Tangled, 22 May 2021, streamed via Disney+
I have probably mentioned this several times before, but after the salute to stranger danger that is Sleeping Beauty, this version of Rapunzel is refreshing. (I say this as someone who encouraged her toddler niece to run around hitting people with a toy frying pan.) I don't care how handsome the dude is, you knock him out.
HOWEVER, I just read four different Rapunzel adaptations and I am frankly AGHAST that Tangled replaces "dude who's preggo wife really really wants a salad" with "king whose queen is having a difficult pregnancy and so they seek a drop of sunlight that has turned into a magic flower or something." The girl is named after lettuce, WTF. And Gothel keeps Rapunzel around because her hair is the key to eternal youth? Disney, you're trying too hard.
Rapunzel's daily tower tasks land way different after a year and change of quarantine. And your only company is a controlling, passive-aggressive parent? Ooooof.
And we have a rogue instead of a prince! Who doesn't misrepresent himself in order to get close to her! And is actually kind of a dick instead of charming!
And Rapunzel is NOT going to put up with any nonsense from this total stranger, no matter how dashing he may be, oh no. No, she is going to negotiate. OR ELSE. And she'll even save him if she has to.
The scene of Rapunzel absolutely losing it once she leaves the tower remains amazing.
The requisite romance is interesting--Flynn AKA Eugene reads as, like, five years older than Rapunzel. It makes sense that she'd develop a crush because she's never seen a man before (flashback to Aurora again, ugh). It's weird because she seems so naive, but the festival dance thing sort of gives us the shape of it, watching her drag everybody into the center. She's just...good at helping people be happy. Flynn AKA Eugene just, like, doesn't seem to know any happy people.
Anyway, RAPUNZEL CAN WAKE THE DEAD, GUYS.
A Quiet Place, 30 May 2021, Blu-ray via Redbox
There's really no way I'm going to step into a theatre to watch it, but now that the A Quiet Place Part II is out, I couldn't quell the desire to watch the first one again. (I think one time I suggested that A Quiet Place and Get Out would be interesting films to pair together--both narratives rely on dread pretty solidly.) THIS MOVIE IS SO GOOD. And it is a big deal they have an actual Deaf actor to play a Deaf character. (Looking at you, Sound of Metal.) And, like, ASL is a thing that kept this family alive.
It is terrifying watching this movie when you have a good sound system. And even knowing it's coming, the smash cut from the kid with the spaceship to, y'know, a world where that kid died because of that spaceship hurts. Also, bold move, killing off the tiny child in your first act. What's next, a dog?
Anyway, this movie is terrifying and even though I hate being scared I love this film.
A Quiet Place, 25 June 2021, Blu-ray
Yeah, I watched it again. My sister freaked out the entire time; it was great.
A Quiet Place Part II, 25 June 2021, AMC Tyler Galleria 16
So, like, we have further evidence that Lee and Evelyn are the only people with survival instincts within the continental United States and, quite likely, beyond. Even their children have no sense of no that will get me killed. Anyway, this was a nice bit of world-building--we got to see Day 1 and all the sequel stuff gave us some neato and/or terrifying tidbits. And Cillian Murphy is splendid as always. A+++ would watch again.
Trust Me, 27 June 2021, streamed via NCTE through Eventbrite
A documentary on information and misinformation, and WOW is it just as depressing as I expected. If this is something you've been keyed into, the documentary offers nothing surprising: The internet has allowed us to gather more information than ever possible before, but it also makes it difficult to verify the provenance of said information. Accessibility does not mean reliability--particularly when the best way to monetize the internet, as with many things, is to foster addiction and prompt circulation. Negative information tends to travel faster than anything else, and stories stick to our memories more than statistics do. And as the technology--algorithms, voice and image manipulation--becomes more familiar, the more likely that information might be tailored to specific purposes.
F9 The Fast Saga, 02 July 2021, Regal Riverside Plaza Stadium 16
Okay, so.
- Roman is the only one of our crew to realize they actually exist within the Matrix
- I salute the F/F team who, upon reading all the jokes about them going into space thought, Challenge accepted.
- "As long as we obey the laws of physics, we'll be fine" Tej says at one point and I legit lost it
- #JusticeForHan? Reply hazy, try again.
- Not every movie needs to pass the Bechdel test, but for two glorious minutes, this one did and I was pretty thrilled
- In my recent rewatch of the series, Mia literally calls Dom the only brother she has, and I swear it's the only serious quibble I have with this movie
- Ending the movie with Brian driving up to the house for the traditional barbecue? BREAK MY HEART, FINE.
In the Heights, 08 June 2021, streamed via HBO Max
I saw this production once onstage, eons ago, WAY before Lin-Manuel Miranda hit the extremely big time. I remember, however, almost nothing about it. (Having obsessively listened to Hamilton for a few years, though, it's kind of impossible to listen to the cadences and not hear LMM workshopping the whole thing.)
This whole production still feels very much like it's on the stage, despite how they take full advantage of film and, ye gods, complete sets and the ability to splice. The set pieces where they forgo a fully choreographed scene, the ability to cut back and forth and around and zoomed gives things a very different kind of dynamism. The opening, "In the Heights," is fully joyous.
Anthony Ramos and Melissa Barrera are like a walking John Singer Sargent painting.
Also, my heart can barely deal with Daphne Rubin-Vega, Stephanie Beatriz, and Dascha Polanco playing the trio of Daniela, Carla, and Cuca. Queens, all.
I love that not all the Spanish is translated. And having this set in film lets them play a bit with sound a bit, too--there's one set piece where a couple of characters only hear a faint hint of the musical number happening at what's supposed to be a few blocks away.
And, of course, there's the Inception-style number that Benny and Nina get, which is pretty fun.
*heart eyes emoji*
Black Widow, 09 July 2021, streamed via Disney+ Premier Access
Helluva cold open, and they pulled the same trick as The Incredible Hulk, using the opening credits to pack in glimpses of all the backstory and context we're really going to get. And the feel is way more along the lines of Erik Lensherr at the beginning of the first X-Men movie than anything in the MCU proper.
I'd been wondering how they'd fit this movie into continuity given that Natasha's, y'know, dead. Placing this Civil War is a nice choice--we really don't have any idea what really happened to our protags on the run up to Infinity War. (I guess I'm due for a mini-rewatch in the near future.) And then flashing back to Natasha's defection AKA recruitment!
This is a spy movie more than a superhero one, all the way to some Bourne-like cinematography in city and apartment fight scenes. They edge towards Atomic Blonde with a bit of visceral effect--the bruises on Natasha's back, early on, remind me of the bathtub scene in Atomic Blonde. Nobody here has superpowers, after all--just a lifetime of training and a lot of focus.
There's a surprising amount of cussing for an MCU movie, which I respect. Also, I love that weirdo Yelena, don't you?
"You were just born in a cage but it's not your fault."
"Tell me, how did you keep your heart?"
I didn't expect this to be a movie about human trafficking, but I'm kind of glad it is? Anyway, everything after they infiltrated the Red Room was basically Star Wars, but I guess that's fine.
The Tomorrow War, 12 July 2021, streamed via Prime Video
They lost me when they tried to convince me Chris Pratt is a scientist. So, like, at minute seven. And it's easy to clock the twist early on. That said, how creepy amazing were those alien attackers? (This was fun, but another of those movies where I don't really have anything to contribute.)
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