July - September

Space Jam: A New Legacy

    The Looney Tunes were second fiddle in the franchise they made famous behind a man who could use a bit more work in the acting department (like his predecessor). Not even fun for nostalgia, but interesting visually.

 

Jungle Cruise

    How do you get two charismatic people and make them dull? That takes some kind of talent, talent that didn't go into the CGI. In reality - they probably didn't pay the CGI artists well enough to not work themselves to death. Or perhaps they simply weren't interested in this slog of a story, and I don't blame them. 

The Green Knight

If you don't like metaphor, fantasy, visuals, and things not making sense in a typical narrative structure, you're gonna hate it.

I, however, love those things a whole bunch. So this was right up my alley. Wish they stuck to some aspects of the story in the later parts a little stronger.

Candyman (2021)

    No impression left.

 

Vivo (2021)

    It's nothing special, but the earlier songs are very good. I didn't expect this to be the movie that sticks in my head months later. It had a wonderful set up that devolved into a typical children's movie. This was Sony's second movie to be sold to Netflix in 2021, and how they thought this justified a theatrical release is beyond me. 

The Suicide Squad (2021)

    I already dislike fantasy movies that are aping heavily from wartime films, so this was never going to land with me. I'm not even sure I finished it, so don't consider this a review.

 

Cinderella (2021)

    A lot of the songs are wonderful, just not any covered by the main actress. "Dream Girl" - I'm not sure if it's original, but it's very good. There's many hamfisted social issues that are undercut by many of the casting choices, the humor borders on too skeevy at points, and it's all in all something to kill time.

#4: Luca

 It's fine, but I beg of the internet movie going community at large to stop being so defensive of Pixar.

This movie is not in the vein of others (Save someone, stop something, time is running out), it's kids just chilling and learning. And while that's fine, I can see how people think it's very light on story. If you want something on vaguely in the background, you can do much worse.

I have never been that person who thinks Pixar can do no wrong - and that's outside of cheap shots at the Cars movies, by the way. People being offended that people rate something that isn't the copy and paste of their plotlines is rated a little lower is ridiculous.

#3: The Mitchells vs The Machines

 Ooh here is another movie I was hyped for that turned out to be "pretty damn good".

Cut out the first 30 minutes, condense it to about 15. This thing is way too long, almost 2 hours, and the first 30 it's not emotion, it's just uncomfortable bickering. The second half is both touching and frightening in equal measure. If you thought the scene in "Incredibles 2" was potentially seizure-inducing, this would have popped your eyeballs off if this got a theatrical release.

 Pay special attention to the sound editing.

There's a lot of nice voice work - Olivia Coleman is the cell phone, and a lot of comedians are the robots. My favorites were Michael Rianda as Aaron and Eric Andre as Mark. 

Interestingly, despite having listened to over 65 hours of "The Adventure Zone", I couldn't pick out who Griffin McElroy voiced.

It uses the same painterly/tech style of "Spider-verse", as both are from Sony Pictures Animation, and there are lots of little animated touches that infect the visual storytelling. Most of it's charming and fun, but very busy.

I feel this could be a grower of a movie. No franchise potential (but Sony will try, I'm sure) but extremely rewatchable.

#2: Raya and The Last Dragon

The movie simply doesn't go all the way in it's main aspect.

• What has the Druun's impact been on this world besides just turning people into stone? You can see bits of it, but it's not enough explanation during, essentially, an apocalypse.
•  3 out of 5 countries were just about destroyed. We no longer see any civilization in Heart, Tail, and it's dying in Spine. Think about it; It's probably because Fang and Talon are surrounded by bodies of water. There could have been a fabulous moral of needing others to survive to tie into the trust moral (Note how  there are talks about Fang needing to expand to survive, and needing the gems and Sisu to do so safely) but it's not here.
  

 

Book Look: Take Back the Block by Chrystal D. Giles

 A young boy works to stop the destruction and gentrification of his neighborhood.

This is an insightful middle-grade novel that doesn't shy away from sociopolitical aspects - gentrification and the black identity, police brutality, and black history are key themes. There are arguments amongst both the adults and the children about what should be done, with varying levels of privilege amongst each.

The dialogue is authentic - Mainly because a black woman wrote this book.

It is deeply thorough about research, self-education, and civic duty, while still being lighthearted.

The Animal Crossing Villager Birthday Conundrum

 Fun fact:

Animal Crossing villagers have birthdays. Most people don't know that.

So what happens when the player character shares a birthday with a villager?

I share a birthday with Marcel (Dec. 31) so I got to live this out firsthand recently: 

Book Look: The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal

 

 

It's literally 800 e-book pages of unpacking various traumas and abuses - both past and present- faced by 3 sisters as they travel through India to honor the last wishes of their mother.

 

 It's a gently sloping hill from funny to "Oh wow that's pretty heavy" and it makes me think about my life, despite not having most of the experiences.

Jaswal really has a lovely writing style that's just descriptive enough to keep the story moving.