview, each time the camera zoomed for a close-up of Efron's enticing baby-blues — couldn't care less. But some of them did seem to notice the sugar-coated, overly sentimental tone that hung over the first two songs, and particularly the first duet between Efron and Hudgens.

I began to worry that Ortega had succumbed to a desire for too much schmaltz, which would have crippled this film. Fortunately, that cloying tone vanished utterly during the first splashy production number — a sensational, show-stopping ode to self-absorbed greatness by Sharpay and twin brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), appropriately titled "I Want It All" — and everything remained fine for the rest of the picture.