Aladdin (2019)

I'm actually really on board with the recent trend of remaking classic Disney animated films in live-action, but Aladdin is not very good. The story is kind of flimsy. There is new music made for this adaptation that does not gel with the original. Alan Menken from the original, and Pasek and Paul of La La Land fame, wrote cringy pop music. Some of the songs are actually not even long enough to qualify as songs, merely two or three sung lines. It is the exact criticism that people who don't like musicals have: the switch from singing to speaking is too abrupt. The acting is good but the singing is not quite hefty enough from the leads. It is nice to hear Will Smith singing again. He is actually quite good, even though I was skeptical of him at first. He adds some much needed humor and levity. The production, set, CGI and costumes are beautiful, but I'm not sure about the accuracy of the costumes. They seem too colorful and revealing for Arabian dress. Jasmine is modernized, given a voice and more agency. That was a nice touch, but the accompanying song is not good.

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Avengers: Endgame is the serviceable capstone on a decade's worth of serviceable movies worth billions of dollars. There are millions of superfans all around the world. And this is for them. This movie is 100% fan service. One last hurrah for the old guard of Avengers. I'm unfortunately not one of those superfans. I think I missed a lot of the references to the older films. I think they didn't have as much of an emotional impact for me because I am not attached to the characters and I don't recall the details of the old movies. The explanation of time travel from The Hulk is brushed over really quickly and I didn't catch it. But I think there are some significant plot holes that I'm willing to overlook. The movie runs way too long. There are a lot of subplots they could have cut out that serve only to prolong the movie. And to top it off, I fell asleep during the climactic battle scene. We can blame jet lag, but also, I have a tendency to fall asleep during battles.

Much Ado About Nothing (The Public Theater) (2019)

This is the best and most modern Shakespeare I have ever seen. Kenny Leon's take on Much Ado About Nothing is fresh and lively. It is subliminally political; the first thing you see is a prominent "Stacey Abrams 2020" banner. It's not quite as on the nose as the Donald Trump Julius Caesar from a couple summers ago. But the undertones are there. We hear a beautiful rendition of What's Going On sung by Danielle Brooks. This community is in the contemporary resistance. Taking place in the near future with an all black cast, it is about community and black love.The music and choreography are simultaneously unexpected and perfect for this modern, unabashedly black show.

Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

There were some things I liked: the color blind casting and the ravishing costumes. The movie is otherwise really boring. I fell asleep in the middle and when I woke up, I did not bother going back. I couldn't even tell quite how much I had missed.

The Namesake (2006)

I love the novel The Namesake. And while this movie is very beautiful, I don't think the adaptation does the novel justice. What it lacks is time. The joy of reading Jhumpa Lahiri is inhabiting the lives of her characters. You can't do that in a two hour movie that had to cut out all the character development, some of the most touching scenes from the novel. It doesn't even fully explain the traditional naming process that encounters a hitch when grandma dies. Such a sprawling story makes adaptation difficult. I know you can't expect a perfect 1:1 translation, but I think I loved the novel too much to be satisfied with anything less. Irrfan Khan and Tabu are precisely what I envisioned in my head. Kal Penn not so much, but he may never escape Harold and Kumar.

Brexit: The Uncivil War (2019)

Eh, it's too soon. It's really painful to watch because you know it's true. Benedict Cumberbatch basically plays Sherlock, which we already know he's good at and it irks me.

At Eternity's Gate (2018)

Willem Dafoe is excellent as Vincent Van Gogh. His portrayal of a mentally unstable man is harrowing. It is accented by some crazy camerawork that is wildly distracting and made my head hurt. Maybe that was the intention. But it was very uncomfortable on the plane. The pacing of the movie is also not really conducive to watching it on a plane, but I quite liked it.

Ash Is Purest White (2018)

This is a modern Chinese movie if there ever was one. How many gangster movies feature a tough female protagonist? You see how fast and drastically China has changed in just 17 years.The passage of time is a major theme in the movie, simply told against the backdrop of a changing China. The grand scope doesn't always benefit the movie, but I get it.

Long Day's Journey Into Night (2018)

I wanted to like this more than I did. I've been reading about this movie since it premiered at Cannes last year, about its grand ambition and enthralling cinematography. Yes, that tracking shot is astonishing. Nearly an hour long (in 3D in the cinema though I saw it on a plane), the tracking shot features a trick billiards shot that threatens to derail the whole thing. Bi Gan deserves all the praise he gets. It is visually stunning. But he can work on his storytelling a little bit. Maybe it's my fault I couldn't follow it, but I'm going to blame it on him.

Unforgiven (1992)

I don't really like Westerns. The movie is fine. Clint Eastwood going back to his Western roots to win Best Picture is a good story. But it's really just not for me.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

The Star Trek movies haven't aged so well. The special effects are really lame. Consider that by 1982, the world had already seen Star Wars while Star Trek was still using 60s-era VFX which I'm sure were really cool when Star Trek first premiered on TV. I quite like Star Trek otherwise, but I admit I fell asleep watching this one on the plane. The plot is much simpler than the sci-fi movies we're used to nowadays. Ricardo Montalban's Khan is devilishly good. I was surprised to see Kirstie Alley, who I did not realize had ever done Star Trek. Did Spock have to die? There have been so many incarnations of Spock that he doesn't really feel dead anyways, but I assume that packed a big punch at the time.

Blindspotting (2018)

This movie is a marvelous risk that pays off handsomely. Not anyone could pull off a spoken word/rap "musical" but it somehow works. I think Hamilton has primed us to be receptive to such a movie. It would not have played as well ten years ago. But it's so unique and catchy that you can't help smiling at the boldness. The dialogue is really fast and pointed. The themes (gentrification, police brutality, inequality) it deals with are heavy but poignantly tackled from a point of view rarely seen on screen and with comedy. Yeah, it's a buddy comedy under all that.