Month: May 2020

The Half of It is a Fully Great Movie

The Half of It

The review:

Alice Wu’s charming and moving The Half of It is a 100% fully great movie, and it’s very good-ness has me wondering why it’s been 16 years since her first feature.* Things this film does well: captures the environment in “Squahamish,” Washington;** catching the small feelings of longing that aren’t quite kept hidden; being funny and poignant; starting with a situation that wasn’t a good idea, and kept getting worse, all the while not turning me away from choices made by characters. If you like subtle performances, movies about teenagers, movies about small towns, or movies with Becky Ann Baker,*** cue this movie up tonight!

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($8.99)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences

*Saving Face was released in 2004. The time between movies directed by women can be maddening.
**Good job, New York State! You pulled off Washington’s overcast and green environment like a pro.
***Mrs. Weir in Freaks and Geeks and also Lena Dunham’s mom in Girls. She plays a high school teacher in this film.

Questions:

  • What other films can you think of that involve beginning voice-over narration tell us that things aren’t going to work out?
  • What’s your favorite small-town movie?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The opening monologue is the story told by Aristophanes in Plato’s Symposium. Aristophanes was a comedic playwright at the time of Socrates and Plato and is considered the greatest Greek comedic writer. The Symposium is a dialogue about a dinner that Socrates attends. During dinner Socrates, in typical fashion, begins to ask questions of his host and the other guests. The dialogue centers on the topic of love, each interlocutor attempts to answer the question what is love? Aristophanes’ story tells of how humans use to be whole and the gods got jealous and split us apart. We spend our lives searching for that other half. According to Aristophanes, our other half could be someone of the same or opposite gender.

Other reviews:

The Half of It

SKS: Smithsonian Museum Vintage Picture

Sara turned a calendar into postcards and so I got this lovely view of the Smithsonian. And now that I look closely at the picture, I can see the top of the month and year at the bottom of the postcard.

Aside from a fun stamp with flan on it, she also shared some of the less-motivating stickers that she’s not sending her students. My favorite one says “good effort.”

Also, any mention of “flan” reminds me of the birthday flan in the television series Friends.

The Dark Knight Rises: The Best of the Trilogy

The Dark Knight Rises

The review:

Having given us the Batman movie everyone else loves,* Christopher Nolan gave us the Batman movie that I love with The Dark Knight Rises.** In some ways, it’s an origin story all over again, what with Bruce Wayne having to be coaxed out of retirement. And it’s one last chance for Gary Oldman”s Commissioner Gordon to be the moral center.***

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $3.99 via Redbox on demand
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*The Dark Knight
**You know why? This one is fun. And it has two women in it! I know! Plus Tom Hardy, whom everyone loves. And they got the Bane voice just right.
***Also, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in this. And he’s great!

Questions:

  • What would you say is the definitive Nolan stamp on this franchise?
  • How did Bane’s mask work, anyway?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Writer, producer, and director Christopher Nolan said that this movie’s theme deals with “pain”. For Batman Begins (2005), it was “fear”, while The Dark Knight (2008) dealt with “chaos”.

(Clearly I’m a “pain” girl.)

Other reviews:

The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight: Still Nope

The Dark Knight

Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight features and masterful performance by Heath Ledger and is a nihilistic movie I despise.* While every actor involved is excellent** I do not think that plot points hold up.*** Again, Gotham looks great**** though the cool monorail has disappeared and the Wayne building is entirely different than in the first movie.

The verdict: Skip

Read the Wikipedia summary and you can move right on to the next in the series.

Cost: free because Matt owns two DVD copies of this film.
Where watched: at home

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*Psychopaths with no plan who want to cause only chaos do not make for an interesting film. There’s a bleak worldview that runs through this that only gets bleaker as the film wears on. It’s like everyone involved making this movie was going through a divorce, declaring bankruptcy, and their dog, wife, or child died while filming. I gave it a second viewing because everyone loves this film, but I do not like it, not at all.
**Maggie Gyllenhaal was a particularly good addition to the cast.
***”Where is he getting all his weapons?” I asked as the Joker picked up a bazooka/big gun thing and started firing. The Joker says that explosives are cheap, but they aren’t that cheap. I don’t buy that someone who aspires to be an agent of chaos would have this much discipline to coordinate the details of his nefarious scheme.
****Though again, where are the women? That entire police funeral was 95% dudes.

Questions:

  • If you are a person who likes this film, what makes it great for you?
  • What’s your favorite version of Batman?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

While filming a chase scene on Lake Street, the Chicago Police Department received several calls from concerned citizens stating that the police were involved in a vehicle pursuit with a dark vehicle of unknown make or model.

Other reviews:

The Dark Knight

Batman Begins: a Good Start to the Trilogy

Batman Begins

The review:

Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins is a good superhero origin story that takes place in a world where women are just not around.* I enjoy Christian Bale’s journey from kid who wanders the world, to interested potential hero of Gotham, to hero of Gotham. I also enjoy the depictions of Gotham presenting as sufficiently grungy, but with that very cool monorail.

The verdict: Good

Cost: free because Matt owns a DVD copy (that is unfortunately pan-and-scan and shows it!)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*I mean really, where are they? There’s Bruce Wayne’s mom, who has maybe one line. There’s Rachel’s mom, who also has one line. And there’s Rachel who does get to speak on a regular basis, but she’s the only one. Oh yeah, and the arm candy. But other women? Nope. Women police officers? None. Women board members who speak? Nope. Women scientists, police commissioners, mayors? Nope, nope, nope. In fact, Christopher Nolan seems to have a pretty strict one-woman-per-movie quota. (See: Following, Memento, Insomnia, this)

Random note: normally, we would have watched a superhero movie for our anniversary. This year, it looked like it would be Black Widow, which would have been our first every anniversary celebration superhero movie starring a woman. But nope. This was our #coronavirusalternative

Questions:

  • Could the lack of women present in this film be an example of sexism? Why or why not?
  • Do you think that Wayne Enterprises would have filed patents on all that cool gear they developed?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Christian Bale’s active dislike of his uncomfortable Batman outfit helped his performance as the Dark Knight as he was perpetually in a foul mood when wearing it.

Other reviews:

Batman Begins

Anniversary Dinner Takeout

Restaurants in Multnomah County are only open for takeout, so takeout it was for our anniversary this year. We chose Hatyai and had a delicious meal.

The unboxing:

All the delicious flavors!

Our anniversary portrait this year is a closeup.

Normally we would see a superhero movie, and it probably would have been Black Widow, the first female-led superhero movie of the long trail of anniversary superhero movies starring guys. But it was not to be. So we watched Batman Begins which I need to see again because I am watching all of the Christopher Nolan films.

Crooklyn Captures a Place and Time

Crooklyn

The review:

Spike Lee’s Crooklyn is a solid family drama* with an excellent soundtrack and a charming montage of games urban kids used to play in the early 70s. It’s also got a trio of stellar leads in Alfre Woodard & Delroy Lindo as the parents and Zelda Harris as Troy, the only girl among the five siblings. It’s not the most plot-driven of films, but the energy running through the characters is enough to keep things moving forward.

The verdict: Good

Cost: $3.99 via Google Play (The subtitles were bad. A bit behind and trying to do too much)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

  • This is apparently the only movie about black families
  • I’ve just googled for 10 minutes and I get:
  • *Movies for families to watch
  • *Movies about white families (sort of)
  • *Spike Lee movies
  • Gah!

Further sentences:

*With a lot of yelling (you have to be okay with yelling families, which I am) and an attitude toward animals I couldn’t stomach.**
**One scene with a cat, and two scenes with a small dog. Both are played as funny.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The “disorienting” view when the family is in the country was created by shooting in widescreen without anamorphically adjusting the image.

(I include this trivia item as a public service because I wasn’t sure if it was a glitch on my TV)

Other reviews:

Crooklyn