Straight Line Crazy (The Shed) (2022)

It's my first time to The Shed. Aglaia had the foresight to get Culture Pass tickets for a Wednesday matinee. Tickets sold out fast, even when they released a new block, and they were going for hundreds of dollars. It's a decent sized theater on the sixth floor. The stage juts out into the audience, three-quarters in the round. It's interesting (in that you're really close to the action) but it's sort of unnecessary. It requires them to block the scenes in an awkward way. They move around in circles constantly as they converse so that they're sometimes facing you and sometimes facing away. At the back of the stage, there are some extras that don't really have lines.

There are also some weird narrative choices. Act I centers on Robert Moses's early career building the Northern and Southern State Parkways on Long Island, challenging the unsympathetic landed gentry. Act II focuses on his failed attempt to build a highway through Washington Square Park toward the end of his career. We have Jane Jacobs to thank for his defeat, and she shows up in the play as a rather major character, despite them never having met. In Act I, she interjects with totally unnecessary narration. I actually think all the narration is kind of cheesy. The play would have benefited from ending Act I and Act II at the end of the scene, at the height of the drama, instead of closing with narration. Honestly, we could do without Jane Jacobs altogether. The scenes in Washington Square Park are awkward. The peanut gallery reacts to the protests and public hearings by looking straight at the audience and exclaiming pointlessly. And the play loses momentum whenever Ralph Fiennes isn't on stage. Fiennes is phenomenal as always. His repartee is quick and his posture impeccable. His accent was a little difficult to understand at first but I got used it.

What I do like is that Act I build Moses up. And Act II takes him down. He accomplished a lot in his long career. The play just focuses in on these two key moments and gives the audience both sides of the coin. We are allowed to make our own judgments. What's kind of ironic is that the times have shifted. It has been nearly a hundred years since the events of Act I. Moses believed that cars were the future, and he was right, partially because he built New York that way, and the rest of the country followed suit. But we've now come all the way around to where Manhattan is about to institute congestion pricing. Cars are the enemy now. Unfortunately, thanks to Moses, we're already all-in on cars.

Schindler's List (1993)

It's the twenty-fifth anniversary of Schindler's List and Steven Spielberg introduces his masterwork as a story for modern times. And it is a behemoth of a movie, running over three hours. I'm glad to have seen it, but I never have to see it again. It is hard to watch. Not an easy movie to revisit, but now is as good a time as any as anti-semitism seems to never go away.

I find it daunting to comment on such epic films. I could maybe tackle small parts of it. John Williams's score, brought to life by Itzakh Perlman, is hauntingly beautiful. The liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto is a brutal scene, filmed with such horror and control. The scene in the showers at Auschwitz is extremely powerful for turning the audience's anticipatory expectations on its head. And there is so much emotion in the final scene when the war finally comes to an end. The directorial choice to close the film with the Schindlerjuden at Schindler's grave at Yad Veshem is striking, pulling the audience to the "present". It continues to evoke emotion twenty-five years later, during which I'm sure many of the film's characters have since passed away. Holocaust survivors are few today, but it's important for their stories to live on. The black-and-white cinematography contributes to the documentary-feel of the movie. It tells the audience that even the most unbelievable atrocities are not exaggerations.

The Lego Batman Movie (2017)

The Lego Batman movie is not quite as good as its predecessor. It's still punny. Its humor is of the fast and ridiculous type. And of course, it is knowingly ridiculous. I really enjoyed the first Lego movie, but I wasn't crazy about this one. I think what I really liked was the Will Ferrell twist. In this film, there are tons of references to previous Batman movies and other cultural references galore but they didn't always land for me. Maybe it was just trying to do too much but I didn't find it as enjoyable. Will Arnett is playing a character that is funny but super annoying in my opinion. And I understand that that's just the character, and it plays with kids, but he was getting on my nerves.Whereas Chris Pratt was a fun and playful character that really fit the personality of Lego. 

Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

This has been an excellent year for animation, and in an off-year for Pixar at that (Finding Dory was good but uninspiring). And amid all these excellent animations, this one is surely the most beautifully done. This stop motion has some very impressive visuals, and it is rightly on the shortlist for the Oscar for Best Visual Effects It plays on the theme of origami and you could only imagine how difficult it must be to do stop motion in origami. There is a seamless combination with computer generation that you legitimately cannot even tell the difference.

On top of that, I love the music. Kubo plays his two-stringed instrument with magic powers. The Italian translation incorrectly titles the film Kubo and the Magic Sword, but it's not about the sword at all. What makes it so special is that his weapon is a beautiful cultural instrument. This film embraces Japanese culture and puts it on display in a beautiful homage.

The imaginative story is wonderfully complex, and unexpectedly sad and powerful. The range of emotion is Pixar-level, bombarding these kids with more than might understand. Maybe Laika will pick up the torch of creativity where Pixar left it and become the new cornerstone for the medium.

Hail, Caesar! (2016)

In short, I didn't really like this movie. I fell asleep. It has its funny moments. There are some great scenes, like the one in which the religious leaders discuss the accuracy of the movie. There just aren't enough of them.  It really feels like a Coen Brothers movie. The humor is unusual and dry but fast and witty. But I just couldn't really get into it. The movie is loving depiction of Hollywood and the movie-making business. 

Spectre (2015)

Sure, it was never going to live up to the glory of Skyfall, but Spectre fell far short. This is James Bond and we have come to expect certain things from 007--that is action sequences. And for a two and a half hour movie, they are too few and far between. And in such a long movie, they travel to a lot of different locations, more than necessary (Mexico, London, Rome, Tangiers, Tokyo, and middle-of-nowhere). There is more story than action. Action movies have gotten more story heavy lately and I can appreciate that, but I don't think the film did a very good job at explaining things. We are given so little to go on and the leads that he follows seem to arise out of nowhere. I also thought the dialogue was quite lacking. There is some lame dialogue and some uncharacteristically funny lines (Bond doesn't do funny). And that very last scene was wholly unnecessary. The film does attempt to tie all of the Craig films together (it kind of inexplicably tries to) and then ties up the Craig films period. I think it would be appropriate for him to end on that note and let someone else don the suit.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Right from the beginning as the film opens with a yodel, you can tell that this film is something special.  Wes Anderson must be one of the most stylish directors out there and his storytelling ability is superb.  From his use of miniatures for wide shots, to the colorful costumes and ornate sets, Anderson gives this triumphantly fun adventure his distinctive signature stamp.  He presents an intriguing whodunnit that builds layers of mystery in a unique world of his own creation.

Ralph Fiennes is perfectly cast as the mustachioed concierge.  He delivers Anderson's trademark fast-paced, witty humor effortlessly.  Newcomer Tony Revolori shines as the dutiful young lobby boy Zero among a fantastic ensemble cast.  This movie has serious Oscar potential.  Maybe Wes Anderson will even land his first nomination for Best Picture.