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Reviews
Life & Beth (2022)
There's a lot to unpack here...
Life & Beth is a wonderfully nuanced character drama about a woman who is very clearly disappointed with her comfortable life. Without calling her privileged, Beth doesn't seem to work very hard to retain what she has: a committed boyfriend who tries too hard, a quality well-paying job, and a life of ease and convenience. Instigated by the death of her mother and the waves of grief begetting a new sink or swim instinct, Beth begins to take stock of her life and what she really wants from it... by reminiscing on what motivated her as a young girl when life seemed to be simpler.
These moments of clarity come due to the numerous cringeworthy details surrounding Beth and quite frankly, are the most relatable aspects of this show for anyone who hasn't lost a parent. As easy as Beth's life is now, it wasn't always. But she got through it to arrive at where the shoe opens, and she'll use those lessons to propel herself away to where she wants needs to be.
A postmodern take on grief and how much life can let us down, and how we can let ourselves down, Schumer shines in a quiet role of an emotionally stunted and stunned woman in the midst an autumnal awakening.
Truth above all, I wasn't sold on this show until the flash mob scene and watching Schumer as Beth react to her boyfriend's problematic and horrifying proposal. This will stay on my watchlist.
Also, never thought I'd say this, but this is the first time I've ever found Michael Cera attractive. He can barely grow that beard, but it kind of works for him.
Scream (2022)
What the Heck is a Requel?
Sidney, Gale and Dewey are back, but it isn't their movie anymore! A refreshing take on the franchise, and a wonderfully hilarious and exhilarating script, do Wes Craven proud as we follow new final girls Sam and Tara as they fight for their lives against a Ghostface that hasn't been this brutal since the original.
Secrets of the past reveal themselves to be saving graces as the new generation with only tertiary relations to the original victims and killers are hunted down, and haunted by past torments. The body count might be lower, possibly the lowest in the franchise, but the thrills and frights are turned up so high in this installment you'll nearly forget the 2011 film and barely forgive that Hayden Penettiere isn't the new featured final girl.
Though the killer's reveal leaves a slew of plot holes, it doesn't matter. From start to finish this is a Scream that does Craven well and gives the legacy heroes a respectful bow-out all around. If the next Scream is to be centered around the sisters and new survival clan, please oh please let the writers and directors also be returning. I don't know what a requel is, but for a new generation, welcome to Scream. And for the continuing fans, welcome back.
Fresh (2022)
Fun, but Predictable
Seeing the previews and by just the total alone, I foresaw this movie going one of two ways and surprisingly it took both routes. That's where the surprises ended however.
The gross-out level is high as Noa begins a new relationship with a very dangerous bloke in what could be seen as a cautionary tale for women, the film evolves into a tale of two best friends who know each other so deeply and have each other's backs that not even a monster of male proportion could keep them apart.
The friendship of Noa and Mollie is this film's backbone, and the humor of the script and jaw-dropping visuals make it a synesthetic event to be devoured. Is it a must-see? Absolutely not, but for a juicy romp with an amazing ending, you won't feel any regret having chewed this through. Bon apetit.
Kimi (2022)
Better in Series Format?
Rear Window for the tech age, KIMI serves up few thrills or surprises, and not even a quality chase scene. If it weren't for the deft acting chops on Zoe Kravitz as main character Angela, most of the serious topics brought up in KIMI would be handled with the respect they deserve. Kravitz plays Angela's paranoia and agoraphobia deftly, but due to format containing her performance, the subject matter inducing her character's neurosis are picked up and tossed within moments, referenced similarly as throwaways later once the actual action begins. An actress like Kravitz deserves better, and with all that was shoved into the plot to convey its central mystery and its central character's flaws, KIMI would have served so much better as a limited series. Not even the titular KIMI came off as the sinister Alexa-like tech this film theorized it being.
Cinderella (2021)
It gets worse the longer it goes...
And it's all production's fault.
I really hope these actors were paid well (and were contractually to make this movie), because all too many are far more talented than this script or direction can offer,
Billy Porter as the fairy godmother just makes sense. He brings the Houston, adds a little bit of Jackson, and just exudes Billy Porter in the role. And after over half a movie watched (and then ditched, we'll get to it), his presence and excitement for the role seem to be matched by no one. But why the rename? I get 'fairy' has been used as a slur, I haven't been immune to it. But he's playing the fairy godmother, who is always fabulous. And if it was problematic issue, why is 'godmother' okay when 'fairy' isn't?
This small detail of dialogue and script however, is thematic overall of just how off-kilter this production is. Sets are gorgeous, but lost in the brim and din of candy-colored coifs and confections (and baaaaaad accents). Oversaturated reds, scathing fuchsias, acidic yellow, neon algae greens. It's all too much!
Very much like the music itself and the song selections. I say selections because this is a jukebox musical. Pop songs galore, and even songs which aren't pop, turned into something only sixth season of Glee worthy. I literally stopped the movie as the Prince's rendition of 'Seven Nation Army' began. You don't do a Madonna cover perfectly (Menzel) and then go twenty minutes later do the exact same treatment to The White Stripes. It's hard enough with Queen being so over-karaoke'd just because they're song rights are cheap enough, that when an overpopped cover breaks out you just kind of go with.
Cheap is a good word for how this movie comes off.
Don't get me wrong, every talent in this dungheap has skill in spades; but it's like they're trying to keep Cabello surrounded by the pop she knows so no one will have to work harder as she catches up to other styles of singing.
And if all that wasn't enough to convince you not to press play, let's just talk about this script, character development and numerous plot holes.
Cinderella is made out to a be a servant girl here again in this iteration, yet her stepmother does the laundry. Her stepmother has her own version of labor clothes for doing the laundry, which leads me to think the stepmother does routine housework. Maybe not a lot of housework, but in this anachronistically Edwardian-era hamlet world our characters reside in, even helping out minimally with the help would free up hours in their day. So even if her step-sisters get to wear the prettier clothes and sleep on the softer beds, Cinderella doesn't seem exactly ABUSED. Just neglected. She literally narrates how her stepmother doesn't bother her in the basement.
We do see abuse though, which comes out of left field. When Menzel's character flings ink onto Cinderella's dress and clutches the girl's chin in her hand. The physicality is very left field though, we had not seen Menzel's character act with such ferocity or cruelty until the point.
The conflict in the story seems to mainly stem from the kingdom being "traditional." That isn't really elaborated on however outside of the two main storyline arcs: Cinderella can't own a business because a woman can't own property and therefore can only manage her own house, and the prince must marry and produce and heir.
In this movie, Cinderella isn't so ham-eyed towards her prince. By the time I stopped watching, this motivation never wavered, Cinderella only wants the opportunity to make a better life for herself, and her chances of gaining that opportunity are squandered by the ink-cident (ha).
The prince starts off shrugging off a marriage proposal, one which sounds like a business arrangement. Which, albeit, much of his life per his father (played deliciously by Brosnan in one-note character) sounds like a business arrangement. Maybe that explains why he's so enamored but Cinderella when she first speaks out, and their later conversation in the town square.
But when so much of his character was set forth in that opening scene, the bro-man-child he protested himself to be, suddenly warms to the ideas of conformity his father has set out for him, it feels disingenuous to the prince, to a character. If the audience is to believe in the empowering message Cinderella is fighting for, why can't we also give more to what the prince can offer?
Unfortunately what the prince could offer has been relegated to a new character: the princess. Yes, in this telling of Cinderella, there are TWO royals. And the princess, just like Cinderella, is passed over and dismissed because of her gender.
This is a serious topic, one which we are literally fighting here in Texas (again), concerning body autonomy and sexism. The message is relevant.
Which makes it all the more disappointing when this feminist icon royal is given the direction to act like an amalgamation of every character Katherine Heigle has ever been forced to play. The princess is hard to watch because she is given no character beyond the smart girl in the room nobody wants around.
This movie isn't a feminist statement, it's candy-coated trying-to-be wholeness attempting to outdo the Brandy/Houston Rogers and Hammerstein ABC telecast on a Hollywood budget. Terrible CGI, terrible direction, terrible song choices (though well-sung) with terrible compositions.
Get Disney+. It has the Rogers and Hammerstein version.