Oh boy, here I am, the master of lateness, late to their own Substack post. You know what they say about bad habits: they go yippee ki-yaying all the way home. That’s how the saying goes, right? I’m pretty confident about that.
Anywho. August is almost over, and I’ve been watching, sleeping, traveling, and sleeping some more, all in preparation for the upcoming fall festival season that will wear me out. So here’s a belated recap of what I’ve written within the past month, both in-house at Rendy Reviews dot com and elsewhere.
Freelance
‘Twisted Metal’ S1 Review - RogerEbert.com
Fall Movies Preview: 9 LGBTQ+ Films We’re Looking Forward to This Fall - Them
I Can’t Believe Josh Greenbaum on Strays - RogerEbert.com
Killing It's S2 Review - Paste
‘Bad Things’ Review - Them
Rendy Reviews
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Since we’re at the tail-end of August with one more week of releases, I’ll talk about the movies I’ve seen but haven’t shared any thoughts about.
The First Slam Dunk
Outside the memory of a player from the series appearing as a supporting character in the Jump Ultimate Stars DS game I used to play as a kid, I'm unfamiliar with the Slam Dunk series. I was initially going to write this off and leave it for the weebs. But when some Twitter (not calling it X, bug off) mutuals told me that The First Slam Dunk was, in fact, a prequel and was genuinely GREAT, I rushed to check it out. Hey, they were right.
Basketball is a fine sport, but Slam Dunk's animation team transformed a high school basketball game into a cinematic experience, like a larger-than-life battle for the world. Apologies to Looney Tunes and Michael Jordan; this is the best animated basketball film ever. It's cool to see that Spider-Verse's uniqueness influenced Japanese animation studios, and they made this a visually splendorous film. I'm surprised this film perfected the marriage of 2D and 3D techniques, evoking a moving manga feel, which Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero heavily failed at. It decently bridges 2D features on 3D models while embracing its manga material with comic panel reaction shots and 2D action lines emphasizing the main game's events.
The story follows Ryota Miyagi, a moody teen trying to find his path as a great basketball player following his older brother Sota's—a once basketball prodigy he was close to—passing. How the story approaches grief and loss resembles many other coming-of-age sports flicks. However, its greatest strength lies in the silent cues where visuals and expression contextualize Sota's loss and pain on Ryota and his family.
The non-chronological structure where Ryota's origin story interweaves with the main game between his team, Shohoku, and the infamous unbeatable Sannoh school elevates the film beyond its roots. It treats its characters and story with integrity, enough to make it feel like a real movie that can compete in awards against other animated features this year. It's that powerful.
Strays
Thank god I watched this for the sake of an interview piece rather than for a review. Universal said, “Hey, if we [redacted], don't review it because we want you to see it with an audience.” I saw it twice, so I can say STRAYS is FINE. On one paw, it's the lazy R-rated raunchy version of Homeward Bound that operates on 100 fucks per minute and appeals to the most immature of teens. On the other paw, it has sporadic moments of intelligence that discuss one-sided toxic relationships from a dog's perspective, which I've never seen in a talking dog movie.
When Will Ferrell speaks in a high octave, channeling his inner Elf again, it sweeps me up. I adored his vocal performance as Reggie, illustrating a dog's energetic, loving energy and adorable obliviousness. As this dog realizes his loser owner, Doug (Will Forte), doesn't love him and never did, he comes to his own with the help of his friends Bug (Jamie Foxx), Maggie (Isla Fisher), and Hunter (Randall Park).
It sounds like I’m suggesting that Strays is good. Haha, no. Not even close; that screenplay laziness is there for most of the runtime, and the raunchy dog humor ranges from chuckle-worthy to straight-up cringe. The novelty of hearing a dog say “fuck” for the umpteenth time by the twenty-minute mark wears off quickly. When your best and worst jokes are references and cameos by A Dog's Purpose veterans Josh Gad and Dennis Quaid, the quality of its “comedy” becomes apparent. That climax is cathartic enough to warrant a rental, however.
Shortcomings
I watched Randall Park's little indie directorial debut feature in January during Sundance's virtual festival. I wasn't impressed, mainly because the lead character Ben sucks so much. He might be the most detestable protagonist I've watched in a film this year, rivaling Eddie Murphy in You People. The initial three-star rating I logged on Letterboxd was far too forgiving. I held off writing a proper review because I wanted to give it another shot. Eventually, I did. It got worse.
I love watching films about shitty people trying to be less shitty. I even liked the Shortcomings book when I was on my post-Scott Pilgrim graphic novel fix as a teen. 2007 (when the book was published) was vastly different from today, so all the conversations about Asian identity have gotten far more nuanced, and how Adrian Tomine paints Ben in his screenplay goes over the deep end, entering a somewhat outdated territory. He's a tremendously toxic heterosexual man. Heavy self-hating, morally superior, manic pixie white woman fetishizing film bro as unhinged as a nepotism baby who studied film at NYU. His mean spirit and dominant, opinionated observations hardly come across as funny. It's mainly his relentless awfulness that soured my experience.
Justin H. Min is great in the role, eerily embodying this "worst person in the world" personality too well. The same goes for Sherry Cola, who plays his lesbian best friend Alice, and Ally Maki as his girlfriend Miko. I appreciate that the film addresses him as the worst, treating him the way he deserves, but the longer it progressed, the less I could suspend my disbelief. How did Alice and Ben become friends? Why did his Miko put up with his shit for six years?
It's one of those movies with immense "Woody Allen energy": the deconstruction of a selfish man with romantic misadventures whose problems would resolve if he went to therapy. The only additional layer here is his Asian identity, and that's it. No matter your race, a shitty hetero man is a shitty hetero man.
Blue Beetle
So Blue Beetle, a movie initially meant for HBO MAX, went to theaters. And it's a decent superhero movie with an upbeat and proud Mexican soul. I enjoyed the unusual set-up where Jaime Reyes just wanted a job to support his family and ended up with an exoskeleton suit tethered to him. I also liked how the Reyes family unit is close to the hero, and all play a role in his story. It gave me a Spy Kids vibe in its cheesy atmosphere and VFX quality.
Eventually, it hits all the same beats as many other superhero films. This film is essentially Max Steel with a budget, but its charm remains. It has by-the-numbers components, including the evil corporate head antagonist, her righthand man being the biggest adversary, and a reluctant scientist helping them against his will. However, it did have a very triggering and accurate heart attack that caught me off guard. I had a panic attack in the theater, so I never watched Blue Beetle again. Or at least for a long time. I wish Angel Manuel Soto got to add his Charm City Kings-styled edge to this film, but whatever. It’s exceedingly better than several recent MCU and DCEU movies. It's so aggressively okay as far as DC movies go, but "okay" gives it a top-five best-of advantage. I do not know if this is a DCU or DCEU flick, and I'm not trying to lose more brain cells over it.
TV
I would discuss Fionna and Cake, which I’ve been watching for work, but it’s under embargo. Stay tuned for that.
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Ren Recommends of the Month
Film
Bottoms
TMNT: Mutant Mayhem
Oldboy (2003)
Bad Things
TV
What We Do in the Shadows Season 5
Fionna And Cake
Killing It Season 2
Futurama Season, pft, I have no idea anymore. The new-new revival.
That covers everything. Let me know what you think. If I missed any movies or TV shows, send me recs. Let me know what you're watching.
BYEEEEE!
