Us: "Spoiler Free" Movie Review

I'd been waiting to check out this movie since last week, and I only just happened to make it today; however, shockingly, they only had 2 shows - 10.30 am and 12.30pm at Prestige Cinema. I made the 12.30 showing, and surprisingly, I was the only person in the whole theatre. The only other time that's ever happened was, coincidentally, during a screening of The Grudge II in 2006. That was one hell of a scary movie, and I sat in there alone for about 70% of the movie before another soul just randomly popped in. I figured this would be a different experience, so I just braced for the movie.

First off, I was really fascinated that a big part of this movie revolves around the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. My brother and sister only lived a short 15 minute walk away from that beach and I got to visit them on holidays, and consequently visited that boardwalk once; 

It's really hard to explain this movie without getting into spoiler-territory, but I can at least explain some beats alluded to in the trailers. The story spans 2 periods - 1986 and present day. Adelaide Wilson (Lupita Nyong'o) is vacationing with her husband, Gabe (Winston Duke) and her children: Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex) in the vicinity of the Santa Cruz area. Things seem to be normal for everyone but Adelaide, who has a strange sense of foreboding about the area. Soon enough, her fears are shown to be correct and she and her family encounter their doppelgangers - the tethered - who, as can be expected, are rather malevolent.

Just like "Get Out" before it, "Us" is an amalgamation of many genres. It has a Sci-Fi angle just like its predecessor, and also elements of thriller and horror; unlike "Get Out, however, this movie straddles the "spiritual horror" line a bit more. This movie is a bit of a slow burn, taking its time to build the elements of its story. The most interesting element - the tethered - remains something of a mystery throughout, with its exposition crippled by the dynamics of the story.

The scope of this story is a lot bigger than the trailers would have led you to believe. I don't know if bigger was necessarily better, because at the end of it all, like many other movies that have come out recently, a lot of questions remain unanswered. I'm talking "Bird Box" or even "A Quiet Place" unanswered. It might leave a lot of fertile ground for a future sequel, but in the here and now, it feels like something is missing.

Lupita Nyong'o and her co-stars do a great job of portraying a terror-stricken family that goes from being wholly unprepared to evolving into a fully battle-ready unit when disaster strikes. Their performance as their doppelgangers is also exemplary, with most of their menace being physically portrayed. In the case of Adelaide, her doppelganger - Red - is both physically and mentally menacing.

This is not a particularly scary movie; I am not a horror-buff by any means, and if I was able to watch this alone at the theaters, anyone can. There is some bloody gore, but it is tastefully done. There's even comedy here, occurring in the weirdest of situations; strangely though, it lands each time. (Kudos to Mr. Peele). This being a horror movie, there are of course some questionable decisions made by these characters (I thought black people have always made the case that they would never do half the stuff that white people get caught doing in horror movies).

Personally, I wasn't really surprised by the twists and turns of the movie. I could see them coming from a mile away. I don't consider it being exactly intuitive on my part, neither do I feel that the movie was telegraphing everything; I guess I just synced with the director's thought patterns for this story. That being said, it still feels like something is missing in the translation of this family's plight to the larger scale of the situation, and the movie suffers for it.

You're welcome to watch it and see what you come away with. I'm 50/50 about whether this needs to be watched at the cinema or within the comfort of your home. I think this deserves a B.

God Bless    

Medicine: The Gift of Giving

 For the first time in my life I had the opportunity to do some CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) at a "medical camp". I remember I had initially witnessed a couple of those clinics run at my local church (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton) while I was still doing my Pre-Med in Grantham, PA, and hoped it  was something I could do once I obtained my medical degree. Well, truth be told, it's been almost 6 years and a month between actually getting the degree and me doing the CSR. Part of that might be down to procrastination, but the bigger portion probably has to do with my proclivities towards giving. I'm not saying that I'm stingy, but I always feel like I never give enough...like I never can give enough. With such an internal monologue going on in my head, it's very easy to psyche myself out of giving. I appreciate the chance to give money when the occasion calls for it, but even more than that, I prefer to give my time. I don't put a premium on my time, and I'm still relatively young and devoid of any major commitments, so I have time to spare. 

I used the Bill Cosby pic at the start despite all that's happened with him lately because you can't knock the humanitarian work that he did. That little pic was a big part of my past because it was something I remember encountering in the back of Marvel comics. It is also my own personal mantra because I feel more comfortable donating my time more than anything else.

It turns out that you can achieve a lot if you have the right team, and in this regard I have to thank the Nairobi Hospital team that put it together. We had nurses, nutritionists, Lab techs, doctors, marketers and customer service reps working to make the whole experience seamless. It was my day off, but I was glad to be using all this knowledge I've accumulated to give back to the community. The medical CSR opportunity gave me the chance to interact with a bigger subset of the Kenyan populace than I have of late. It serves to remind me of the need that exists at the grassroots level. 

My most defining experience of the day was actually a paediatric case.

A grandmother shows up with her 7-year old granddaughter who is having a fit of coughing. So as I do the history taking, it turns out that the cough basically kept her up through the night; the cough has a diurnal variation (worse in the early morning and late evening), and it is worsened by cold weather. The child has been taken to hospitals, and usually receives a bunch of medications (last one being an antibiotic - Septrin), but the condition still recurs.

Off the bat, I'm pretty sure that the child is asthmatic, and on auscultating/listening to her chest, I hear the telltale rhonchi (wheeze); clearly she just needs an inhaler (Ventolin/Salbutamol), and measures need to be taken to ensure she's kept warm to avoid the cold, which is a trigger for her asthma. This is where things start to get interesting: turns out that when the girl was younger, she had been given an inhaler, but the clinician had given it with the caveat that she not use the inhaler so much because she would eventually get "hooked" on it. (The clinician must've been missing from class when they discussed ATOPY 101).

To add insult to injury, we have the child's mother who ascribes to a "name it and claim it" brand of religion. I initially thought that this specific mantra only worked for drawing blessings to oneself. Turns out there's an extension to that kind of thinking: basically the mother felt that if she "named" the ailment, then that would be her accepting the devil's curse upon her child's life. So she just wanted to live life as if her child's condition didn't exist.

I hold myself from going off on a tirade about the double dose of ignorance, and ask my superiors to arrange for the child to be nebulized (they were able to do this at no charge to the patient). However, this was only one mere battle to be fought; since asthma is a recurrent condition, this child needed an inhaler, and occasional follow-ups to assess the adequacy of the treatment. The grandmother already understood the importance of the inhaler, but it was the mother - the principal guardian - who needed some kind of counselling to come to terms with her child's condition. Unfortunately, the mother could not be reached at that moment, which was sad because she could also have received the counselling for free.

I ended up giving the grandmother a prescription for the inhaler, and hoped that she would at least succeed in convincing the child's mother that asthma is a common condition that has reversible symptoms, and can usually be managed with medication; and importantly, the patient can live an essentially normal life. Sadly, this is a case which will undoubtedly be lost to my own personal follow-up.

All in all, it was quite a long day, but it was worth it. I at least saved people some money and time in terms of consultation, and as doctors often do, provided reassurance about benign symptoms that may have troubled their minds. I think I might just actively seek out more chances to volunteer in the days to come. It might be a token effort in the end, but it probably makes a world of difference to lots of people out there. So if you're still sitting on the fence about volunteering, despite how much you feel you have to offer, take the leap and do whatever small part you can.

God Bless

Shazam: "Spoiler Free" Movie Review

After recently regaling you with the information concerning the "Captain Marvel" moniker, and all the controversy attached to it, it is fitting that I would be reviewing a movie from yet another of the characters to have used that name...this time from the DC stable.

Now, personally, I'm old school, and this was actually the first Captain Marvel I knew of. I even remember his old cartoon adventures that I got to watch, an episode of which I found on Youtube.

Right off the bat, choosing to name him Shazam seems like a very silly idea. It was always understood that that specific title belonged to the wizard that bestowed his powers upon Billy Batson, turning him into Captain Marvel. Because he is unable to say the name without undergoing transformation into or out of the Captain Marvel persona, he basically remains unnamed throughout the whole movie. Sure, they'll play it for laughs: his hype man, Freddie Freeman (Jack Dylan Glazer) gets in a truckload of silly sounding facetious names before the movie's through ("Thundercrack" was probably one of the worst of them).

All that aside, this is DC's foray into the realm of magic. They do have a couple of characters who straddle that line - John Constantine, Dr. Fate, etc - but Shazam is cut from a mould similar to Wonder Woman's, though he is skewed more towards the magical spectrum. This is an origin story, so it takes up the story of the wizard Shazam as he looks for his successor: a human who is pure of heart. (If you get a chance, watch the DC animated short "Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam", which is a barebones compact version of this story).

The villain in this scenario is Dr. Thaddeus Sivana played to maximum bad guy effect by quintessential bad man Mark Strong. I will not spoil his origins for you because it initially just hits you in the face, but his fate and that of Captain Marvel are deeply intertwined. This is quite a serious take on the character, because, if (like me) your experience with Dr. Sivana doesn't stretch beyond "Batman: The Brave and The Bold", you'd probably just think of him as a very comical villain. He got away with insulting Captain Marvel by calling him "The Big Red Cheese"; he even upped the ante when he met the Marvel Family, and referred to them as "The Big Red Cheese and his two Gorgonzolas."

  
This is certainly a dark take on the character, but it is developed organically throughout the film. In essence, he doesn't feel Nolanized. Surprisingly, one moment in which he settles family business will definitely produce a jump scare.

Changes have been made to more than just Dr. Sivana. They significantly darkened Billy Batson's backstory. I feel like they could've still gotten the family message across without changing his past so significantly...but at least they make it work by fleshing out the underpinnings of this re-imagining. Previous animated versions portrayed Billy as more innocent and naive; totally worthy of the "Pure of Heart" descriptor. This time Billy is streetwise, a bit of a smart ass, and displaying a singular drive towards a mission that puts him at odds with the foster families he's usually placed into. He basically isn't much of a team player, but the last foster family he's placed into is more than up to the task of dealing with his character quirks.

I'd have to say that with few exceptions, this movie was well done. They nail the dual personality of Billy Batson/Shazam thanks to great performances from Asher Angel and Zachary Levi. Zachary Levi channels that confusion that he did so well in his "Chuck" appearances so at this point he plays someone out of his depth quite well; and in a similar vein to that show, he has a sidekick who he can at once threaten, and also look to for advice on his unique situations.

Mark Strong can basically do no wrong as a bad guy; case closed. The foster family truly brought a lot of heart to the movie. All actors - adult and children included - did a stellar job concocting an environment where Billy could feel accepted without needing to conform to a set standard. Each of the foster children is unique, and the family dynamic works.

Also have to give props to the world building, and I'm focusing on the magical portion of it, because some of the real world portion is set in Philadelphia, and they even reference Rocky in one scene when they're seated on the "Rocky Steps"at the Philadephia Museum of Art. (Note: a lot of the movie was actually filmed in Canada). They tackle the magical realm in the "magic as a form of science" method that you've usually seen in the Thor movies. One scene in particular, which I cannot spoil, references this very well; mind you, the scene is not original (you'll get the animated reference when you see it), but it's no less creatively done.

Unfortunately, this movie has a less than stellar third act, and this comes down to that final fight. First off, since this is the Shazam universe, there's already an understanding that he comes laden with some baggage. I feel like it was a poor choice by the producers to include that this early in the game. All the seriousness (shrouded by all the comedy) built throughout the earlier two-thirds of the film is sacrificed for a comicky more childish finale. The fight choreography is also subpar, too busy, and lacking a crisp finish. It could have benefited from better editing.There is also something lost in the works about how Shazam finds Billy worthy of his powers; there is a dynamic that was set up by the story itself, and as the story proceeded this gimmick got written out, so something just felt amiss when Shazam chose Billy.

All in all, I had a great time with this movie, and it is definitely one worth watching at the cinemas. I'm tied between grading this as an A- for the first two-thirds, and a B+ or B for the finale. You be the judge.

God Bless 

P.S: Kindly desist from staying till the end for the end credits scene. Nothing new about it. It is that same Aquaman-esque scene already shown in the trailers where Shazam tests his ability to talk to fish. Stay for the mid-credits though.