Court Intrigue

Movies: The Favourite

Director Yorgos Lanthimos continues to intrigue me with the range in his filmmaking. Last year, his film The Killing of a Sacred Deer was my personal "worst of the year". I found it pretentious and annoying to the point where I was laughing at it (and not with it) in the theatre. But in 2016, his film The Lobster was my *favorite* film of the year! I found it both heartfelt and bizarre in a "if Wes Anderson directed a horror movie" kind of way.

Lanthimos is back with another winner, perhaps not to the caliber of The Lobster, but still very strong with The Favourite. Taking place in Queen Anne's court in 1708 during the War of Spanish Succession, The Favourite focuses on a war of a different kind: the war for the queen's (played with a beautiful lack of vanity by Olivia Colman) affections by cousins Sarah Churchill and Abigail Hill. Sarah (played by the captivating Rachel Weisz) is a Duchess who was also childhood friends with the queen. She is fiercely intelligent and capable and is all but running the country behind the throne. But when Abigail (Emma Stone, playing up her wide-eyed innocence), once a highborn lady but fallen into disgrace who also happens to be Sarah's cousin, arrives on the scene, Sarah's place as the queen's favorite is no longer secure.

Abigail proves to be an amoral schemer who slowly but surely usurps Sarah's place as Queen Anne's confidant...as well as Sarah's place in the queen's bed.

According to a Google search for "queen anne lesbian?", it was rumored that the queen had lesbian affairs, though never substantiated. The Favourite puts lesbian love center stage, for better or worse, and it works because it reveals the depth of love between Anne and Sarah, as well as the false flattery Abigail pays the queen for her own personal gain.

But the gender politics don't end there. The Favourite has been noted to be a unique film in that the women are front and center while the male characters are relegated to the sidelines. They still play a role, but it's what we would normally see as "the girlfriend" role or "the bitch from the office role". They also look like fops in their early 18th century wigs, makeup, and heels. Two male roles stand out: Nicholas Hoult as Robert Harley, a scheming member of Parliament who forges a "friendship" with Abigail in exchange for political information, and Joe Alwyn as Samuel Masham, a Baron who falls for Abigail. It's clear though that these men only serve to further the women's stories...and that is quite refreshing.

I didn't like The Favourite as much as I thought I would, but I liked it a lot. It's funny, it's dark, it's beautifully filmed and wonderfully acted. It's a period film with zero stuffiness that shows what disgustingly indulgent lives royals lived long ago. Hell, you can even read parallels to modern politics into the film with the way Queen Anne is portrayed: lazy, incompetent, and bought and sold with flattery (although apparently she was actually a much stronger leader than Lanthimos gives her credit for). But even when she is brought low by heartbreak, tragedy, and a stroke to boot, she's still 100 times better than--to use a word bandied about quite a bit in this film--the cunt currently in charge.

Grade: A-

Ladies Heist

Movies: Widows

This review is wayyyy overdue (I saw Widows on Nov. 17th), and I think that's because, for better or worse, I found Widows to be an ok movie rather than a great one, so I didn't have a burning desire to share my opinion with the world as quickly as I did with, say, Border.

That said, Widows has its charms. It certainly has pedigree: directed by Steve McQueen, whose last film 12 Years a Slave rightfully won Best Picture in 2014; adapted for the screen by McQueen and Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl and Sharp Objects; starring a women-and-POC-led cast including Viola Davis, Brian Tyree Henry, Liam Neeson, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Colin Farrell, Cynthia Erivo, and Daniel Kaluuya.

The cast and crew elevates Widows above a mediocre genre flick, but not quite enough for my taste. I can't help but compare it to Gone Girl, which was just so acidic and sadistic and tense and rewatchable. Widows is...ok. Like, it was entertaining while I was watching it, but now I can barely remember it and very few moments stand out to me as thrilling or surprising or scary.

Davis plays Veronica Rawlings, the pampered--but smart and tough--wife of Liam Neeson's career criminal, Harry. After a heist turns deadly, Veronica finds herself widowed along with the wives of the men who worked under Harry. It turns out that Harry and his crew robbed another crime boss, Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry in an understated and terrifying performance), of 2 million dollars. Manning wants that money back, as he is running for the position of alderman in the South Side of Chicago against strong front-runner Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell).


What exactly is an "alderman" you ask? Good question. The movie never really explains it, but Wikipedia defines it as "a member of a municipal assembly or council..the title is derived from the Old English title of ealdorman, literally meaning 'elder man', and was used by the chief nobles presiding over shires." I find this definition intriguing since the gender and racial dynamics of the film are complex. Mulligan is a wealthy white man who is basically inheriting this job (that he sorta doesn't want) from his racist old bastard of a father (Robert Duvall). He's up against Manning, a black man from the South Side of Chicago who wields his own power--through threats and violence instead of inherited money and privilege. But both of these men are about to be challenged and taken down by a group of women--mostly nonwhite and mostly in dire financial straits. More than anything else, Widows is about power: forms that power can take (money, sexuality, violence, blood ties), who has it, who wields it, and how they wield it. By carrying out a heist their husbands planned before their deaths, the titular widows of the film take back power from men who did hurt them (in the case of Debicki's abusive husband) or will hurt them (as with Veronica, who faces an upsetting late-night visit from Manning where he aggressively picks up Veronica's little dog by the scruff of its neck in the movie's most tense scene).

Widows has twists and turns galore, as well as shocking violence, vans full of money, car chases, and more. Fans of heist films will likely enjoy this elegant take on a genre that is so often paint-by-numbers. For me personally, I don't care for heist films and though Widows is by far one of the best I've seen...well, it's still a heist film. But that's just me. Your mileage may vary!

Grade: B-

Life of Grime

Movies: Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Directed by Marielle Heller and starring Melissa McCarthy in rare dramatic role (and one of her best performances yet), Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a movie not afraid to focus on people who are unattractive and unpleasant, inside and out.

Based on true events, Melissa McCarthy plays writer Lee Israel, a biographer of women such as Estee Lauder and Fanny Brice. Struggling financially because no one wants to buy her biographies, Lee begins to forge private letters written by famous folks such as Noel Coward and Dorothy Parker and sell them to collectors for outrageous sums. It's clear that Lee is a clever writer, and she feels she's finally found her niche in faking these droll and gossipy missives.

Her bad behavior is spurred on by an old friend who pops back into her life (and onto the barstool next to her at the dive they frequent to drink their troubles away). Richard E. Grant is hilarious as Jack Hock, playing the drunk devil on Lee's shoulder and quickly becoming her partner in crime when rare bookstores and collectors catch on to Lee's forgeries.

You would think that Can You Ever Forgive Me? would be a depressing and unpleasant film, given that the main characters are depressed and unpleasant. But the film is surprisingly forgiving and understanding of its misfit protagonists. It reminded me a bit of Sideways, in which Paul Giamati's grumpy, arrogant oenophile and Thomas Haden Church's adulterous horndog groom-to-be won our hearts despite engaging in embarrassing and bad behavior. Likewise, you can't help but root--on some level, at least--for McCarthy's nasty loner Lee and Grant's lascivious, ne'er-do-well Jack.

When the two are finally caught (Jack cooperates with the FBI and testifies against Lee in exchange for a lighter sentence), it's a relief that Lee is only sentenced to probation and house arrest (especially since house arrest is barely a punishment for a woman who only leaves her house to go a bars). She gets a measure of redemption and, we hope, a kick in the butt to take control of her life (I mean, she wrote the memoir this movie is based on, so that's pretty cool).

Another thing that's really cool about Can You Ever Forgive Me? is that's it's very queer without being about being queer. Jack Hock is gay and flirts openly with young, attractive men but that's only part of his character, not his defining trait. Likewise, Lee casually mentions a woman she used to live with, but who dumped her when Lee wouldn't open up emotionally. At the end of the film, it's clear that Jack is suffering from AIDS, although the word is never mentioned (context clues and the time period let the viewer know). I just find this really revolutionary because usually films where the main characters are gay tend to be all about being gay rather than about the people's lives outside of (or in addition to) their sexuality.

But that's the thing about Can You Ever Forgive Me? --it's, in a word, low-key. It's honestly a great film that never feels like it's rubbing its greatness in your face, and that's what I liked about it. Unlike so many movies that come out the gate begging for an Oscar, Can You Ever Forgive Me? feels like it couldn't care less if it won any awards or not. Like that well-worn brown sweater in your closet, Can You Ever Forgive Me? is unpretentious, unglamorous, yet comfortable as hell and oddly soothing.

Grade: A

Of Monsters and Men

Movies: Border

Ok, I am waaayyy behind in my reviews, but I'm pushing this review to the top of my list because it's a film that is unlike anything I've seen before. I'm honestly not sure I'd recommend going in knowing nothing about it because it might freak some viewers out. I'll write a quick, relatively spoiler-free synopsis for those who want a basic summary and the a more detailed review below for those who want to know what the fuck this movie it actually about.

So, Border is a Swedish film directed by Ali Abbasi and written by John Ajvide Lindqvist who also wrote Let the Right One In and Let Me In. The film centers on Tina (Eva Melander), a security guard who works at the Swedish border agency. Tina has an unusually strong sense of smell--she can literally sniff out guilt and shame--which helps her detect contraband. Tina also has facial deformities which give her a heavy brow and rough, masculine features. Despite this, she is respected at her job, has a live-in boyfriend (whom she doesn't have sex with and who is kind of a deadbeat, but keeps her company) and has a good relationship with her father, whom appears to be in the early stages of Alzheimers. In short, life is ok, though not great, for Tina.

But then one day and man passes through customs who has the exact same facial features as Tina--she is shocked and fascinated to meet a person who looks like her. He introduces himself as Vore (played by Eero Milonoff) and is amused by Tina's shock. Vore reveals that he is a traveler staying at a nearby hostel, and Tina invites him to stay at her guesthouse (much to the chagrin of her boyfriend). Vore and Tina grow closer and discover similarities beyond their facial features...

Now, if you want to go in with a relatively blank slate, stop reading now! But please be aware that there is VERY explicit sexual content in this film, so don't bring Grandma to see it, mmmkay?

***

Spoilers ahead!


***

Ok, so Vore reveals to Tina that they are not human, but in fact belong to a nearly extinct race of trolls. Yup, trolls. Like, the kind that live under bridges. In the world of Border, trolls have heavy facial features, eat insects, love the outdoors, are born with tails, and attract lightning (both Vore and Tina have been struck by lightning as children and have scars on their lower backs where their tails have been removed). Tina is, of course, shocked and incredibly upset. After all, her father never told her this information. She was raised to believe that she had a chromosomal issue, which also meant she could never have children.

Uh, turns out, she can...just not in the way you would expect. In an earlier scene at customs, Tina tells a fellow security guard that Vore is definitely hiding something. After he examines Vore privately, the security guard tells Tina that *she* should have been the one to examine Vore, as he has a vagina instead of a penis. Well, during the inevitable love scene between Vore and Tina, more secrets about her body are revealed: it turns out that when she is aroused, she grows a penis (and we get to see this happen in full, technicolor glory. There was an elderly woman sitting in front of me in the theatre who couldn't stop laughing during this scene). We learn more about the reproductive lives of trolls when Vore births what appears to be a troll baby, but is actually an unfertilized egg that just *looks* like a troll baby.

Now, if all this makes you think "this movie sounds terrible and ridiculous", you'd be 100% WRONG. Border is...well, is it a great movie? I don't know. It has a very upsetting and triggering subplot involving a child pornography bust that Tina is working on at her job. Vore also hides things from Tina and manipulates her, so this isn't exactly an ugly ducklings find true love story either. In fact, Border manages to upend your expectations at every turn. Wherever you think it's going, it's not. And that can be upsetting when you think it's going in one direction and then veers sharply in another direction.

But the sheer creativity and fantasy of Border, as well as the devastating, but beautiful arc of Tina's self-discovery, pushes the film into the realm of remarkable, at least for me. The film is about an "ugly" woman who finds out that not only is she not a freak, she's in fact something stronger and "better" (as Vore states) than human. But that doesn't make life any easier for her. Rare is it to see a film where an ugly duckling doesn't transform into a beautiful swan, but instead finds a sense of dignity and self-acceptance right where she is. Is Border a love story? Yes--but not between Vore and Tina. It's a love story between an empathic, open-minded viewer and Tina, and one of the best of the year so far.

Grade: A

Too Spooky!

Movies, TV: Suspiria, Overlord, The Haunting of Hill House, Apostle

Those who read this blog regularly know I have a horror-boner. I gleefully wait each year for the weather to get colder, the leaves to change color, and all the **~spoopy~** pop culture to ramp up around Halloween. This year, I've had the pleasure of seeing some really interesting--albeit not perfect--movies and TV shows within the horror genre and I'm doing an extra-long entry to review them all.

***

Suspiria (2018)

Ever since I found out that one of my all-time favorite horror films, Dario Argento's blood-soaked Suspiria, was being remade by Luca Guadagnino, the director of my favorite film of 2017, Call Me By Your Name, I was waiting with baited breath. I knew that even if Luca fumbled the remake, it would no doubt be visually stunning.

I was not wrong on that count. 2018's Suspiria, clocking in at a hefty 152 minutes, is a visual feast--some of it yummy and some of it so very yucky. Set in 1977 Berlin, the film takes place at the Tanz dance studio where a group of "mothers", including Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton) oversee a dance company of talented young women. Susie Bannion (Dakota Johnson) is the latest little swan to join the group. Susie has essentially run away from her strict Mennonite family in Ohio and banks on her untrained, but raw, natural talent to get her a spot in the company and when Blanc sees her dance, she's in.

She quickly makes friends with Sara (Mia Goth), who tells her that one of the students, Patricia (Chloe Grace Moretz), recently left the company under unusual circumstances. The official story is that Patricia joined an underground group of political radicals. But the audience knows that, in fact, she became convinced that the dance studio was run by a coven of witches. She reveals her paranoid fears to a therapist, Dr. Josef Klemperer (also played by Swinton).

As Susie's incredible talent becomes apparent to Madame Blanc, she is offered the leading role in a production of a piece titled Volk. Blanc takes a special interest in Susie and trains her outside of normal hours. She also "transmits energy" to Susie (and other dancers) by laying her hands on them. Susie also experiences intense, bloody nightmares filled with images of the feminine: naked female bodies, panties, and blood alongside things like worms. The way the dreams are filmed reminded me of that scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when they're riding the boat through the tunnel.

Suspiria is a maximally creepy, art-house flick up until its climatic final act when it goes from pleasurably Sadien (think: a bloody ritual involving naked women in a dungeon), to over-the-top, to silly in about 10 minutes. And then there is an epilogue that focuses on Klemperer, whose subplot never truly meshes with the main plot in a meaningful way. The final 20-ish minutes of the film made me lower the grade from the whole movie from an A- to a B. Which I know is still a good grade: Suspiria is bold, creepy, and atmospheric enough that even if aspects of it were ridiculous, the overall product was enjoyable and very "on brand" for the kind of movie I like.

Would I recommend the film? Maybe. Folks who like horror movies, feminist art, and/or slightly pretentious art house films will likely appreciate what Guadagnino was going for here. If you think of cinema as a form of "art" rather than "entertainment", you'll probably be willing to give it a shot. If you're a fan of the original film, you *might* like how Guadagnino has expanded the plot to encompass contemporary political events in 1978 and also the haunting legacy of Nazism. Or you might think he ruined an otherwise good thing. Personally, I felt that it was 2.5 hours and 12 bucks (plus popcorn) well spent, but it's not a movie I'm going to rewatch.

Grade: B

***

Overlord

Speaking of Nazis...

Have you ever wanted to watch a movie that had the revisionist WWII history of Inglourious Basterds with the nasty torture of Hostel and a dash of The Re-Animator, but not as good as any of those movies? Well, I give you...Overlord.

I would have never paid attention to this movie if it wasn't for its exceptional trailer, which showed American soldiers infiltrating a secret Nazi laboratory to the screech-singing of AC/DC's "Hell's Bells" (seriously, watch it. It's a good trailer!). And also the title on the poster and all the promotional materials is in a really creepy, Nazi-esque font. So, I chose to see this movie based on a font, is what I'm saying. I'm very well-adjusted and normal.


Overlord is...not great. But not terrible either. Basically: right before D-Day, a bunch of American soldiers are dropped into France and tasked with blowing up a Nazi radio tower housed in a church. Along the way, they find a woman who is trying to protect her younger brother while also being forced to sexually gratify a commanding Nazi officer, Dr. Wafner (played by Pilou Asbaek--the dude who plays Euron Greyjoy in Game of Thrones). Lead by the slightly foolish, but good-hearted Boyce (Jovan Adepo), the crew beats the shit out of Wafner and infiltrates the church, only to discover, uh, "unchristian" things to say the least---like sacs of blood and guts and a still-alive head/spine with no body.

Now, I feel like Overlord had a TON of potential: Nazis, medical experimentation, a squad of racially diverse soldiers who overcome differences to do the right thing when it really matters. But the movie just kind of blows it on every count. None of the feelings you would associate with such a film--fear, disgust, irony--stick. Like, I'm watching a fuckin' head unattached to a body beg for death and I'm tempted to look at my watch. Something just isn't right about that.

All I can say is--if you want to see some Nazis get the shit beaten out of them, this is your movie. It's entertaining, kinda. But if you're looking for Nazi-murder catharsis and a good movie to boot, stick with Inglourious Basterds or Green Room.

Grade: B-

***

The Haunting of Hill House

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard about this Netflix original series which has scared the poop out of many viewers, including this one.

Created by Mike Flanagan and based (very loosely) on the novel by Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House is a 10-episode series that starts out very strong and kind of peters out near the end. In the summer of 1992, the Crain family moves into Hill House. Olivia and Hugh Crain (Carla Gugino and Henry Thomas) are house flippers, excited to flip the hell out of this old, creepy-ass house and make a ton of money. What they don't plan on is RUINING THEIR CHILDREN'S LIVES FOREVER. Jesus! You move into a haunted house, what do you expect?

There are five Crain children because mom and dad Crain don't use birth control, apparently: Steven is the oldest (played as an adult by "hot Daario" from Game of Thrones, Michael Huisman). Shirley (I see what you did there) is second oldest (adult = Elizabeth Reaser); then Theodora (Kate Siegel--the director's wife!); and then the twins, Luke and Nell (Oliver Jackson-Chen and Victoria Pedretti). All of the Crain kids are affected by Hill House and the eventful final night there (the tragic events of which are slowly revealed over the series). But some are more affected than others...

The twins, Luke and Nell, suffer the most. Nell is plagued with sleep paralysis and mental illness as an adult--haunted by visions of a "Bent-Neck Lady" she saw in the house as a child. Luke is a heroin addict struggling to get clean and followed by a floating man in a bowler hat. The older Crain kids, Steven and Shirley, are haunted by different demons: skepticism and resentment. Steven never believed his younger siblings' stories of ghosts, yet wrote a book and made a fortune on their stories. Shirley, a control freak with martyr syndrome, opened a funeral home and made a living "fixing" dead people because she couldn't fix her family (or accept them as is). Middle child Theo (my fave character) is truly in the middle--she is a skeptic who struggles to take her more sensitive siblings seriously, but is also "touched" herself: she wears gloves all the time because she is able to sense emotions and information by touching objects and people with her bare hands.

So, like Hereditary earlier this year, The Haunting of Hill House is as much about family trauma, rage, resentment, and mental illness as it is about ghosts. But there are also a fuck-ton of ghosts.

The show got this horror aficionado to jump out of her seat (and scare her cat) multiple times. This show is no fucking joke: there are jump scares, as well as children in peril, suicide, animals dying, and tense family confrontations. I don't care who the fuck you are, you will be triggered. But that is why I love this show, in spite of its imperfections: it is relentless. It's not afraid to go there--into the deepest parts of your animal brain and fuck around with the machinery there.

Episodes 1-5 are excellent, especially episode 5. 6-10 are...less so. 10 especially is confusing and disappointing. But the overall package is pretty intense and legitimately scary. At least I thought so. I recommend this show highly, but with extreme caution: it's not easy for people triggered by jump scares, family drama, or dead kittens. You've been warned...

Grade: B+

***

Apostle

No, not The Apostle, starring Robert Duvall. Just plain Apostle is a desperately mediocre Netflix film which *sounds* super interesting--a man infiltrates a cult at the turn of the 20th century to find his sister, whom he believes has been kidnapped by said cult--but actually sucks. Starring Dan Stevens, who honestly is terrible in this role as a man trying to "fit in" to a creepy-ass cult, and Michael Shannon (pretty good as the charismatic leader), Apostle is just...ugh. It promises so much and delivers so little!

Stevens is Thomas Richardson, who travels to a remote island where a religious community has set up shop. He believes his sister, Jennifer, has been taken for ransom. He notices some creepy shit, such as the fact that the residents of the island leave bottles of blood outside their doors every night to be collected.

There's some dumb cult drama when one of the leaders finds out the son of another leader impregnated his daughter and straps the kid to a torture table and literally drills into his brain with a hand-crank. Believe it or not, this is one of the few *good* scenes of the movie.

When Stevens discovers What's Really Going On (tm) it's underwhelming and silly, throwing a supernatural curveball into a film that didn't really need it (cults are scary enough as is--you don't need otherworldly beings to make them scarier).

Sadly, I can't recommend this film unless you are morbidly curious. I found it to be a waste of time, made more disappointing by how cool the plot sounded.

Grade: C

***

Well, that's it for now! Horror lovers: Check out Hill House and Suspiria...if you dare! Everyone else: it's about that time to rewatch Home Alone or Elf, isn't it?

One Day At A Time

Movies: Beautiful Boy

Beautiful Boy, a film which combines the memoirs of David Sheff (Beautiful Boy) and Nic Sheff (Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines), will have a familiar feel to anyone who has struggled with addiction or loved someone who has struggled with addiction. It is repetitive, crushingly so, cycling through the stages of Nic Sheff's addiction to crystal meth which involve use, heavy use, lying, criminality, ODing, repentance and begging for help, getting sober, and relapse over and over again. Experienced through the eyes of Nic's father, David, who comes to accept the fact that he can't help Nic, Beautiful Boy is not an easy film to watch.

While an epilogue at the end of the film reveals that Nic has been sober for 8 years, the events of the film itself do not follow a simple arc or "things get bad, and then they get good. The end." Rather, they present a more realistic portrayal of addiction to hard drugs and the slow draining of hope of both the person suffering from addiction and that person's loved ones. At one point, David Sheff talks to an expert in drug addiction who explains that the odds for long-term recovery from meth addiction are in the single digits.

You might think that this sounds like a bummer of a movie and, well, it is. It's also a deeply felt portrait of the unconditional love a parent has for their child, even when the child lies to them, robs them, and is in constant peril. It's heartbreaking. Led by powerhouse performances by Steve Carell, whose innate kindness and decency shine through as David, and Timothee Chalamet, who proves that his Oscar-worthy breakthrough in last year's Call Me By Your Name was not a fluke, as Nic, Beautiful Boy is a showcase for excellent acting.

Carell has the less showy, but more difficult job here as a father who is blindsided by the 180 degree turn his intelligent, bookish, music-loving, college-bound son makes seemingly overnight. David Sheff starts off as any parent of an addict would: hopeful, full of support, scouring the internet for information. But as Nic recovers, relapses, recovers, relapses, recovers, and relapses again, David has to face the three C's of Al-Anon: You didn't cause it, you can't control it, you can't cure it. When he does surrender, there is finally a sense of peace amid the chaos. He loves his son, but he can't save him.

Luckily, Nic Sheff got the help he needed and has been in recovery for nearly a decade, but many people who struggle with the disease of addiction--especially to hard drugs like meth--are not so lucky. Addiction is misunderstood and seen as a character failing, especially when people with substance use disorders do bad things, such as steal and lie, to feed their addiction. But the fact is, human beings--usually good humans--are there, underneath the fried nerves and disrupted dopamine receptors. Beautiful Boy does its part to reveal the humanity and suffering of the addict as well as family and friends of the addict.

Grade: B

Star-Crossed

Movies: A Star is Born

Goddamnit, I didn't want to like this re-re-remake of A Star is Born, starring Lady Gaga ad Bradley Cooper (also directed by Cooper in a very strong first outing behind the camera), but fuck it, I cannot tell a lie: A Star is Born is a good movie.

While the film has its schmaltzy moments and its tired cliches (for example: a man thinks he knows what's best for female protege), A Star is Born is saved by it's authenticity and sincerity. The chemistry between Gaga and Cooper is undeniable and the film's depiction of the ravages of alcoholism is so real that it's painful to watch.

Cooper plays Jackson Maine, a country-rock legend who still sells out stadiums despite being somewhat washed up. Jackson is a drug addict and alcoholic who looks like he smells bad all the time. He has a handsome face hiding under gin blossoms and unkempt facial hair. He has a supportive, yet dysfunctional relationship with his manager and significantly older brother, Bobby (Sam Elliott Sam Elliott-ing here).

After stumbling into a drag bar looking for more booze after a show, Jackson meets Ally, who sings "La vie en rose", showing off her unbelievable pipes. The two have an immediate connection and spend the night bar-hopping and getting to know one another. Jackson believes Ally has raw talent (she writes her own songs and plays piano as well), but Ally has been told repeatedly that her nose is too big to truly make it in our looks-obsessed culture.

When Jackson invites her to a concert and brings her onstage to sing a song she wrote ("Shallow", which has been stuck in my head since seeing the movie), it's impossible not to get goosebumps. Ally is catapulted into fame and mentored by Jackson, who is now her lover as well. He even gives up drinking as two go on tour together and fall deeply in love.

But, alas, A Star is Born is a tragedy. Ally signs on with a music producer, Rez (Ravi Gavron, excellent in a truly insidious role as the villain), who convinces her to change her entire look and put out shallow pop music instead of the deeply felt country songs she had previously been working on. These changes lead Ally to perform on Saturday Night Live and receive multiple Grammy nominations. Meanwhile, Jackson is drinking again and even more out of control than before.

The climatic scene where Jackson humiliates himself and Ally as he stumbles in full blackout onto the stage when Ally accepts her Grammy is beyond painful to watch--not just because of how Jackson behaves, but because this is Ally's moment and Jackson makes it about himself in the worst way possible. He's even worse than a Kanye stage-bomb!

His relapse leads him to rehab and once he gets out, it seems that things are on the mend: Ally love and supports him no matter what, even to the point of canceling her European tour to spend time with him. But evil Rez gets in Jackson's head, telling him that he will ruin Ally's life and make her into a joke with his pathetic addiction. Jackson takes what Rez says to heart and, tragically, takes his own life in an attempt to release Ally from the burden of being married to a washed up, alcoholic loser. Of course, the audience knows that Ally loves him more than she loves her musical career and his final act was not one of love but one of desperation.

When I think about what my "triggers" are in movies, I find that things like animals getting hurt or people getting hurt don't bother me as much as depictions of suicide do. I was just watching a TV show episode the other day where a character kills themselves and even though the character is a little shit, I found myself whimpering "No, no, no" as he put a gun to his head. Suicide, to me, is so deeply tragic because the person committing suicide is almost never in their right mind, yet they are often convinced they are doing to right thing--ending their pain, protecting others from dealing with them, etc--and they end up leaving a trail of agony and sorrow in their wake because, of course, the people who love them would do literally anything to keep them from dying. And I'm not talking about people with situations like terminal cancer or extreme old age, where assisted-suicide is a way to imbue their death with dignity. Jackson's death is so tragic because we know that his fears of being a burden on Ally are misplaced and that by killing himself he has now added to her pain instead of sparing her from it.

A Star is Born handles the subject of addiction very well: the cyclical nature of sobriety and relapse; the intense shame the addict often feels; the helplessness and anger of those who love them; and even the good times drugs and booze are connected with. I appreciated that the film elevated addiction above a simplistic after school special portrayal.

Although the film falls prey to some cliched and sexist tropes, I still felt that the genuine emotion and authenticity outweighed the cliche and maudlin drama. I left the film feeling satisfied, as if I had eaten a large, well-balanced meal and I'm still thinking about the movie a week later. If you are skeptical, I understand, and I advise you to give the film a chance.

Grade: B+

Random Stuff I Haven't Reviewed Yet!

TV, movies: Big Mouth, Operation Finale, Halloween

The title of the entry says it all: here are some movies and shows I haven't reviewed yet.

***

Big Mouth

Big Mouth is such an excellent, top-shelf show, it boggles the mind that some people have yet to watch it and, further, don't want to watch it because it's animated. I kind of get it because I don't watch animated movies for the most part (my knee-jerk reaction to them is "that's a kid's movie"). But trust me, Big Mouth is different. Created by Nick Kroll (and others), it's a show about the horrors and wonders of puberty. Kroll voices about half the characters on the show, with John Mulaney, Jessi Klein, Jenny Slate, Jordan Peele, Jason Mantzoukas, and Maya Rudolph rounding out an excellent voice cast.

Kroll voices Nick Birch and Mulaney voices Andrew Glouberman--7th graders and best friends going through puberty at different rates. Andrew is constantly bothered by the "Hormone Monster" (also voiced by Kroll), who pesters him to jerk off pretty much all the damn time. Meanwhile, Jessie (Jessi Klein), Andrew and Nick's friend, is bothered by the Hormone Monstress (Rudolph, doing hilarious voice work here), a female version of the Monster who insists that Jessie yell at her mom, steal lipstick, and cry a lot. Are you thinking that this show sounds bizarre and annoying at best, wildly inappropriate at worst? Well, you are super wrong because it is a GODDAMN GOOD show. And very sex positive. There's an episode dedicated to consent! And another dedicated to Planned Parenthood!

Big Mouth is easily one of the best comedies I've seen in a long time. It's stupidly raunchy, but in a nice way, which is the sweet spot for my sense of humor (case in point: The 40 Year Old Virgin remains one of my favorite comedies). It's also absurd, yet strikingly accurate in its depiction of the turmoil of growing up. Do yourself a favor and watch at least a few episodes of this wonderful show. But not with your parents or your children, ok?

Grade: A+ 

***

Operation Finale

I saw this movie a long time ago, so forgive me if I'm fuzzy looking back on it. Directed by Chris Weitz (yeah, the same dude who directed the original American Pie movie), Operation Finale is based on the true story of a group Israeli spies who, in 1960, tracked down, captured, and brought to justice Adolf Eichmann--the "architect of the Holocaust" and high-ranking Nazi official who managed to escape justice by fleeing to Argentina after the war.

Operation Finale is a serviceable, if not particularly memorable, film with strong performances by Ben Kingsley as Eichmann and Oscar Isaac as Peter Malkin, the leader of the group of Mossad spies who are tasked with bringing Eichmann to justice. There's much more talk than action as Malkin tries to get to know and earn the trust of Eichmann in order to get him to sign a confession to be transported back to Israel to face trial.

I'd recommend this movie to WWII buffs and anyone who loves a good Nazi-brought-to-justice movie, but otherwise it's not a must-see. Kingsley is, unsurprisingly, excellent as the sly, unrepentant Eichmann who is cruel even in his most helpless moments. And Eichmann's trial resulted in one of the most seminal books on WWII and the nature of human cruelty: Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil by Hannah Arendt.

Grade: B-

***

Halloween (2018)

Most things stay dead when they die. But of course, that's not true for Michael Myers, the masked killer who made his debut in John Carpenter's classic 1978 horror film. There's a reason the actors who play Myers are billed as "The Shape" in the credits of Halloween (2018): Myers is no simple serial killer. He is the Bogeyman. And in this reboot of the classic film, directed by (of all people) David Gordon Green, Myers is both a legitimate threat and also a symbol of trauma that refuses to die.

I'll say it right out the gate: Halloween (2018) is not that great of a movie. It takes everything excellent about the original film and...copies it. The tropes and cliches are reliably revisited, including the "babysitter-in-peril" and the "sexually-active-teens-are-doomed", and in some cases scenes from the original are essentially re-shot with a few twists to keep it fresh. Jamie Lee Curtis is back as the haunted Laurie Strode. Laurie is the world's most badass grandma who has been preparing for Michael Myers' inevitable return, much to the chagrin of her daughter, Karen (Judy Greer, always a delight). Karen is angry that she was raised to be paranoid and constantly afraid by her mother who lives in what is basically a compound, filled with guns, ammo, and a secret entrance to a basement. Karen's daughter and Laurie's granddaughter, Allyson (newcomer Andi Matichak), tries to bridge the gap between the two stubborn women while also navigating the social bullshit of high school and boyfriends.

When Myers breaks out of police custody on (of course) Halloween--specifically on (OF COURSE) the 40th anniversary of the events of 1978, Laurie is prepared. But are Karen and Allyson? Myers is not just out to get Laurie: he makes multiple pit stops to kill many unsuspecting people and to give the audience a bit of a thrill before the final showdown at Laurie's fortress of a house. But when he gets there, he not only faces his old nemesis...but three badass generations of Strode women. Points for feminism, I guess.

Halloween (2018) is a decent horror flick, but it's nothing special. Fans of the Halloween canon (?) will for sure love it and folks who are hard-core horror fanatics will likely also want to check it out if for no other reason than to see Jamie Lee Curtis kick ass. But other moviegoers are free to give this one and pass and focus on more original, scarier movies out this Halloween season.

Grade: C+ 

Hands Up, Don't Shoot

Movies: The Hate U Give

The Hate U Give, directed by George Tillman Jr. and based on the novel (which I haven't read yet) by Angie Thomas, was everything I expected it to be and much, much more. I expected a difficult, yet empowering film about a young, black girl's experience witnessing the death of her friend at the hands of a trigger-happy cop. And yes, that is the moment the plot centers upon. But The Hate U Give  (which is the first half of what Tupac said "thug life" stands for: The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everyone) also shows details and intersectionalities of black lives and black families that I had never considered before.

Though PG-13, The Hate U Give is very tense and a very difficult film overall. Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg, a revelation in this star-making role) is a high school student who lives in a black neighborhood but goes to a private school with (mostly) white kids. She constantly code switches between "Starr Version One": a girl who is comfortable with her blackness and loves her supportive black community, and "Starr Version Two": a girl who downplays her blackness to avoid attention at her high school. Starr V2 is friends with a white girl who constantly drops microaggressions around her and dates a white boy (KJ Apa, who plays Archie on Riverdale and is full-blown Archie in this movie as well: sweet and oblivious) who says "I don't see color". One of these two white kids actually ends up listening to Starr and learning, while the other sinks deeper into their own racism until Starr is forced to cut them loose.

Starr has a pretty good model for code-switching in her parents. Her mom, Lisa (a luminous Regina Hall), is more concerned about her children's safety than social activism while her dad, Maverick (Russell Hornsby) gives his preteen children the Black Panther's 10-point program and expects his kids to memorize it (there WILL be a quiz). Maverick also spent time in prison for selling drugs, after he willingly took the fall for neighborhood drug lord King (Anthony Mackie, quietly menacing). This is where The Hate U Give truly reveals what a brave and layered film it is: it points out that there is violence and oppression within the black community as well as outside of it. The film is deft and unflinching in its handling of the hard truth that sometimes people who live in difficult circumstances turn to illegal means to make money and while that is wrong and can destroy an otherwise loving community from within, there are reasons--logical reasons--behind it. The Hate U Give walks the most delicate tightrope of not excusing illegal and violent behavior while also not turning it into a cliche or an excuse to be racist against people who engage in such behavior.

The central moment of The Hate U Give is devastating. Starr has recently reconnected with Khalil (Algee Smith)--a childhood friend she used to play Harry Potter with--at a party. He gives her a ride home and they share a kiss even though Starr is hesitant because she's dating Archie Chris. As they drive, police lights flash at them and they're pulled over because Khalil failed to signal a lane change. Starr, having received "the talk" from her father at a young age, immediately puts her hands on the dashboard and complies with the cop's instructions, but Khalil does not--he argues with the cop and, crucially, when told to keep his hands where the cop can see them, reaches into the car for a hairbrush, and is fatally shot.

It's important, I think, that Khalil's choice to reach into the car is ambiguous enough that you can understand on some level why a cop--trigger-happy and maybe genuinely nervous--would shoot him. There's an incredibly important scene later on where Starr discusses what happened with her Uncle Carlos (Common, who is fucking amazing in everything) who just happens to *also* be a cop. Carlos explains from the cop's point of view what might have been going through his head: Was it dark? Could he see clearly? Why was Khalil arguing with the cop in the first place? Did he have something to hide? Again, The Hate U Give walks a tightrope here: ultimately, we know the cop could have deescalated the situation but instead chose to shoot first, ask questions later, most likely because Khalil was a young black man. If Khalil had been white, he could have done the exact same thing and lived--that's racism. But also this cop wasn't presented as a sociopathic villain who took delight in killing someone. Also a good choice for the film: there is very little focus on the cop (#115 as Starr calls him, since she takes note of his badge) at all in the film. The Hate U Give isn't about whether Khalil "deserved" to be shot (he didn't), it's about Starr's harsh, yet beautiful coming of age where she realizes she needs to use her voice to give Khalil's death some meaning and to fight the racism that she encounters daily and has been turning away from as a coping mechanism.

The Hate U Give is brutally honest in it's insistence that there are no easy answers. "The world is complex" says Uncle Carlos. He's right. "It doesn't seem very complex to me" retorts Starr. She's also right. The world is both black and white and also gray. Racism can't be solved JUST with riots and protests or JUST with trials and rule of law. It needs both. Both passion and anger, as well as boring policy changes and rules. Racism must be solved quickly--and slowly. White people need to understand racism. And so do black people. All of these supposed contradictions turn out not to be contradictions at all, but sort of a fucked up knot that we need everyone's help to solve.

Throughout the film, Starr has multiple conversations about "The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everyone". Khalil tells her it means is that children who experience racism and hate grow up to go "wild" and violent. Starr's dad asks her what she thinks it means, and she says "I think it's more than just the youth". Basically, the hate black people of all ages experience at the hands of white people fucks everybody. But at the end of the movie, with both gang violence and police brutality looking down the barrel of a gun at Starr and her family, she realizes "It's the hate we give". The hate that comes from outside of communities and from within communities that harms everyone. I didn't see this as a cop-out (pun not intended) or a "but black violence too!!!" type of whataboutism, but rather a universal message that hate from one human to another always comes back to bite everyone in the ass. It's not a one-way street. It's not a two-way street. It's one of those fucking confusing roundabouts in DC where you can't tell where to turn off and if you pick the wrong street it's an extra 20 minutes added to your trip.

I recommend The Hate U Give to anyone and everyone. From my perspective as a liberal white person who strives to be good and not be racist, I can speak to people like me: you will be uncomfortable. You will be confronted with racism and prejudice inside yourself you didn't know existed. Your comfortable white, liberal attitudes about who is wrong and who is right might be challenged and, if you're willing to lean in to the discomfort, you just might emerge with a deeper sense of these issues and have more tools in your arsenal as an ally. The Hate U Give goes beyond pat storytelling with easy answers and clear heroes and villains and victims. Because black people aren't characters on a screen to help white people learn to be better. They're human beings who are being killed for no reason at all and it's wrong to look away or pretend otherwise.

Grade: A-

Mandy; or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Nic Cage Going Apesh*t

Movies: Mandy

Panos Cosmatos' film Mandy is definitely heavier on style than substance, but if you're ok buckling in for a trippy, ultra-violent ride, it might not matter.

Mandy takes place in 1983 in the Pacific Northwest and is heavily influenced by the imagery and music of that decade. Imagine watching Stranger Things while on a really bad LSD trip and you get the picture. The plot is pretty simple: Nic Cage is Red Miller, a blue collar man living with his artist girlfriend, Mandy Bloom (Andrea Risenborough--who you might recognize from the devastating Black Mirror episode "Crocodile") in a cozy home in the woods. A few intimate scenes--pillow talk about favorite planets--help the audience invest in Red and Mandy's relationship before Mandy catches the eye of a creepy cult leader, Jeremiah (Linus Roache), and all hell breaks loose.

*spoilers spoilers spoilers*

Before I saw this film, I thought Mandy would be *abducted* by the bad guys and Cage would go on a rampage to save her. But what actually happens is that this cult kills Mandy in a violent way and Cage goes on a revenge-fueled rampage. On the one hand, I was pissed by the "woman dies to further a man's story" trope. On the other hand, the gruesome, senseless death and the many gruesome deaths that follow contribute to the nihilism of the film, which I think was the director's intent. It also gives Nic Cage all the more reason to go apeshit.

*end spoilers*

As good as Risenborough is, this really is Nic Cage's film. He finally found a movie worthy of his signature epic freakouts. There's a scene where he uncovers a bottle of vodka hidden in a bathroom drawer and oscillates between chugging it, pouring it on his wounds, and screaming incoherently. He does this while wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt and tighty-whities--the scene is Nic Cage distilled to his very essence.

Some reviews have mentioned the "occult horror" feel of the film, and I agree. I wish the director had spent more time exploring the cult that goes after Mandy because there are a lot of unanswered questions there. But no doubt that whatever this cult's deal is, its members are influenced by something malevolent and otherworldly.

There's not much else to say about Mandy except that it's not going to be for everyone. The violence is gruesome, but in a cartoonish, Quentin Tarantino-esque way (minus the snappy banter). If you're sensitive to loud noise and garish lights, you might want to sit this one out or watch it on the small screen--it's quite intense in the theatre. But I think most people who make an effort to see Mandy probably understand what they're in for: an artistically trashy, vigilante-justice mindfuck of a film where Nic Cage screams into the void and engages in chainsaw-to-chainsaw combat. Oh, and there's randomly a tiger.

Grade: B+

Oh hai 

Three Martini Playdate

Movies: A Simple Favor

When you think of two moms getting together so their kids can have a playdate, you probably don't imagine it takes place is a severely chic home with French ye-ye pop playing in the background and martinis so stiff they could impregnate you. But that's exactly the kind of playdate Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) finds herself on with new pal Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) in director Paul Feig's effervescent neo-noir satire A Simple Favor.

Kendrick plays to her "type" --a chipper, perfectionist single mom with a vlog where she demonstrates how to sneak veggies into food kids will eat and how to make the perfect first aid kit. The regular parents at her son's kindergarten (played by a sarcastic Greek chorus comprised of Andrew Rannells, Kelly McCormack, and Aparna Nancherla--all very underused in this movie) look at her with disdain. But then, Stephanie meets Emily--a femme fatale who blithely says "fuck" in front of her five year old son, wears men's suits tailored to perfection, and has a nude portrait of herself hanging in her kitchen (a kitchen she never cooks in--that's her husband's job).

Blake Lively as Emily Nelson makes this movie. She's reminiscent of Amy Dunne in Gone Girl only she's richer, sexier, meaner, everything-er. She's a PR director for a fashion mogul, Dennis Nylon (Rupert Friend in a great cameo role), and she's married to a sexy failed author (Henry Golding, last seen in Crazy Rich Asians). She seems to have it all. Then one day, she disappears. She calls Stephanie to ask a simple favor--can she pick up her son after school that day? Stephanie agrees...but when Emily fails to show up for multiple days after that (Emily's husband is in London) and won't pick up her phone, the noir part of the film kicks in like that third martini.



My biggest criticism of A Simple Favor is that it's all over the place--but that's also part of its charm. It's funny, zany, dark, scary, tense, ridiculous, over-the-top, and light all at once, keeping the audience totally off-kilter the entire time. Clearly, Feig is going for a send-up of Gone Girl/Mommy Murder Mystery books and films. You know--all those books with "girl" or "woman" in the title and the main character is ALWAYS an alcoholic with an unreliable memory. And he mostly succeeds. That said, the first half of the movie which focuses on the odd couple pairing of Kendrick's eager-beaver June Cleaver and Lively's nihilistic bad mommy is much better than the second half, where revelation after revelation and plot twist after plot twist happen so quickly that there's no time to react to anything before the next surprise is revealed. Apparently, the book the film is based on suffers from the same issue--everything is thrown at the wall to see what will stick. I wish Feig had been willing to cut out a plot twist or three and allow the revelations to happen more leisurely, privileging atmosphere over plot. But alas.

Despite the pacing issues, A Simple Favor is definitely fun. It also has a great soundtrack (a lot of Serge Gainsbourg), references to Diabolique, and passes the ol' Bechdel Test. So while it won't win any awards, I can recommend it without reservation. Just make sure to bring a flask filled with ice cold gin and a twist of lemon to the theatre.

Grade: B

Father's Worst Nightmare

Movies: Searching

There was/still is (?) a question on the dating site OkCupid which asks users "Do you Google your date before you go out with them?" and the answers you could choose from were "Yes. Knowledge is power!" and "No. Why spoil the mystery?"

Anyone who answers "no" is, in my opinion, a fool. Or someone who doesn't care about the possibility of BEING MURDERED on a date! Or...perhaps worse...going out with a libertarian by accident. If it happened to me (the libertarian part, not the being murdered part), it can happen to you!

Searching for people on the Internet is a modern day pastime. Give me someone with a unique first name and their profession and I can find them. Give me someone's twitter and instagram handle and I now know their political persuasion and the names of their pets. And if you think it's creepy that I search for people on The Net, again, I'm just trying to stay sexy and not get murdered.

The film Searching is the first feature-length film by Aneesh Chaganty. It's a film with a gimmick that manages not to be gimmicky. The gimmick is that the film is shot from the point-of-view of smartphones, laptops, hidden camera, and news cameras. It's similar to the 2014 horror film Unfriended but, in my opinion, much more tense. It works.

John Cho (of Harold and Kumar fame) plays David Kim. Michelle La plays his 16 year old daughter, Margot. The two are still grieving the loss of their wife and mother, Pam (Sara Sohn), who passed from cancer two years before the events of the movie. Most parents would see David and Margot as enviably close--but when Margot doesn't come home from a study group one night, David begins to delve into her social media and personal life to help a missing persons investigation led by Rosemary Vick (Debra Messing) and realizes that his daughter had a secret life he knew nothing about.

Searching is absolute catnip for people who love true crime podcasts and documentaries and for anyone who has ever stalked anyone else on the internet. There are some hilarious moments, such as when David asks Margot's schoolmate "what is a tumbler" when she mentions Margot posted a lot on Tumblr. There's also an inadvertent (?) moment of humor when David sees the combination of the eggplant emoji and the water spraying emoji on one of Margot's instagram posts and the music swells to denote "DANGER SOMEONE IS SPRUNG FOR YOUR DAUGHTER!!" These moments of levity are crucial since the majority of the film is so tense I would pause with my hand hovering over my popcorn for minutes at a time.

There are twists and turns aplenty, none of which I'll go into here, but for once I didn't spoil the movie for myself and I was legitimately caught off guard multiple times when the movie suggested one course of direction and then violently swerved in another.

John Cho is excellent as the distressed father who is facing the possibility of losing his daughter on top of the loss of his wife. As the days pass without word from his daughter, he passes through naiveté, to confusion, to dread, to rage, and to hopelessness. He veers from sobbing on the floor to beating the shit out of people he thinks might have something to do with his daughter's disappearance. Cho is all grown up from his days of playing the pot-smoking, overly-conscientious Harold Lee in the Harold and Kumar films and he has the forehead grooves and under-eye bags to prove it. And this isn't a slight against his looks--the actor looks lived in, a real "dad" in the sense that he is absolutely someone you feel a  sixteen year old girl would love fiercely...but also carefully keep secrets from.

Searching was a very pleasant surprise and may actually be the most purely entertaining film I've seen this year. I try to measure movies by both how "good" or "accomplished" they are, but also by how they make me feel in the moment. And while Searching may not be as "good" as some other movies that have come out this year, it definitely made me feel excited, tense, scared, delighted, and many other emotions as a watched a man uncover clues, one by one, about the secret online life of his daughter.

Grade: A-

Money Can't Buy Me Love

Movies: Crazy Rich Asians

I saw Jon M. Chu's Crazy Rich Asians with a friend who recently read the book and assured me "the book is better", so this review is not a referendum on the novel (which I haven't read). Just FYI.

There are two awesome things about Crazy Rich Asians. One is Awkwafina's performance as Peik Lin Goh, the main character's eccentric friend from college who steals the show. The other is the fact that this is the first Hollywood movie with an all-Asian cast since, I shit you not, 1993's The Joy Luck Club. And what a cast it is! Michelle Yeoh, Constance Wu...hell, even Ken Jeong has a memorable supporting role.

But to be honest, the movie itself is below this talented cast. It nearly buckles under the weight of its own pat sentimentality and rom-com cliches.

Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) is a an incredibly successful woman: an economics professor, she is the youngest faculty member at NYU. She has a close relationship with her mom, who raised her on her own. She also has a ridic hot boyfriend, Nick Young (Henry Golding) who has just asked her to travel with him to Singapore to attend his best friend's wedding. But what Rachel finds out as she and Nick are led to their private suite on the transatlantic flight is that Nick's family is rich...crazy rich.

No, like, you don't get it. CRAZY RICH. Like, these people wipe their asses with 20 dollars bills. And Nick is the golden son: heir to his family's fortune and essentially royalty in Singapore.

You might ask yourself, "wow, isn't that kind of shitty for Nick not to tell Rachel this? Like, possibly a relationship-ending offense?" and you'd be right! But then we wouldn't have the movie, right? And also, we wouldn't be able to enjoy the mildly jolty ride towards the obvious and not very realistic conclusion that love is more important than money.

Rachel has every right to be a little mad that Nick didn't tell her the reality of his family ahead of time, mainly because his mother hates her right off the bat. Michelle Yeoh is awesome as Nick's classy, cold mother who "would do anything for her son" as long as she gets to control his life. Eleanor Young is pissed that Nick has spent so much time in the States when he's promised to move back and learn the family business. Now that he's fallen in love with a scrappy Chinese-American, she fears (rightfully) that he might never move back.

Rachel also gets guff from Nick's ex, Amanda, and some miscellaneous cousins who call her a gold-digging bitch...even though she didn't even know about Nick's family's wealth. Ugh, money really does ruin everything, doesn't it?

There are some nice family members too--Cousin Oliver who is the gay "rainbow sheep of the family", Cousin Astrid whose wealth and beauty doesn't stop her husband from cheating on her, and many others, but the film doesn't really give us time to get to know these interesting characters--instead, it gives us a makeover sequence, a bachelorette/bachelor party sequence, and the actual wedding scene which, ugh, reminded me why I don't like weddings.

I really did not like the barrage of romantic comedy tropes here. The overwhelming soundtrack that tells you exactly how to feel with its swelling violins. The groomsman who tells the groom that he hopes his bride won't "take his balls" (UGH). There's even a AIRPLANE PROPOSAL. A proposal. That takes place. On an airplane. It's the biggest cliche of all rom-com cliches, and it's done without a hint of irony.

Also irony-free is the materialism porn in the movie. Look, I get that the film is called Crazy Rich Asians, but the movie just does not let up with the mansion porn and designer clothes porn and that wedding-industrial complex porn...holy shit. And it would have been ok if the plot itself had been a little meatier, but it wasn't. What's more, the film suggests that as long as one's heart is in the right place, wealth doesn't matter. But I don't agree--the level of wealth presented in the film is...well, it's inherently unethical, and there's not even a small attempt to pay lip service to the fact that many people in China live in outrageous poverty. Here's a story about people who live in "Coffin Homes" in Hong Kong.

I really struggled with this movie because I wanted to like it so bad, but it was so cliched and shallow. From what my friend told me, the book is far less cliched (no airplane proposal, for example) and spends more time with the individual family members, thus giving more depth and context to this insanely wealthy family. Crazy Rich Asians has been getting really good reviews and I'm glad that a Hollywood film with an Asian cast is making bank. If you love romantic comedies, by all means please check this film out. But from what I've heard, it sounds like the book is miles better than the film.

Grade: C+ 

Undercover Brother

Movies: BlackKklansman

Ok, first of all I have to confess that I have not seen as many Spike Lee films as I should have. A million years ago, I watched Do The Right Thing and I am way overdue for a re-watch. I saw Bamboozled (super underrated, btw) in college and Inside Man randomly with my parents. And of course, I saw BlackKklansman which I'm about the review here. So I feel like I want to make some assumptions about Spike Lee's work but can't because I'm a Spike Lee novice and I need to remedy that.

Anyhoo. BlackKklansman is the true story of Ron Stallworth, the first Black police detective in Colorado Spring, Colorado. The year is 1972 (however, the events that inspired the movie actually took place in 1979), so the country is smack in the middle of the Black Power movement. Ron is hardly a radical, but when he goes undercover see Kwame Ture (previously Stokely Carmichael, who changed his name after traveling to Africa) speak at a rally, he finds himself very attracted to Ture's message of not playing nice with the white establishment.

A while later, Ron (played beautifully by John David Washington) sees an ad in the local newspaper for the Ku Klux Klan. He calls the line and pretends to be a racist white person. After some convincing, his boss allows him and his white colleague Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver, excellent as always) to infiltrate the local Klan. Ron will connect with them over the phone and Flip will play Ron for in-person visits with Klan members. Ultimately, this puts Ron in the path of none other than David Duke (Topher Grace, who looks disturbingly similar to young David Duke)--the "Grand Wizard" of the KKK himself.

BlackKklansman is surprisingly fun and funny for a story of horrific racism. Lee makes sure to mock the Klan for the bigoted fools they are and to show how Ron used their own ignorance and assumptions against them. For example, there's a great scene where Ron is talking to Duke on the phone and Duke says that he always knows when he's talking to a Black person because of their voices and, specifically, the way they pronounce "our". BlackKklansman should be noted as the second great film of the summer to use the concept of a "white voice" as a pivotal plot point. Lee walks a fine line between giving the audience plenty to laugh at while also reminding them that the KKK has and continues to commit acts of violence and brutality.

In fact, the greatest weakness of the film is that it is a bit on the nose in how it ties the racism of the 1970s to the racism of the past few years, with David Duke making pointed comments about hoping America will be restored to its previous "greatness" and Ron laughing at the idea of a guy like David Duke ever being elected president. Har har. That said, Lee's use of footage from the "Unite the Right" Rally in Charlottesville last summer and his dedication of the film to Heather Heyer still feels like a gut-punch. As much time as we spend laughing at the racist hicks in the film, we are forced to reckon with the fact that these same hicks are responsible for not just Heyer's murder, but the murder of thousands of Black people throughout the 20th century. There is a scene where an older gentleman describes the brutal castration and lynching of a developmentally disabled Black man in the 1920s who was accused of raping a white woman. The most disturbing part of this scene is knowing that this same violence still happens today and that we're NOT better than or beyond the racist brutality of post-Civil War America, or 1920s America, or 1960s America. Basically, different decade, same bullshit.

BlackKklansman also wades into some discussion about whether Black people can disrupt racism from within racist systems. Ron's girlfriend, Patrice, is the head of the black student union and believes that the police are inherently racist. Ron disagrees and argues that a Black cop could change things from the inside. The best part of Patrice and Ron's ongoing discussion? The fact that it isn't resolved by the end of the film--the two continue to disagree (respectfully) until the end. I liked that because there was no easy answer then and there is no easy answer today.

Although I liked Do The Right Thing and Bamboozled more, BlackKklansman is worth the watch. It isn't perfect, but it's thought-provoking and entertaining. It's not particularly interested in exploring the inherent humanity of racists and bigots, the way some movies that tread similar ground do, and while I love me some deep explorations of the nature of evil, it's kind of a relief to just make fun of these assholes for once.

Grade: B-

How White of You

Movies: Sorry to Bother You

Ok, first of all, if you haven't seen Sorry to Bother You yet, stop reading this and go see it. It's better going in knowing NOTHING. For once in my dumb life I *didn't* read a billion reviews before seeing the movie and I was very happy I got to have the full experience.

***

***

***

Ok, now that you saw it--- HOLY SHIT, RIGHT?

Lakeith Stanfield, best known for his role as Darius in Atlanta and also that black dude at the party who flips out when Daniel Kaluuya takes his picture in Get Out, plays Cassius Green--a man barely scraping by in Oakland, CA and living in his uncle's (played by Terry Crews, with hair!) garage. He takes a job as a telemarketer in a soul-crushing cubicle farm and a coworker (Danny Glover) encourages him to use his "white voice" to do better at his job. Cassius' white voice isn't his own voice but "whiter", it's REALLY fucking white--David Cross supplies the voice and you know how white David Cross sounds.

Cassius' success gets the attention of management who promote him to "Power Caller", which comes with a pay raise so huge he can't refuse, as well as a private golden elevator to a penthouse at the top of the building, filled with beautiful people selling...well....they're not exactly selling discount cruise vacations to elderly people up there.

Right as Cassius' star is rising, his coworkers, lead by Squeeze (Steven Yeun), are staging a strike in order to get paid better and receive benefits. Cassius' artist girlfriend, Detroit (the always wonderful Tessa Thompson) joins their ranks while also enjoying the benefits of Cassius' newfound wealth--but their relationship is hanging by a thread because Cassius is changing by hanging out with all those power callers and using his white voice all the time. MONEY MAKES PEOPLE WORSE. I'm not being sarcastic. It just does. How many kind and authentic rich people do you know? The only rich people I know are entitled dipshits who don't believe white privilege exists.

(Yes, I know. Wealth is relative. I'm probably in the top 1% if you compare me to the rest of the entire world. I, too, am an entitled dipshit).

So anyway, the shiz really hits the fan when Cassius is invited to a party at the home of a guy named Steve Lift (played PERFECTLY by Armie Hammer) who created a company called "Worry Free" where workers sign lifetime contracts to live, work, and eat in the same building without being paid because their living expenses are covered. Yes, it's literally slave labor--though, notably, all the ads and commercials for "Worry Free" feature white people.

So Cassius goes to Steve's mansion and is forced to perform a rap song for a group of drunk and high white people ("boring cunts" as Steve refers to them) but since Cassius can't rap, he just repeats the phrase "n*gger shit n*gger shit n*gger shit" over and over to a beat and it's a hit. The white people yell it right back to him.

The whole party scene was absolutely bonkers and hilarious--reminded me of Django Unchained where they go to that debauched party at Calvin Candy's house in New Orleans.

But then, right as Steve requests a private meeting with Cassius to talk about a project that he'd be a fool to turn down, Cassius accidentally discovers what Steve is REALLY up to and...man. To say the movie takes a sharp left turn isn't accurate--the movie launches into a different plane of existence.

And that's where I'll stop with the plot synopsis. If you read all this and haven't seen the movie--GO SEE IT.

Sorry to Bother You, which is directed by rapper Boots Riley, reminded me of a lot of films that touch on similar issues. The one movie it really felt kin to is Spike Lee's Bamboozled about a black man (Damon Wayans) who creates a TV show that incorporates blackface and minstrelsy as a "fuck you" to his white boss, but it backfires and becomes a hit--netting him power and money even though he created an insanely racist product. Similarly, STBY is about what happens when a black individual achieves success by fitting in to white culture and in that process ends up fucking over other black people (and poorer people).

It also reminded me of Django Unchained with its moments of crazed debauchery and pitch black humor and, of course, Get Out, especially in the last third. Despite all these comparisons, STBY never felt derivative--it is fully its own weird and wonderful thing. Even if all the ideas didn't come together seamlessly, it is so unique and bizarre that its minor flaws are 100% forgiven.

Sorry to Bother You is many things: an Oakland fantasia, a pro-union comedy, a perverse exploration of white privilege. But it is also one thing: a movie that must be seen to be believed.

Grade: A

Frozen in Terror

TV shows, books: The Terror

Welcome to another book/show twofer review! Today I'll be reviewing Dan Simmons' epic work of historical horror The Terror as well as the AMC television show based on that book.

I first read The Terror in graduate school and though it took about 2 months to read (the novel is 700 or 900 pages depending on whether you're reading a trade or mass-market paperback) I was enraptured by it. The novel blends historical reality with fictional horror. It takes a real-life event: the John Franklin expedition of 1845 to find the Northwest Passage, which ended in the deaths of all the men from starvation and scurvy and adds a supernatural element: a monster hunting the men on the ice.

The novel has multiple perspectives: John Franklin himself, a man of great hubris who ignores the advice of his fellow Captains and Lieutenants to modify their course when it becomes clear that the ships on the expedition, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, will soon be stuck in pack ice. Additionally, we see the perspectives of Francis Crozier, Franklin's second in command and the protagonist of the story, Dr. Harry Goodsir, and various men on the ships.

What truly makes this story unique is how seamlessly Simmons weaves together the real life horrors of starvation, severe illness, the unforgiving landscape of hellish cold, cannibalism, and murder with the supernatural horrors of the mysterious "Thing on the ice" that is introduced in the first 20 pages and is not fully explained until the final 50 pages, yet keeps the reader in suspense the entire time.

The book was adapted into a ten episode series for AMC starring Ciaran Hinds as Franklin, Jared Harris (best known as one of my favorite characters from Mad Men, Lane Pryce) as Crozier, and Tobias Menzies (whom Outlander aficionados will recognize as Frank Randall/Black Jack Randall) as the third in command, James Fitzjames.

The order in which I watched/read the show/book is this:
Read The Terror in grad school
Watched the show a few months ago
Re-read the book
Re-watched the show (with closed captions)

And I'm glad I read the book and watched the show twice because the show is damned hard to follow unless you have closed captions, already know the story, or both. Think: dozens of British actors who all look the same when bundled up, have similar character names (sooooo many Johns, James, and Thomases), and all have thick accents (the first time I watched the show, I thought they were all saying "left-tenant" instead of "Lieutenant"). By re-reading the book and then immediately re-watching the show, I picked up on many things I missed in the first viewing.

This might sound like a lot of work to you so if you're at all curious, my recommendation is to watch the TV show with closed captions so you can at least follow who's who. If you're looking for a spooky good time though, the book delivers more tension and creepiness than the show does.

The show's strength lies in strong performances by Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies, and Adam Nagaitis who plays Cornelius Hickey, a scheming man who tries to undermine his superiors. Additionally, Nive Nielsen, a singer-songwriter and budding actress who is Inuk, plays Lady Silence, an "Esquimaux" woman who has a spiritual connection to the monster on the ice. Appropriately, they cast a Native person to play a Native character and she does an amazing job elevating the character above any kind of "noble savage" stereotype. In fact, Lady Silence has the power to both save and kill the white men aboard the ships. Although she is one of the few female characters on the show (which makes sense, given the time and place it is set), she is fully fleshed out and three-dimensional. The story wouldn't make sense without her.

The book and tv show are pretty niche. If you love sea-faring stories, you'll love it. If you like historical fiction and/or horror, you'll love it. Otherwise, you might find both the book and show long and tedious. Given the fact that the novel is one of the few books I've ever re-read, you can see where I land.

Grades:
The Terror, the book: A+
The Terror, the show: A

Neighborly

Movies: Won't You Be My Neighbor?

There's a lot to unpack regarding my deep, deep feelings about the Fred Rogers documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor?

My parents tell a story about how when I was a little girl, I once called Mr. Rogers a "screwball". Very cute, but obviously 5-year-old Jenny couldn't possibly know what "screwball" meant so I clearly picked it up from an adult or adults in my life. If I can lovingly and gently throw my parents under the bus for a minute, what I think I picked up on was the fact that Mr. Rogers was very pro-feelings and I was raised in about a 50-60% pro-feelings household. Meaning, I was allowed to feel feelings, but I was encouraged to go to my room to cry.

This isn't to criticize my parents or how they raised me because I think they did a pretty good job, and I have the money to pay for a therapist to sort out the stuff they goofed on. But I do think that I was a sensitive child and I now wish I could have heard Fred Rogers' message a little more clearly because I think it would have helped me. As a 32 year old adult, I'm not ashamed to say that I need to feel special and I need to feel loved. I have the strength to reach out and ask for these things from the people who are able to give them to me: family, friends, and even strangers I pay. I get monthly massages because I want to be touched. I meet with a therapist because I need to be heard. I'm often single, so I can't always rely on a partner for touch and for an ear to listen, so I cultivate many, many friends whom I also try to give affection and love to since these things work better as a two-way street. I've grown, I think, into a woman who loves deeply, despite my feelings of anger and fear at the world and what this country has become.


To admit that we need love, we need validation, we need to feel special is to admit that we are human. And yet, think about how hard it is for many of us to admit these things. Think of all the ways feelings have been beaten out of us as we've grown older. This is especially true for men, I believe, but it's true for women as well. Women are constantly encouraged to not be honest about our feelings and needs in order to take up less space and time.

Fred Rogers, as Won't You Be My Neighbor? reveals, understood children in a way very few people were and are able to: he could get down to their level but never lose respect for them. The doc shows that Rogers addressed racism, assassination (specifically Bobby Kennedy's assassination), divorce, tragedy (the Challenger explosion, 9/11, etc) and perhaps the scariest issue of all: one's own personal feelings of inadequacy.

In a scene so deeply touching that I wept into my popcorn, Betty Aberlin (known as Lady Aberlin on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood) sings a duet with Daniel Striped Tiger.

Daniel sings:
Sometimes I wonder if I'm a mistake
I'm not like anyone else I know
When I'm asleep or even awake
Sometimes I get to dreaming that I'm just a fake
I'm not like anyone else

And Lady Aberlin sings:
I think you are just fine as you are
I really must tell you
I do like the person you are becoming
When you are sleeping
When you are waking
You're not a fake
You're no mistake
You are my friend

Think about that song: it addresses the deepest fear everyone has--that we are not enough. All the evils in the world can be traced back to this fear. That we're not worthy of love. And Fred Rogers, a man people mocked and called "gay" and "feminine" and other supposed insults (because being feminine or gay are so terrible, right?) had the guts to address it on camera.

At one point in the doc, one of Rogers' sons mentions it was hard growing up with a man some people believed was "the second Christ" and, I have to admit, it does seem like Fred Rogers was almost supernatural in his kindness and his gentle strength. But the film reveals that even Rogers struggled with feelings of inadequacy and--perhaps especially in his final years--the question of did it really make a difference? Honestly, I'm glad he passed away before he saw the current state our country is in.

That said, here's how I see it: events on a national and international scale, such as racial animosity, natural disasters, terrorism, political oppression, etc have always been part of life and always will be. Likewise, hardships on a personal level, such as imposter syndrome, addiction, and abuse will always be part of life. As "Christlike" as Fred Rogers was, he was not, in fact, Christ and he couldn't stop these things from happening. But what he could do is help children understand and cope with these hardships and painful feelings and experiences. So he did make a difference. He made an enormous difference.

A friend once told me that the work of activism is ongoing. Activism, in whatever form it takes is by nature never complete because the world will never be perfect and safe for everyone. To choose to do activism is to choose to do what you can knowing that the goal isn't perfection. The goal is to make life more bearable for both others and yourself. This is what Fred Rogers did and what he inspired in so many others.

I beg you--please see this movie and let it make you cry. As a kid I cried a lot and sometimes had to go to my room to do it, but as an adult I cried in public watching this movie. Tears are the natural response to the exhaustion of being a kind person in a world that wants to hurt the most vulnerable. Let Won't You Be My Neighbor? inspire you to keep working. Don't give up hope. Things are scary and infuriating right now, but this is actually not new--the problem of power and violence and hate has been around since people have been around and it will never go away. But instead of letting that thought break you, let it encourage you not to try to change the entire world, but to make all the difference in the world to the people you are closest too--tell a friend you love them. Offer a hug. Pay for someone's coffee. Tell a child that they are special and loved and respected. We owe Fred Rogers that much, considering how much he gave us.

Grade: A+