Paddington

Last night, my siblings and I saw the new “Paddington” movie, but before I talk about that, I should probably give my thoughts on the previous movies. Let’s start with the first “Paddington” movie, released in 2014.

When Paddington, voiced by Ben Whishaw, arrives in London (after he loses most of his family in a natural disaster back in Peru), he at first is lost with so many strangers and obviously, a little overwhelmed by the whole “bright lights, big city” feel. Reagan Gavin Rasquinha said in his review, “Nevertheless, he does have a taste for all things British (with an accent to match and a love for marmalade too) and stoically decides to wait it out at Paddington Station until hopefully, he will meet a family which will let him into their home and make him part of the family unit.”

What helps him is the signs he wears around his neck that says: “Please look after this bear. Thank you.” Soon, Mr. Brown (Hugh Bonneville), Mrs. Brown (Sally Hawkins), and their kids (Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin) notice him and decide to take him home. Mr. Brown says that Paddington can stay for only one night. Mrs. Bird, played by Julie Walters, manages the Browns’ house in her own strange but effective way. Rasquinha said, “Mrs. Brown learns that Paddington - a name she coined for him back at the train station - is quite literally, a rare bear and helps him to connect with his past in order to give him emotional grounding.”

Millicent the taxidermist, played by Nicole Kidman, finds out about Paddington’s rare breed and wants to turn him into her latest specimen, stuffed with sawdust and preserved for the future. The Browns and obviously Paddington will avoid her by any means necessary.

The unified combination of animation with live action is the best part of the film. Besides gently delivering the message about the importance of belonging, the cheerful film score also keeps the moving going nicely.

I believe my sister got this from the library and we checked it out together. I loved the movie, but I didn’t know this was based on a children’s book because I never read that growing up. You should see this movie because everyone can watch it and love it. Especially with Kidman playing a very believable villain.

To my surprise, they came out with “Paddington 2” in 2017. The first film was a surprise hit with a great message: in a big city, even a bear from Peru can find a home and fit in. Nick Levine said in his review, “Once again co-written and directed by Paul King, who cut his teeth on The Mighty Boosh, this sequel offers a similar mix of visual gags that brings Michael Bond’s beloved bear gently into the 21st century.”

The film begins with Paddington thinking of what to buy his Aunt Lucy for her 100^th birthday. Visting a local antiques shop, he sees a pop-up book showing the great London landmarks that his Peruvian clan has always wanted to see. Levine said, “Paddington starts a window-cleaning business so he can buy the book, but while he’s filling his savings jar, he’s framed for theft by washed-up luvvie Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant) who wants the book for himself.” After a trail with a funny cameo from Richard Ayoade as a useless expert witness, Paddington is sent to prison.

Even the prison scenes are surprisingly filled with warmth and well thought out humor. Paddington has a rocky start when he accidentally ruins his inmates’ clothes, but makes amends by sharing his marmalade recipe with the prison’s tough cook Knuckles McGinty, played by Brendan Gleeson. While he’s in prison bringing together a diverse group of criminals, the Brown family are trying to prove Paddington’s innocence by gathering locals played by British comedy favorites like Sanjeev Bhaskar and Jessica Hynes.

This film is a fantasy. Levine said, “It’s set in a London where everyone lives in a fancy Notting Hill townhouse and chats to each other on the street. But like its predecessor, this film never feels woolly: it’s filled with entertaining CGI set-pieces and has an admirable underlying message about the importance of community spirit.” The result is another heartwarming and completely lovable film with jokes that will make kids and adults laugh.

I checked this out from the library and my brother and I saw this together. We loved this film a lot and I think that everyone should see this if they saw the first one and enjoyed it. You will love this film too, I promise.

Once again, to my surprise, they made a third movie, “Paddington in Peru,” released five days ago. Compared to the second film, this one may seem a little more like standard kid’s film. The second film is still one of the most amazing and emotionally smart children’s movies of the last 20 years, so whatever came next was always likely going to be in its shadow. “Paddington in Peru” is a perfectly likable film on its own, even if it’s a step down from the two films that were directed by Paul King.

This time, Paddington flies back home to Peru to look for his Aunt Lucy, voiced by Imelda Staunton, who has gone missing somewhere in the Amazon rainforest. With a kind of unbalanced riverboat captain (Antonio Banderas) as their guide and his daughter (Carla Tous), Paddington and family (Mrs. Brown is now played by Emily Mortimer) fly to the jungles of darkest Peru on an innocent journey not only to find Aunt Lucy, but the lost city of El Dorado.

Mattie Lucas said in her review, “Part of the charm of the Paddington films has always been how his inherent kindness affects those he meets and how his sometimes hapless attempts to fit in and be British sometimes end in disaster. Paddington in Peru doesn't really afford Paddington much time for such things, and while he's still as clumsy as ever, the isolated nature of the story doesn't allow him to touch many lives along the way.” Olivia Colman is enjoyable as a particularly suspicious nun, but this film is more concerned with grand adventure and Paddington’s main mission to find where he belongs. While he does eventually find where he came from, obviously he realizes he’s been home all along.

Lucas noted, “It's a plot that resembles, somewhat surprisingly, Kung Fu Panda 3, which also found its bear hero discovering where he came from, only to choose to stay with the family he's come to know. Of course, this is all done with Paddington's signature British manners, which always make for some cute moments, but it doesn't have that colorfully whimsical spark that made the first two films so magical.” Hands down, fans will enjoy spending another two hours watching this lovable bear and his family, and parents may be happy to watch a family film kindly easy on obnoxious (and dated) pop culture references, even if his latest adventure doesn’t really reach the level we’ve come to expect.

My brother wanted to see a film last night, so I thought this would be a film that all of us would enjoy, and I was right. I had came back from work, but because I was tired, I feel like I fell asleep at certain moments, but I still found myself enjoying the film. Go to the theaters and see this because it doesn’t seem to be marketed enough, so check it out. If you loved the last two films, you should definitely not skip this one over.

The creators already confirmed there will be a fourth film, but whenever that is released, I will be looking forward to it. These films have all been good, so make sure not to miss any one of them, especially if you have read the books.

Thank you for joining in on this review tonight. Stay tuned this Friday for the continuation of “Black History Movie Month.”

W.

For this year’s “President’s Day Movie Review,” I will look at a film that I probably first heard when Josh Brolin was interviewed on “Inside the Actors Studio,” “W,” released in 2008.

This film is proof that great acting doesn’t necessarily get included to being a great film.

Richard Propes said in his review, “Directed by Oliver Stone, who seems to have a fondness for presidential cinema, "W." is the type of film we almost certainly didn't expect from the often controversial, always opinionated director...sympathetic.”

“W,” it kind of feared, would be a rather sarcastic and/or simply nitpicking showing of the former American president. As everyone knows, Stone is the one who made “JFK” and “Nixon.”

The man seems to be rather direct.

Propes noted, “Stone doesn't opt for character assassination, however, "W." also isn't a straightforward bio of President Bush. While it would be a stretch to call Stone's portrait a loving portrait, there's a sort of kid glove approach that seems to indicate a trust in the material.”

Written by Stanley Weiser, “W” spends more time dealing with Bush’s ongoing father issues than it does showing an articulate portrait of the man. This take works sometimes, while at other times it becomes the film’s greatest difficulty.

The former president is shown mostly as a drunken, womanizing man until he found the Lord at the age of 40. It appears that all of his behaviors are the root cause of his always complicated relationship with his father, the late president George H.W. Bush.

Bush’s expedition into politics is shown as almost an accident, something that was mainly done to impress his father’s favor. Propes said, “By the time Bush wins the White House, it becomes readily apparent that winning the White House put Bush in the position of being woefully ill-equipped for the mission in front of him.” However, Stone doesn’t judge him for completing this task…because it looks as thought it asks who wouldn’t really “want” to be president?

Propes said, “Stone takes a kinder, gentler approach to it all and it doesn't even feel tongue-in-cheek.”

Brolin, who jumped to Hollywood’s higher class with “No Country for Old Men,” makes the performance of his career in “W,” a performance that never becomes a caricature even for the fact that just by looking at Bush often feels like one is looking at a caricature. Even Elizabeth Banks makes a strong performance as Laura Bush, a woman who looks like she is way out of Bush’s league.

“W” is a mixture of Hollywood actors playing Bush’s supporting and, sometimes, controlling people including Condoleezza Rice (Thandie Newton), Donald Rumsfeld (Scott Glenn), Karl Rove (Toby Jones), Dick Cheney (Richard Dreyfuss), Colin Powell (Jeffrey Wright), and so many others. Particularly, Dreyfuss stands out from the whole cast that almost seems to be channeling the former Vice President that many believe was really the one doing the job a lot.

The late James Cromwell is rather intimidating as father Bush, maybe the film’s most evident antagonist portrayal, despite Cromwell balances it out nicely. Ellen Burstyn, as Barbara Bush, plays the part nicely.

It’s sad that in a film filled with so many great performances that, overall, “W” never really comes together as a film. Propes criticized, “"W." feels about 20-25 minutes too long, yet somehow still feels over-edited. While the episodic approach by Stone works fairly well early on, by the end of the film it feels like "W." is simply disorganized and out of focus.”

Solid performances all around and a career best performance from Josh Brolin work together to make “W” above mediocrity, however, it’s hard not to be a little disappointed with a film that had so much potential to say so much more.

One of my favorite impressionists, Frank Caliendo, said that Josh Brolin told him that Caliendo was Brolin’s inspiration to imitating Bush. As good of a job Brolin does in imitating Bush, there are times during Bush’s younger years where Brolin sounds like he isn’t trying to imitate Bush, but does a typical Texas accent. Even Cromwell doesn’t try to sound like father Bush, but I did find this film fascinating. If you want to check it out, you may do so on Tubi, but if you find this an average time, like I did, I hear you.

Happy President’s Day everyone. Sorry for the late posting. I was just really tired today from work. Stay tuned this Friday for the continuation of “Black History Movie Month.”

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody

No one loves their clichés more than the biopic genre. However, no music biopic has done every cliché with such quick and reckless abandon as “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” That’s not really a bad thing.

Christopher James said in his review, “Few pop culture icons loom as large as Whitney Houston, “The Voice,” who holds the record for seven consecutive number one singles atop the Billboard Top 100.” By quality of also being a modern celebrity, most people have some idea of Houston. So, the biopic spends less time educating people on who Whitney Houston is. Actually, it’s a crash course through her history. Unfortunately, it misses her soul and motivation – what made Whitney Houston from the biggest star in the world to passing at 48?

The simple answer the movie gives is drugs, but it never goes deeper than that.

We first meet Whitney Houston (Naomi Ackie) as a rebellious teenager adding runs and vocal lessons to the gospel songs her mother, Cissy Houston (Tamara Tunie) is teaching. Cissy is a singer herself and Whitney wants to follow in her footsteps, even hoping to reach the level of family friends Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick.

After one magnificent performance with her mother, Whitney catches the attention of producer Clive Davis, played by Stanley Tucci, who signs her to Arista Records. She became an overnight success with her bestselling debut album. However, as is usual for the blueprint for any biopic, success has its own challenges.

James points out, “From here, the movie picks up and drops story threads like its browsing Saks Fifth Avenue.” There’s some conflict where Whitney responds to criticism that she’s “not black enough,” but that is dropped just as soon as it’s introduced. Much of the first act is pent with Whitney’s female lover, Robyn, played by Nafessa Williams, who soon becomes her executive assistant. Their relationship feels relaxed, but once she meets Bobby Brown, played by Ashton Sanders, Robyn disappears. When Robyn comes back any conflict around their romantic relationship has disappeared. James noted, “Though a major part of her tabloid persona, Bobby Brown is rarely seen and is just a one-note obstruction when he is.”

There’s one major cliché that director Kasi Lemmons avoids. The film is not self-serious or sympathetic of Whitney Houston. Her drug use is awkwardly set up halfway through the movie. Five minutes later Whitney has hit the pit. If someone were trying to learn what it was like to follow Whitney Houston for decades, this would not be the right film introduction. James criticized, “For fans, it’s a perfectly sloppy vehicle. It celebrates and elevates her, spending more time with her iconic performances, fun idiosyncrasies, iconic music videos and moments of joy with Robyn. The movie revels in black joy more than black suffering, even though Whitney could be the poster child for both. Screenwriter Anthony McCarten and Lemmons fail in constructing a legible film, but they at least make a fun one.”

Playing Whitney Houston is a scary role that Naomi Ackie is more or less up for. She looks the part and most of the singing sequences use Whitney’s voice. James said, “Therein lies the issue, she evokes Whitney more than she embodies her.” Watching the movie, you can see that Ackie understands what made Whitney special. However, she doesn’t bring herself to the role or go deeper into Whitney’s perspective, an issue that’s already in the script. In the end, the performance comes off as a strong impersonation. James noted, “That’s still more than can be said of any of the supporting cast, who aren’t given enough material to transcend their two-dimensional purposes in the story.”

James continued, “Still, if you are still with your family on extended holiday and need something to take your Mother or Grandmother to, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody is waiting for you with open arms. It’s a rocking good time with two and a half hours packed with Whitney music, Lifetime level overacting and just buckets of charisma.” It’s not right, but it’s OK.

I believe I saw this on Paramount+ and I fell in love with the movie. I didn’t know certain things about Houston’s life, so this was an eye-opener. I have always loved Houston’s music and if you’re also a fan, than this movie is for you. Check it out and see about one of the greatest artists of her time that we sadly lost too soon.

Monday I will be reviewing the yearly “President’s Day Movie Review.” Sorry for the late posting. I was starting to type this when I was called to do something that took some time to complete.

50 First Dates

For this year’s Valentine’s Day, let’s take a look at the 2004 romantic comedy, “50 First Dates.” This is a spin on the “Groundhog’s Day” idea of a day that keeps repeating itself. However, this time the day keeps repeating in the head of Lucy Whitmore, played by Drew Barrymore, who was in an accident that caused short-term memory loss. Every night when she sleeps, her memory is lost, and when she wakes the next morning, she remembers everything that happened up to the accident, but nothing that happened afterward.

Is that possible. Roger Ebert said in his review, “I’d like to bring in Oliver Sacks for a second opinion. Seems to me that short-term memory loss doesn’t work on a daily timetable, but is more like the affliction of “10-Second Tom,” a character in the movie who reboots every 10 seconds (Allen Covert).”

Ebert continued, “Still, this isn’t a psychiatric docudrama but a lighthearted romantic comedy, and the premise works to provide Adam Sandler and Barrymore with a sweet story.” They work well together, as they demonstrated in “The Wedding Singer.” They have the same manner of smiling, modest sincerity.

The movie is somewhat an experiment for Sandler. He shows the warm side of his personality, and doesn’t include the aggression, anger, and gross-out humor. Ebert noted, “To be sure, there’s projectile vomiting on a vast scale in an opening scene of the movie, but it’s performed by a walrus, not one of the human characters, and the walrus feels a lot better afterward.” This is a nicer and gentler Adam Sandler.

Ebert noted, “He plays Henry Roth, a marine biologist at a Hawaiian sea world, healing walruses, sea lions and dolphins and moonlighting as an expert in one-night stands. He romances babes who are in Hawaii on vacation, and then forgets them when they go home, so imagine his amazement when he meets Lucy and finds that she forgets him every night.”

Lucy is surrounded by a lot of support (dad (Chet Hunter from “Boy Meets World,” Blake Clark), brother (Sean Astin), and the staff at the local diner (Amy Hill and Pomaika’i Brown)), and they’re doubtful about the ideas of this man who says he’s so much in love he’s wanting to start over with this woman every morning.

You’d think it would be hard to piece a part for a story that starts over every day, but George Wing’s screenplay intelligently uses a VHS to solve that problem – so that Lucy gets a recap every morning on what she has missed, and makes daily entries in a journal about her strange romance with Henry. Eventually this ends with a conclusion that it’s unfair to Henry to have to deal with her daily memory losses, and she says she wants to break up. Obviously, this is part of story, but how the movie solves it is somewhat charming.

The movie doesn’t have the intricacy and wisdom of “Groundhog Day” (Ebert said, “which I recently saw described as “the most spiritual film of our time””), but as entertainment it’s sycophantic and lovable. And it says that Sandler, whose movies are very often based on aggression, has another look, another voice, that plays very nicely.

I saw this on Netflix while I was exercising and I thought this was a good movie. Adam Sandler does get a lot of bad rep, but this one is actually one of the nicest films he has ever done. Check it out if you haven’t, you will love it, I promise. It is very fitting for Valentine’s Day.

Stay tuned later on for a review on “Black History Movie Month.”

Straight Outta Compton

Welcome back to “Black History Movie Month,” where I will be reviewing more current films that have come out in the past decade. Let’s get started with the 2015 biopic, “Straight Outta Compton.”

This instinctual hip-hop biopic showcasing NWA’s sudden rise to fame at times struggles to avoid falling into Hollywood cliché. Still, “Straight Outta Compton” proves as contagiously entertaining as it is educational thanks to F. Gary Fray’s splendidly surfaced and a catchy soundtrack that confirms rap as the protest music of its time. Despite gangster rap is now for legends, “Straight Outta Compton” reminds audiences that for some it was – and still is – a way of life. The beginning shows Eazy-E, played by Jason Mitchell, leaving out of the grilled window of a drug house, after a police military tank, without warning, crashes its way right through the front door.

In mid-eighties Compton, Los Angeles, there’s no initial stimulation to violence. Christine Jun said in her review, “This includes corrupt cops who don’t hesitate to seize and arrest any black men on the streets with impunity.” In this environment, the friendship of lyricist Ice Cube (real life son, O’Shea Jackson Jr.), aspiring DJ Andre (Corey Hawkins) – aka Dr. Dre – and neighborhood drug dealer Eric “Eazy-E” Wright ends with NWA and Ruthless Records. Jun mentioned, “Interested in more than just a fierce display of raw talent and braggadocio, rap becomes their way of voicing their anti-heroic reality with brutal honesty.” At first, a local club owner doesn’t want their hardcore material and all-black audiences remain somewhat doubtful.

These guys can’t even stand on the pavement without being immediately taken-down and insulted by cops. However, injustice only becomes feed for art, when NWA later becomes popular with their controversial F Tha Police. Jun noted, “In the wake of white fans bulldozing piles of their CDs in protest and the FBI’s sanctimonious threat of arrest, the members of NWA refuse to censor themselves on-stage in Detroit. A raging Ice Cube leads the chanting arena crowd in what amounts to civil dissent; except instead of a Black Power salute, he gives them the triumphant middle finger. Unsurprisingly, as soon as NWA transitions to commercial success, the swindling starts.” Their predicament with music industry hunters requires a different set of street intelligence, as white music manager Jerry Hill, played by Paul Giammati, graciously promises, “I can make you legit.”

Jun said, “The group’s growing internal division over unfair contracts is tempered by the spectacle of hoopties bouncing up and down Crenshaw Boulevard, hotel celebrations, and unapologetic bling. Despite the obvious bigotry, Eazy-E’s Wet N’ Wild Party – where female nonentities are more likely to appear topless than speak – makes same-era MTV Pool Party look incredibly tame by comparison. By the time footage of the Rodney King beating and 1992 LA riots rolls around, Straight Outta Compton cements itself foremost as a tale of solidarity:” Jackson and Hawkins provide lively, moving performances when it comes to Eazy-E’s premature death from AIDS. However, while NWA have long since gone mainstream for white and black audiences altogether, sadly, the African-American fight against police brutality remains very familiar today as a theme.

I remember when this movie was being released and Ice Cube and his son, O’Shea Jackson Jr., were going around promoting this film. I wasn’t familiar with NWA, but I think I might have seen their shirts and I know the memes that came out after this film was released. Check this film out on Max, but this is not a film to be seen in front of the entire family. Because of what is portrayed in this film, you should find it best to watch this alone without parents or little children present. Check it out because this is a powerful film, especially if you’re a fan of NWA.

Check in next week for the continuation of “Black History Movie Month.”

The Scorpion King: Book of Souls

Just when you thought the “Scorpion King” franchise was over, they release one more sequel, “Scorpion King: Book of Souls,” the fifth in the franchise released in 2018 (many thought everything was pretty much over after the first film).

Mathayus, the Scorpion King (Zach McGowan), partners with a warrior named Tala (Pearl Thusi) to find a legendary relic called The Book of Souls. They are told it will allow them to banish the evil warlord Nebserek, played by Peter Mensah, who has a demon sword that threatens civilization. However, Mathayus and his team wants to stand in his way before he can get more power.

David Steigman said in his review, “More or less a poor man’s Conan the Barbarian, Book of Souls has the potential to be an action-packed fantasy film.” Action scenes are done well and there are so many great visuals, thanks to cinematographer Hein de Vos, but the rest is very bad. Zack McGowan’s performance sucks. He’s physically right for the role, but his delivery is flat, making his character feel no more than boring. Overall, this is the nail in the coffin as a superfluous sequel.

In the end, this is one of those DTV films that you don’t really think about so much to get through the runtime. Most likely you will forget this, but if you’re a fan of the series, you should avoid every sequel at all cost.

As you have already guessed, this one wasn’t even worth the time to watch it. When I saw it on Amazon Prime, I can’t believe I wasted my time watching this vacuous film. Every single one of the sequels got worse and this one is no exception. Just don’t see any of the sequels if you did or didn’t like the first film.

We have now come to the end of “Scorpion King Month.” Sorry that each entry got worse, but this is one of those franchises that just sank deeper and deeper into horrendousness. Stay tuned next month for this year’s installment on “Black History Movie Month.” Sorry for the late posting. I completely forgot what day of the week it was.

Star Trek: Section 31

Tonight, on Paramount+, I saw “Star Trek: Section 31,” which came out five days ago, and I will let you know what I thought of this spin-off on a show that I never watched.

Dennis Harvey started his review by saying, “In the ever-expanding “Star Trek” universe — which next year enters its seventh earthly decade — there’s room for all kinds of celestial phenomena, including the occasional underwhelming dwarf star.” That status is claimed by “Star Trek: Section 31,” the franchise’s first film since “Beyond” nine years ago, and the first that was released to streaming. A spinoff for Michelle Yeoh’s character from “Star Trek: Discovery,” whose frequent director Olatunde Osunsanmi again is in the helm here, this rapidly distracting departure is too complicated and tonally shaky to leave a lasting feeling. Harvey said, “Given a fairly hostile initial fanbase reaction to the Jan. 24 release on Paramount+, it may also stray too far from hitherto-consistent core elements to warrant any follow-up.”

The still-agile former Hong Kong martial arts actress has definitely gained additional praise since her last Star Trek appearance, thanks to that Oscar for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” plus last year’s “Wicked.” Harvey said, “But despite her evident enthusiasm, Philippa Georgiou isn’t really an ideal primary focus — she’s a variable friend/foe/frenemy to the Federation whose slipperiness cedes the role of more standard heroic leader to charismatic Omari Hardwick’s Alok Sahar, though he never quite seizes the spotlight.”

Craig Sweeney’s screenplay hits a frequently cunning attitude to house this fraud protagonist, which weakens any deceit of seriousness elsewhere. What’s more, other characters so frequently end up having hidden identities, get pronounced dead early on and so forth that the nonstop twists feel silly, rather than clever or meaningful. While the story ends up with a face-off between lovers-turned-enemies – with life as we know it hanging on by a thread – that huge passion carries limited weight among too much narrative mess.

A prologue shows how as a young woman (Miku Martineau), Georgiou survived lethal competition to become the Terran Empire’s new empress, claiming that victory with evil acts toward loved ones including San (James Huang, later James Hiroyuki Liao). The story then jumps forward to a time after she lost that throne, and has already spent so much time as a jokey operative of covert Federation intelligence unit Section 31 on “Discovery.” (Harvey noted, “Never mind that this is only her “Mirror Universe” persona, as opposed to the same-named nice Star Fleet Captain killed off in that series’ 2017 pilot episode.”) Since then, she’s gone AWOL, having a new identity and judged of trafficking in illegal bio-weapons. With a new 31 crew under Alok’s command is sent to find her, then “neutralize the threat.”

Harvey noted, “She turns out to be currently occupied as hostess-owner to a sort of deluxe dive bar, her edge not so dulled that she can’t immediately recognize a half-dozen new guests as poorly disguised agents: Strongarm Zeph (Rob Kazinsky), whose bull-in-a-china-shop ways are heightened by a tank-like exoskeleton; Irish-accented Fuzz (Sven Ruygrok), who looks like a Vulcan but is really a Nanokin, or “intelligent microbe”; Quasi (Sam Richardson), who can morph into any physical form; initially blue-haired Garrett (Kacey Rohl), a humorless Star Fleet rules-enforcer; and chrome-domed Melle (Humberly Gonzalez), whose superpower is basically “hypnotic loveliness.” There’s also the eugenically “enhanced” human Alok, the sole member of this party who’s neither a middling one-joke idea or constantly bickering with the others.” Camaraderie has always been a big element in “Star Trek,” but it’s very absent from this capably played yet tiresome team.

Even when Georgiou decides to join the team rather than beat them, things go haywire in the Section’s attempt to grab a mysterious deadly weapon known as “the Godsend” from its visiting sales agent (Joe Pingue as Dad Noe). After a nightclub fight, it disappears. Everything comes as a surprise to Georgiou, who had originally ordered it made – and destroyed, she thought – back in her time as an unapologetic tyrant. Harvey said, “Now she’s just a semi-reformed “monster with regrets.””

Hoping to retrieve the deadly object (Harvey describes, “which resembles the “Hellraiser” puzzle box”) before someone activates it, she ends up stranded on a dead planet with the others in the film’s climax, which is mostly answering “Who’s the mole betraying our every move?” secrecy. Finally, they get a disabled garbage barge working and fly off into space, right behind them someone who not only has the Godsent, but a lifelong grudge to settle with Georgiou.

There’s a lot of action, mostly one-on-one, in the last third. However, it’s not particularly inspired, and the stakes feel more regularly forced than urgent. Harvey pointed out, “It’s also hard to grant climactic events the gravitas required when so much preceding progress has been snarky, occasionally smirky and comedic, minus real wit. There’s always been a healthy vein of humor to “Star Trek,” but here there’s no depth of character dynamics or anything else to ballast sheer flippancy. The whole drifts uneasily toward deliberate camp, all its story’s intended dramatic substance shunted toward flashbacks, explicatory dialogue and other clumsy devices that thwart any centering narrative impetus.”

Not that “Section 31” is tough to get through – it does have some moments here and there. The design contributions are up to standards, from visual effects to sets. Bartholomew Burcham contributes a huge editorial pace and Jeff Russo a satisfactorily inspiring score. Harvey mentioned, “But the big-deal factor that most “Trek” endeavors carry is missing amid characters we may not miss if they aren’t seen again, embroiled in adventures that feel at once over-complicated, one-dimensional and irrelevant.”

Harvey continued, “In the end, “Star Trek: Section 31” falls into an odd netherland between OK series episode and stand-alone feature, too big to pass as one thing, too frivolous to work as the other. It’s a watchable digression that floats off into viewer memory space, snapping its slender tether to anything else in this fabled sci-fi universe.” When Yeoh’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once” co-star Jamie Lee Curtis makes a late cameo appearance in holograph form, giving the surviving characters their next assignment, you may think that they might set up future installments that may never come to fruition.

I say just give this film a pass. I didn’t really like it as there was way too much dialogue and slow moments for a “Star Trek” movie and not much action. I think that’s what the franchise is all about, but I don’t think anyone will really like this film. And this is coming from someone who never saw “Star Trek: Discovery.” Just wait for when JJ Abrams decide to make another one in his series or if they restart it again.

Thank you for joining in on this review tonight. Stay tuned this Friday for the finale of “Scorpion King Month.”