ALEXXANDAR MOVIE REVIEWS: 'Barbie' toys with several themes

“Barbie” (Comedy/Fantasy: 1 hour, 53 minutes)

Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell

Director: Greta Gerwig

Rated: PG-13 (Suggestive references, brief language and violence)

Movie Review: Based on the popular, iconic Mattel, Inc. doll, “Barbie” boldly treks into two worlds.

One is under the rule of women and the other is the current patriarchal society we have today, the real world. Barbie (Robbie) realizes changes to her body and soon learns that the person who owns her in the real world is facing tragic consequences. Barbie, along with Ken (Gosling), leaves the idealistic fashion doll world for the real one. Barbie and Ken quickly realize the real world is different from their Barbie Land.

While this movie is deemed a feminist screenplay, it is really something else. The fantasy world where Barbie exists showcases a world where the Ken dolls have limited rights as the Barbies rule. Feminism is rights for women based on the equality of the sexes. If the Barbie women deny their male counterparts equal rights, they are not behaving as feminists but similarly to men who abuse their power.

However, that appears to be Greta Gerwig’s notion. The Barbie’s rule their world. Gerwig appears to audiences to realize the differences. More important, she wants Barbie to realize how people treat her in the real world. People see Barbie as a sex symbol rather than a fellow citizen and she faces other sexist notions.

The cast is energetic. They have fun.

The movie does have its serious moments, too. Rhea Perlman portrays Ruth Mosko Handler, the creator of the Barbie doll and co-founder of Mattel. Scenes involving Handler offer the movie a bit of groundedness and Perlman’s nice portrayal is a welcome one.

As the lead, Robbie is a good actress. She makes Barbie a fun portrayal and she appears to enjoy herself.

Simultaneously, Gosling plays Ken in a comically apt manner. Gosling is engaging in this role.

The problem is “Kenough” is too much. Ken’s story usurps Barbie’s in numerous scenes and Barbie is supposed to be “the star” of the Barbie toy franchise. A few of the sexist tropes become tedious as Kate McKinnon’s comedic performances. Gerwig’s bombardment of instances about real-world sexism dampens her movie of its otherwise rich originality.

The acting is appealing. The set designs offer a neat perspective of Barbie Land that has the feel of actual multiple dollhouses. Gerwig (“Lady Bird,” 2009) is a creative filmmaker. Her ability to create nifty onscreen personas continues with “Barbie,” even if the preaching here is plentiful.

Grade: B- (Get dolled up for Barbie.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas

“Oppenheimer” (Drama/Biography/History: 3 hours)

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Alden Ehrenreich and Matt Damon

Director: Christopher Nolan

Rated: R (Strong language, nudity and sexual content)

Movie Review: This movie is rich historically, even if the characterizations of these real-life people are open to interpretation in several scenes.

Christopher Nolan’s attention to detail is amazing. He makes this movie an incredible piece of entertainment, despite that hodgepodge of flashback scenes and a large talented cast that make “Oppenheimer” a test of maintaining focus between equally fascinating periods.

Cillian Murphy brilliantly plays scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who heads up a task force charged with creating an atomic bomb near the end of World War II. Although Oppenheimer becomes a notable citizen celebrity, the United States government believes he may have communist ties and investigate Oppenheimer and several associates.

Director-writer Christopher Nolan’s movies are creative, thought-provoking and perplexingly more complicated than needed. “Oppenheimer” follows suit.

However, another aspect of Nolan’s movies is the use of a talented cast. He is an exceptional director of channeling multiple big stars into the best performances in this screenplay as well. Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt as Kitty Oppenheimer are dynamic as the principal leads. They and others are exceptional.

Murphy and Downey provide award-winning performances. Murphy is always dependable. He becomes his characters, making them tangible roles. He does the same here too. He makes Oppenheimer personable and approachable. Downey is impressive here. He is almost unrecognizable as Lewis Strauss. Downey shows his most impressive work is not as a superhero but in a dramatic role of substance.

Matt Damon is miscast in this drama. His role as a general is the least compelling of the main stars. The role does not jibe with Damon’s style of acting.

Oppenheimer’s story is worthy of a movie. Nolan provides a nice slice of his life from his college days to his becoming the United States’ most important scientist during WWII. At three hours of runtime, this movie jumps back and forth between Oppenheimer’s staged trial, his dalliances with multiple women and his spearheading the development of the first atomic bomb.

Most of the movie deals with the development of the powerful weapon and the government’s investigation of his communist connections. Two aspects of the movie almost appear as two movies. They compete for attention when both are good.

Nolan relays events through a series of flashbacks. The moments are all intriguing but require one’s steadfast attention. The cinematic feat of the scenes jumping back and forth are not difficult to follow; some scenes just lengthen the movie. This is evident in scenes that draw a conclusion about the future of a nuclear-weaponized world.

Still, Nolan (“Inception,” 2010; “Interstellar,” 2014) remains an incredible moviemaker. He and co-writers Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin draft a nice biographical slice of Oppenheimer’s life. They do not run away from the scientific dialogue needed to support the story nor the morally questionable personal moments of Oppenheimer’s life. The result is a richly captivating movie.

Grade: B (The complexities of Oppenheimer’s life are an impressive cinematic venture.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas

“Talk To Me” (Horror: 1 hour, 35 minutes)

Starring: Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird and Miranda Otto

Directors: Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou

Rated: R (Strong bloody violent content, sexual material, language throughout)

Movie Review: A very keen sense of realism exists with the characters presented in this horror. They feel like bored high school and college-aged people looking for a thrill.

It nicely develops characters while involving a unique way to supply thrills. However, the story employs few common horror tropes and an inconsistent story often using gory imagery and violence to fill the void.

Several teens experiment with an embalmed ceramic hand that conjures spirits when the person holding it says, “Talk to me.” When one of them holds the hand too long, devastating consequences transpire. They experience life-altering events after malevolent beings from the other side haunt the young people.

“Talk to Me” scores points for originality. Meanwhile, the story is awkward and uneven at moments. After a scene where a father reads a very personal note to his daughter, an apparition persuades the young woman her father fabricated the letter. Since he reads the note in a dimly lit room, her cautionary stance is warranted.

The evil portrayed in this horror affects the characters differently. How this occurs is clumsily executed at moments, leaving room for improvement.

Despite those issues, “Talk to Me” manages to provide enough thrills and creative surprises to make it passable. Australian twins Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou (“RackaRacka,” 2013-16) helm a screenplay, which makes audiences want to talk to the actors to warn them that they have enough problems with the living already without bothering the dead.

Grade: B- (Respond to them.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas

“The Baker” (Action/Crime: 1 hour, 44 minutes)

Starring: Ron Perlman, Emma Ho, Elias Koteas and Harvey Keitel

Director: Jonathan Sobol

Rated: R (Violence, language and drug use)

Movie Review: “The Baker” is a quiet bare-knuckles brawl movie.

It is a nice turn for Ron Perlman as a grandfather trying to protect his granddaughter from violent gangsters. Although, the plot is nothing new, “The Baker” is an agreeable movie, a seeming mix of a Western and a crime drama.

Perlman plays an older baker at Pappi’s Bake Shop. He lives a solitary life. That changes when his estranged son (Joel David Moore) arrives at his bakery with his 8-year-old daughter, Delphi (Ho). After his son’s death, the baker finds his granddaughter must evade a powerful kingpin (Keitel), who sends one of his lieutenants (Koteas) to hunt down the baker and Delphi.

This is a revenge film. The man wanting revenge is Perlman. He plays this part as a silent man. He just wants to protect his granddaughter and avenge his son. He exists in a simple straightforward narrative.

Perlman has an imposing presence. He is tall and intimidating. He appears the type that could beat the evil out of someone. He works in this role despite the commonplace plot put forward by writers Paulo Mancini and Thomas Michael.

Grade: C+ (The dough rises just in time but it is generic.)

“Haunted Mansion” (Comedy/Thriller: 2 hours, 02 minutes)

Starring: LaKeith Stanfield, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Tiffany Haddish and Owen Wilson

Director: Justin Simien

Rated: PG-13 (Thematic elements, violence and scary action scenes)

Movie Review: A large cast that includes Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto makes “Haunted Mansion” a star-infused, inviting adventure.

The issue is it rests more on visual effects than being a solid comedy when its mystery elements are more engaging. Positively, LaKeith Stanfield, who provides a certain sense of realism for his roles, keeps the movie just on the edge of seriousness.

Stanfield is astrophysicist Ben Matthias. Priest Father Kent (Wilson) recruits Matthias to investigate a mansion haunted by several ghosts that torment Gabbie and her son, Travis (Chase Dillon). Matthias and Kent later recruit psychic medium Harriet (Haddish) and Professor Bruce Davis (DeVito). Together, they must solve a mystery or remain tormented by the apparitions.

An all-star cast is fun to watch. The story is an inviting one. The special and visual effects overshadow both as they are too plentiful.

For a split second, this movie hits an intellectual note. It has a very devious ghost that haunts other ghosts. This is part of a good mystery within this comedy, although this tale appears very dramatic during some scenes that lessen the comedy. The comedy dampens the horror aspects.

Grade: C+ (Spooky fun yet overly spacious.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas

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