The Incredible Hulk (2008)

The Incredible Hulk is full of action scenes that don't hold up all that well. You can easily see how far Marvel has come in the last ten years in terms of special effects and explosions in battle scenes. They've mastered the art. It's the Marvel Cinematic Universe's tenth anniversary and they're all back in theaters this week in IMAX. This is the only one I've never seen and I'm an AMC A-List member now, so why not?

Christopher Robin (2018)

It has always been my philosophy that it is sometimes best to do nothing. It's overall a sweet movie with a powerful underestimated message. The great philosopher Winnie the Pooh has some words of wisdom for us all. And he delivers them to us effortlessly and unknowingly, making it all the more delightful and unexpected. Just let the levity yet simultaneous depth of his words sink in and you too can find value in this children's movie. The movie masterfully mixes melancholy and humor.

The opening montage is very well done. Christopher Robin grows up before our eyes, with a series of brief scenes from his life punctuated by hand-drawn stills echoing the books.  The references to the original stories sprinkled throughout the movie are charming.

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

It's fine. I liked it just fine. It's breezy fun but the plot is sort of thin. Paul Rudd's character is under house arrest due to external conflicts from Avengers: Civil War. The mid-credits scene alludes to the Avengers too. But the central conflict within the film has three sides, Ant-Man vs the ghost vs a common black market dealer. The dealer's presence in the film is seemingly insignificant in the grand scheme of thing. The ghost is a sympathetic villain. But by the time we get to the resolution of the plot, we see that the antagonism between them was moot. Paul Rudd is fun though.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

When I first saw 2001, I was in seventh grade science class. Ms. Blumenthal explained to us that contemporary movies have a lot of cuts because modern audiences don't have the attention span to hold a shot for too long. Kubrick, on the other hand, filmed long takes of just pure space, with little movement and barely any dialogue. As a twelve year old, I couldn't really appreciate the film for what it was. I also don't think we saw the ending in class, and of course, we watched it over several days. But revisiting it now in its fiftieth anniversary, in 70mm IMAX, I gained a new appreciation for this visual feast. I got to experience it the same way audiences did fifty years ago. In the year 2018, we have movies that are pure CGI with visual effects indistinguishable from reality. Back in 1968, when audiences had never seen such things before, I can imagine how awe inspiring this would have been. Even today, the visuals are astonishing. The final Star Gate scene is awe inspiring. It holds up. Some of these scenes, even now, I wonder how they filmed it. Like the scene where Dave is jogging 360 degrees. I cannot figure out how the camera was mounted to film that scene.

All that said, I don't understand the movie. And that being said, it doesn't really matter. The opening scene, the Dawn of Man, is perhaps the best opening scene of any movie. It's like watching a nature documentary, set to Strauss. The apes evolve into humans first by discovering God in the monolith, and by developing tools, specifically weapons. The message is wordless but clear. In contrast, the ending is wordless but enigmatic. It has its own beauty.

The use of classical music throughout the film is excellent. The music is so important in a movie that has such little dialogue. And don't get me wrong, the silence of space is just as important.  The silence bored me years ago, but I wallow in it now.

Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

I really can't emphasize enough how important representation is. I first came to realize at the Cannes Film Festival a couple years ago where I was first exposed to a large number of Asian films. It's not just about seeing people that look like us, it's seeing them confront the many interesting and mundane things that we all face. It has a real effect on the psyche to see these Asian actors receive such praise and applause. The last major Hollywood production to feature an all Asian cast was The Joy Luck Club 25 years ago, a movie specifically about the immigrant experience. The leading lady of Crazy Rich Asians is the daughter of an immigrant going "back" to Asia for the first time in a bit of a reversal. There is significance that this once in a generation film is a romantic comedy, a refreshing take on a generally cookie-cutter genre featuring pretty white people. It tells audiences that Asian-Americans go through the same typical experiences as everyone else, while preserving the cultural specificity of the story (the central conflict underlines the identity crisis that Asian-Americans face--implicit is the assumption that she is Asian in America but American in Asia, in fact too American, too individualistic and ambitious, for Nick, a valid concern). It shows audiences a leading Asian man that not only gets the girl but is a desirable sex symbol in his own right (Though...there's no sex. It's suggestive but by Hollywood standards it is tame, accessible to younger audiences but not completely fulfilling his sex symbol status). These two messages are not nothing. They are immensely important for our society to digest these ideas.

The movie is good fun. Let's start from the beginning. The movie begins with a Chinese cover of Money (That's What I Want), starting a soundtrack that is full of Chinese covers (including a reclamation of Coldplay's Yellow and Madonna's Material Girl) and jazzy Gatsby-tunes. The Chinese music is a really nice touch, and it's not all Mandarin, there are Cantonese songs too. There is a little language confusion in a country that is language confused. Nick's family speaks Cantonese, except for the grandmother that speaks Mandarin, for some reason. I would have liked to see more Singlish in the movie, to give it more of a local flavor. Though I suppose it is notable that the actors get to use their own accents, no one being asked to use a stereotypical accent like they would for other roles. As a side note, Constance Wu is fantastic but she doesn't sound natural. She sounds like Emma Watson doing an American accent, which is weird because she's from Virginia.

Director Jon Chu does glitz and glamor well. The movie's extravagance is full of brilliant color and riches. The set pieces are beautiful and capture the essence of Singapore in all its gardens, by the bay and bottanical, and plants and rare flowers and trees, real and fake. The texting scene at the beginning of the movie is stylish and could have been perceived as childish from a less skilled director. Chu's boldest choice is the mahjong scene. Paralleling the poker scene from the beginning of the movie, Chu does not bother to explain the rules of mahjong, assuming a familiarity with the game, not talking down to his audience. They do hit you over the head with the "throwing away a winning hand" metaphor just in case you couldn't figure out the rules.

The whole supporting cast is excellent (the fierce Michelle Yeoh is brilliant in everything) but Awkwafina is the breakout star. She is hilarious and I wish there was more of her. I think she has a Tiffany Haddish-like meteoric rise coming ahead in her career. And she raps, the Queens native first rose to fame in the hip hop world. She is genuinely fun, and her personality is allowed to come out in the character of Peik Lin.

Just one final note, the trailer features a joke about Nick being the "Prince Harry of Asia," rather than a Prince William. It was ultimately cut from the movie. My theory is it was cut because it was too true. Prince William courted Kate Middleton for many years before they got married. He prepared her for a life in the spotlight, making a point to prepare her to be the future Queen. Harry on the other hand has thrust Meghan Markle into the spotlight with much less preparation. Nick has told Rachel nothing of his family, and this is cruel because she is simply thrown to the wolves without any warning. Harry wasn't that bad, but the joke may have been in poor taste.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005)

The New York Times said this was one of the top 25 films of the century, so I had to see it. The best description is that three hour Romanian movie. It is excellent, but man is it painfully long. And it is such a devastating theme to last for three hours. It's about a dying man who over the course of a night goes to hospital after hospital, all of them refusing to treat him. It is described as a dark comedy. But it is hardly funny. There are some ridiculous situations that we know are actually based in truth. Is that funny? It's more sad than funny. I really have a hard time describing it as a comedy. There were a couple times I laughed, but it didn't really seem right.

Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (2018)

Hannah Gadsby's latest stand-up special is a misnomer in every sense. The title Nanette was decided on before she determined what she'd discuss. And on top of that, stand-up isn't really accurate either. It's more like an open mic in which we listen to her musings, her rants, and incisive truth bombs. It's often not even comedy. Her art history bit is straight brilliance. She approaches comedy and our modern world from a very intellectual place. It's well thought out. I really had to focus to follow her Australian accent. But it really forced me to concentrate on what she was saying, and it's deep. She's leaving comedy because she can't take it anymore. It makes you truly feel for her until you remember that we're living in the same world and you start to feel bad for everybody. The cynics are right, our society is awful.

Tig Notaro: Happy to Be Here (2018)

You know I love Tig. This is great but I didn't find myself laughing as much as I usually do with her. She is totally the only person who could drag that out for so long and boy does she, but who are the Indigo Girls anyways?

Crooklyn (1994)

We caught a screening at the Central Park Film Festival thanks to VIP tickets Aglaia won. A film historian introduced the film as one that Spike Lee would deny that he ever made Crooklyn, embarrassed by its sentimentality. The sentimentality is one aspect of what makes it great. It's a movie with heart. Crooklyn's got heart and community. It's a community sometimes at odds, reminiscent of the block in Do the Right Thing. In a word, community is beautiful. I found myself smiling a lot during the movie. It is very humorous. It's fast paced. And everyone is quite witty. Everyone is yelling over each other but the dialogue is clear and realistic. The soundtrack is perfectly in sync with the tone of the movie. In some ways, it is extremely Spike Lee. His signature is all over it.

Our Little Sister (Umimachi Diary) (2015)

Hirokazu Koreeda is the master of family dramas. He makes you smile, makes you cry, and makes you do both simultaneously. He chooses his words carefully, his dialogue so carefully scripted. His movies are delicate and quiet. He makes beautiful, life affirming movies. Our Little Sister is no different. Three adult sisters take in their younger stepsister to live with them following the death of their estranged father. The sisters have such great chemistry on screen. It makes you want to be a part of their family. It's a movie with a simple premise that just works. It's not his best work (it's a high bar) but it is a fantastic movie nonetheless.

Embrace of the Serpent (2015)

An Amazonian adventure shot in beautiful black and white, Embrace of the Serpent is excellent. I thought the movie was much better than The Lost City of Z, another recent Amazonian adventure. The visuals are absolutely stunning. The original story is interestingly complex but easy to follow without too much effort. There are two timelines with echoes of the past. And it asks deeply intriguing questions about colonization, human nature and our relationship with nature. Long story short, I am awe struck by this cinematic experience.

The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)

There's something about SNL cast members. The cast is made up of unique characters, and the actors really know how to play up those characters. This movie is a lot of Kate McKinnon. And if you like Kate McKinnon it is great fun. She makes the film funny and worthwhile. Not all the jokes land, but a good number of them do. It is Kate McKinnon on overload.

The plot is full of holes. Don't expect to get resolution of any of the plot points. I found myself asking why about a lot of things to no answer. What is on the usb? What does he fake his death for? He already had the usb, what did he need to give it to Mila Kunis for? Not only is there no explanation but the movie proceeds knowing it doesn't matter.  Because despite this, it's still a fun time. It's a buddy spy action movie with two leading ladies that kick ass.

Step (2017)

This is a documentary about the greatest city in America...Baltimore, Maryland. Not only do we root for these kids featured in the documentary, but so does the community at large. Baltimore is a real tight-knit community. We really care about these kids. We want them to succeed. It pains us to watch them fail. It joys us to watch them win. And their lives make us feel all sorts of feelings to watch these girls struggle. Because the struggling kids stand in for the struggling city. Baltimore has great potential, but it sometimes struggles to reach it.

Portlandia (2011-8)

This highly quotable, quirky (just listen to the sound effects) sketch comedy show is admittedly not everyone's cup of tea. But I think it perfectly captures the spirit of a city I've never been to. Everything I know about Portland comes from Portlandia, and I'd like to think it's really like that. Like many offshoots of SNL starring SNL alumni, it is very characteristic of the cast member. This is very Fred Armisen, luckily I love him. He can do no wrong. His characters are all hilarious, especially the ones in drag. And Carrie Brownstein plays along. The last few seasons were particularly good. The stories started to tie into one another, not just a few disconnected sketches. So long to a truly funny comedy. A-O River!

You Were Never Really Here (2017)

It is undeniably tense and thrilling, but the plot is mindboggling. And the audio is awful. The soundtrack is really loud and the dialogue is really quiet. I actually quite liked the soundtrack, but some subtitles would have been helpful. It was a little too artsy for me. The description of the movie is actually really spot on, it's just unclear what it means until you've seen it: "Joe’s nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered leading to what may be his death trip or his awakening." Yeah, that about sums it up.

Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018)

There are tons of spy movies out there, but Mission Impossible is done extraordinarily well, with some of the most exciting action scenes there are. Tom Cruise is 56 but he is still a real action star.  He runs so fast on camera and he jumps out of planes (that scene is really impressive); he is unstoppable! Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames are hilarious. They're actually my favorite part of the movie. The story has really excellent bits. The first half of the story works, and the second half of the story works, separately. But then the second half of the story makes the first half irrelevant. A few issues with the plot. It revolves around three nuclear weapons. The original story in the first half has an appropriate use of nuclear weapons, but the second half makes use of the nukes in a conventional way, meaning that it is irrelevant that the weapons are nuclearized since ordinary explosives would have done the same trick. It's also kind of insensitive and tasteless to set your nuclear weapons movie in Kashmir, a region known for nearly starting a nuclear war. Finally Rebecca Ferguson and Michelle Monaghan look exactly the same. They could've dyed someone's hair because I did not know they were separate people until they were on screen together. 

Mommy (2014)

Xavier Dolan is certainly stylish in music and cinematography, but man is he pretentious. What's with the square aspect ratio? I swear it was all just so he could film that one shot where Steve extends his arms and stretches the aspect ratio. But then he does it again on a landscape shot, and I can't understand why. It doesn't have the same effect as the manual shift. The other obviously pretentious part is the copious amount of yelling and cursing, which works appropriately in the context of the movie. The dialogue is actually excellent. And the acting of all three leads is phenomenal. There are some really powerful scenes. I don't quite know how I feel about that final act. I think it very well could have ended with the scene in the store, as a final act of love. The last act is the only one in which the dystopian Canada comes into play-sort of unnecessary. The last act is for the love to be reciprocated, I get that and it makes the film so much more ethically complex.

My Fair Lady (Broadway) (2018)

What a luscious revival of My Fair Lady. We got incredibly close seats in the far right second row. It was in fact, a little too close. The Vivian Beaumont theater is in the 75% round, so in theory all seats should be in full view, but sometimes the furniture or other characters block the action of the scene from view. The set is gorgeous. There is a rotating set piece that rotates so much faster than you expect. There is a cute vignette with the maid and constable that you'd only see from our side of the theater because it rotates counter-clockwise. Just a happy coincidence.

There is quite a bit of filler in My Fair Lady. Mr. Doolittle serves little purpose. Colonel Pickering is sort of just there. I'm still trying to figure out Freddy too. I think his purpose is to show how far Eliza has come, that she passes off as posh while he does not. The music is beautiful. I think Jordan Donica, as Freddy, has a wonderful voice. The cast is fabulous all around. I was pleasantly surprised how genuinely funny the show was.

The show generally gets criticism for blatant misogyny. And it is certainly there. The new ending supposedly redeems some of the misogyny by giving Eliza some agency. Some of the misogyny is masked in classism, which I suppose is more acceptable. I could imagine a transposition of the show to an American setting, trying to drop a Bronx accent, or a southern drawl. I think that could be quite funny too, albeit a little controversial.

Carousel (Broadway) (2018)

I love Carousel. I think the music is beautiful and the story as well. Seeing this now a second time, on a Broadway this time, it doesn't hold up as well as I remember. There is a lot less plot than I remember. Most of the songs are kind of filler. And the second act that I remembered being so imaginative was actually very ambiguous. There are a number of seeming plot holes. Billy doesn't actually do anything to earn his ticket into heaven. Did grown people in the early 1900s really ride carousels? Multiple times in a single day? Was carousel barker a real job? Do clam bakes always involve scavenger hunts? The costumes are appropriately ugly. It's so site-specific to New England, it's almost too bizarre. The accents were sort of all over the place. Jessie Mueller's accent was fine but she doesn't have all that many lines for a lead. I took most issue with Joshua Henry's accent, which didn't quite sound New England. I think perhaps as a whole cast, they should have made a decision to just drop the accents, cause it was kind of inconsistent. Billy Bigelow is perhaps one of the meatiest male roles in musical theater--his acting is excellent (of which there is a lot) but I do not prefer his singing. Henry's voice has a lot of heft, it's very deep. His head voice sounds like it's coming from a completely different person. If I Loved You was delightful, but I didn't love his rendition of Soliloquy. Maybe it's just one of those songs you're so used to hearing one way that when other people try to do something a little different, it doesn't sound quite right. The absolute best part of the show is Justin Peck's choreography. The dance sequences are mesmerizing. Blow High, Blow Low--one of those filler songs--is so much fun. They even forgo the eponymous carousel in order to leave space for the dancers to do their thing.

I think Amar Ramasar is fabulous as Jigger (what an awfully racist name). I think he should've gotten a Tony nomination for a role arguably bigger than Mr. Snow. Speaking of racism, there is certainly a different dynamic with an African-American Billy, making an interracial leading couple. I actually sympathize with Billy more as an African-American. Who are the characters of color? Billy, the policeman, the Starkeeper, and Jigger. That is the two "criminals" (and the wife beater), the man charged with fighting the criminals, and the God-figure/low-level-afterlife-magistrate. Make of that what you will.

The criticism most often levied against Carousel is that it condones domestic violence, but I don't read it quite the same way. I don't think it condones anything (because Billy's redemption is really ambiguous), but I do think they try to rationalize why victims of domestic abuse stay. "He's your fella and you love him" and that's about it.

Fire at Sea (Fuocammare) (2016)

There are some really beautiful moments in this hard hitting documentary. It's sometimes hard to watch--teh camera forces us to stare the crisis in the face when many Europeans would rather turn a blind eye. Refugee documentaries like this are really devastating. But there is so much life in these people that have gone through hell and back to reach opportunity. The movie is really slow (and music-less), intentionally so. But it is mesmerizing. It is kind of an interesting concept to mix documentary with staged scenes. But the metaphor is brilliant and unmistakable. The young Lampedusan boy is adorable. He supposedly has a lazy eye and so he wears an eyepatch to force him to train his weaker eye. The metaphor, of course, is that Europe must train itself to see with its other eye the pain that these refugees have suffered. There is a staged scene where the boy sees a doctor and discusses his anxiety, an anxiety that is common among locals dealing with the influx of refugees. The boy is supremely Italian in this scene, as he "acts"--the intonation of his voice is so Italian. But it is that scene that it really all clicks. And you see how brilliant Gianfranco Rosi's direction is.