Monthly Archives: April 2024

Barbie (2023)

10 Wednesday Apr 2024

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(For Day 10 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to take inspiration from the old newspaper clippings and headlines featured on the Yesterday’s Print website. What caught my eye was from The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, 11/16/1909: “Hundred years hence, women will then run the government, be rich and reign generally.” No surprise then that this film felt like a perfect fit.)

Call her a doll, call her a dame,
Call her some other undignified name,
Call her a damsel or call her a lass,
Consign her to some subservient class
At your peril.

Call him an oaf, call him a jock,
Call him a chip off the barbarous block,
Call him a wanker or call him a stud,
Pigeonhole him as a chad or a chud
At your peril.

Down with the queens and up with the kings.
Down with the gods and up with the goddess.
Always we swing to such eager extremes,
Thinking so narrow we know not how broad is
Our peril.
__________________________

MPA rating:  PG-13 (for some sexual references)

It took longer than most of the planet, but I finally got around to watching Barbie, Greta Gerwig’s billion-dollar juggernaut that made up the pinker half of the Barbenheimer craze. (I really should try to review Oppenheimer, considering I actually saw that one in the theater.) I’ve heard all manner of opinions for Barbie, some decrying it as feminist trash while others hailed it as a masterpiece of franchise reinvention that brought many female audiences to tears. Well, as a man with no former interest in the famous doll brand, I can declare that I fall squarely in the middle, considering Barbie equal parts dumb, fun, and thematically interesting.

In near-perfect casting, Margot Robbie plays Stereotypical Barbie, the blond archetype who is just one of countless Barbies ruling the life-size toy world of Barbieland, while the second-class himbo Kens mainly focus on trying to impress their Barbies of choice. Robbie’s Barbie begins having “irrepressible thoughts of death” and cellulite, real-world problems shunned by Barbieland and forcing her to seek answers in, naturally, the real world, accompanied by her eager-to-please Ken (Ryan Gosling). There, she gets help from harried mother Gloria (America Ferrera) while Ken discovers the wonders of patriarchal society and plots to change Barbieland in ways beyond their ken (pun intended).

I should note that I watched this film, after much coaxing, with my dear Viewing Companion (VC), who was utterly against it at first. (I think Gosling’s stellar performance of “I’m Just Ken” at the Oscars might have convinced her to give it a try.) She has a very particular view of Barbie from when she was growing up, and the modern incarnation of the doll threatened to corrupt those happy memories. And while I found things to appreciate about the movie, she thought it was an altogether stupid waste of time with muddled messaging and overexaggerated acting. But at least she liked “I’m Just Ken”; that’s one thing even the haters seem to agree on.

The thing is that I don’t entirely disagree with my VC’s complaints. Barbie does have an annoyingly shallow view of the patriarchy and, despite giving voice to some downsides, seems to consider a similarly stratified matriarchy a better alternative, which may please girlbosses but is really no better. Yet the film also has fun playing with its various stereotypes and manages to mix in genuine laughs with the eyerolls, like Helen Mirren’s asides as the narrator or the awesome Pride and Prejudice joke. And while I didn’t find the cringy exaggerations of Barbieland particularly funny, I could see it appealing to other audiences’ sense of humor. I know everyone loves Gosling as Ken, but, despite his great song, I don’t really get his appeal, sorry.

While the pink production design and attention to brand detail and history deserve praise, I’m also mixed on the screenplay from Gerwig and Noah Baumbach. While it plays its excesses off for giggles, the plot is a mess, especially when Barbieland and the real world collide, not helped by the changing motivations of Will Ferrell as the CEO of Mattel (a caricature of corporatism that I’m surprised Mattel approved). Its treatment of what Barbie represents, how patriarchy shapes people, and the pros and cons of living in the real world all seems to play both sides of the argument. I loved her adaptation of Little Women, so, while some dismiss that duality as lazy writing, I have enough faith in Gerwig as a writer to believe it was all intentional to give the film more nuance than the simple narrative at its core would indicate. And the film’s climactic tearjerker scene that goes on a little too long at the end does a lot to deepen the film’s message into poignancy, despite being a drastic shift in tone.

Ultimately, Barbie is not as egregious as its detractors insist nor as innovative as its fans proclaim. It actually recycles quite a bit from The Lego Movie, complete with Will Ferrell as the real-world authority figure. While many decried the Oscar snubs of Gerwig’s direction and Robbie’s leading role, I can’t say I disagree with the Academy here, considering the competition. I will forever wish that “I’m Just Ken” had won Best Original Song over Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For,” which is also good but just not as iconic as the anthem for Kens everywhere. Barbie likely won’t become a favorite in my house, but its mixture of dumb fun and existential questions certainly left its mark on the cultural zeitgeist.

Best line: (Ruth Handler, creator of Barbie, with an absolute gem of a line) “We mothers stand still so our daughters can look back and see how far they’ve come.”

Rank:  Honorable Mention

© 2024 S.G. Liput
792 Followers and Counting

The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes (2022)

09 Tuesday Apr 2024

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(For Day 9 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for an ode to an everyday object. While it may not be in everyone’s house, I’m sure many have a manuscript or poems or drawings they’re too nervous to share with the world, so I addressed this irregular sonnet to them.)

You mock me, you pile of papers,
You unread manuscript, hiding in the corner.
You say “Am I not fruit of all your labors?
Am I not worth another pair of eyes?
Is it better to be a cipher than a mourner,
Lest someone dare to share or criticize?
I’ll outlive you, your fear and blushing cheeks;
I’ll wait till someone else will spy my corner
And read what you had guarded from critiques
And grieve its author’s sad, unknown demise.”
I know that’s what you’re saying as time flies,
The time that’s killing me and stalling you.
The world can’t know what’s missing till it peeks,
Until the shy apply for their debut.
____________________

MPA rating: Not Rated (should be PG for some drama but quite clean)

While not every international run can be on the level of Your Name or The Boy and the Heron, I am quite glad that smaller anime films are getting at least a limited release in American theaters, even if it takes a year to get here. The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes may have a rather cumbersome title, but it’s one of the better under-the-radar anime movies, with appealing animation and a nice short runtime to deliver its poignant themes.

Kaoru is a high school student living in quiet grief with his abusive father, and he forms a bond with equally aloof transfer student Anzu, a budding manga artist unsure of her own talent (and inspiring the poem above). The two happen upon the fabled Urashima tunnel, which can supposedly grant a person’s greatest wish for a price. Mirroring the Urashima namesake, which is basically the equivalent of Rip Van Winkle in Japanese folklore, they discover that time passes differently inside the tunnel, where glowing trees line a watery path to their distant wish. After performing experiments on the tunnel’s strange properties, the duo must decide whether their wishes are worth giving up on their current life.

While there are plenty of films with this same romance-plus-supernatural storyline, I liked the natural progression of both, as the two main characters are actually smart about testing the temporal phenomenon, while also growing closer in the process. Though it can’t quite compare in scale or artistry, the film had some similarities to Your Name, and I suspect fans of one will also enjoy the other. It may be largely predictable, but The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes is a lovely little movie to satisfy fans of star-crossed romance.

Rank:  List Runner-Up

© 2024 S.G. Liput
792 Followers and Counting

A Million Miles Away (2023)

08 Monday Apr 2024

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(For Day 8 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem about a relationship between two people or things that should never have met. The encounter of an aspiring astronaut with the notoriously inhospitable vacuum of space seemed like a good odd couple to serve as inspiration.)
_________________________

Hello, space! I’ve waited.

You don’t know me, but I’m a fan.
I’ve loved you from afar.
You wink your stars at every man,
But only few can follow.
I know your history, your rules,
And where your dangers are.
But I can’t claim the finest schools
Or have much pride to swallow.

You’re wonderfully indifferent
To the differences in man.
You don’t say, “It’s an immigrant!
An indigent, so kill it!”
Oh, no, you want to kill us all
Quite equally, and can.
But knowing that will neither stall
Nor stop our trespass, will it?

I’ve only ever craved a chance
To challenge you up close,
To prove that I was worth your glance,
Your open invitation.
I dreamed the scheme at which they scoffed
And begged them more than most.
While they looked down, I looked aloft
To touch a constellation.

Hello, space! I made it.
_________________________

MPA rating:  PG

Hidden Figures became the gold standard for “inspiring true story of underrepresented group excelling and beating the odds,” particularly when it came to NASA. So perhaps that’s why A Million Miles Away didn’t make much of a splash upon its Amazon Prime Video release. It’s a shame, though, because this biopic of migrant-farm-worker-turned-astronaut José Hernández provides an exemplary dose of underdog aspiration and one of Michael Peña’s finest performances.

Hernández grew up in a migrant family picking grapes, but, through the wonder of Apollo 11 footage and the encouragement of a supportive teacher, the boy turns his gaze upward to the stars. Many people are forced to wait on their dreams, and the film shows how life goes on while Hernández made gradual steps toward being the person NASA wanted – meeting his wife Adela (excellent Rosa Salazar) and opening a restaurant even as he gets pilot experience and scuba certification. With his repeated applications and rejections to NASA’s training program, it’s a testament to the power of persistence, one that anyone with yet-distant dreams can admire.

A Million Miles Away excels as both space-program biopic and touching family drama, setting José’s achievements as the culmination of the journey to a better life undertaken by so many migrant workers. With its shuttle-era time period, it also prominently features the 2003 Columbia disaster, a tragedy rarely acknowledged in NASA-themed movies. Streaming releases are easy to write off as unworthy of big-screen attention, but this underdog story is well worth your time.

Best line: (José, to his cousin) “Who better than a migrant? Somebody that knows what it’s like to dive into the unknown. Who better than that… to dare leave this planet, man?”

Rank:  List Runner-Up (might be higher after a rewatch)

© 2024 S.G. Liput
791 Followers and Counting

Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)

07 Sunday Apr 2024

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(For Day 7 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a short poem that might go on a postcard, so I thought the two protagonists of this ‘80s classic might send a pic of their dearly departed boss.)

As you can see in this picture,
We’re all hanging out, having fun
In the sun.
We just took the ferry
And shared a high-five,
All happy and merry
And very alive.
I can’t understate how alive we all feel,
Especially Bernie; it’s almost surreal.
Wish you were here, but there’s really no need.
P.S. Don’t mind Bernie; he had a nosebleed.
________________________

MPA rating:  PG-13

The late ‘80s had its fair share of dumb little comedies that are hard to take seriously but also hard to hate, and I do have a soft spot for the likes of Mannequin and Weekend at Bernie’s, both of which starred Andrew McCarthy. For the latter, it’s a prime example of a one-joke film that somehow manages to keep that joke entertaining throughout, so well that the title is synonymous with a corpse or puppet being propped up by others.

McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman play Larry Wilson and Richard Parker, respectively, two insurance cogs who think they’ve found a financial discrepancy that will properly impress their boss Bernie Lomax (Terry Kiser), who is on the outs with the mob. When the two are invited out to Bernie’s beach house, they are shocked to find him assassinated in his home, and to keep from becoming suspects in his death, they proceed to put sunglasses on him and fool any visitors into thinking he’s still very much alive. (On a side note, I chuckle whenever I see a character named Richard Parker, thanks to Life of Pi.)

I’m not usually a fan of dark comedy, but Weekend at Bernie’s is an exception. While the lack of rigor mortis in Bernie’s corpse is inherently unrealistic, the way his limp body is utilized for slapstick never fails to coax a giggle from me, especially the speedboat scene. McCarthy and Silverman make for likable everymen, and Don Calfa is hilarious as the gaslit assassin who keeps thinking Bernie is dead only to see him “alive” again. Poorly received upon release, the film does have a slight premise but wrings out all the laughs it can, so it’s nice that its reputation seems to have grown over the years.

Best line: (Larry) “What kind of a host invites you to his house for the weekend and dies on you?”

Rank:  List Runner-Up

© 2024 S.G. Liput
791 Followers and Counting

Leave the World Behind (2023)

06 Saturday Apr 2024

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(For Day 6 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem based on some “weird wisdom” given to you, so I opted for the advice of preppers, who may be onto something.)

You’ll need a sturdy bunker
With a strong hermetic seal
And a good amount of space
In case you’ll be in there a while.
I’d choose a generator
Over wind or water wheel,
But in that case, I’d stock up
On the solar panel aisle.

Buy more shelves, then fill with food
That’s good for twenty years,
And if you don’t know how to can,
You definitely should.
Learn how to sew and shoot a bow
And maybe fashion spears,
And how to navigate by stars
And tell what shrooms are good.

Do you have gold? Don’t answer that,
But buy what’s in your budget,
And cigarettes and booze to trade
Once currency is bust.
Hoard herbs and spices for the taste.
How much? I’ll let you judge it.
If you have pets, then be prepared
To eat them if you must.

And get a first-aid kit (or ten);
You’ll thank me when you need it.
And candle tapers, pens and paper,
Books, and one machete.
Oh yes, invest in fertile land
And seeds with which to seed it.
You ask when will you need all this?
Who knows, but you’ll be ready.
______________________

MPA rating:  R

Releasing late last year, based on a popular novel, and featuring A-list stars and a timely message, Leave the World Behind seemed like it was poised for potential Oscars contention. Yet its flash-in-the-pan interest yielded to a mixed reception from Netflix viewers, and it was odd seeing at least half of the people online lambasting a critically well-received film as frustrating and pointless. Evidently, it was not what some people want from a typical disaster movie, but it offered something scarier and (mostly) more realistic.

After an opening monologue showing the misanthropic outlook of mother Amanda (Julia Roberts), she and her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) take their two kids (Farrah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans) outside the city for a little vacation, renting a fancy house near the seashore. Strange things begin happening, like a Wi-Fi outage and an oil tanker running aground near them, and they are further perturbed when a well-dressed black man named G.H. (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la) show up, claiming to be the owners of the house and asking to stay the night. While there is some initial racial tension between the families, it soon becomes evident that larger problems are happening in the world, threatening their very survival.

Whatever people thought of Leave the World Behind, it should be said that it is quite well-made, with some excellent cinematography, clever details, and strong performances, from Ali and Hawke especially. Although the film got some people talking due to the implicit racism exhibited by Amanda toward the visitors and echoed even more by Ruth toward white people in general, that is hardly the point of the film. With the divisions in the world today, it’s understandable that mistrust would manifest like that, and, as the film illustrates, mistrust runs rampant when nobody has any answers.

Indeed, the film never actually gives a clear explanation for what is happening to cause the EMP-like power outages, the strange high-pitched noise that causes health problems, or the unusual behavior in animals. Many found this made the film an irksome waste of time, but the movie is far more interested in the effect of these phenomena than their cause. There are indicators of various bad actors to blame – flyers in Arabic pointing to jihadists, rumors of North Korean attacks – and with no Internet, no news channel, blocked roads, and low supplies, I doubt the average person would respond any better than the characters do. At one point, Clay begs a man far more prepared (Kevin Bacon) for assistance and gives voice to the helplessness that would spread like wildfire if all of our modern advantages were stripped away from us.

Considering the admittedly abrasive characters and inexplicably weird use of CGI animals, I can’t say Leave the World Behind is a perfect film or even an Oscar-worthy one. But it does feel like an important warning, one that seems to have been missed by all those complaining about wasted time and an unsatisfying ending. And I liked the ending quite a bit since it demonstrates how small pleasures can be a source of comfort amid the chaos. This is not a disaster movie with heroic rescues or easy solutions, but it brings to light just how close civilization can be to collapse, which is more unnerving.

Best line: (G.H.) “A conspiracy theory about a shadowy group of people running the world is far too lazy of an explanation, especially when the truth is much scarier.”
(Amanda) “What is the truth?”
(G.H.) “No one is in control. No one is pulling the strings.”

Rank:  List Runner-Up

© 2024 S.G. Liput
791 Followers and Counting

Living (2022)

05 Friday Apr 2024

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(For Day 5 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem describing how two or three different things perceive the same thing, with the example being how an old woman, a tulip, and a dog view being blessed. In keeping with this film, I imagined how those connected to a playground would view that place of fun.)

What is a playground?
Depends on who answers.

For kids, it is joy,
A chance to get higher
Than a small girl or boy
Ever could on their own,
To conquer the jungle,
To swing to the sky, or
To know they won’t crumble
When tripped by a stone.

For a parent, it’s peace,
Even for a short respite,
Like shepherds releasing
Their flock to the field.
A simple distraction
If ever they’re desperate,
They bask in inaction
And keep their eyes peeled.

And what of the no-name
Who built that location,
Who garners no fame
Yet has brought joy and peace?
He sits at a distance
In gratification
To watch their elation,
Such a simple foundation,
And knows his existence
Will only increase.
______________________

MPA rating:  PG-13 (mainly for poignant subject matter but quite tame)

I know I probably should have first watched Ikiru, Akira Kurosawa’s classic film about a government bureaucrat dealing with his own mortality, but I was on my plane to Ireland last year and had a prime chance to watch Living, the British remake with Bill Nighy in the same situation. Nighy is undoubtedly a fine actor, with memorable roles in the Pirates of the Caribbean series and About Time, so it really is surprising that he had never received an Oscar nomination before this film. But he excels in the role on which the entire film rests, as Rodney Williams, a stuffy bureaucrat in post-War Britain, solemn and dour, his workplace “rather like church,” according to his chatting coworkers. His strict routine of coming and going to work on the train each day is disturbed by a sudden cancer diagnosis, and he is forced to come to terms with the fact his life has likewise come and gone with little in the way of joy or meaning. Buoyed by the companionship of a young friend (Aimee Lou Wood), the waning pencil pusher decides on a small way he can break from his inflexible mold.

Living is a laudable prestige picture, shot and acted with a noble dignity reminiscent of yesteryear classics and boasting an elegant screenplay by acclaimed author Kazuo Ishiguro. Nighy exemplifies how complacent routine yields to personal regret, and even if he couldn’t compete with Brendan Fraser in The Whale, he certainly gives an Oscar-worthy performance. It may be easily overshadowed by the flashier Oscar bait, but Living is a subtly meaningful film that puts our daily grind into much-needed perspective.

Best line: (Williams) “I wonder if you ever stop on the way home and watch the children playing. In the street, or in the yard. And when the time comes and their mothers call them in, they’re often reluctant. They, they get a little contrary, but that’s as it should be. Far better than to be the child you occasionally see, he’s sitting by himself in the corner not taking part, not happy, not unhappy, merely waiting for his mother to call him in. I’ve become afraid that I might end up like that child. And I so very much do not wish to do so.”

Rank:  List Runner-Up

© 2024 S.G. Liput
791 Followers and Counting

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

04 Thursday Apr 2024

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(For Day 4 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to draw inspiration from the quirky natural phenomena detailed in the 1958 book The Strangest Things in the World, such as “Uganda’s Miniature Dinosaur,” “Enigma of Evolution,” “The World’s Biggest Sneeze,” and “The Forest that Time Forgot.” What could be stranger than a dinosaur in the present day?)

We talk of chickens, geckos, gators
Like they’re mini-dinosaurs,
DNA perpetuators
Winning evolution’s wars.

Look at what they’ve lost, however,
Dwindling to humans’ scale.
Those survivors truly clever
Never would have grown so frail.

Something dodged the diminution,
Surely kept its ancient reign,
Some enigma evolution
Cannot fathom to explain.

The biggest teeth to leave man shaken,
Biggest sneeze and appetite,
The biggest ire none should waken,
Gorged on centuries of spite.

Where this scourge of sighs is lurking,
Deep where time itself forgot,
None can say; its guise is working.
Pray it never leaves the spot.
___________________________________

MPA rating:  PG-13

If someone had told me last year that one of my favorite films from 2023 would be a Godzilla movie, the 37th Godzilla movie at that, I would never have believed it. I’ve only seen a handful of the more modern versions of the beloved monster, including two of Legendary Pictures’ American films and Hideaki Anno’s Shin Godzilla. The latter film was praised by fans upon release, who indicated it was a step above the typical cheesy destruction of the older movies, and while it was good, it still had some cringey effects and lackluster scenes. So when similar rumbles of “dude, this is good” started to spread about Godzilla Minus One, I didn’t fully believe them. Yet as weeks passed, practically everyone who saw it seemed to be singing its praises until I finally relented and caught a late screening of the black-and-white rerelease, Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color. And I must admit, dudes, it is good.

In contrast to the worldwide monster-hunting organizations of other Godzilla movies, Minus One goes back to the creature’s roots, representing the threat of nuclear destruction in Japan shortly after the end of World War II. Yet allegory and disaster porn can only carry a film so far, and this film finally manages to tell a compelling human story in the shadow of its titan. That story belongs to Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a kamikaze pilot who bears the shame of having survived what should have been glorious death for his country. After yet another close encounter saddling him with even greater survivor’s guilt, he returns to civilian life, trying to pick up the pieces of his hometown devastated by the war. With time, he finds a semblance of normalcy alongside a woman (Minami Hamabe) and a little girl (Sae Nagatani), lone survivors like him, yet his PTSD strains his relationships and self-worth. When he and a crew of mine disposal sailors encounter a certain overgrown lizard, the survival of both his nation and makeshift family are threatened.

It’s hard to pin down why Minus One succeeds where others are “just another Godzilla movie.” Usually, they throw in a threatened family to garner audience sympathy, but it never goes as deep as Shikishima’s trauma and the natural way he bonds with others while grappling with it. Beyond that, Godzilla himself is far from a zipper-backed suit, but a hulking CGI monstrosity that becomes genuinely scary as we see the scale of destruction he can muster, with innocent civilians utterly powerless beneath him. He’s truly a monster and a force of nature, hardly the benevolent protector from the American version. While I tend to think Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 deserved the prize a little more for the extent of its CGI, I was not upset when Godzilla Minus One managed to win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, a first for Japan reflecting how impressive the film is despite a piddling budget compared with Hollywood’s blockbusters.

If ever a film proved how a good story and characters can refresh a well-trodden franchise, Godzilla Minus One deserves that claim. Its themes of survival and endurance denounce the culture of death that Japan had become during the war, and put Shikishima’s struggle on a level beyond a single man’s battle. The ending even brought a tear to my eye, and I’ve heard stories from others who said they wept in the theater. A crowdpleaser to rival any American production, Minus One was the biggest pleasant surprise the cinema has given me in a while, and even if I consider it a fluke for the Godzilla series (please don’t let a sequel ruin things!), I’m grateful for it.

Best line: (Noriko) “Is your war finally over?”

Rank:  List-Worthy

© 2024 S.G. Liput
790 Followers and Counting

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)

03 Wednesday Apr 2024

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(For Day 3 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to write a surreal prose poem a la Kafka’s meanderings, though that’s hardly a poem anymore to me. I’m not sure if this quite fits the intent, but I did my best. At least Birdman seemed like a good fit for some surreal introspection.)

____________________________

Everybody wants to be a genius, a starlet, a celebutante, a household name, as long as all the households are complimentary and not those dismissive sorts who wonder “Why is he/she famous?” If we reach an age that missed our chance at being a wunderkind, we will gladly accept the title of “late bloomer,” so long as we can chuckle in interviews about how long we’ve waited to be taken seriously by the fickle masses. Everybody included Riggan, and so this mindset applied to him as well.

The difference with Riggan was that he had already made his mark on the collective psyche of humanity and was increasingly bothered by that mark scarring over and healing by the day. If only he had made it deeper… If only he had aimed for the head rather than the clay feet. He had been a superhero; he was recognized on the streets, but by whom? By tourists snapping photos to be stuffed in dustbound albums, not by the people who claimed to matter, his archnemeses: the critics.

Yes, critics are the true villains of this world, the ones who tear down towers that might have stood for decades with a bit of support, who nibble like termites at the corners of confident actors and make them question whether they even deserve to be appraised. To see such denigrators scurry away at his approach and question themselves whether they could editorialize well enough to capture his triumphant return, that was his dream, which even superpowers are no help in achieving. He craved to be taken seriously. “Everybody wants that,” Riggan thought, flying over the streets where critics and tourists comingle. His enemies were also aiming for his head, but only ever hitting those clay feet.

____________________________

MPAA rating:  R

I’ve been catching up on some Oscar darlings that I skipped back when they made their initial splash, and here we have the Best Picture winner of 2014, Alejandro Iñárritu’s cinematographic wonder filmed as if it were all a single take. As some may know, I have a soft spot for marveling at long tracking shots, so I will absolutely sing the director’s praises as an artist. If only the story appealed to me as much…

As the “poem” above describes, the plot revolves around washed-up superhero actor Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton, perfectly cast to reflect his past as Batman) who is desperate to make a comeback on Broadway, with his own stage adaptation of Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.” Amid his own internal arguments with his Birdman persona, he must deal with the headaches caused by his floundering relationship with daughter Sam (the lovely-as-ever Emma Stone), a temperamental diva of a new actor (Edward Norton), and the derision of a respected critic (Lindsay Duncan).

Like so many favorites of the Academy, I appreciated the talent behind Birdman more than I enjoyed watching it. While I admired its forays into the nature of the creative process, the vast majority of the film consists of the characters hurling insults at each other and nearly everyone deserving it. In lieu of likable characters, the seamless camerawork becomes the real star, following conversations down hallways, swooping from the theater rafters down to the stage, and documenting one memorably awkward stroll through Times Square.

Iñárritu’s wins for Best Director and Original Screenplay were well-deserved, but I can now confidently criticize the Academy’s other choices that year. For me, Boyhood deserved Best Picture more as a time-capsule testament to an entire childhood, while Michael Keaton probably should have won Best Actor over Eddie Redmayne’s performance in The Theory of Everything. Birdman had its unexpected virtues, including a strong script and symbolically uplifting final scene, but most of it made me glad to not be behind the curtains of Broadway.

Best line: (Norton’s Mike Shiner) “Popularity is the slutty little cousin of prestige.”

Rank:  Honorable Mention

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790 Followers and Counting

The Whale (2022)

02 Tuesday Apr 2024

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(For Day 2 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a platonic love poem directed toward the object of affection. Love of food is both platonic and universal, so I took it in a self-destructive direction based on this movie.)

Most might say they love a meal,
But I do not discriminate.
I love you, burgers, hot dogs, fries,
Cakes and shakes of every size,
Every snack they advertise,
Pizza boxes; hold the plate.

I never needed Mom’s reproach
To clean the plate, the bowl, the platter.
You were there to keep me full,
Flavor in a world so dull,
Spice to make it bearable,
Comfort where pain didn’t matter.

You were there for my mistakes,
Soothing me in guilt’s affliction.
People hand out blame and spite;
You just offered one more bite.
You were solace in the night.
That is love and not addiction.

You were there to catch my tears
Where empty wrappers now remain.
Every bite and every pound
Follows me and weighs me down.
Still I crave what love I’ve found.
Why is too much love such pain?
_______________________

MPAA rating:  R

As a fan of Brendan Fraser back in his Mummy days, one who frequently lamented his less-than-prestigious choice of movie roles throughout the 2010s, I was utterly delighted that he finally found awards buzz and critical love for 2022’s The Whale, which won him a Best Actor Oscar on his first nomination. Like many actors, I think Fraser just needed the right role to prove his acting chops, and Darren Aronofsky’s adaptation of a Samuel D. Hunter play proved to be it. Having now seen the movie, I can confirm how deserving Fraser’s win was, playing morbidly obese English professor Charlie to devastating effect.

Charlie is a recluse in his tiny apartment, only teaching online classes with the camera off and barely able to get up from his couch, even with help from his nurse friend Liz (Oscar-nominated Hong Chau). Racked by guilt over abandoning his family for his gay lover years ago, he struggles to maintain optimism and connect with his daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink of Stranger Things), who never hesitates to make her anger and bitterness toward him known. His past comes to light when a visiting missionary (Ty Simpkins) tries to evangelize him, much to the indignation of everyone around him and Charlie himself.

The Whale is not an especially enjoyable watch, considering the vitriol flung by Ellie and Liz and the pitiable character at its center, but it is a showcase for outstanding performances from all involved, as well as how film can make the most of a small space originally suited for the stage. Being a Christian, I was saddened by how negative the film was toward religion, yet it also found nuance and slivers of sympathy amid what everyone can agree is a tragedy. In keeping with Charlie’s self-destructive eating, a key theme seemed to be that some people don’t want to be saved, instead finding whatever meager source of redemption they can find. Despite the seamless prosthetics weighing him down, Fraser brings the necessary human touch to make the tragedy heartbreakingly effective.

Best line: (Charlie) “I need to know that I have done one right thing with my life!”

Rank:  Honorable Mention

© 2024 S.G. Liput
790 Followers and Counting

Great Expectations (1946)

01 Monday Apr 2024

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

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(For Day 1 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to write a plot summary of a novel you haven’t read in a long time. This blog began with writing movie plot summaries in verse, so this felt like going back to my roots.)

There once was a boy born to low expectations,
And Pip was his name, not that anyone cared.
Unfortunate orphans resigned to their stations
Could rarely progress, limitations Pip shared.

One day in the country, a convict caught Pip
And bade him to aid him in getting away.
So Pip held his tongue, no alarm or hot tip,
And Magwitch escaped with a debt yet to pay.

Soon Pip was a guest at Miss Havisham’s mansion,
Where dust covered her and her old bridal dress.
She treated the boy like a half-approved grandson,
While her ward Estella approved even less.

But though Pip was taunted, he fell quite in love
With Estella and grieved when he left her employ.
He grew into manhood, and, as if from above,
A mystery patron supported the boy.

He found he had money, a gentleman rising,
But who is behind all these kindly donations?
I’d tell you the twists that you might find surprising,
But I’d hate to spoil your great expectations.
__________________________

MPAA rating: Approved (basically G)

I was thinking I hadn’t bothered to review an older film in a while, and, luckily, this month’s first prompt pointed me toward this 1946 classic from director David Lean. I remember reading an abridged version of Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations, but I had largely forgotten the plot except for a boy named Pip and a dusty spinster named Miss Havisham. So watching this movie was like a trip to the library, conjuring up a rags-to-riches tale with distinguished British aplomb.

I won’t go into the plot since it’s above, but I will praise the unexpected actors who showed up, including a young John Mills as the older Pip, a young Alec Guinness as Pip’s friend Herbert (his first of six collaborations with Lean), and a very young Jean Simmons as the child Estella. Finlay Currie is especially good as the convict Magwitch, able to seem both threatening and sympathetic as needed, while Martita Hunt as Miss Havisham brings a vaguely creepy craftiness to the part, especially when surrounded by her dark, cobweb-covered mansion. The main complaint for me would be the character of Estella, whose insulting tsundere treatment of Pip gives little reason to like her or want the besotted Pip to end up with her. Despite the romance not really landing, Lean’s Great Expectations is an admirable Dickens adaptation.

Best line: (Mr. Jaggers, the lawyer) “Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There is no better rule.”

Rank:  Honorable Mention

© 2024 S.G. Liput
790 Followers and Counting