by Emily Nagle
[usr 5]
Yesterday, Pixar’s 25th animated feature, “Turning Red“, released exclusively on Disney+. Set in 2002 Toronto, the film follows 13-year-old Meilin “Mei” Lee (voiced by Rosalie Chiang), who discovers that she transforms into a giant red panda when experiencing strong emotions.
“Turning Red” broke several barriers upon its release, most notably for being the first Pixar film to be directed solely by a woman (“Brave” featured Brenda Chapman as co-director, alongside Mark Andrews). It’s also the first to feature an Asian protagonist; director Domee Shi has been known to drawn inspiration from her experiences growing up as a child of Chinese immigrants for her projects, as shown in her short film “Bao”.
I could write for hours praising the incredible representation in this film – which features strong, well-developed female characters, talks about puberty like it’s no big deal, and includes several background characters with diabetes (another first for Pixar) – but for simplicity’s sake, I’ll discuss the bigger picture, like the story and animation.
As per usual, Pixar didn’t disappoint in the visuals department. I enjoyed the color palette for the film, which bright and youthful, just like Mei herself. Many of the scenes had a glow to them that felt almost dreamlike. I think the first part of the film where the animation really made me go “WOW!” was the cooking sequence at the beginning, when Mei’s father is chopping and stir-frying vegetables and steaming dumplings for the family’s dinner. I loved the attention to detail; the sparkling juice droplets that came squirting out with each slice were pure magic!
Something else I liked about the animation was that it didn’t have the usual 3D Pixar style for the entire film. What comes to mind is when Mei’s mother Ming (Sandra Oh) explains the origins of her mystical powers, and we discover that they were gifted from the gods to her ancestors. The visual style shifts to resemble a traditional Chinese art style that has a unique storybook feel to it. There’s also a brief moment at the beginning of the film on the day before Mei’s transformation, when she draws a picture of cute convenience store clerk Devon, and it winks at her, adding a cartoonish layer to a fairly human situation.
That’s another part of the movie I loved: the characters all feel so real. The close bond between Mei and her friends Priya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), Miriam (Ava Morse), and Abby (Hyein Park) reminded me a lot of my own childhood. They actually ended up playing a big role in the movie as Mei discovers they calm her down enough to neutralize her powers. The stakes get even higher when Mei, who’s been obedient to her mother’s strict rules for her whole life, must decide between keeping her powers to make her friends and herself happy, or following her family’s wishes by undergoing a painful ritual to get rid of the panda.
Everything in this movie felt like it was adequately explained; I remember in Pixar’s previous film “Luca” (which blew up on TikTok last summer), there were so many aspects of the film that I felt could have been explained better, such as why Luca’s grandmother covered for him when he would sneak out to the surface. That kind of thing doesn’t happen in “Turning Red”. Mei’s father Jin (Orion Lee) doesn’t seem to be as bothered by her powers as her mother, and it is later revealed why: he witnessed Ming’s highly destructive panda in the past. While Ming has since abandoned her panda, Jin didn’t see anything wrong with Mei’s, having discovered videos of her and her classmates having fun with her fluffy alternate form.
Even with characters that feel so human and relatable, there were a lot of fantasy parallels in this movie. The parts where Mei went into the bamboo forest during the ritual and met her ancestors felt like something out of a Studio Ghibli movie. There’s also the part when Ming’s panda gets unleashed, and it’s revealed that Jin wasn’t exaggerating about its dangers: she transforms into a kaiju-like being that nearly takes out an entire stadium. In order to stop Ming from destroying the city, Mei’s relatives spring into action, unleashing their pandas in an anime-esque sequence that reminded me of shows like Sailor Moon and Miraculous Ladybug.
I watched this movie last night, and I already want to rewatch it (preferably multiple times)! I think I’d go so far as to say this is Pixar’s best film in years. I’d recommend “Turning Red” to anyone who’s suffered through the awkwardness of middle school, fans of mythology and fantasy stories, or loves the idea of a fluffy, 8-foot-tall red panda!
by Michael Nagle
This weekend Robert Pattinson’s turn as Batman came out like gangbusters and generated $258 million worldwide at the box office. Directed by Matt Reeves, “The Batman” is dark, wet and murky. All of the early concerns about Pattinson’s worthiness to wear the cape seem to have gone away. The bigger question might be whether or not Pattinson can equally portray a convincing Bruce Wayne.
The dreary and always rainy Gotham City is in the grip of a criminal who is killing city VIPs involved in law enforcement. The masked killer seems to believe he’s removing the bad element from city leadership who have helped themselves to funds initially set aside for improving the city rather than using it for its initial intentions.
The film score is ideal for the visuals. Nirvana’s, “Something In The Way” comes on early and might be the most upbeat song you’ll hear in the next two plus hours. Against the brooding backdrop of Gotham City, it sets the mood perfectly.
Starting off with the bad, the film is long and could have easily been trimmed by thirty minutes or more. In contrast with “Joker”, this view of Gotham City appears even darker. That may stem from the fact that “Joker” was essentially one characters’ view of the world around him. Here, The Batman looks out at his own city and sees nothing but darkness. Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne hasn’t recovered from his childhood trauma of witnessing the murder of his parents. When he is departing a murder scene and learns that the victim was found dead by his own son, you can see the weight of the memory on Batman and equally observe his recognition of that on the child he makes eye contact with. It becomes more personal for Batman at that instance. It would be helpful of Pattinson was allowed to do something other than whisper through all of his dialogue. Even when unmasked, Bruce Wayne is portrayed as a reclusive hermit who is still best known as the son of murdered parents. Here the Bat Cave looks more like a rat cave.
Zoe Kravitz portrays Catwoman (Selina Kyle) and she eats up every scene that she’s in. Unfortunately, her storyline is paper thin and seems alternately forgotten at times. Kravitz has a chameleon-like appearance and through wig and costume changes, she’s never an afterthought when she’s on screen. Her Catwoman distracts the hell out of Pattinson’s Batman and it is easy to see why.
The sole member of the police force who Batman seems content to trust is Lieutenant James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) who does his customary solid job by never overacting in any scene he’s in.
Wright, Pattinson and Kravitz accomplish something impressive by portraying iconic characters without trying to duplicate even acknowledge whatever has been achieved in past portrayals by other actors. I should also say the same for Colin Farrell (as Penguin) and Paul Dano (as The Riddler). Farrell is unrecognizable and the prosthetics aren’t even a distraction. He’s probably among the least acknowledged actors of his generation in terms of his ability. Whoever cast Paul Dano as Riddler must have witnessed a hell of an audition. Dano’s brooding and disturbed minimalism in the role is pretty jarring. He becomes even scarier once he’s unmasked. That’s when Dano turns on the crazy without turning it into every cartoon-like crazy character you’ve ever seen on screen. Once he’s locked up, Dano’s Riddler almost seems excited by the prospect. Once he starts chatting with his neighbor in an adjacent cell, the audiences’ imagination can really kick in.
Reeves as Director manages to handle material that could easily get him blacklisted by Batman fans and walk away having accomplished something unique and darkly emotional. I’m not sure that he did as great a job as he could. Turning a Batman movie into a pseudo mafia story probably wasn’t necessary.
There are problems with the plotline. Some of the usual staples rear their ugly heads – the endless conspiracy where EVERYONE is involved (or could be), the tortured hero (we know Batman’s backstory but if he’s always so depressed or depressing what depth can the audience find when he should seem angry or sad about something happening now?), and a few more. Hard to call out some of them without spoiling the film for those who’ve not yet seen it.
Still, credit to the cinematography that this film in several instances looks as though it was lifted directly from the pages of a comic book. Silver and white raindrops are the sole illumination visible in otherwise blackened scenes. The fight scenes are so dark that by contrast, the “Games Of Thrones” war seemed better lit.
Pattinson seems at ease and agile in the suit. Probably better than any of his predecessors, he’s the right age for the fighting and the gymnastics involved. At one point when Batman swings over to prevent a catastrophe and saves the lives of people in danger (including the young boy referenced earlier) it almost felt like an old Errol Flynn movie where the audience might jump out of their seats and cheer (they didn’t in my theatre). It had that hero momentum and believability.
None of the 90s camp and cheeky humor from that era’s Batman films can be found here. Jim Carrey as Riddler seemed barely adequate then let alone now. And while Christian Bale is thought by many to have played the role best (or Michael Keaton), Pattinson’s Batman seems to put both in the rearview mirror by a comfortable margin. His Bruce Wayne needs some work and his Bat cave could use a serious scrubbing. And based on the box office numbers, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets the opportunity to flex that muscle.
by Emily Nagle
Top 5 Highest Grossing Films for Weekend of March 4-6, 2022
5. Death on the Nile ($2.7 million)
4. Spider-Man: No Way Home ($4.5 million)
3. Dog ($6.1 million)
2. Uncharted ($11.1 million)
1. The Batman ($134 million)
Having debuted in theaters on Friday, “The Batman” serves as a reboot for the character that’s been around for more than eight decades. It stars Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne, with other cast members including Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Paul Dano, and John Turturro. The film follows Batman as he investigates corruption in Gotham City, all while pursuing the Riddler. Having received praise for its excellent performances, engaging story, and thrilling action sequences, the only aspect of “The Batman” that some critics found an issue with was its length: the film clocks in at 176 minutes – nearly 3 hours.
While “The Batman” triumphed at the box office this weekend, “Uncharted” was booted from number-one for the first time in two weeks. Tom Holland’s other recent film, “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, also moved down in the ranks, moving down from the third-highest-grossing film of the weekend to the fourth. All other films from last weekend’s top 5 each moved down one rank.
by Emily Nagle
[usr 2]
Last Thursday, the new historical comedy “Our Flag Means Death” premiered on HBO Max. Created by David Jenkins (“People of Earth“) and directed by Taika Waititi (“Jojo Rabbit“, “Thor: Ragnarok“), the show follows a fictionalized version of Captain Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), also known as “The Gentleman Pirate”. Having abandoned his family and lavish aristocrat lifestyle for a risky life on the high seas, Bonnet has no clue what he’s doing, but it’s up to him to lead his ragtag pirate crew and prepare them to fight off enemies.
Personally, the humor isn’t for me. I’ve seen other viewers comment on how the jokes are very on brand for Waititi, and that it’s very much New Zealand humor. There were only a couple of moments that I found to be lightly goofy. I’d say the humor is more cute than anything else. You probably won’t be rolling on the floor laughing at it, but it might give you a chuckle or two.
Despite the humor falling more or less flat for me, what kept me watching this show was Captain Bonnet’s backstory. Bonnet constantly second-guesses his abilities to lead his crew, and there’s moments where we’ll see a flashback to his childhood, giving a deeper insight as to why he feels all this self-doubt. We’re also shown a flashback to the night he left behind everything he’d ever known to become a pirate captain.
But this isn’t a show that’s focused on a dramatic story. Rather, it’s more lighthearted, with Bonnet and his crew partaking in goofy activities in each episode. During the pilot, Bonnet holds a flag-making contest for his crew in an effort to make their ship look more intimidating to enemies, and the end products come out looking like summer camp art projects – one design depicts a giant skull vomiting buttons onto a skeleton. The way this show took a historical figure and made him into this goofy, childlike man reminds me a lot of Waititi’s portrayal of Hitler in “Jojo Rabbit”. Like how Bonnet is shown to read bedtime stories to his crew (complete with silly voices!).
So, the first few episodes of “Our Flag Means Death” weren’t particularly impressive. But sometimes shows can take a little while to find their footing and turn into something truly incredible. With that being said, I might give it another shot and see if it gets better later on. At the time of writing, only 3 episodes of the show have been released – three more episodes are set to premiere on the platform this Thursday. My hope is that as we get deeper into season one, we’ll get to see more of Bonnet’s backstory.
All episodes of “Our Flag Means Death” are available to stream now on HBO Max.
by Emily Nagle
John DiMaggio has signed on to reprise his role as Bender in the “Futurama” revival on Hulu following fans protesting on Twitter for the past month.
“I’M BACK, BABY! So damn grateful for the love and support of fans and colleagues alike during this whole time (especially my wife, Kate), and I cannot wait to get back to work with my Futurama family,” DiMaggio excitedly announced in a statement. “#Bendergate is officially over, so put it on the back of a shelf behind Xmas decorations, or maybe in that kitchen drawer with all of the other crap you put in there like old unusable crazy glue, or maybe even put it in a jar you save farts in. Whatever floats your boat, I don’t care, you get the picture. I’M BACK, BABY! BITE MY SHINY METAL ASS!”
It was first reported last month that DiMaggio was possibly not returning to “Futurama” due to pay negotiations. In the last update on the show from Hulu and 20th Television Animation, it was stated that Bender would be recast, but Matt Groening said it best: “From the moment John DiMaggio auditioned last century, we knew we had our Bender.” Details on the pay agreement reached by the two parties have not been released, but sources said they were able to come to a happy medium.
The new season of “Futurama” will have 20 episodes, and is set to premiere on Hulu in 2023. This will mark the third time the series is revived, with Comedy Central bringing new episodes of the show back to television twice after it got cancelled by Fox.
by Emily Nagle
Top 5 Highest Grossing Films for Weekend of February 25-27, 2022
5. Jackass Forever ($3.1 million)
4. Death on the Nile ($4.5 million)
3. Spider-Man: No Way Home ($5.8 million)
2. Dog ($10.1 million)
1. Uncharted ($23 million)
This weekend saw the continued success of video game adaptation “Uncharted”, which maintained its number-one spot for the second weekend in a row. Tom Holland has been carrying ticket sales for the past couple of weeks, with “Spider-Man: No Way Home” still in the top 5 after two months in theaters. The latter recently got nominated for Best Visual Effects at the upcoming 94th Academy Awards ceremony, which will take place on March 27, 2022.
Paramount re-released “The Godfather” in honor of the film’s 50th anniversary, with 156 theaters across the United States screening it over the weekend. Although it was only the 12th highest-grossing film for the weekend, the iconic Mafia crime flick was among the top 3 for all theaters that screened it. Since its release in 1972, “The Godfather” has grossed $248.2 million worldwide.
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