We Own This City (2022)

We Own This City has been described as a spiritual sequel to The Wire, which ran from 2002-2008. David Simon is the great chronicler of the American city. Simon and George Pelecanos return to Baltimore to follow up on the state of the police and the effect the killing of Freddie Gray. had on our beloved city. It's a damning critique of the Baltimore Police Department as an institution and the War on Drugs that bred it. It may come off as preachy at times, but that's because they're willing to speak the hard truths that no one else will. And yes, sometimes they need to be said out loud. It manages to be both aggravating and absolutely devastating. It makes you feel defeated, that the problems we face in this country are just so insurmountable under the weight of our broken and corrupt institutions.

Jon Bernthal gives a career best performance as Wayne Jenkins. There's something about him that just screams dirty cop. He has the brashness and charisma and bro-eyness. It's spot on casting. And his bawlmer accent is excellent. The time jumping is a little confusing, but it allows all the angles to unfold at once: the police, the FBI investigation and the DOJ consent decree. We see the police stops happen in flashback, and then relive them as the FBI investigates them, and then again as the DOJ gathers evidence for its own work. You can't look away; the miniseries is transfixing.

The Wife of Willesden (2023)

The Wife of Willesden is being staged at BAM Strong in collaboration with American Repertory Theater. It runs just an hour and forty minutes but it feels very long. That's because the prologue runs about an hour itself. And the prologue is almost straight monologue masquerading as open mic. Clare Perkins plays the titular wife with gusto but she can only do so much with what amounts to a rather boring play. It's all very one-note. I fell asleep in the second act. And I think it's not as shocking as it intends to be. It's 2023 after all. It's very frank. And it chastises the audience for slut shaming but who's saying anything? The best part is the sumptuous set, an upscale North London pub spanning the length of the entire stage and even spilling over to the audience who sits at tables, joining the action. I'm not entirely sure why Zadie Smith puts herself in the play. It creates a meta storytelling device, but it's unnecessary and there's a weird apology from Smith over her ability.

White Girl in Danger (Off-Broadway) (2023)

I've never had this experience before but we got free tickets from Culture Pass and got "General Admission" tickets". What that meant was that we got whatever empty seats were left right before curtain. Somehow there are empty seats, at what I think is an otherwise sold out performance. But here's the tricky part, if the ticketholder with your seat shows up, then they can kick you out at intermission, at which point you'll get "refunded". But that means this person who showed up late has to wait an hour and a half for intermission--who's going to wait that long? Anyways, we're lucky we got seats in the front row and got to stay the whole show. 

Michael R Jackson's new musical is a lot. It's a satire on classic white people soap operas. It's imaginatively about a "blackground" character trying to make it in an "all-white" show--Jackson sticks with the meta concept. It was over 3 hours. The first act, a full hour and 40 minutes. And the 15 minute intermission also has content playing on the projector. And there's content playing before curtain. They film these hilarious cheesy, bad green screen, commercials. It felt like watching Atlanta spoof public access TV. He also kind of leans into the Tyler Perry-esque mannerisms that he berates in A Strange Loop (Atlanta does it too). But it's really long. Especially compared to the tight A Strange Loop. They probably need to cut a full half hour at least. It's funny but it kind of rambles. The songs are pretty hit or miss--the highlight is the opening title song. A few of them kind of lack melody. They're not really Sondheim-esque but y'know they also don't have a hummable tune. It's also very profane. A Strange Loop was too, but I feel like this was even more extreme. The gay sex scene in this one is a lesbian sex scene and there are multiple sex toy props. Definitely not family friendly. 

Tarra Conner Jones steals the show as Nell. This is her Off Broadway debut. She literally has a showstopper. There was a standing ovation for her in the middle of the show for her big number. Those are always cool moments.

95th Academy Awards (2023)

It's a landmark year for Asians in the movies. Sure we had Minari, The Farewell, Crazy Rich Asians, Parasite won it all in a memorable surprise. But the arrival of Everything Everywhere All at Once, both a indie box office smash and now the prohibitive front runner, signals a new era. The movie boasts no fewer than 4 acting nominees, three of whom are of Asian descent, including Ke Huy Quan who returns to the screen after two decades unable to find work in front of the camera in Hollywood. The legendary James Hong got a moment of glory at the SAG Awards too. And let's not forget Hong Chau nominated for The Whale. The NYT even ran a feature on the unprecedented number of Asian nominees across the board. It has been a long time since the front runner for Best Picture has been such a popular film, and I don't know that the nominees have ever included so many box office successes--it's an exciting year.

Tyler's Top 10:

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
2. Tar
3. Decision to Leave
4. The Fabelmans
5. Armageddon Time
6. Petite Maman
7. Triangle of Sadness
8. The Northman
9. Aftersun
10. Turning Red
    

Honorable Mentions: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Top Gun: Maverick, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, The Quiet Girl, Fire of Love, Living, Navalny, Avatar: The Way of Water, Puss in Boots:The Last Wish, Vengeance

Best Picture (prediction):

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
2. The Fabelmans
3. Top Gun: Maverick
4. All Quiet on the Western Front
5. Avatar: The Way of Water
6. The Banshees of Inisherin
7. Tar
8. Triangle of Sadness
9. Elvis
10. Women Talking

Best Director
Will Win/Should Win: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Honorable Mention: Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans

Best Actress
Will Win/Should Win: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Honorable Mention: Cate Blanchett, Tar

Best Actor
Will Win: Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Should Win: Paul Mescal, Aftersun

Best Supporting Actress
Will Win/Should Win: Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Honorable Mention: Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin

Best Supporting Actor
Will Win/Should Win: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Honorable Mention: Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans

Best Adapted Screenplay
Will Win: Women Talking
Should Win: Living

Best Original Screenplay
Will Win/Should Win: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Honorable Mention: Tar

Best Cinematography
Will Win: Elvis
Should Win: Empire of Light

Best Costume Design
Will Win/Should Win: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Honorable Mention: Babylon

Best Film Editing
Will Win/Should Win: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Honorable Mention: Top Gun: Maverick

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Will Win/Should Win: The Whale

Best Production Design
Will Win: Babylon
Should Win: Avatar: The Way of Water

Best Score
Will Win/Should Win: Babylon

Best Original Song
Will Win: Naatu Naatu, RRR
Should Win: Lift Me Up, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Best Sound
Will Win/Should Win: Top Gun: Maverick

Best Visual Effects
Will Win/Should Win: Avatar: The Way of Water

Best Animated Feature
Will Win: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
Should Win: Turning Red

Best Documentary Feature
Will Win: Navalny
Should Win: Fire of Love

Best International Film
Will Win: All Quiet on the Western Front, Germany
Should Win: The Quiet Girl, Ireland

Best Animated Short
Will Win: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Should Win: Ice Merchants

Best Documentary Short
Will Win: Stranger at the Gate
Should Win: Haulout

Best Live Action Short
Will Win/Should Win: Le Pupille

Update: 17/23, just enough to win my Oscars pool.  I hosted a little Oscar party with a themed menu. It was a big hit, if I do say so myself. It was a great ceremony with lots of memorable wins for Asians/Asian-Americans, including Judy Chin for Best Makeup and Hairstyling who went to middle school with mom. EEAAO came away with a record six statues above-the-line, and A24, no longer the indie upstart, won all six of the top awards. Hopefully we can expect to see more of these beautiful, wonderful, diverse, niche movies being made.

Hercules (Paper Mill Playhouse) (2023)

We weren't able to get tickets to the one-week run at the Delacorte Theater back in 2019, but now Hercules is back at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ. It's a quaint town about an hour from Manhattan driving, though NJT also goes there for future reference. 

I realize that I've never actually seen the movie Hercules, though we probably have it somewhere on VHS. I kind of know the broad strokes just because it's Hercules. Plot wise, the beginning is kind of slow. It's a lot of exposition. I found myself resting my eyes a bit. And we don't even meet teenage Hercules nor Meg nor Phil until pretty far into the show. I think it's actually one of Alan Menken's best soundtracks. I like the gospel-y, motown-y touches. It of course has no business in ancient Greece, nor do the Roman jokes, but it's super catchy, even Hades's songs. I Won't Say (I'm in Love) needs to be higher up the Disney rankings. The first time I heard that song was when Ariana Grande did the ABC sing-a-long during the pandemic and slayed all the parts herself. It's a great song, but unfortunately Isabelle McCalla's singing voice as Meg was a little thin. Alan Menken also wrote some new music for the stage, and To Be Human, sung by Hercules at the climax of the show is totally wrong. All the music had been so upbeat and fun, and at the climax for some reason he wrote a downbeat song. I liked Bradley Gibson as Hercules. He kind of hams up the acting, in a way that could be annoying but screams Disney musical. The costumes and the sets were delightful. The muses really steal the show. I lost count at how many costume changes they had, but every outfit was fabulous. The puppets are also really cool, I wish we got to see more of them. The titans are pretty far back on the stage, but they really should be center stage to showcase their artistry.
 

His Dark Materials (2019-22)

I found His Dark Materials very difficult to follow.  I know the books were written for children but for some reason I just couldn't understand what was happening. Even after 3 seasons, I'm still not sure what the heck dust is. I'm still not sure if Mrs Coulter and Lord Asriel are evil. I don't know why Lyra is so obsessed with Roger when she's got this hunk Will. I chalk it off to the writing. And I found the child actors Dafne Keen and Amir Wilson are very ok. I honestly found them to be kind of annoying. I thought there would be more Lin Manuel Miranda, but he's a pretty minor character. Ruth Wilson is probably the highlight. The subtext of the plot though is fascinating reading about it afterwards. The critique of the Catholic Church is spot on. And I thought the final episode was a stand out. The denouement following the climax of the penultimate episode is quite beautiful. It kind of comes out of left field, but it's a great tie up. The second season was super boring. I nearly stopped watching. And I'm not sure if it was worth finishing but here we are.

Atlanta (2016-22)

This one leaves a pretty large hole in the television landscape. Atlanta was a landmark. It was experimental. It spent whole episodes without a glimpse of our main characters. It pulled stories from real life. It was raucous and poignant. It had something to say about the black experience in America. And then in its penultimate season they go to Europe and speak to the black American experience abroad. It bravely portrayed white people in a way no other show dares to. Its bizarre-ness is explained in its final episode with a not wholly original but brilliantly executed meta sensory deprived dream. It went from a black Justin Bieber to a white Teddy Perkins to a trannsracial man being interviewed on a Charlie Rose type talk show.

Donald Glover can do just about anything and everything. Brian Tyree Henry is now a highly sought after actor, who I apparently saw on stage in Book of Mormon years before Atlanta, and who stole the show in the excellent If Beale Street Could Talk. I think Hiro Murai also gets a lot of credit for the look and dreamlike feel of the show. And I don't know who the music supervisor is, but they're first rate.