What Happened to Monday (2017)

23 Thursday Apr 2020

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was to write a poem about a letter of the alphabet, so I went through the week and compiled couplets for each day.)

The M in Monday dips and dives
And puts a strain on all our lives.

The T is Tuesday’s cruciform,
The closest shelter from the storm.

The W is Wednesday’s smile,
As crooked as a crocodile.

The T in Thursday spreads each arm
In peace, surrender, and alarm.

The F in Friday has buck teeth
That shield a smile underneath.

The S is Saturday’s great treble,
Quite the sinner, saint, and rebel.

The S in Sunday tries to swerve,
But hits Monday and hits a nerve.
__________________________

MPA rating: TV-MA (strong R)

Netflix films can be hit-or-miss, but when a good one comes along, its relegation to a single TV streaming service makes it feel perhaps more underrated than if it had received a theatrical release. Released to theaters in Europe and Asia but to Netflix elsewhere, What Happened to Monday falls somewhere between hit and miss, but it still feels underrated for the things it does well. The dystopian thriller takes a familiar dystopian threat like overpopulation and runs with it in a way not seen before.

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Actors seem to enjoy the test of inhabiting multiple characters and playing off themselves, but Noomi Rapace snagged a special challenge here, playing seven identical sisters raised in secret to protect them from the government’s rigidly enforced one-child policy. Although siblings are simply put into cryostasis, the septet’s grandfather (Willem Dafoe) kept them off the books entirely and fashioned a singular identity of Karen Settman; each girl is named after a day of the week and takes turns going out as Karen Settman on the day of their name: Sunday on Sunday, Monday on Monday, etc. However, when Monday doesn’t return at the end of her day, the other sisters find themselves in danger and must figure out what happened to her and her ties to the politician who first advocated the one-child policy (Glenn Close).

It’s no secret that I love science fiction, and What Happened to Monday is the kind of unique genre tale I enjoy, usually more than the critics do. The plot zips along without a moment of boredom, and Rapace does wonders with a script that doesn’t quite manage to make each of the Settman sisters stand out. Some are easy to pick out (Saturday has blonde hair, Friday is mousy and wears a knit cap), while others don’t really distinguish themselves much (Tuesday and Wednesday). Nevertheless, Rapace breathes personality into the ones that matter most, and the effects allowing her to interact with her doubles are top-notch.

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Many films on Netflix don’t seem to bother holding back on their TV-MA ratings, and sadly the same is true for What Happened to Monday, marred by several bloody deaths and a gratuitous sex scene. It’s really a shame because the film otherwise warrants repeat viewings. Some twists are hardly surprising to anyone familiar with the dystopian genre, but it still holds plenty of mystery and thrills to overcome the occasionally thin characterization. It even ends up with a surprisingly pro-life sentiment by the end. It’s far better than its mixed reviews indicate, and if you can overcome the R-rated content, it’s one more what-if example of why I love sci-fi.

Best line: (Sunday, quoting their father) “Seven minds are better than one.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2020 S.G. Liput
684 Followers and Counting

Guarding Tess (1994)

22 Wednesday Apr 2020

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was to find inspiration in an idiomatic expression from another language, which are often similar to but distinct from our English equivalents. I chose the idiom of “ironing one’s head” being used in Armenian and Turkish to mean annoyingly repetitive, like the constant requests of a shrewish woman, and also tried to develop a few of my own idioms.)

I think she once invented wringers
Just to put me through them daily.
I grit my teeth
And dig beneath
And wish that looks had stingers.

My head is being ironed solely
For the joy of seeing it flat.
My wrinkles never
Hurt her ever,
So why, for love of all that’s holy

Does she get such twisted jollies
Watching me squirm on her hook.
This fly is caught
‘Twixt web and swat,
And someone’s laughing at his follies.

A fool’s not down until you’ve kicked him,
Seems to be her school of thought.
I’m not the first
And not the worst,
So why am I her favorite victim?
______________________

MPA rating: PG-13 (solely for language)

I don’t have much to say about Guarding Tess, which is why it’s a good fit for a day when I don’t have as much time to devote to writing. Plus, it’s an interesting contrast to Shirley MacLaine’s much earlier role in What a Way to Go! that I reviewed a couple days ago. This dramedy follows a perplexed Secret Service agent named Doug Chesnic, who is assigned (forced really) to continue guarding former First Lady Tess Carlisle (MacLaine). Famously difficult to work with behind the scenes, Tess is outwardly an American sweetheart, and when she takes a liking to Doug, not even the President is going to turn her down.

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Guarding Tess isn’t really anything special beyond the love-hate relationship formed between Cage and MacLaine. There’s humor to be had in their battle of wills, but it’s neither funny enough to be a comedy nor compelling enough to be a drama, though it has flashes of poignancy surrounding Tess’s late husband, whom Doug also admired deeply. It tries to ramp up some slightly unrealistic tension near the end, but Guarding Tess is little more than a diversion, not that that’s a terrible thing. Fans of Cage and MacLaine should enjoy it, but it felt like the idea behind the story held some missed potential.

Best line: probably the best gag with Secret Service agents radioing each other over supermarket prices

 

Rank: Honorable Mention

 

© 2020 S.G. Liput
682 Followers and Counting

Riddick (2013)

21 Tuesday Apr 2020

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was to write a poem phonetically similar to a poem in another language, which was harder than it sounded. I chose the first four stanzas of the Welsh “Stone Poem” by Menna Elfyn. I tried to get it to make sense, but that might depend on the reader’s interpretation.)

Caring draws in foolishness,
While lacking love is power.

Men are gargoyles founded
On cruelty’s fear of cowards.
‘Tis rare, but some have sounded

Warnings, dim and heaved,
Pleading, “These rascals are not ours,”
But they’re demeaned and unbelieved.

The docile manners man the laws,
Which mold the many to the hour.
But men are sure to linger in man’s hardest flaws.
______________________

MPA rating: R

Last year, I ventured into the cutthroat world of Richard B. Riddick, Vin Diesel’s iconic anti-hero from Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick. Considering the latter’s less than favorable reception from critics (I rather liked it myself), it feels like a small miracle that creator David Twohy was able to gain enough traction for a third film nine years later, and indeed he manages to round out the trilogy with possibly its strongest installment.

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The Chronicles of Riddick was both enhanced and muddled by a huge surge of world-building: invading death cult armies, ethereal air people, and the like. Riddick turns its back on all that right from the beginning, and, aside from a cameo from Karl Urban, it might as well have never happened once Riddick is again stranded on an inhospitable alien world. In that sense, it’s practically an alternate version of Pitch Black, except with two shipfuls of disposable bounty hunters (including Matt Nable and Dave Bautista) after Riddick instead of just one man. Oh, and the swarms of killer aliens come out when it rains rather than when night falls.

In some ways, Riddick feels like the franchise treading water, but in others, it’s exactly what made it cool to begin with. Diesel gets to add plenty of badassery to his resumé, from clever survivalist skills to inventive killing methods, and the story lends itself to his laconic character’s show-don’t-tell approach. I also liked how it built upon what happened in Pitch Black and chose an ideal ending, not giving in to the previous films’ tendency of no one but Riddick having a chance at ultimate survival.

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Returning to its franchise’s roots, Riddick is an entertaining, frequently brutal improvement, though I’m disappointed the second film’s PG-13 rating had to be bumped up to an R for this one. There are still rumblings of a fourth film called Furya and a TV series called Merc City in the works, so time will tell what’s left of Riddick’s story. The harsh universe he inhabits certainly seems to have more stories to tell.

Best line: (Consort) “So what is the best way to a man’s heart?” (Riddick) “Between the fourth and fifth rib. That’s where I usually go. I’ll put a twist at the end if I wanna make sure.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2020 S.G. Liput
680 Followers and Counting

2020 Blindspot Pick #1: What a Way to Go! (1964)

20 Monday Apr 2020

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was to write about a homemade gift, so I merged one I’ve given myself with the set-up of a classic ‘60s film.)

I asked a rich woman what she valued most
Of all the excess she possessed.
She told me of gems from the Ivory Coast,
But they were not what she loved best.

Her multiple husbands had filled her accounts
And heaped her with riches obscene.
But Fabergé eggs and saffron by the ounce
No longer enticed such a queen.

The canvas and carvings of classical pros,
Which every museum would covet,
Served only to gild both the lily and rose,
For only one thing made her love it.

A small piece of paper with “I Heart You” on it
From when her first love was dirt poor.
It quite overshadowed a jewel or a sonnet,
For less with nostalgia is more.
__________________________

MPA rating: Approved (due to some steamy romantic scenes, I’d say it straddles the line between PG and PG-13)

It’s a shameful embarrassment that it’s taken four months for me to finally review the first of my Blindspot picks. Life and work and a certain virus have just delayed my access to actually watching any of the twelve movies I selected at the beginning of the year, but here at last I have begun my catch-up. Before I chose my picks, my mom told me that 1964’s What a Way to Go was one of my late dad’s favorite movies, which surprised me because I never saw it with him or heard him talk about it. But he introduced it to her, and now she’s done the same for me.

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Black comedies are a difficult balance of two contrasting genres, so what would such a balance look like in the comparative innocence of a 1964 film? What a Way to Go! is the answer. Shirley MacLaine plays a young widow trying to get rid of her vast amounts of wealth, her inheritance from multiple dead husbands, and after a psychiatrist (Bob Cummings) thinks she’s crazy, she recounts the varied tales of how she accidentally led her lovers to both wild success and early graves.

The best thing about What a Way to Go! is its cast: Dean Martin as a snooty playboy, Dick Van Dyke as an everyman-turned-busybody, Robert Mitchum as a suave millionaire, Gene Kelly as a talented performer, and Paul Newman (as I’ve never seen him before) playing a gruff expatriate. Some of the roles are tailor-made for the actor, such as Gene Kelly’s presence allowing for a song-and-dance number, while others seem designed to make them play against type. It seemed odd seeing Shirley MacLaine so young and attractive when I’ve mainly seen her as a grumpy older lady in Terms of Endearment or Steel Magnolias, but she does a great job as the unluckily lucky widow, even holding her own alongside Gene Kelly when dancing.See the source imageMost of the goings-on are fairly silly, with the husbands’ unusual (non-graphic) deaths earning more laughs than grief, including a gag that’s crept up elsewhere about trying to milk a male cow. I especially liked how each marriage is compared with a different film genre, launching into a series of vignettes recalling silent comedies, foreign art films, musicals, or posh dramas with ridiculously extravagant costumes from the great Edith Head. All in all, What a Way to Go! was a delightful bit of lightweight absurdity, finding hilarity in repeated tragedy and managing to land a happy ending. It certainly looked like everyone involved had fun making it, as I did watching it.

Best lines: (announcer) “Tonight, in ‘Flaming Lips,’ Pinky Benson proved that a comedy can run five and a half hours. Earlier today, Pinky told us his next film will run seven and a half hours.”

and

(Larry Flint/Paul Newman) “Money corrupts. Art erupts.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2020 S.G. Liput
680 Followers and Counting

 

The Wandering Earth (2019)

19 Sunday Apr 2020

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was to write about items gathered during a walk. In my house, I latched onto a nearby globe and decided to write about the planet at large, even though the film is more about disaster than discovery.)

What ancient cartographer could have imagined
A world as small as this?
Back then, the maps ended without a true edge
In blurry oblivion. One would allege
A brand new discovery, and they would wedge
The new land upon the abyss.

And now we know everything, satellite-view;
No land is left to miss.
But now we look upward and see a frontier,
More blurry oblivion. Scorning the fear,
We still must endeavor to find what’s not here.
We just can’t abide an abyss.
___________________________

MPA rating: TV-MA (it’s a PG-13-level movie, but the English subtitles have more F words than the original Chinese for some reason)

When you think of Chinese films, science fiction isn’t a genre that immediately comes to mind, but The Wandering Earth might change that. Based on a 2000 novella and released through Netflix outside of China, this big-budget blockbuster is like Asia’s answer to Michael Bay, a solar-system-spanning disaster flick that is just over-the-top enough to work.

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Anyone remember the Spongebob episode with the Alaskan bull worm threatening the town, where Patrick says they should just take Bikini Bottom and push it someplace else? Well, that’s the brilliant idea the future world leaders in this film came up with to escape an expanding sun. Studding the earth’s surface with enormous rocket engines, they push the planet out of its orbit toward a safer system while most of the population retreats underground to escape the freezing surface. Years into the journey, the roaming planet gets caught in Jupiter’s gravity, forcing young adult Liu Qi (Chuxiao Qu), his sister, and their accomplices to fix one of the failing engines and save the world, while his father (Jing Wu) on a space station tries to do the same.

With tiny people causing planet-level effects, everything in The Wandering Earth is on such a humongous scale that even its semi-plausible elements seem utterly ridiculous, yet the earnestness of the characters and coolness of the visuals make the suspension of disbelief possible. In creating China’s first big sci-fi movie, the filmmakers certainly went all out with their emulation of similar Hollywood blockbusters: collapsing ice towers, a single-minded AI to fight, huge explosions, questions about saving the many vs. the few, last-minute heroics and touching sacrifices.

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There’s a reason it made $700 million, making it the third highest-grossing non-English film ever. (Netflix has an English dub, but I’d only watch it if you absolutely can’t stand subtitles or want fewer obscenities.) I don’t know how the current pandemic will affect China’s film industry, but The Wandering Earth is proof that it can compete with Hollywood on special-effects extravaganzas. I wouldn’t say it’s better than films like Armageddon or Sunshine, but it’s certainly bigger.

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2020 S.G. Liput
679 Followers and Counting

Paddington (2014)

18 Saturday Apr 2020

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was to write about life’s small pleasures, which can include how we treat one another.)

It’s the little things, you know,
That make a day a joy,
The little interactions, like a smile, a wink, a wave,
The “please” or “Miss” or “Mister”
That a shrinking few deploy,
Reminding us some people still recall how to behave.

When hate’s on all horizons
And stress is in the air
And every morning seems less optimistic than the last,
A touch of common courtesy,
Less common but still there,
Can prove the world’s not too far gone, no matter the forecast.
________________________

MPA rating: PG

At last, I finally got to see why everyone loves Paddington so much. For some reason, I never got around to seeing this family film from 2014 until recently, perhaps because I never read the original classic British children’s books when I was young. Paddington has quickly become beloved by both critics and audiences, and it does indeed have a near-perfect blend of whimsy and humor.

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The film starts with a flashback about a British explorer discovering a pair of intelligent bears in Darkest Peru, teaching them about England and marmalade sandwiches before returning home. Decades later, those bears’ nephew (voiced by Ben Whishaw) journeys from the jungle to Paddington Station in London, where he is taken in by the kind Brown family (Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins), who give him the name Paddington. He struggles, though, to find where he belongs, even as he’s targeted by a cruel taxidermist (Nicole Kidman).

It’s common for a family film to veer too far into puerile territory and be demoted to a “kid’s movie.” As a kid at heart, I can appreciate the vast majority of cartoons and such (as evidenced by yesterday’s review), but it’s clearly difficult for filmmakers to create something that can appeal to kids and adults without patronizing either. Pixar has mastered it, and so, it seems, has Paddington. There are, of course, jokes and burps and slapstick for easy laughs, but beyond that is an overwhelming abundance of charm. Paddington himself, rendered in bravura CGI, doesn’t have an unkind bone in his body, and his interactions with everyone are marked by a politeness and courtesy that is genuinely refreshing, due to how rare they’ve become in recent times. I’m sometimes irritated by characters who are defended for being clumsy and destructive, and there’s a little of that here, but the charm easily outweighs any negatives.

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More than anything, Paddington reminded me of another film about a polite CGI character trying to find his place in the world and being accepted into a nuclear family: 1999’s Stuart Little, which was a beloved movie for me growing up. My nostalgia makes me prefer the earlier film, but I like how Paddington has become the Stuart Little of a new generation. Paddington certainly is more critically lauded, and its inventive camerawork and set design only add to an overall delightful aesthetic. It’s a family film in the truest sense of the words.

Best line: (Mary Brown, giving a description of Paddington to a policeman) “He’s about three foot six, he’s got a bright red hat on, and a blue duffel coat… and he’s a bear.”
(Policeman) “It’s not much to go on.”
(Mary) “Really?”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2020 S.G. Liput
679 Followers and Counting

 

The Emoji Movie (2017)

17 Friday Apr 2020

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was for a poem about outdated technology, so I went a little into the future to see how generations yet to come might look back on a present-day craze.)

 

The primitive Egyptians had their hieroglyphic font,
A picture-style penmanship to decorate the wall.
And slightly less archaic humans later chose to flaunt
Another image language on the phones they used to call.

You see here all the tiny illustrations they would use
To message, manage, and react in digital discourse.
We’re not sure why developed people (for the time) would choose
To discard words in favor of these mini-metaphors.

From faces showing every mood to smiling excrement,
These symbols were exchanged among them by the gadget-full.
These hands betoken clapping, and this sobbing shows lament,
And no one’s really sure about this purple vegetable.

It took a while for mankind at last to move beyond
This graphical vocabulary sent through cyberspace.
Now who will raise your hand and tell us what replacement dawned?
What new communication took the poor emoji’s place?
______________________________

MPA rating: PG

I watched The Emoji Movie at the end of a terrible day, thinking that, if it was truly as terrible as everyone said, I would associate it with that day and never want to see it again. It’s been lambasted so many times that it’s practically a meme to hate on it. Yet despite all the loathing, four Razzies, and the 7% Rotten Tomatoes score, I must admit it’s not that bad.

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The premise is straight out of Inside Out or Wreck-It Ralph, but instead of emotions or video game characters, the cast consists of various emojis living within the digital city of Textopolis, inside the phone of a high schooler named Alex. Gene (T.J. Miller) is the son of two “meh” emojis, and although he is meant to personify indifference, he tends to “break character,” so to speak, and show emotions he shouldn’t, which eventually gets him in trouble and sends him on a dangerous journey through the phone and its many apps.

Would I characterize The Emoji Movie as good? No. It’s frequently dumb or crude humor is lackluster, and the climax, in which a single emoji somehow saves the day and causes an instant change in the direction of the plot, is socially myopic at best, not saying much good for the communication skills of the next generation. Yet, is that really enough reason to label it one of the worst films of the decade?

Other reviews I’ve read have insisted that this film has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, which is a pretty absolute statement for an adult to lob at a film aimed at kids. I thought the animation was colorfully fun and polished, and the world inside the phone, while obviously derivative, had some sparks of creativity, like visualizing Spotify as a series of literal “streams” of music to ride. Though some are grating, I didn’t mind the voice actors either (James Corden, Anna Faris, Maya Rudolph). I do cringe at Patrick Stewart voicing the poop emoji, but Steven Wright as Gene’s “meh” father was an inspired choice.

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So The Emoji Movie may be “meh” overall and is so tied to present-day technology that it’s sure to age poorly, but I don’t see what makes it worse than some similarly dumb blockbuster like Minions. There are many other films out there worth hating more.

 

Rank: Honorable Mention

 

© 2020 S.G. Liput
679 Followers and Counting

VC Pick: Top Gun (1986)

17 Friday Apr 2020

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was for an effusive poem of over-the-top praise, so I just kind of let my imagination run with it.)

Although it’s been said many times, many ways,
The feats at your feet never fail to amaze.
You stand high above every other by far.
If we were all Beatles, you’d drive every car.
You mass-produce marvels; you trigger the awe
Of both proletariat and the bourgeois.
You’re such a sensation, a spectacle said
To paint, not the town, but the whole county red.
The scholars no longer use language defining
The word “awesome”; no, it’s your photograph, shining.

The wonders don’t cease when you have a hand in them;
If there were contests for impressing, you’d win them.
Chuck Norris is porous compared to your muscle;
Gaston at his best can’t compete with your hustle.
The terms that describe you left Earth long ago;
The rest of the words couldn’t handle their glow.
If there is a mountain to move, you will move it.
And best of all,
As per protocol,
You need not be told all this; each day, you prove it.
______________________________

MPA rating: PG-13

At long last, my dear Viewing Companion (VC) convinced me to see Top Gun again. I recall seeing it years ago, but for some reason, it never really appealed to me in my memory. When the sequel was announced, my reaction was basically, “Meh,” while so many others were thrilled by their own ‘80s nostalgia. I just don’t have much interest in fighter pilot hotshots; it’s like wrestling or rap music, just not my cup of tea. But she finally got me to see it, and I must admit it was far better than I remembered, deserving of its reputation as a seminal film of the decade.

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Tom Cruise was in his youthful prime as “Maverick” Mitchell, the pilot whose massive shoulder chip propels him into the Navy’s top pilot school and the danger zone of aerial dog fights, aided by his trusty wingman Goose (Anthony Edwards). While he can be cocky and unpredictable, his stubbornness and penchant for risk get him far, including in his romance with the lovely Kelly McGillis, at least until tragedy strikes and threatens his career and his spirit.

Most critics tend to laud the aerial plane fights, which are well done, though I had trouble telling who was who and which plane was which at times. (Of course, in the cockpit, it helps that they made the Russian MiG pilots a faceless enemy with a full helmet mask.) Plus, I can’t help but wonder what “enemy waters” in the Indian Ocean would have warranted the air fight at the film’s climax. But there was also more to the characters than I remembered, more real emotion than the mere angst and testosterone I expected, though there was that too. For instance, Val Kilmer as fellow pilot “Iceman” is more of a genuine rival to Maverick rather than the smug antagonist he could have been. Plus, you can’t fault the cast, from Kilmer and Tom Skerritt to early roles for Tim Robbins, Meg Ryan, and Adrian Pasdar.

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Top Gun will never be one of my favorite movies, but watching it again has vastly raised my opinion of it. It’s a cool icon of a film, boasting not only the famous quote below but a truly quintessential soundtrack, including Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” and the Oscar-winning “Take My Breath Away,” which is the kind of song that could make anything romantic. Plus, it inspired the name for Goose the cat in Captain Marvel, and who doesn’t love Goose the cat? The sequel may have been pushed back to December, but here’s hoping it can do justice to its classic original.

Best line: (Maverick) “I feel the need…”   (Maverick and Goose) “The need for speed!”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2020 S.G. Liput
679 Followers and Counting

Sing (2016)

15 Wednesday Apr 2020

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was for a poem inspired by a favorite musical genre. So I wrote my own lyrics to the beautiful Leonard Cohen classic “Hallelujah,” which was used in this film, and it’s best sung to that tune.)

I heard there was a big contest
Where people sang to prove they’re the best,
But who would try when all the world sees through ya?
Yet trying is a practice sport,
It’s hard to start, easier to thwart,
But still I saw a chance for hallelujah!

I answered to the casting call;
I saw so many give their all,
But not too much or else they’d have to sue ya.
Then my turn came, and I stepped sincere;
I flung my lungs to the judges’ ear
And hoped to God I’d find my hallelujah.

The echoes waned, and I waited there,
And one leaned backward in his chair,
And said, “If I produced, I would pursue ya.
But this audition’s meant for dance,”
So clearly I did not advance,
But still I got a chance at hallelujah.
It is true-ya,
But who knew-ya?
My debut-ya,
My limelight, but not quite,
Hallelujah.
____________________

MPA rating: PG

At first glance, Sing looks very generic, especially with Illumination largely meh record (The Secret Life of Pets, Despicable Me). Anthropomorphic animals? Seen it, that same year actually with Zootopia. A singing competition? That’s only been done, oh, about 100 times. So what does Sing offer? Well, nothing new really, but it does present its familiar elements in a highly crowd-pleasing way with an all-star voice cast and bright animation to rival its competitors.

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A koala named Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) owns an old failing theater with great passion and nostalgia, and when the bank threatens to foreclose on it, he decides to hold a singing competition to revive the venue’s reputation, accidentally offering a cash prize he doesn’t have. A motley crew of animal characters then audition for the show with their eyes on the prize, and things go both very wrong and very right.

The most notable aspect of Sing is the sheer number of pop standards it includes, over 60, sometimes only for a few seconds, an expense that reportedly used up 15% of the film’s budget. From Taylor Swift and Frank Sinatra to Queen and Stevie Wonder, it’s a veritable auditory feast of well-produced popular music, which also offered me the surprise of realizing how well actors like Scarlett Johansson can sing, even as a porcupine. Plus, I have little doubt that Taron Egerton’s rendition of “I’m Still Standing” helped clinch his casting as Elton John in Rocketman.

The diverse characters and personalities – mice, porcupines, pigs, gorillas, elephants – all get basic but relatable character development, and I liked how every one of the contestants had a different reason for wanting to sing and win the money, whether for selfish needs, a chance to start over, or for more personal hopes and dreams. There was charm to spare in the voice cast, which also included Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Tori Kelly, John C. Reilly, and Peter Serafinowicz, and the animation was smooth and colorful, particularly an impressively rendered scene involving a flood.

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So ultimately, Sing is an enjoyable film built on a lackluster base. It’s easily criticized for its lack of originality, yet all the ingredients come together to make it surprisingly… likable, I guess is the word. It’s easily Illumination’s best film, in my book. Plus, I do love the original song “Faith,” sung by Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande, which deserves a place in my End Credits Song Hall of Fame. Sing doesn’t step far out of any box, but it’s a thoroughly amusing and pleasant watch sure to get your toe tapping.

Best line: (Buster, showing Ash a garish costume) “Isn’t this a great color for you?”
(Ash) “I can’t tell. It’s melting my eyes.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2020 S.G. Liput
679 Followers and Counting

Blinded by the Light (2019)

14 Tuesday Apr 2020

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

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was for a poem about poems or poets that inspired us to write. I went a bit broad to apply to anyone who has been stirred by another’s words. Incidentally, my own inspirations include Longfellow, Tennyson, Dr. Seuss, and Robert Service.)

I’d read and heard so many words
Before I chanced on yours,
And yet I found my being stirred,
My vision blurred, no dream deferred,
Like a patient with his pick of cures.

I’m not the first; so many more
Before me felt the thrill
Of finding phrases to explore
Of peaceful war and whispered roar,
Of things I know or never will.

I’m now a fan, have been for years,
But wish I could return
To when you widened my frontiers
And sparked the gears between my ears
And made my poet’s spirit burn.
_______________________

MPA rating: PG-13 (for language and themes)

Considering this was one of my Top Twelve movies watched last year, I suppose it’s about time I got around to reviewing it. Blinded by the Light is a feel-good delight of a film, especially for any fan of Bruce Springsteen, and although I never considered myself a fan of “The Boss,” I think this movie made me one.

Based off the experiences of real-life journalist Sarfraz Manzoor, Javed Khan (Viveik Kalra) is a Pakistani Brit growing up in the 1980s, caught between the blatant racism of some of his peers and the strict traditionalism of his immigrant dad (Kulvinder Ghir). Feeling even more misunderstood than most teenagers, he begins to despair, only to be jolted to inspiration when a Sikh classmate offers him some Springsteen tapes. Feeling a strong connection to Bruce’s music and themes, Javed renews his aspirations as a writer and begins a romance with a student activist named Eliza (Nell Williams), eventually coming into conflict with his father as he pushes his way further into the world and away from his family.

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There are certain protagonists, mainly young writers or dreamers, with whom I just feel a natural kinship: Shizuku in Whisper of the Heart, Mia in La La Land, John-Boy on The Waltons, and now Javed Khan as well. Even if I never had to contend with the racism he does, I found myself able to relate and sympathize so much with his poetry efforts, doubts, and the inspiration he finds in music. Hayley Atwell is a warmly encouraging presence as his English teacher, reminding me of Laura Dern in October Sky. And while disapproving parents are common to this kind of coming-of-age story, Ghir as Javed’s father remains believable in his bullheadedness, perhaps because Javed himself isn’t entirely blameless, and the compromise they both come to is brilliantly heartwarming. Plus, he can be a source of humor, as when he keeps thinking that Springsteen is Jewish.

I was never really aware of it, but my mom told me recently that Bruce Springsteen was one of my late father’s favorite musicians. Since I know he loved the Beatles, I find it interesting that two of his favorite artists were both immortalized by 2019 British films with South Asian protagonists (this one and Yesterday). Not unlike Sing Street, the musical segments add enormous entertainment value to offset the heavier scenes, shots of joy and dancing backed by greatest hits like “Thunder Road,” “Badlands,” “Born to Run,” and (of course) “Blinded by the Light.” If only they’d thrown in “Rosalita” or “Dancing in the Dark” too….

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I liked how the lyrics are often shown on-screen to highlight the songs’ poetic aspect that so appeals to Javed, and I was surprised at how some characters considered Springsteen “old” music by 1987. Funny, catchy, and poignant, Blinded by the Light proves the timelessness of not only “The Boss,” but musical and poetic inspiration in general and how it can change impressionable lives for the better.

Best line: (Miss Clay) “Tell me about your poems.”
(Javed) “They’re crap, miss.”
(Miss Clay) “Yeah, but they’re your crap. And if you keep at it, one day you might think they’re not crap.”

 

Rank: List-Worthy

 

© 2020 S.G. Liput
679 Followers and Counting