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.

Battleship

 Terrible. Boring plot, bad acting, and not enough explosions.

I cannot see how it has anything to do with Hasboro's game other than being boring and tedious.

OK there is a minor plot point about using grid coordinates, a battleship, and lots of boats sinking, but that does not make for "based on".

Utter tosh!! I saw it for free on Netflix and want my money back!

Turning Red

 Pixar hit it out of the park again.

Aside from Cars, and associated spin offs, do those guys ever miss the mark.

This was a fun and sensitive take on one of the messy times in a kids life and a parents too.

Raya and the Last Dragon (Drive In Version)

One of the local restaurants is offering Drive In movies to stay afloat. It is a brilliant idea they are in a giant business park with tons of parking. They charge $25 per car and almost everyone orders food.

H saw the advertisement and saw that they were screening Raya and the Last Dragon. K was up for it and I was feeling like a drive-in was within COVID safety limits. Besides who doesn't like going to the drive-in?

The set up was decent. They had a big blow-up screen and a digital project that made for a sharp enough picture. The sound was broadcast over the radio, so if your car's sound system was up to snuff you could get good sound sound. (We had the IONQ which, while not having the Dolby sub-woofer equipped 10 speaker sound system of the bus, provided a pleasant listening experience.) We did luck out in that we were not parked behind one of the many large SUVs in attendance. The IONQ would not have provided a clear view of the screen with one of them parked in front of it.

The movie itself was a solid Disney animated princess movie. It combined the best parts of the new princess tropes. Raya is strong, capable, and independent. The movie does a good job of staying true to Asian cultures. The animation is fantastic. The action scenes are excellent and on par with the ones in the live action Mulan. The comic relief is just right. The one thing that sets Raya apart from other animated princess movies is that it is not a musical. There are no big songs. It is much more like Brave in that respect.

My only criticism of the movie is that it does not spend enough time on character building. We only get very superficial glances at the main characters. There is more to explore between Raya and her frenemy. There is also a more to know about the last dragon.

The food was also excellent. I got some kicking chicken tacos and classically good tater tots with the perfect amount of grease. H got a gluten free chicken pizza with a "you would know it wasn't gluten" crust and the perfect amount of hot spice.

It was a perfect way to spend a COVID evening out.

Live Action Mulan

While I was really looking forward to seeing the new take on Mulan, I was not going to pay a $30 overcharge to watch a movie at home given the ridiculous abundance of distractions already on offer across the spectrum of video sources available to me. It just does not make sense. (I would pay $5-$10 to rent a movie.)

Now it is free for Disney+ subscribers and we got to watch it. We is not exactly correct... I was the only one who really watched it. H and K were not keen on the "action movie" vibe of the whole thing.

I will say that Mulan does take much more liberty with the original that the other live action adaptations.

From my point of view, the choices they made greatly improved upon the movie.

The animated version is fine and the songs are cute, but it is definitely a kids movies. The animated version does have a strong girl message behind it, but it also muddies it all up with a needless love story.

The live action movie is better for dropping the songs, the silly dragon, and the love story. What is left over is a powerful story of a young woman finding her voice and her power without the help of some man. This Mulan is strong, courageous and foolish. However, she has the wherewithal to own up to her mistakes and the confidence to choose the middle path.

The action sequences are spectacles. They are sumptuous. The whole movie is visually spectacular.

It is a shame that COVID stopped it from being seen on the big screen. In a theater, it would have been a much more thrilling experience.

Even at home on a 40+" TV with surround sound it was a fun way to spend a couple of hours.

Onward

I am glad that some studios are releasing content online during this time of crisis.

Onward was a Pixar quality movie. The animation was great. The characters were lively and well done. The story was fun and pretty standard family fare.

Was it great? No. I enjoyed it, but I will forget about it soon enough.

Frozen II

I think Frozen II has gotten a bad rap. Aside from the megahit song, it is every bit as good as the original.
In many ways I liked it better than the first. I liked that it gave both sisters equal time. I found that the original Frozen spent to much time on Anna. I also thought that Anna was way too one dimensional in the first movie.
The sequel gives both women more complex characters. I also liked the story better. It was sort of like a condensed and better done version of the 9 Star Wars movies. Evil grandfather destroys balance of nature in desperate grab for power. Grandchildren must rise above themselves to restore balance. Elsa and Rey have a lot of parallels. They both have immense power and both don't know their place in the world.

Rise of Skywalker

Skywalker saga ended neither with a bang nor a whimper. It just collected as much money as it could by upsetting the least amount of people.

Did I like the movie? It was fine.

It wasn't Endgame or the Dark Night Returns. Then again who could have expected that it would be?

Abrahms is a not a risk taker; he is a big tent guy. After the Solo "failure" and all the flack from The Last Jedi, Disney wasn't about to go bold either.

So, we end up with a movie that ignores its predecessor and sidelines one of its major characters. It provides the desperately needed redemption arc and the Reylo kiss. It is large on set pieces and action, but short on character.

At least for Rise of Skywalker, Abrahms didn't just try to remake Return of the Jedi.

I actually thought that have Palps be the true big bad was a pretty great way to tie everything together. I even thought that making Rey his granddaughter made a lot of sense thematically.

It makes more sense that a child of darkness can bring balance by embracing the light, then that a boy scout could do it by redeeming his corrupted father.

Rey chooses her own path in a way that none of the Skywalker ever could. Anikan was naive, afraid, and hungry - a slave boy who knew little but fear and poverty until he became powerful. Luke was just naive - a farm boy who didn't believe that people could truly be evil. Poor Ben never had a chance; he was trapped in the shadow of his grandfather and his uncle with all the privilege and expectations that came along with that legacy.

Like Anikan Rey knows poverty, but unlike Anikan she knows freedom. Like Luke she believes that people are good, but unlike Luke she knows that they are also cruel. Unlike poor Ben, she grows up a nobody, but unlike Kylo is a true heir to great power.

Unlike any of the Skywalkers, she finds her own path. Luke and Lea offer her some training, but most of what she knows of the Force she learns from studying of the ancient texts. She has no story to follow and must forge her own.

Sadly, her story, much like Anikan's in the Prequels, deserves a better telling.

Rise of the Skywalker is a fine spectacle and worth the price of admission. It ties a bow on one big bad while leaving open the possibility of sequels.

The Galaxy far, far away is still a mess. Rey's story is not resolved.

Maybe in five years, Disney will get some auteur to restart the story.

Wonderland

Bug has wanted to see this movie since it came out. The only hitch has been scheduling. We finally had to just make it work and do a mid-week matinee.
The movie was a good kids movie. The plot was predictable. The animation was colorful; the music was good. The characters were all conventional. The themes were also conventional.
I loved that the protagonist was a girl who was imaginative, smart, and a builder. June is definitely a STEAM queen and that is great.

Female Super Heros

Over the last few weeks I have had the great joy of watching super hero movies with my daughter. She doesn't love them as much as I do (I was a nerdy little white boy growing-up and needed some high power role models.) She does like the ones where the leads are strong, powerful women.
A couple of weeks ago we saw Wonder Woman on iTunes; yes it would have been better on the big screen, but one must make do. It was a great movie and part of what made it great was that Diana never had to stop being a woman to be super. Part of her power came from her empathy which in our culture is considered a more feminine quality.
Yesterday we saw Captain Marvel. It was not quite as great a movie as Wonder Woman - from a storytelling perspective. The whole memory loss thing, while doing what it needed to do, felt a little clumsy and the big surprise felt a little forced. However, it provided a whole range of strong women. Carol Danvers is a bit more of a hard ass than Diana. She clearly didn't grow up surrounded by love and encouragement. She definitely embodies the higher, faster, stronger ethos of the more typically male super hero crowd. Even better than Carol Danvers, however, is her best friend Maria Rambeau. Maria is emotional, caring, and a badass pilot without needing any super powers. The fact that she is African American and a single mother make her even more amazing.
It is a great thing that as a culture we are producing more complex and amazing woman to inspire our children.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2

The Guardians of the Galaxy are still the funniest of the Marvel heroes, but this one was a step backwards for the franchise. Dramatically, it was great. I loved the theme of family that tied the plot together. The Guardians are more of a family by common bond than by blood. They are a messed up family.... The fact that the true blood bonds that should bind the different members of the crew are toxic and do not bind provides a poignant counterpoint to the strength of their bond. What is lacking is the humor. The movie comes close to taking itself seriously without stepping over the line. It comes awfully close though. I was glad to see Thor taking up the silly in Ragnorock.

Wonder

Wonder was a soppy feel good story. It had all the expected tropes. The dying dog, the helicopter Mom, the angsty and overlooked teenage sibling, young love, troubled friendships, and a child of exceptional strength. It was well made and well played.
I don't think breaking it up into character-centric sections added anything to the movie. It would have worked just as well using a linear narrative. In someways, the side narratives detracted from the whole. I got that the sister felt forgotten without needing her to have a whole section of the movie. I didn't care that much about the sister's friend falling apart. Neither piece enhanced the central story which likely didn't really have enough to warrant a feature film. All in all, I thought the movie could have been a great after school special.
Maybe breaking it up into a "peak TV" prestige series would have allowed more room for side narratives to have more weight. The sister's struggle with fitting into a new school where she isn't defined by her brother and her friends have seeming cast her aside has plenty of meat for an hour or two of TV. The lost friend's home problems and eventual reunion also has some meat. I'm sure the bully has a back story that could fill an hour of TV.
Wonder is worth renting, but not paying full price. Read the book instead; it is more bang for your buck.

Ferdinand

I see too many kids movies....
Ferdinand was pleasant and filled with good kid messages. It had enough, barely, to make it survivable for adults. It is definitely not a classic of the likes of Kubo or Frozen, but if your kid wants to see it, there is no reason to avoid it - except the crazy ticket prices.....

The Arrival

The Arrival is one of the smartest movies I've seen in a long time.
Amy Adams is terrific. Her character is enigmatic. It is clear that she has suffered some trauma at the beginning of the movie and you think that informs her character's actions through out. Is she going mad from grief, or mad from spending too much time working on with the aliens, or just cracking under the pressure. The twist at the end is brilliant and makes her even more courageous.
The plotting is well timed. The plot itself is perfect for the age of anxiety in which we live; where there are nations that can end life on earth out of fear or belligerence.
Do we really need an externally forced existential crisis to bring us to our senses? I hope not.