December 20, 2020

So I admit, I've been in a funk recently.  Maybe more so just in general with life than anything to do here, but it's trickled down.  Making up lost time while the computer system was down at work was tiresome and drained any creativity and life out of me so by the time I got back home and had a chance to write anything, I just felt dissuaded and would rather just not.  I've also reflected upon things realizing that I wasn't super happy with how I was writing.  I felt like I was forcing myself to write quasi-professionally, but that's not what I do.  I just need to be myself.  So let's talk about stuff.

Ok, so The Mandalorian (Disney Plus) finished it's second season up on Friday and holy smokes what a finale and what a last 10 or so minutes.  If you've managed to avoid things so far I definitely don't want to spoil things for anybody that hasn't watched it or plans on getting caught up with this series, but just wow, and make sure you stay through the end credits.  I do just want to add that this has been the companion piece for Star Wars that I think all fans have been pining for, with just enough fan service and callbacks to both extremely well known and some fairly obscure characters that this has been a great lesson in Star Wars mythology spanning well beyond the movies.  I'll admit, I'm not a huge Star Wars fan by any means, honestly I didn't grow up watching the movies and got more into them in my teenage years but even then I haven't jumped into the waters of The Clone Wars, Rebels, and haven't read a single Star Wars book, but it's been a lot of fun seeing some of these characters pop up and then researching more of their backstories and making me more interested in going into these expanded waters.  Of course, time to do that is growing smaller especially with Disney announcing like 10 new Star Wars shows coming to Disney Plus over the next couple of years. 

I'm a huge fan of the episode format of The Mandalorian and hope Disney keeps this up with the rest of the series.  I love that episodes don't drag and clock in between 30 and 40 minutes making for easy viewing on a weekly basis.  I love that they are 8 episode seasons, enough to tell a story but doesn't feel like they've done a ton of filler.  I love that the episodes tell a story, usually of a quest where the titular Mandalorian goes to a planet and needs a favor and has to do something in return.  It's a simple story structure but makes for great television.  Overall, this has been such a delightful experience.

Next up on the Disney Plus, docket is WandaVision which is coming up on January 15 and man this looks trippy and awesome!  I love that despite there being a few trailers released, nobody truly knows what the hell is going on in this show and kind of like going into the first episode of The Mandalorian, we don't know what to expect out of this.  I'm a firm believer when it comes to marketing, especially with established properties that less is more.  I'm more likely to tune into something if I have no idea what to expect, than if you're giving me all of the information ahead of time.  Most of the time I watch movies, I don't watch the trailer, sometimes I don't even read the description.  There's been more than a few movies I've started and was like "OH, that is what this is about, weird." So yeah, bring on the weird and bring on WandaVision.

While on the topic of Disney Plus, instead of talking about the 37 new shows they announced, I need to mention the one they canceled.  I am heartbroken over the cancelation of The Lizzie McGuire Reboot.  It sounds like the original idea for this was a little too "adult" for their format before Disney Plus launched so it went back to the drawing board, the original showrunner left and chaos ensued.  Then it sat in purgatory for a while only to be officially canned this week.  I feel like in this sea where shows Disney Plus is making aren't geared towards a strictly kid's audience that something like Lizzie McGuire could fit in nicely and at the very least appeal to people who loved the original series and dealing with issues of people in their 30's would be an i

nteresting twist on a show like this. So bummed.

I've watched a lot of movies this past week.  The highlight being the movie Tenet.  I'm not going to lie, I went into this movie super skeptical and I'm still not sure how I feel, but dammit it was interesting and very much worth watching for that reason alone.  Watching fight scenes happen in reverse was weird, but interesting.  Seeing this plot unfold kept me on the edge of my seat because I truly had no idea what to expect next.  I think being prepared for some of the goofy things that movie does really helped prepare me for watching it, like the dialogue being very hard to understand. I watched it with earbuds in and captions on and was able to pick it up alright, so I would at least recommend putting captions on.  And also, being prepared for all of the goofy backwards in time and forwards in time stuff happening, had me looking for little things that make be referenced more later.  That all being said, John David Washington is a star.  I loved him in BlackKklansman and he's marvelous here as well.  While I don't always love Christopher Nolan's movies they are all fascinating in their own right and he's truly one of the most unique filmmakers we have today.  So if you want to see something and be thoroughly confused and amazed, this is it! 

Weekly Odds and Ends - December 4-11

 

Black Bear (Available to purchase/rent on digital providers like Vudu and iTunes) - I was very interested in checking this out but really had no idea what to expect and as the movie goes on that feeling went on as well.  So basically, the movie starts off with Allison (Aubrey Plaza) who is a filmmaker looking to get away and get a creative spark while staying at a remote cabin located in the middle of nowhere.  From there, the movie is told in two parts, the first part built told an interesting story and built to a very solid conclusion and then the second part started and restarted the story and turned it in a completely odd and unsatisfying mess.  Aubrey Plaza delivers a truly great performance and it's worth watching for that alone but the writing left something to be desired and being a little less nonsensical would have done this some good.  

Rating: 2.75 out of 5

Mank (Netflix) - This was a passion project for filmmaker David Fincher as it was written by his father Jack Fincher (who passed away in 2003) and was stuck in development for a long while.  Watching this movie, I understand why it had a difficult time getting made, however that's not a slight at the movie at all.  The movie is about a pretty obscure film writer Howard Mankiewicz and largely revolves around him writing one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all-time, Citizen Kane.  In addition to his writing of that movie, we get a glimpse into 1930's Hollywood both politically as the Communist Party was gaining a foothold but also a great look at the always fascinating studio system that was in place and seemingly always on the verge of collapse.  Gary Oldman does an excellent job portraying Mank, which really doesn't come as a surprise, but honestly besides his portrayal as the Stansfield in The Professional and Commissioner Gordon in the Dark Knight Trilogy, I don't think I've liked him more in a role.  Also, the score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Finch goes in a completely different direction than you're used to but it's equally as terrific as you are used to when Reznor and Finch collaborate with David Fincher.  So while a black and white movie about the writer of arguably the most famous black and white movie of all-time doesn't sound like it would do well with wide audiences at the box office, it feels like word of mouth, award buzz and ease of accessibility will do this movie a world of good.

Rating: 4 out of 5

I'm Your Woman (Amazon Prime) - Amazon is seemingly on a quest to make Rachel Brosnahan a star, with obviously her award winning performance in the awesome The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and now giving Brosnahan her biggest movie role to date as a wife on the run in I'm Your Woman.  So basically, new mother Jean (Brosnahan) is on the run with her baby after one of her husband's friends shows up saying that they need to leave now as their lives are in danger because her husband betrayed his partners.  Any signs of urgency is kind of left at the door and while this isn't nearly as big of a thrill ride as it could have been and definitely felt a little longer than necessary, Brosnahan shines and the dramatic elements kept this interesting enough to make it worth a watch.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Prom (Netflix) - Based on a recent Broadway musical, The Prom is the story of an Indiana high school canceling their high school prom because a lesbian couple wants to attend and a few discredited Broadway stars striking up a cause to go to Indiana and help make that Prom a possibility.  Directed by Ryan Murphy and featuring great performances from the cast including most recognizably Meryl Streep, James Cordon, Nicole Kidman, and Andrew Rannels but also a star making performance from Jo Ellen Pellman.  While, I will say the one downside is I didn't feel like there were any really big earworm musical numbers, they were fun, toe-tapping, and definitely sparkly.  The story was heartwarming and shows that as far as we've come in this nation with equality, even sometimes there can be some very real struggles with this.  But overall, while heartwarming, this was still a whole lot of fun and definitely worth watching.

Rating: 4 out of 5