An Alternate Reality: I saw Reminiscence...

Reminscence is a new dystopian movie, written and directed by Lisa (Westworld) Joy, starring superstar-for-good-reason Hugh (Wolverine) Jackman. It paints a soggy future (during the time of a nondescript war), where a Miami private eye uses (as a profitable sideline) an opiate-technology that lets folks relive parts of their past (mainly brighter days in light of the darker ones that have come to be). In actuality, Reminiscence is a somber variant of Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy, which borrows from Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days, Douglas Trumbell's Brainstorm and the "memory" prose of Philip K. Dick to noir-esque, alternate-reality effect. 

For people to tap into the coveted past, Jackman's Nick Bannister straps his clients into his memory machinery (a brow brace and a quasi-isolation tank) and along the investigative trail, meets Mae, played by Rebecca Ferguson (Jackman's Greatest Showman costar). Mae's  long-legged allure and classic-movie mystique make Bannister fall in love with her, but alas, Mae vanishes one day without a trace, and Bannister's obsession with the knockout inspires him to comb their stockpiled memories to find her. (This goes against the advice of Bannister's caring assistant, Watts {Thandiwe Newton}, as Mae's path points to a criminal mastermind, Saint Joe {Daniel Wu} and a strong-arming fixer, Cyrus Booth {Cliff Curtis}, who are tied to estranged elitists.) 

The story's execution tugs at the heartstrings with all the lost-love pangs one might expect (and Ramin Djawadi's pulsating score propels its pathos, along with that old, Richard Rogers standby, "Where and When"), all contained within a beguiling and sprawling adventure. But this adventure isn't Homer's Odyssey, but rather a much more intimate voyage in line with Richard Matheson's Somewhere in Time, Nicholas Meyer's Time After Time and Rod Serling's Twilight Zone tale, "the Long Morrow". In this regard, Bannister's intent is as significant as if he were searching for a mountainous treasure in some far-away land, and his lady fair proves as difficult to grasp, since the path to regain her spirals into addiction. 

One could argue that Bannister's quest essays the ups and downs of nostalgia: its sweetness and woe. It explores why one would wish to reattach to a person, place or time, when improving the status quo (improving the moment at hand) would be more feasible and immediate. But then those who'd look to the present and/or future for an antidote to their emptiness aren't as prone to understand love. (The past, after all, is much easier to romanticize, no matter the flaws attached.) 

 

This philosophical, if not psychological, perspective gives Reminiscence its draw, but alas, the story is marred by an unneeded, climate-change motif. Its allegorical, water-has-risen garnishing may look nice and shimmering, but its controversial, we-told-ya-so redundancy taints the story's pathos, which should (could) have stood on its own.  

Despite this unfortunate chink, Reminiscence is a haunting experiment that challenges both body and soul: a human-condition, science-fiction product that works in direct defiance to the noisy splash that populates most high-profile, speculative filmmaking today. For those who like their escapism somber and deep, Reminiscence is without question one to seek. 

I saw MIB 4...

"Men in Black: International" is the fourth film in the satirical, science-fiction franchise, directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Matt Holloway and Art Marcum (known for their Iron Man/Punisher comic-book efforts), based on Lowell Cunningham's successful, Malibu series.  

"MIB: International" is a restart, if only for the lack of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones's Agent J and K.  For the new, dark-lensed duo, we get Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson (reuniting from "Thor: Ragnarok") as Agent H and M respectively. Liam Neeson plays their boss, High T.  Their home base is British; the action, globetrotting. (To recall previous chapters, there's Emma Thompson's Agent O and good ol' Frank the Pug.)

The concept is as basic as those that preceded it: Morphing, aliens (Laurent and Larry Nicolas Bourgeois) wreck havoc in pursuit of an "ultimate" weapon. Agent H and M investigate after attaining the device through an indirect sojourn. 

Since this is a parody, H and M's aspirations don't always manifest as planned, lending icky goofiness and slapstick at every turn.  The antics eventually lead to a dire discovery right at MIB's hub, which gives the story a science-fiction, Watergate ambiance, for a lack of a better label. (During the investigation, Ralf Spall's Agent C tosses persistent doubt on H, but not enough to throw the irreverent hero off track. If anything, C's interference makes the story more interesting.)

For traditionalists, Smith and Jones (and let's not forget good ol' Rip Torn's Agent Zed) oozed oodles of comedic chemistry, but as hard as their act is to follow, so do Hemsworth and Thompson (as they proved in "Thor 3"); Neeson is on target, too, though that should go without saying. It's more a matter of getting acquainted with these new personalities within the two-hour slot: not an easy task considering how much scene-skidding there is.

The latter is Bondian staged (typically colliding with the incessant pratfalls) and complemented by Danny Elfman's barreling score. Unlike the CGI competition ("Godzilla, King of the Monsters '19" being at the top of the murky list), the sprees are nice and bright, though sometimes a little too fast for their own good. (If one is going to invest in state-of-the-art imagery, slow it down a tad here and there; let the audience appreciate the work that went into it.)

The extra-terrestrials (some cutesy, some scary) layer enough weirdness to match those of earlier installments, though at this point, some might detect a predictability to the queue. Still, I gotta give credit to Kumail Nanjiani's little Pawny for his chivalrous cheer, and Rebecca Ferguson's Riza is quite sexy as a three-armed, arms dealer.)  

Unfortunately, as bouncy as it is, "MIB: International" never reaches its own verve, but then why go all out with an unrecognizable reinvention?  It's a damned-if-you-do/damned-if-you-don't quandary, I suppose.  

Heck, why argue the film's variances? They are what they are. The movie entertains. Those who've enjoyed the previous films should dig this one, even if the original remains a classic distance from the pack.