Movie: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

I’m not going to give you a synopsis. We all know this movie is about Wakanda, land of the Black Panther, but the king died. This movie is what happened next.  

First thing first: It is too long. The first half of the movie could have been tightened up. Why are there so many slow-motion sequences and why are they so long? And I think they could have put Julia Luis-Dreyfus to better use. That being said, I enjoyed the story. I like the introduction of Namor, and his story arc.

Speaking of the Talokan people, I have so many questions! Why is their city-society not more technologically advanced? They have vibranium, why are they not using it to move through the water easier? I see a bunch of underwater people and they’re still flapping their arms to get around. Why is Namor’s favorite hang-out in a dry, underwater cave where his people had to wear water masks to speak to him? Do his wings regenerate? Why does their traditional costume have feathers? Shouldn’t they have scales or shells instead? 

The costumes, make-up and all styling are beautifully done. I’ll take that purple track suit in a medium please? Thank you. 

Overall, I enjoyed the movie, but its just not something I need to see again. I give it three stars ***

Movie: Hotel Coppelia (2021) ***

Hotel Coppelia takes you back in time to a brothel set in the Dominican Republic, 1965, right before the government coup and civil war. The film opens by revealing the harsh realities of everyday brothel life at Hotel Coppelia owned and operated by Judith and a set of prostitutes. There is discontentment and dissatisfaction with how Judith is running things inside the brothel and there are hints and whispers of the civil unrest that’s building outside. Then all-out war begins. The brothel becomes the center of events as the rebel group commandeers Judith’s building for their military headquarters. Then later as the war progressed, the American military takes over the location. Judith and the remaining prostitutes make deals and provide services in exchange for their lives and the hope of a possible future in that building, but they might have gotten a better deal with the devil.

This film offers an interesting point of view about a civil war I hadn’t known about previously. But this is sad, sad, sad.

Three stars ***

I watched this on HBOMax

Movie: In Her Shoes (2005)

This is a lost classic that a lot of people write off as a silly romcom, but it’s really a beautiful dramedy about two sisters growing up in a family that didn’t know how deal with mental illness. Two sisters, played by Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette, who were once close, find themselves dangling from loose ends in their lives. It takes them each of them getting through a period of self-discovery and coming to terms with their childhood to realize that they really need each other. Also starring Shirley Maclaine.

I’m pretty sure I didn’t see this in theaters. I most likely saw it when it was on HBO years ago. I had a hankering to rewatch it recently and couldn’t find it on any streaming service, so I checked the DVD out from the library. 

Theatre: Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! (2022)

•  Show: Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!
• Venue: Ahmanson Theatre

I just saw The Bard Summerscape production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! I was really excited to see it because the promotions were highlighting a “colorful” cast and I wanted to see how that dynamic would play into the original story. It turned out to be awful. 

 The stage was set up like a country music hall. Several picnic tables with paper tablecloths, set with six packs of beer, and a few crock pots, one table with a pile of corn ears and a few stainless-steel bowls. The band set behind the tables in full view on the stage. The standing backdrop was covered by the blown-up image of a house and possibly a tractor in a field of grain in beige tones. There were invisible doors built in for actors and stagehands to enter and exit the stage. Not sure what they're going for, but at this point, I was open to a new interpretation. 

I was excited when it started immediately with Oh What a Beautiful Morning, which was arranged to be a country song. That’s different. Curly strolled around the set with a guitar playing solo. All the music was arranged differently than the original musical. The songs I heard had a tinge of foreboding. Even Surrey with a Fringe On Top, which is normally a very happy, hopeful song, felt uncertain and possibly sad. Not sure why, but maybe in keeping with the stage being set up like a music hall, at different points the characters would pull out a microphone and start singing into it as if on their own personal stage. Sometimes the stage lights even changed so it turned into a mini concert. 

All the characters were sexualized. I like the reimagined Ado Annie. In the movies she is depicted as silly and stupid. This Annie was more deliberate. Will Parker spanked himself and incorporated a lot of pelvic movements into his lines. Aunt Eller gave off some bisexual vibes. Jud was Manson-esque creepy. Although the acting and dialogue didn't give a clear sense of the story, yet, I was still in at this point. 

Where I started to separate from this production, was the number Many a New Day (I think) when the women characters start shucking corn. It was so messy and wasteful. They angrily shucked the corn and threw the husks around the stage. As if in an outrage, they broke the ears in half and chucked them into a big cooking pot. I didn’t see the point of their anger. I don’t know why they would want to be so messy with the corn husks. Corn silk is a pain to clean up. The whole scene seemed pointless. 

I held on until suddenly the lights dropped, plunging us all into theater darkness to experience the conversation between Curly and Judd in the smokehouse, which was originally written as troublesome scene, but listening to two men exchange that dialogue in this production, it became ominous and scary. Then as they sang Poor Jud is Daid, I was totally pulled out of the story with the switch from darkness to night vision camera close-ups projected onto the backdrop. Blair Witch, anyone?

I didn’t like that you had no sense of location. Where was this story taking place? Where was it going?

I didn’t like that the music was foreboding. 

I didn’t like the corn shucking.

I didn’t the smokehouse scene. 

Maybe I’ve got this all wrong, but the original Oklahoma! was full of hope. Hope for a future statehood. Hope for love. Hope for the American dream. Yes, there are dark parts to the original story, but it is the contrast of the darkness to the hopefulness that makes Oklahoma not a silly, happy-go-lucky play, but a dynamic musical that through song and movement attempted to sum up the good, bad and gray areas of life in the U.S. territories. 

This version I’m going to call Deconstructed Oklahoma? On Bath Salts.  You don’t know where you’re at. You don’t know where you’re going. You don’t know why everyone is so mad and so horny. The lights and colors change suddenly all the time, even to complete darkness. And then suddenly, you stare into extreme close-up faces. 

I saw this show with my best friend who had never seen Oklahoma! in any form and didn’t know the story. At the intermission I asked him if he had an idea about the story, the setting and what the characters were planning to do. He kind of had a clue but summed it up as a “fever dream.” We made up our minds to leave. I always say if you don’t like a movie or a TV show to turn it off. Don’t waste your life. This was the first time I exercised that philosophy in a theater. 

Movie: Notes From 2015 Movies

Found some of my old notes...

The Danish Girl ««
Not impressed with the how the story unfolded. I think they missed the mark by showing Einar/Lili revealing their nature by modeling their legs. It felt like there could have been a better way of leading the audience down that path. Consequently, I wasn’t able to suspend reality. Acting was pretty good, and I was happy to see Matthias Schoenaerts who’s name rarely makes it on the movie’s poster, but who always adds to a film.

Brooklyn «««
This was a please surprise. I thought it was going to be the story of a girl torn between two men, but there was much more to the depiction of an Irish girl who made her way to New Yor, finding empowerment along her way. Excellent costumes and personal styling!

The Martian «««
Was not expecting to laugh during this movie, even though it was nominated for Best Musical/Comedy by SAG. Felt like Castaway + Stark Trek.

The Revenant ««««
Iñárritu’s direction and cinematographer Emanuel Lubezki created a visually beautify film that backed up an interesting story acted out with great performances by Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. An overall good movie with a very intense bear attack scene.

Far From the Madding Crowd «««««
Reminds me of Pride & Prejudice (2005) + Places In the Heart (1984). This year has given us several stories of women’s empowerment, and this is one of those. This one is about a woman with options, and she seems to choose the hardest option whenever faced with a decision, which isn’t necessarily bad since it makes for a good story on the screen. In my opinion, you must purposefully try to make the landscape look bad when filming in the English countryside. It is quite beautifully captured in this film and so was the on-screen chemistry between Carey Mulligan and Mattias Schoenaerts (Here he is, again!). I could watch this over and over and now have the DVD to make that happen!

Movie: Tick, Tick… Boom! (2021) *****

Talk about a piece of art speaking directly to you, to who you are and how you feel at a moment, or for the past few years even. 

Tick Tick Boom is a movie version of the play (rock monologue) written by Jonathan Larson, the focus character in both the play and the movie. In the movie, he is an aspiring musical theater writer and has an opportunity to show his play at a workshop. He spends most of the movie obsessively preparing for this workshop.

The movie takes the play where live theater can’t go: actualized flashbacks, toggling between two or more people on screen, on location. But still, in a way capturing the intimacy of a monologue show in an off-Broadway theater. Lin Manuel-Miranda did a great job of capturing the proverbial lightning, as well as thunder, rain and clouds parting to reveal hope… in a bottle.

I found this movie to be very sincere and touching all while using the best of film and musical theater techniques, featuring cameos from stars of theater. I loved the voices, and I loved the music. After Hamilton, In the Heights and Encanto, I’m recognizing Lin Manuel-Miranda style.

I still find Seasons of Love to be an annoying song, but I’m definitely open to giving the stage play, Rent, written by Jonathan Larson, another try. 

I enjoyed Tick Tick Boom. It by far was one of my favorite films of 2021. Five stars: Probably a favorite. I can see myself memorizing the soundtrack and watching the movie over and over. *****

2022 New Year's Movie Marathon Gone Wrong

I tried to have a Happy New Year movie marathon, but I gave up, after these three movies let me down... all in a row. 

Happy New Years (2014)

This was a Bollywood comedy-action-dance-competition flick. Yeah, I said it. What I find astounding about the random Bollywood movies I decide to watch, is that they all seem to star the same few guys: Shah Rukh Khan (✔ He’s in this movie, too), Sonu Sood (✔ He’s in this movie, too), Amitabh Bachchan (✘ He’s not in this movie).
There’s an excessively produced mud fight scene that is only there as a venue to show the audience that Shah Rukh Khan, 49 at the time this movie was made (lies!), has a ripped body and is a total badass. There’s another action scene to convince you Sonu Sood is also a badass.
Most Bollywood isn’t my thing. I’ve seen some epics that I thought were great. They were depicting tales from India’s history, mythology and folklore. When I venture into the comedy genre, I find that the humor and cheese just doesn’t please my palette.

• Production Co: Red Chilies Entertainment
• How’d you watch it: Netflix

New Year New You (2018)
This one is about a bunch of friends getting together for NYE that is supposed to be a thriller/horror, but it takes too long to tell the story. They’re trying to use Jordan Peele styling, but unfortunately, they got it wrong. Every second of the movie can’t be creepy or suspenseful, or you’ll never be surprised. I gave it a long painful 40-minute try, but I always tell others to just stop an uncomfortably bad movie, so I took my own advice.

• Production Co: Blumhouse Television
• How’d you watch it: Hulu

New Year, New Us (2021)
An urban fiction movie – but a bad one. A woman wants to have a baby with her reluctant husband, so she tried to engage in a lot of sex until he gets tired of it. Then, at work, he gets a sexy, flirty intern. I stopped it there, before it became any more like a cheesy porn flick.

• Production Co: Maverick Entertainment
• How’d you watch it: Hoopla

2021 Holiday Movie Marathon Part III: Re-Watching Past Faves

At a certain point, I got tired of looking for new movies, so I decided to revisit some of my old favorites to see if they held up.

Christmas Love Story 

A writer goes back to his hometown for Christmas almost every year and enjoys the company of family, close friends and a woman who essentially is his Christmas girlfriend. I like how in this HolRom they’re not swooning over each other, and you can see how they relationship builds-dissolves-rebuilds over time as they’re life changes and their dreams mature. 

• Originally watched: 2019
• Tropes: Belated Love Epiphany • Friends to Lovers
• Does it hold up: Yes. 🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄

Christmas Contract

What I still like: There is a misunderstanding, and the relationship is halted, but it is resolved in a logical and cute way. Everyone acted authentically no over-the-top cheesiness. 

• Originally watched: 2019
• Tropes: Fake Relationship • Best Friend’s Sibling • Shared Goal • Return to Hometown 
• Does it hold up: Yes. 🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄

Naughty or Nice

Re-watching this I caught so many story holes and nonsensicals, but it still was enjoyable as a cute, and cheesy holiday romance starring Haylie Duff. 

• Originally watched: 2017
• Tropes: Enemies-to-Lovers • Opposites Attract • Career vs. Love
• Does it hold up: Yes. 🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄

2021 Holiday Movie Marathon Part II: Good to Fave

What I noticed about this year's new HolRom movies: Ion channel featured a few crime-themed movies this year. There are more movies are featuring characters that are in their 30s on up. I like that. Representin' the 30+ crowd! 

These are the Good to Fave movies I discovered this year: 

A Christmas Witness (2021) 🎄 🎄 🎄

A man with connections to the mafia gets placed in the witness protection program until he’s scheduled to testify at a trial the day after Christmas. A single, childless with a strained family dynamic (free for the holidays!) deputy US Marshal is assigned to protect him. The man turns out to be uncharacteristically Christmassy and the usually very focused deputy marshal starts to melt. This movie gets points for a storyline that strays away from the regular tropes. I haven’t seen a mafia-themed HolRom before this one. I knew it! I recognized this actress from somewhere and YES! She played one of Dwayne Johnson’s character’s love interests on Ballers. 

• Production: Authentic. Filmed in Chicago.
• Tropes: Enemies to Lovers · Workplace Based Romance · Scars of the Past • Criminal-Law Enforcer
• Diversity: One supporting POC
• Production Co: Thriller Films • Chicago Media Angels 
• How'd you watch it: Ion Holiday Romance Marathon

A Castle for Christmas (2021) 🎄 🎄 🎄

The premise is similar to a book by one of my favorite authors (Breathing Room by Susan Elizabeth Phillips). An American bestselling author has a fall-from-grace moment and decides to lick her wounds and find inspiration in the countryside of Scotland. When visiting a castle that her father told her about, she runs into a curmudgeonly aristocrat who is trying not to sell his ancestral estate, but failing. The author offers to buy, then ensues the push-an-pull of falling for each other while deciding the fate of the estate. This movie features Brook Shields and the guy from Princess Bride, Cary Elwes, and is another rom flick featuring mid-to-older adult characters. Albeit to long (The snow-playing scene should have been cut shorter and the post-fight-to-make-up events should have been tighter), this movie was still entertaining and fun. 

• Production: Ample budget. Filmed on location in Scotland at Tantallon Castle. 
• Tropes: Enemies to Lovers • Royalty/Nobility •  Save the  Business • Family History
• Diversity: POC!
• Production Co: MPCA • Netflix 
• How'd you watch it: Netflix

2021 Holiday Movie Marathon Part I: Alright & Not Good

Here it is! Better late than never! Another holiday season has come and gone and I managed to watch a few movies of the Holiday Romance (HolRom) variety. There's a mix of sincere, cheesy, and down-right awful in these three posts. This year, I'm using the 1-4 trees as my rating scale.

• 🎄🎄🎄🎄 Fave. 
• 🎄🎄🎄 Good.
• 🎄🎄 Alright.
• 🎄👎Not good. 

Let's start off with the alright and not good movies. 

The Nine Lives of Christmas (2014)  🎄👎

A firefighter adopts a stray cat and of course, keeps on running into an overwhelmed veterinary student. Too predictable and uninteresting story. Actors didn’t own their roles. Bad music. Stopped 30 minutes in. 

• How'd you watch it: DVD checked out from the library. 

New Lease on Christmas (2021) 🎄 🎄

A real estate agent who is having a tough time finding work gets a commission to sell the building where her favorite coffee shop is located and the shop is owned by the guy she has a crush on. 

This movie is alright. I stopped paying full attention about halfway through and finished it only because I multitasked while it played. At a certain point the main character, played by Claire Coffee who also played Adalind on Grimm, breaks the fourth wall and I don’t know why that was necessary. 

• How'd you watch it: Ion Holiday Romance Marathon

Miss Christmas (2017) 🎄 🎄 

Christmas event planner has to convince a semi-Grinch to donate a beloved family tree to be a city’s Christmas plaza centerpiece. Of course, her job is on the line to get this event planned, but there is a lot family rooted into that tree. Can she convince him? Will the branch be extended?!

• Production: Ample budget. Authentic.
• Tropes: Enemies to Lovers · Workplace Based Romance · Scars of the Past 
• Diversity: One supporting POC
• Production Co: Hallmark Channel · Crown Media Productions
• How'd you watch it: DVD checked out from the library.

Movie: Calling for Love (2020) **

A music-themed podcast host’s show is on the line due to low followers. Cut to a mechanic helping a young woman with her car, getting her number, then losing his phone. Cut to the podcast host having to guest host the love connections podcast when the mechanic calls in looking for his lost customer. Then the podcaster starts a relationship with her co-worker. Then the production company pressures the podcaster to take missed-connection-mechanic story to the next level. Then the mechanic and podcaster start to fall for each other. Then they find the missed-connections customer. You might be able to guess the end, but it doesn’t matter. I didn’t like this one bit. Story was all over the place. Dialogue stunk.

Boss: How do you expect people to continue to listen to Music Thread if you keep talking about obscure instruments and the details in the liner notes. People don’t need to think about music. They need to feel it.
Podcaster: I like to think about music. I know everything there is to know about music.
Boss: And I know everything there is to know about Microsoft Excel, but that doesn’t mean it makes a good podcast. You can’t be afraid to let your guard down. Maybe that’s why you won’t consider my suggestion. You’ve been here three years. That’s three years of Nacho Ordinary Thursday and not once have you brought a date. 

Podcaster: How am I going to find the love of my life on a blind date?
Boss: It could spark something!
Podcaster: Sparks burn houses down, Greta.

Two stars. I watched, but, nah. **

• Production: low-budget cheesy movie with an almost homemade banner as the lobby sign for the podcast company.
• Suspension of belief: High
• Tropes/sub-genres: Belated Love Epiphany, Woman experiencing career pressure
• Diversity: Colorful. 
• Production Co: Film Rise
• How'd you watch it: DVD checked out from my local library

TV: Married At First Sight Seasons 1-12 (2014-2021)

I’m going to write about this as a bunch instead of each season.  

Let me start with the fact that I’m fascinated with arranged marriages. I’m open to the idea. Please send me biodata of eligible bachelors or the info of a professional-auntie who’d love to pair me. I haven’t blogged about it yet, but during the pandemic, I binged Indian Matchmaker, The Big Day, Indian and Orthodox Jewish wedding highlights video on YouTube and watched the films Arranged, Unorthodox, and of course, Monsoon Wedding (one of my favorite movies). I’m into it, y’all.  

Anyway, I don’t remember where in my arranged marriage craze I began to watch Married at First Sight, but I think I found it on Hoopla first. I started with season 9. Hooked. Loved the concept, the couples (the good ones) and was somewhat into the trash and trainwrecks. I think I found season 10 on Pluto (Ugh, commercials!). Then after Hulu was introduced into my world, I binged seasons 1-8 and 11. Finally, last month, March 2022, season 12 was released on Hulu and I ate it up.   

From what I hear, seasons 13 and beyond are just too trashy-trainwrecky and that’s not what I like about MAFS. I like to see the couples work and work issues out. I also really enjoy the reunion and Couples Cam episodes.  

Over 12 seasons, I got good at knowing when to fast forward and what to fast forward through. After season 2, I realized I could fast forward until I saw the stick figures hold hands, which is usually about three minutes of recap and a preview.  After watching five seasons, I started skipping the matchmaking episodes: I only want to get to know who actually got matched. I skipped a couple of the wedding prep episodes because they were uninteresting, but I started watching those again in seasons 11 and 12. Season 12 had the best wedding dress: Hayley’s gown was gorgeous.  I usually did housework during the honeymoon episodes because its so drawn out, especially season 12. I was disturbed by the production decision to continue following the couples who had clearly broken up way before the season ended. Leave them alone! I fast forwarded through any of their segments, or the segments of couples I don’t like.  

Three Stars ***

TV: Dexter New Blood Mini Series (2021)

 This started out wrong but ended well. Everything that made Dexter (the regular series) difficult for me to watch happened in the first few episodes. He was still getting away with it. Will no one be able to catch this man, already?! Thank goodness that changed.  

Dexter is living under an assumed identity in a small town in upstate New York. At the point of entry for us viewers, things seem to be going well for him, until his past comes back. Harrison (his son with Rita) shows up out of nowhere and his dark passenger decides to briefly take the wheel. His girlfriend, who is also the town’s sheriff starts putting the pieces together. Why would you date the sheriff, you supposedly retired serial killer you? Teenagers will almost always be annoying, and teenage Harrison does that job well. Then we discover there’s another serial killer in this town. What?!  

I’m happy I watched it through to the end, and although I wanted the storyline with Harrison to go differently, I was pleased by the final ending.  

Highlight: The creepy song from the Dexter series end credits, was the regular theme song for Dexter New Blood.

Three Stars***

Movie: Hearts Down Under (2020) ***

 This movie is also called Romance on the Menu. 

A fancy NYC restaurateur, Caroline, inherits a café in Australia. She visits Down Under and decides to sell the café because she doesn't think she can maintain both restaurants. The staff decide to mount a campaign to get her to maintain ownership, and the cafe's cook, is a handsome fellow. You know what happens. At the climactic point in the movie, her ex from NYC, Nathaniel, shows up in Australia and professes his love. Nathaniel wasn't trying to be controlling or overstep, he just thought he was being romantic, but instead of treating him like a misunderstood man, Caroline treated him like he was an asshole, literally kicking him to the curb in another country. 

The writers let this trope play out like normal, but it would have been a breath of fresh air if Caroline would have turned to Cook and explained the misunderstanding before she took Nathaniel aside to explain to him her feelings. This actually goes back to the beginning: Caroline should have just explained how she felt abandoned and wasn't interested in him anymore instead of avoiding and putting off Nathaniel. But yeah... I know that feeling of wanting to avoid hard conversations, so that's relatable. 

Anyway, this was an enjoyable film. I like actress Cindy Busby (Heartland, Christmas In Royal Fashion). I like travel stories. I like women discovering and pursuing their happiness.