​Album Review by Omri Hophra, Contributing Writer
Likes: DNA, Element, Loyalty
Overall: Kendrick did it again: he’s carved his own lane and blazing through it. Lyrical proficiency, solid production.
 
Kendrick Lamar's fourth studio LP couldn’t be more appropriately named, as DAMN is all that’s left to say after hearing it. From the opening introduction ("Blood"), it's obvious this album is offering to take its listener for a ride. The preamble presents two ultimatums of choosing wickedness or weakness, and life or death. Lamar tells a startling story of trying to help a blind woman find what she is missing, only to find that what's lost is his life when she shoots him.
 
What follows can best be described as a blend of the themes that made Lamar's previous records so compelling. The socio-political threads of To Pimp a Butterfly (ex. injustice, racism, religion and culture) are met with the personal "a day in the life" keynotes of Good Kid, M.A.A.D City to explain the effect of one on the other, and this time, detail a whole life in a day (or a 14 track album). Lamar pours himself out with vulnerability, expressing insecurity, paranoia and anger. Needless to say, the conceptual and musical tones are melancholy. Even the lighter fare is tortured. The production work of Bēkon, Sounwave and Mike Will Made It (among others) serve to draw attention to Lamar's versatility with vocal delivery and lyricism, as he matches the quick rhythmic changes and moods. The analogies, metaphors and symbolism he utilizes to paint his pictures are enough to send any sapiosexual for a cold shower. Older millennials will feel nostalgic when they hear the call backs to Juveniles "Ha" (i.e. "Element"), Ol' Dirty Bastard's "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" (i.e. "Loyalty") and the OutKast-esque "Lust." Throwback and classic samples (DAMN.'s include James Brown and Earth, Wind & Fire) are standard on rap albums, which is part of why "Element" and "Loyalty" stick out for their contemporary characteristics. "Element's" hook seems intentionally Drake-like, while the hypnotic and dopamine-activating "Loyalty" (featuring Rihanna) takes from Bruno Mars' "24K Magic." These cuts are highlights, along with "DNA," that opens with Lamar addressing his haters on FOXNews with chastisement they're likely too obtuse to understand. Though some moments are particularly bright, there's zero fat on this record. It closes with gunfire, coming back to the shooting in "Blood." This signals that the entire body of work you've just heard was Lamar's life flashing before his eyes before he dies. DAMN!
 
In an era where most rappers are just aiming for a hot single, many believe hip-hop is dead. DAMN. will send people back to the genre to check for a pulse. It's not of bravado and braggadocio. Kendrick Lamar is an artist connecting to his fans without ever having to meet them. It's plain refreshing to see a rapper dumping his mind, heart and soul into his art instead of a false persona.

WARNING: This review contains SPOILERS.

I'm sure the motion picture industry made a grip off of folks who were kids during the 1990's, as adaptations of Disney's Beauty & The Beast (check out my review here) and Saban's Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers were released in American theaters within a week of each other. Be still my inner child's heart! Beast was satisfying enough, but the Dean Israelite-directed Power Rangers was so underwhelming and un-rangery that it was dispiriting (screenplay by John Gatnis).
 
The intriguing attempt to add a little grit and make the film "melodramatic-teen-series meets action-fantasy" would have worked, had there been a better combination of the two. It would be hard to elaborate on this without a run-down, so here it goes:
 
Instead of upstanding citizens who are active in the Angel Grove community and make good grades, Gatnis' troupe are literally "teenagers with attitude." Eventual captain and red ranger Jason (Dacre Montgomery) is bent on blowing his football/college future away by being a delinquent. Kimberly Hart (Naomi Scott) is a mean-girl frienemy who distributed a sensitive photo of a schoolmate. Zach Taylor (Ludi Lin) is an adrenaline junkie that skips school (with good reason, we find out). Trini Kwan (singer Becky G) is a possible lesbian who clashes with her parents, while Billy Cranston (RJ Cyler) is possibly autistic and frequently finds himself in trouble since his father's death. The quintet's lives collide when they dodge police for being on restricted land and survive a car accident after jumping train tracks (as misfits would do, of course). They manage to defy death because of mystic power coins they find embedded in a rock wall. They awake with superhuman strength, and upon further investigation, discover the underground lair of former ranger Zordon (Bryan Crantson) and his robot assistant Alpha (Bill Hader). It's explained to them that finding the coins after a gazillon years means they're "the chosen ones" and they must defeat the evil Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks), who's resurfaced and wants to attain the universe-yielding Zeo-crystal. She's gone on a killing spree while trying to find and ingest gold to regain full strength. In the hub of the film, we watch the rangers squabble, have a share circle, train and struggle to morph. In this story, morphing into armor is an intrinsic act; they have to "feel" it and be in unison. Zordon, who was unimpressed with them on sight, angrily loses his patience. He lets it slip that he wanted the morphing grid open so he can return to his bodily form (he's in a preserving screen) and handle Rita himself. He and Jason subsequently have a face-off. Rita plays on Trini's outcast insecurities to get her to lure the others into a trap, but Trini chooses to be loyal. Somehow, Trini's family never wakes up during the massive beat-down that ensued, but I digress. The crew decides to approach Rita without Zordon's help. Rita kills Billy, which finally unites them and opens the grid. Zordon sacrifices his chance to reform to resurrect Billy. They morph and fight putties on the ground until Rita unleashes Goldar, who's an extension of her this go 'round. The rangers get in their zords (i.e. battle machines), take down Goldar and kick Rita into the universe, freezing her. Zordon tells them to resume their lives normally and conceal their identities. When the kiddos get back to high school detention, someone is M.I.A.: a new trouble-maker student named Tommy Oliver. The end.
 
Don't let the lengthy recap fool you into thinking this movie was eventful. The pacing was muggy, stifling and sluggish (particularly in the last hour), making it that much more aggravating the franchise was treated like a sub-plot in its own film. The group spent way too much time not being rangers and many quintessential components were underplayed. For instance, there were minimal martial arts and no teleporting. The significance of the individual and collective function of each color, weapon and dinosaur (of which the uniforms and zords are fashioned after) weren't fully explained. The morph was just delayed, no gratification. It was so anti-climatic. As the teens transform, you get close-ups of their skin crystallizing into armor (no panned body shots), concluding with the red ranger's closed fist. The next thing you know, they're strutting down the walkway. It was like, "Huh? That was it? The whole time, and that's all we get?" In his review for TooFab.com, original blue ranger David Yost wrote of the sequence: "When we said 'It's morphin' time,' you knew sh*t was about to get real... feels a bit lackadaisical and is not the true transformational moment it should be." Amen, brother. Further, all of the action was crammed into maybe the last 20 minutes of the movie, and it was constipated. There were no edge-of-your-seat or "Wow, that totally kicked butt!" moments. Even the archetypal "Will they survive?" scene that's in all superhero flicks falls flat. When Goldar gradually pushes the zord-driving rangers into a fire pit, they're so noble and calm about it. It's as if they're not about to die and all of existence won't suffer at the hands of Rita afterward. The clip does nothing to invoke fear or concern from the audience. Also failing to arouse fear are Goldar and Rita (despite Banks' hearty performance), which brings me to character structure and other plot points that were forfeited in favor of several minutes of annoying teenage angst.

Given the ever-enchanting character of animated Disney films, the idea of any of them being adapted into live-action has me salivating because the possibilities are endless. If drawn figures can be so splendid, you can only imagine how they'd be with any sense of actuality. I'm a part of the Little Mermaid-Aladdin-Lion King generation, so I was drooling worse than Beethoven the dog when I heard Beauty & The Beast was going to be done. My giddiness reached epic, Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic proportions upon hearing the director was Bill Condon, who authored magic with 2006's DreamGirls (which I raved about in a December anniversary article). It had been a while since I was so eager to see a movie. Though I was far from let down and I've been humming Beast songs for days, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that something was missing.
 
Prior to hitting the theater, I assumed that if anything were to throw me off, it would be Emma Watson (of Harry Potter fame) in the lead as Belle. I was skeptical because she isn't a singer by trade and, in my opinion, she's a bit baby-faced and meek in her appearance for the role. Sure, Belle is a teenager, but considering her given traits, I envisioned someone more maturely stately and prepossessing. Say, Phantom of the Opera and Shameless star Emmy Rossum, or maybe even Disney alum Vanessa Hudgens. However, Watson didn't distract me at all. The required resolute demeanor came so naturally to her, I was sure she's Belle in her daily life. Vocally, she gave a convincing "I can carry a tune" performance. I never said to myself "Don't quit your day job."
 
The kinds of similarities and differences from the 1991 original would also dictate whether or not I'd be "thrown off." This is an area where there's almost no winning for filmmakers, because half of the audience will desire an overwhelmingly unique production, while the other half would expect a true-to-form recreation. I was of the latter portion. What's the point of a conversion if I'm going to see an essentially different movie? Songs included, Condon's Beast was nearly a frame-by-frame remake, and I appreciated the effort and attention to detail that went into making it so. The few additions and tweaks were mostly flattering. For example, new number "Evermore" was an inviting point-of-view for the Beast, in which he heartbreakingly croons over the thought of losing Belle. Celine Dion, who sung the central soundtrack theme with Peabo Bryson, makes an appearance with "How Does a Moment Last Forever" in the credits. Belle's fem-spirational moxie is expounded upon, as she's a literacy advocate and inventor (to the townspeople's dismay, of course). There's also commentary on attitudes towards women who never marry and period-references about how singlehood led to poverty.
 
So, what was the kicker? As with many things in life, it was the thing I'd least expect it to be. Remember that "sense of actuality" I mentioned? Well, in an ironic twist, the hard-press for realism made the film feel muted and unaffected for a great part of it. To make it believable that the Beast's staff had been turned into household objects, their faces were more blended in. This eliminated the expressiveness that gave Lumière (Ewan McGregor) & Co. so much fun personality. I instantly became concerned about how the reported Lion King adaption would look, presuming the plan was to use real animals. There were multiple, effective close-ups on the Beast's eyes to capture a sincere soul, but his whole picture lacked authentic communicative quality. This was something better accomplished by the 1987 CBS television series starring The Terminator's Linda Hamilton. Use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) for this project was anticipated, and the effects were beautiful, but the manufacturing was too apparent at times. Call me nit-picky, but there was a certain, breathing liveliness that wasn't successfully reproduced. Perhaps this why any scenes with Gaston (Luke Evans) and LeFou (Josh Gad) were like a shot of caffeine and I didn't hate them like I was supposed to. Both actors did an excellent job in general making their characters entertaining versus annoying, though.
I might have been blindsided by the palpability factor, but that's not to say I wasn't mesmerized by anything. I was particularly spellbound by the credits and the classic ballroom scene. Condon's ability to make an event out of end-titles is an art. Ethereal, dreamy and poignant, they were what fairytales are made of. For the ballroom, there's a moment where the Beast lifts Belle to spin her around, and the chandelier lights are pulled out with smaller, glittering beams to look like individual specs. There's just a teasing snippet of it in the trailer; in full, it's exquisite. Belle's gown wasn't an exact replica, but who's keeping score? Clearly, I am, to a degree.
 
2017's Beauty & The Beast may not be as emotionally arresting or unreserved as its parent, but it's bloody gorgeous and has a honorable dose of nostalgia. The purposes of providing a live-action aesthetic are served.