High School Musical: The Musical - Middle School Edition

 K decided to do the middle school musical this year and got a role in the dance troop as a jock.

She did a ton of work. The rehearsals started in January. The two weeks before the show it was rehearsal everyday.

I haven’t been to a middle school musical - ever. I’m not even sure if middle school age boys can sing. I don’t even like musicals or the High School Musical movies.

To say I had low expectations would be a stretch. However, I knew K was proud of the work she put in, so I was definitely going to support her by seeing the show.

I was one of the very few people in the packed auditorium wearing a mask. I certainly didn’t want to be sharing unfiltered air with a couple hundred people while a new highly contagious variant of COVID is running rampant.

The show itself was very entertaining. The kids did a great job with all the songs and the dance numbers. The principal actors were all good too. Personally, I thought the supporting actors were better than the leads.

It amazed me how much work and effort everyone put into the show. I cannot imagine how hard it is to herd that many cats and end up with something so good.

My hat goes off to all of the kids and staff who put the show together. Next year I will have much higher expectations.

Marvel Disney+ Shows

 Sitting here glancing through the list of posts and getting ready to tee up Moon Night, it strikes me that I have not written a thing about the exceptional work that Marvel has put out on Disney +.

I thought the Marvel shows on Netflix were mostly excellent if a little too mature for Disney, so it I was not surprised that I have really enjoyed all of the Disney+ shows.

Wandavision was a quirky, experimental exploration of grief and regret. The introduction of Monica Rambeau felt a little tossed in, but other than that it was a great exploration of Wanda and Vision. It definitely set up Wanda for big things in future Marvel projects.

Falcon and the Winter Soldier, while not innovative, was a solid action, spy thriller. It did not shy away from tough topics like PTSD or racism which was nice to see. The ending was a little too open ended for my tastes since it clearly was setting up more movies than another season.

Loki was just a blast. It managed to both set itself up for a season two and set up Marvel's future while just being a crazy romp.

Hawkeye was the least innovative of the crop, but showed that sticking to basics can be great. I loved that it allowed Clint some room to shine and allowed him to pass the torch while still just having an ending. The entire cast played off of each other so well. Clint and Kate as chalk and cheese. He the tired veteran who just wants to get home for Christmas and her the over eager newbie. Kate and Yellena also make a great pair. The scene in Kate's apartment was a classic.

I hope Moon Night is just as good.

The Adam Project

 Netflix knows how to make a fun B movie - even one where the plot uses the tired time travel trope.

The film was a joy to watch. The plot was snappy if a little unoriginal. The dialog was funny when it needed to be and corny, but not too corny, when appropriate.

The thing I liked most about it was the way the Adams play off of each other. Ryan Reynolds is great when he is riffing on himself.

The bits with Jenifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo are touching and a little funny.

Beyond Skyline

 Skyline was kind of fun in a terrible way. This was definitely beyond that amount of terrible...

The Punisher bashes alien robots powered by human brains and reconnects with his son.

At least there were some good fight scenes at the end.

Geostorm

 Less exciting than a few rounds of Wordstack with adverts.

I was kind of hoping the storm would come....

Stowaway

 Netflix must pay loads of cash to get big talents to do small projects.

Stowaway wasn't a bad movie; it wasn't good enough for the talent.

Pretty standard plot; pretty meh special effects; pretty predictable ending; pretty flat writing.

I knew from the beginning that not everyone would make it and I knew who was going to be the one to accept the sacrifice.

Anna Kendrick did a great job being Anna Kendrick. It would have been nice to have her sing a little though.

Daniel Dea Kim and Tony Collet did a great job being tense and pensive.

Cloverfield Paradox

 The real paradox is why they keep making Cloverfield movies.....

The first one was fine as far as found footage Kaju movies go.

The second one, while for the life of me I cannot see the tie in, was actually pretty good. It really should not be a Cloverfield movie.

This last one was just pants. There are some touching moments and sparks of good acting, but they get lost in the derivative plot, poor writing, and underwhelming set pieces.

At least this one had a giant monster...

Maybe they will make one more to explain how all the Cloverfields tie together; sadly it will probably be pants.