Movie Reaction: Downton Abbey

Formula: (Masterpiece Presents Downton Abbey * Star Trek: The Motion Picture) / StarTrek: The Series

I need to get one thing out of the way. I haven't seen a single episode of Downton Abbey. It didn't interest me at the time and I've never felt the need to catch up with it since it ended. Downton Abbey getting a theatrically released movie did present me with a fun opportunity. From time to time, I like to see movies in non-ideal conditions, like seeing sequels out of order or, in this case, not knowing the source material. I'm often on the other side of things, so it's entertaining to see how movies designed as supplemental material can or can't stand on their own. And, in Downton Abbey's case, I'm not wholly unfamiliar with it. I know who is in it and, I follow enough TV critics to pick up things by osmosis.

The experience of watching Downton Abbey as a fan of the show rather than as a newcomer is completely different. I don't know the histories of all the characters. Beyond some key cast members, I was never sure who was a series regular and who was showing up for the first time. I was fully lost for the first 20 minutes and in spots later on as I tried to figure out who all the characters were or what their significance was. I won't pretend that the movie successfully makes it easy for newcomers, although there are a number of points when exposition is given that I have to assume is there for people like me.

I'm not sure if this is because they weren't trying to overwhelm non-series watchers or if it's just the nature of the property, but not a lot happens in Downton Abbey. Or, at least, everything has very low stakes. The Crawley family finds out that the King and Queen of England are coming to Downton for a night. So, the stakes of the movie are "can they get the estate prepared in time?" I suppose there is a lot going on, but in a way that feels like a TV episode juggling several side stories. There are a lot of mouths to feed in the cast, and I feel like everyone got at least a moment to shine. I definitely see why everyone loves Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess. Michelle Dockery is functionally the central character, and she's affable as such. I didn't realize Allen Leech's character was such a central role (or, at least he is in the movie). Imelda Staunton is by far the most prominent newcomer, and she matches wits with Maggie Smith just like they're back at Hogwartz. Tuppence Middleton pops up to be lovely for a few minutes, and because with a name as British as Tuppence Middleton, it would be a crime for Downton Abbey to be absent from her IMDB page,

Ultimately, my stance on Downton Abbey is that it's an exceedingly pleasant movie. It's a gorgeously dressed period drama that has removed every sharp edge. It's easy to see why people fell so hard for the show. I still have not intention of seeing the show, but that shouldn't reflect poorly on the movie. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I can't speak for the experience of the established fan, but the story does appear to put a bow on a number of story arcs.

Verdict: Strongly Recommend

Movie Reaction: Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Formula: Maleficent ^ How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

At this point, it's like Disney is looking for new ways to anger its critics. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (btw, I'm calling it Maleficent 2 starting now) is uniquely designed to piss off the people who complain about the lack of resources going to original ideas. It's a $100 million movie. It's CGI heavy. It's based on a remake of and old property. And, it's a sequel. Give it a male lead, and it would earn "Outrage Bingo". I suppose it isn't unique, exactly, given that Alice Through the Looking Glass is the same thing, but with one star of The Tourist swapped out for the other. That's not a movie that anyone wants to be compared to though. I'm pleased to at least say that Maleficent 2 does at least win that match up.

Maleficent 2 picks up a little while after Maleficent. I'll admit that I don't remember much from the first movie, but that's OK, because Maleficent 2 immediately resets everything anyway. Princess Aurora (Elle Fanning) gets engaged to Prince Phillip (Harris Dickinson). They have dreams of peacefully uniting the humans with the magical creatures of the Moors. Phillip's mother (Michelle Pfeiffer) isn't as excited by the peace talk and manages to use Maleficent's (Angelina Jolie) bad reputation to incite a war between the humans and the creatures of the Moors. Maleficent also comes across more fairies like herself in the process. It's all just a big excuse to get to a big final battle.

It's a poorly conceived story. Most of it hinges on Maleficent not telling Aurora "I didn't do it" early on, and it's never clear why she doesn't. The movie really does just want to reset all the character dynamics to those of the first movie. It's also not clear why Maleficent only finds out about the other fairies now. They live pretty close and are already aware of her. It's easy to be cynical about the movie. It only exists because Maleficent did so unexpectedly well five years ago. There's no need to a sequel to exist.

That said, I liked it. Michelle Pfeiffer channels herself from Stardust and Charlize Theron from Snow White and the Huntsman and really seems to relish this villain role. Jolie's crazy cheekbones are still mesmerizing. The big CGI battle is wild and crazy. Jenn Murray plays this wholly unexplained henchman of Pfeiffer's with campy intensity*. Maleficent 2 is the same kind of fun that The Nutcracker and the Four Realms was but without the need for a bunch of exposition to set itself up. It really worked for me, partly because I never believed that it was trying to be seriously good.

*She reminded me a lot of the model/gymnast/assassin in The Spy Who Dumped Me.

Look, it's not even 2 hours long and it still ran long. Jolie feels oddly sidelined throughout the movie. Elle Fanning's Aurora has the least discernible personality of any protagonist I can recall in the last few years. The plot is silly at its best and dumb at its worst. But I still liked it.

Verdict: Weakly Recommend

Movie Reaction: Zombieland: Double Tap

Formula: Zombieland + 10 years(?)

Other than the famous Bill Murray cameo, I don't remember a whole lot about the original Zombieland. I know I liked the movie. The cast is beyond reproach. It was a nice play on the zombie movie. But, I have trouble recalling much about it. I went into Double Tap with a lot of questions. How would its zombie humor work with a decade of other zombie movies and shows flooding the market even more? How well would the story handle expanding its world? How awkwardly would they fit in another Bill Murray cameo?

Double Tap is set some time after the original movie. Abigail Breslin's aging makes it hard to pretend that it's been much less than a decade, but it certainly doesn't feel like an entire decade has passed in that world otherwise. The crew from the original movie has settled into living at the White House. Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) still reluctantly accepts that he has a family unit. Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) embraces their comfortable lifestyle. Wichita (Emma Stone) bristles against it. Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) is desperate to meet some other people. The story gets set into motion when Wichita and Little Rock bail in the middle of the night. Columbus and Tallahassee pick up a dim-witted woman named Madison (Zoey Deutch) before Wichita returns without Little Rock, and the rest of the movie is an extended road trip to reunite with her. Along the way, they run into several fun characters played by Rosario Dawnson, Luke Wilson, Thomas Middleditch, and others.

But really, it's all an excuse for some over the top zombie kills, funny sight gags, new rules, and apocalyptic corpses of famous locations. In that respect, the movie is a success. It's a lot of fan service. The better you remember the first movie, the better for getting jokes and callbacks. It doesn't take itself seriously often and that works for it. The assumption is that people are there for some comic violence and funny lines.

I'll admit, I had trouble turning off my brain in some needed ways. There are a lot of characters who just plain don't act like survivors of a zombie apocalypse. For example, it's hard for me to believe that people who have survived this for years would think it's a good idea to shoot off fireworks. Deutch's character has absolutely no survival skills. Like, even without a zombie apocalypse, I'm surprised she lasted this long. As efficient as the lead group is supposed to be at zombie killing, they have way too many close calls. More than my issue with the zombie logistics is that the four leads presumably haven't grown at all between movies. They are all in virtually the same place as characters, which just made me feel back for them. The trailers like to point out how the cast is made up of three Oscar nominees and an Oscar winner. It's a shame the movie couldn't arc out their characters more.

The new characters were mostly duds for me. Rosario Dawson is the only one I wholly liked. That's no surprise. Rosario Dawnson always great and should be starring in movies like this, not given thankless supporting roles. I'm a big fan of Zoey Deutch. I'm not a fan of her character in this. The movie has nothing but contempt for her. Deutch works really hard to make the character funny. My dislike of her got in the way of too many of the punchlines though. Wilson and Middleditch mostly exist for a gag. They are fine for their few minutes, but their whole sequence felt like filler.

At the end of the day, you either like a comedy or you don't. The jokes hit or miss. The cast gels or it grates. I can try to break it down as much as I can, and it still comes down to how you happen to feel about it. For some reason, Zombieland: Double Tap didn't work for me. I didn't hate it. It just didn't do anything new. The whole movie was a retread on  the original idea rather than a collection of new clever ideas - the kind that made the first one enjoyable. I suspect that this is going to be one of those movies that people who liked it will say I'm humorless for not liking or that I'm determined to suck the fun out of it. That's fair. I disagree, but I get it. Regardless, Zombieland: Double Tap just didn't work for me often enough.

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend