Movie Review: Fighting With My Family (2019)

Genre: Sports Biography  

Director: Stephen Merchant  

Starring: Florence Pugh, Lena Headey, Vince Vaughn, Nick Frost, Dwayne Johnson  

Running Time: 108 minutes  

Synopsis: In Norwich, England, working class couple Patrick and Julia (Nick Frost and Lena Headey) run a local semi-pro wrestling circuit featuring their teenaged children Zak and Raya (Jack Lowden and Florence Pugh). The family dreams of getting noticed by the World Wrestling Entertainment, and Zak and Raya are finally given an opportunity to audition in London. But WWE recruiter and coach Hutch (Vince Vaughn) only selects Raya for further training, and she jets off to Florida leaving Zak resentful. Raya adopts the stage name Paige as she attempts to qualify for the WWE, but she faces numerous challenges and an increasingly strained relationship with her family back home.

What Works Well: Plenty of heart ensures a warm glow in this biography of professional wrestler Paige, with a focus on humble roots and an unlikely path to stardom. The hardscrabble family background features sports-as-salvation from addictions and incarceration, with love, support, ambition, and humour fueling Paige's rise. She still has a lot to learn once her WWE training starts, and Florence Pugh invests in Paige's complex personal growth as she meets competitors from other backgrounds and navigates her brother's doldrums. Vince Vaughn builds a steady bridge between Norwich and glamour, and Dwayne Johnson enjoys a couple of prolonged scenes as himself. 

What Does Not Work As Well: The rags-to-riches story arc offers few surprises, leading to a high-volume final act filled with triumphalism, lacking subtlety, and compromised by a never-before-seen opponent.

Key Quote:

Raya (to Coach Hutch): You didn't cut me and I didn't quit.

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Movie Review: 300 (2006)

Genre: Historical War Action

Director: Zack Snyder

Starring: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Michael Fassbender, Rodrigo Santoro

Running Time: 117 minutes

Synopsis: Like all males born in Sparta, King Leonidas I (Gerard Butler) was raised to be a ferocious warrior. Married to Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey), his rule is threatened by the massive invading army of Persian King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro). The Sparta elders rule out an all-out war, so Leonidas gathers 300 Spartans and marches north to mount a defence by funneling the invaders into a narrow gorge. Leonidas' vastly outnumbered warriors are helped by other Greeks, but still face impossible odds in a battle that lasts for days.

What Works Well: Using historical events and a Frank Miller comic series as a canvass, director Zack Snyder paints a stunningly extravagant amalgamation of Sin City and Gladiator. Larry Fong's cinematography, a copper-toned colour palette, seamless special effects, a parade of near-naked torsos, historically self-conscious dialogue, and Tyler Bates' eternal music score combine to recreate an epic meat grinder of a final stand. Gerard Butler bites into a peak machismo role with enthusiasm and spouts his suitably corny one-liners with unbridled conviction. Lena Headey fights the homefront battle as Queen Gorgo dives into the arena of dirty politics to plead support for her husband's quest.

What Does Not Work As Well: The persistent narration unnecessarily amplifies the self-imposed grandeur, while all the characters good and bad are trapped in static archetypes.

Conclusion: Gruesome artistry, constructed with intentional campiness upon rousing themes of militaristic honour and freedom.

King Leonidas: Spartans! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty... FOR TONIGHT, WE DINE, IN HELL!

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Movie Review: Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)

A wild action thriller, Gunpowder Milkshake is a stylish, over-the-top battle fest celebrating girl power. 

Samantha, or simply Sam (Karen Gillan), is an assassin for a shadowy organization known only as The Firm. Her latest job ends in a bloodbath, and one of her victims is the son of powerful gang boss Jim McAlester. 15 years earlier, Sam's mother Scarlet (Lena Headey), also an assassin for The Firm, had to disappear after one of her jobs ended badly.

Nathan (Paul Giamatti) is Sam's handler, and he issues her next assignment, to retrieve money stolen by an accountant. She arms herself with guns provided The Firm's "librarians" Madeleine (Carla Gugino), Florence (Michelle Yeoh), and Anna May (Angela Bassett). 

After Sam kills the accountant, she learns he only stole the money because a vicious gang held his young daughter Emily (Chloe Coleman) hostage. She gets involved to save Emily, disobeying Nathan's orders. With McAlester seeking revenge and The Firm turning against her, Sam is in a lot of trouble, but Nathan provides some support by arranging a surprise reunion.

Gunpowder Milkshake features many good girls with many big guns (and assorted other weaponry), battling many bad guys with just as many big guns (and assorted other weaponry). Director and co-writer Navot Papushado crafts a feminist action extravaganza bathed in surreal neon and ultra-abstract sets, channeling Tarantino, Woo, and Leone with unfettered passion.

The plot is almost irrelevant, providing just enough of a string to hang the thrills on. The dialogue scenes focus on establishing a sorority of women, mother-daughter bonds, and surrogate parent relationships. Sam is the node around which her mother, the three librarians and Emily revolve, creating three generations of strong and morally sound women battling to rid the world of men either faceless, evil, or both.

The levels of violence and the action set-pieces are wildly enjoyable at the cartoonish level. The exquisitely choreographed highlights include a hospital battle between Sam and three goons, her arms paralyzed by a serum while the villains are compromised by laughing gas and a previous altercation. This is quickly followed by a cat-and-mouse parkade duel with young Emily (eight and three quarters of a year old) at the wheel. Papushado leaves the best for last, a linear, slow-motion beauty of a single-shot gun-down at a supposedly neutral diner.

At 114 minutes and with next to no genuine narrative depth, the energy does start to flag. A battle at a library goes on, and scene after scene of bone-crunching combat with the women mowing down an army of men get repetitive. But with cool attitude to spare, Gunpowder Milkshake is unapologetically always craving the next explosive slurp.



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