How is it July already and we haven’t had a single 100+ degree day yet? Is there any way we can guarantee this in future summers? Surely I can’t be the only one that has been loving this moderate Texas summer.
The only problem with the nice weather is it has been too nice to NOT be outside. And that seriously cuts into my movie watching time. But fear not, ladies and gents, I have two films here for your consideration. One, thought-provoking and the other not. But both are definitely worth giving your time to after you finish that dip in the pool.
I Am Mother (2019) [TV-14 (at least that’s how Netflix has it rated)]
I Am Mother is the debut film from Australian Grant Sputore.
The film follows a teenage girl who has been raised by a kindly robot, Mother, in an underground facility designed to support the repopulation of the Earth after an unspecified extension level event. Daughter, as the girl is called, is being trained by Mother in engineering, medicine and moral philosophy so that she may assist in repopulating the earth. Daughter believes that the world outside of her bunker is lifeless and ravaged with disease. Then, one night, an injured woman shows up outside of the facility’s airlock begging for help.
Now, please do me a favor and don’t go read any other reviews of this. They are all full of spoilers and trust me, you don’t want this spoiled for you. You want to go into this as uncolored as possible. Don’t think of this as some sort of Shyamalan-esque puzzle to solve. It is just that Sputore has set up the film to challenge your ideas in a very specific way and, if you let it, I think you’ll find I Am Mother will lead you done some very intriguing pathways. This is old-school, thought-provoking science fiction not some superhero movie in space.
The cast isn’t very big but the performances are fantastic. The characters are interesting. The setting is both intimate and forbidding. It has a tight, well-paced script that touches on complicated and sensitive subjects with a great deal of forethought and care. It is easily one of the most well-made science fiction films I have seen in a long time.
I Am Mother isn’t some big budget, FX-filled space epic but it is spectacular. You are really going to want to pay attention to the details when you watch this one. I Am Mother is extremely well-crafted. If you give it your time and attention, I think you’ll find it to be quite a rare gem.
8.5 paws out of 10
Shazam! (2019) [PG-13]
Now, I want to throw out here that I really had no interest in watching this. But, you know, peer pressure.
And you know what? It wasn’t terrible.
Let’s talk plot first, shall we? Billy Batson is a delinquent teenager who is shuffled from foster home to foster home as he searches for his biological mother. Billy’s latest home is with the Vasquezes who already have five other foster children living with them. One of those children is Freddy. At school, Billy hits a kid who is picking on Freddie and escapes by running on to a subway train.
While on that train, Billy is transported to the cavern of an old wizard who wishes to transfer his powers to someone younger who can take on the job of protecting the world. Billy takes on the powers of Shazam and, with the help of Freddy, sets off to figure out exactly what his new powers are. In the meantime, Dr. Sivana, who failed in his chance to gain the powers of Shazam years before, has learned of Billy’s anointing. Sivana tracks down Billy so that he may take the powers of Shazam that he feels he was cheated out of.
It is kind of sparse plot-wise but the screenwriters took a different tack than most of the previous DC Extended Universe films and made Shazam more comedic, which works well here. The comedy is both more childish and more enjoyable than your typical superhero movie from the past decade or so. The actors do a fine job. Nothing spectacular, but good.
I do feel like there were a couple of places that the tone seemed off. Otherwise, director David Sandberg does a decent job with the material. The script isn’t anything mind-blowing. The FX are good. Again, nothing extraordinary but certainly solid.
Shazam! isn’t going to blow your doors off. But I would say it is the second “best” of the DCEU films. Definitely something you can munch some popcorn and turn off your brain to.
7 paws out of 10
As always, if you have a movie you think I should check out or you want to talk further about one of these reviews, drop me a line on Facebook.