Migration, from Illumination Animation

If you watch enough Food Channel, you know the secret to cooking duck is scoring the skin to properly render out the fat. The characters of this new animated family film would surely want you to know that. They have duck a l’orange on the mind after crashing a celebrity chef’s kitchen in Benjamin Renner’s Illumination-produced Migration, which opens Friday nationwide.

Initially, Mack Mallard was dead set against migrating from his family’s comfy pond, but his wife Pam wanted some excitement, his teen son Dax has a crush on a migrating girl-duck, and his duckling-daughter Gwen is easily influenced by her mom and brother. Much to everyone’s surprise, the Louie De Palma-like Uncle Dan agrees to come too.

Since this is their first migration, Daddy Mack is not hip to many of the dangers, including signs of bad weather. As a result, they Mallards find themselves sheltering with an old couple of predatory herons and take a dangerous detour through the mean air space of Manhattan. Fortunately, Chump, the leader of a gang street smart pigeons takes the family under her wing. They need an exotic bird to lead them to Jamaica—and there happens to be one caged up in a trendy restaurant.

Admittedly, Migration is like a lot of other family films, like Rio and maybe half a dozen other bird movies, but a lot of things are like many other things. In this case, Renner and the animators keep the energy level cranked up and earns a decent number of laughs. It is professional grade animation, especially the scenes of birds in flight, which look terrific on the big screen.

Danny DeVito is consistently amusing as lazy and wheezy Uncle Dan. In a way, Migration represents a small Taxi reunion, since Carol Kane gives voice to the creepy backwoods Erin the heron. Awkwafina also delivers some realistic New York attitude as Chump, but Keegan-Michael Key lays on the accent distractingly thick as Delroy, the tropical parrot.

Swan Song, on Apple TV+

If science fiction predicts something enough times, does that mean it will truly come to pass? Should that be so, the terminally ill will eventually be able to replace themselves with healthy clones that carry their memories. We have already seen dying fathers come to terms with their clone successors in Guy Moshe’s LX 2048 and the “Tom” episode of Solos, so we can anticipate the mixed emotions Cameron Turner feels in Benjamin Cleary’s Swan Song, which premieres tomorrow on Apple TV+.

So, Turner is doing poorly. His outlook is fatal, but he hasn’t told his wife Poppy or their son anything. It is better that way, if he goes through with the radical treatment proposed by Dr. Scott. She will clone him in every respect, except for that obvious congenital defect, including his memories. However, they will need his help to verify all his old recollections synchronized acutely. That trip down memory lane will be painful, especially since it requires spending time with “Jack,” his replacement.

Despite the basic science fiction premise, Swan Song is more a film about death and letting go than the speculative implications of cloning. True, there are self-driving cars, but those are supposed to be coming right around the corner, finally. Fortunately, much of that drama is quite well done, especially the strange relationship that develops between Turner and his clone.

Mahershala Ali is very good in what is sort of, but not exactly a dual role, as Turner and his clone. Frankly, it is quite impressive how good he is playing opposite himself. He also has some nice sequences with Naomie Harris, as his wife Poppy, especially during memories of their first meetings. Harris does indeed have some effective moments, but her character’s complete lack of intuition somewhat strains credulity.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, on Disney+

Serious question: did Disney/Marvel accidentally hire the wrong Tony Leung? They were quite distressed when their first martial arts film was not granted a coveted release slot for Chinese theaters, despite their profuse, prostrating apologies for the original comic book licensing Sax Rohmer’s notoriously stereotyped villain Fu Manchu, way back in the 1970s. Yet, it is worth noting Tony Leung Chiu Wai had issued statements in support of Umbrella protestors, whereas Tony Leung Ka-fai publicly backed the abusive HK police. (Also, it was partly filmed in Australia, a nation the CCP has been particularly belligerent towards.) Regardless, it seems Hollywood has been hellbent on selling its soul to a devil it does not understand. There is still no Mainland release date for Destin Daniel Cretton’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, but it finally starts streaming on Disney+ this Friday.

Shaun is not merely a laid-back valet attendant. He is really the son of powerful crime-lord Xu Wenwu, a.k.a. “The Mandarin,” but absolutely, positively not Dr. Fu Manchu. He came to America to break ties with his father’s organization, but they inevitably come looking for him. Fortunately, he manages to fend of his father’s unnaturally enhanced henchmen, much to the surprise of his hard-drinking platonic bestie, Katy. Fearing Xiu will next come after his estranged sister Xu Xialing, they rush off to Macau to warn her.

Now the leader of a rival Triad, Xu is less than thrilled to reconnect with Shang-Chi, but their father’s assassins essentially force them into a truce. The reunion with Dad is even more awkward, but eventually they get a warmer reception from their Aunt Ying Nan, a mystical guardian of the legendary city Ta Lo. They will help her protect their late mother’s idyllic home from Xu’s army and the power of the titular ten rings that keep him looking so youthful.

From the CCP’s perspective (and maybe Marvel’s) Tony Leung Chiu Wai might have been the wrong Tony, but for anyone who believes in principles like freedom of expression, democratic governance, human rights, and free enterprise, he is the right Tony—and he is indeed terrific in Ten Rings. Despite the plentiful CGI, his training for The Grandmaster clearly did not go to waste. More importantly, he truly humanizes the super-villain, while brooding like nobody’s business. Twenty years from now Ten Rings will probably be programmed alongside In the Mood for Love and 2046 during “Little Tony” Leung retrospectives.

Leung makes the movie, but Simu Liu holds up his end as the action lead. He also has winning chemistry with Awkwafina, providing non-cringy comic relief as Katy. You can sort of see her coaxing Liu out of his dramatic shell, just as her character draws his out socially. As Xialing, Meng’er Zhang matches Liu step-for-step in their fight scenes. Yet, nothing can match the thrill of seeing the great Michelle Yeoh continue to command the screen as Ying Nan. It is also fun to see Benedict Wong briefly turn up as Wong from Dr. Strange. However, Sir Ben Kingsley inspires face-palms with his shticky sad clown routine as Trevor Slattery, the woeful actor set-up to be the Mandarin’s fall guy (and supply a link back to Iron Man 3).

Tribeca ’16: Bad Rap

Rap has come a long way since Suge Knight dangled Vanilla Ice over a balcony, right? While Eminem has had tremendous success, you still would not describe rap and hip hop as tremendously diverse. Yet, it speaks to many young Asians as a form of underdog expression. Salima Koroma follows four aspiring Asian rappers in Bad Rap (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival.

As the doc commences, Jonathan Park, known professionally as Dumbfoundead is by far the best known of the quartet. He made his reputation and a sizable following competing on the Battle Rap scene. However, he has stepped away from the cutting contests to try solidify his career as a headlining solo performer. However, it will be Awkwafina, who breaks out, thanks to her satirically feminist take relationships and sexual politics. Frankly, she seems to be exactly the sort of fresh voice rap and hip hop desperately need, regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender.

Unfortunately, both Lyricks and Rekstizzy will struggle to find their niche. To some extent, all four draw support from the diverse Asian American community, but it seems pretty clear if they want to take it to the next level, they will need to cross-over somewhere.

Bad Rap starts out as a fairly conventional documentary about rappers trying to make it. Show business is tough, we all get that. However, the straightforward introduction sets-up Koroma’s surprisingly edgy second half.

The film’s uncomfortable centerpiece squarely focuses on Dumbfoundead’s return to Battle Rap competition. He is paired up against the popular “Conceited,” who engages in the most clichéd and offensive brand of Asian racial humor you can imagine. He stoops to the level of “flied lice” material. In his post-battle reflections, Dumbfounded admits even he was shocked by the enthusiasm of the crowd. Conceited’s performance was appallingly racist (that is the only appropriate word for it), particularly because he knew full well Dumbfoundead could not respond in kind.

Perhaps even more eye-opening are the segments in which Koroma films the reactions of four hip hop experts (journalists, A&R executives) as they watch the four focal artists’ videos. Their responses reveal as much (or more) about the collective biases of the industry as they do about the artists under discussion. Yet in retrospect, they all seem to pick the one who will emerge from the pack.

All four featured rappers are charismatic and likable on-screen. There ought to be enough room for the four of them in the business, but it remains far from clear whether they will all indeed make it. Koroma also deserves credit for her approach. She does not merely follow them around with a camera and stitch the resulting footage into some kind of arc. She brings the value-added by forcing the hip hop establishment to take notice of her subjects. Bad Rap ought to spur some soul-searching inside the industry, but that might be asking too much. At least it provides a further platform for the ambitious rappers profiled within. Highly recommended, Bad Rap screens again tonight (4/18), Wednesday (4/20), and Saturday (4/23), as part of this year’s Tribeca.