Promising Young Woman

I saw Promising Young Woman at Sundance this year (that seems like such a long time ago) and it was definitely one of my favorites from the festival so I was really excited to see it again last night now that it is in wide release!  Thirty year old Cassie Thomas (Carey Mulligan) is still living at home with her parents and working at a dead-end job in a coffee shop.  She is clearly troubled and spends her weekends dressing provocatively, going to bars, pretending to be drunk, and assaulting the men who try to take advantage of her.  It is eventually revealed that her life was derailed by a traumatic incident when she was in medical school and that it caused her to drop out.  It seems that her life has been in limbo ever since but everything changes when she has a chance encounter with Ryan Cooper (Bo Burnham), a former classmate.  She begins a relationship with him and starts to take an interest in life again but, when she learns of his involvement in the incident, she becomes intent on exacting revenge.  You think you know where the action is going and then there is a major twist and, while you are still processing what just happened, there is another one (which made the crowd in my screening at Sundance cheer out loud).  It is absolutely brilliant!  I love a good dark comedy and this is a quirky and subversive take on the traditional revenge story.  Carey Mulligan gives one of the best performances of her career as a woman who is broken but also angry.  She is scary when she lashes out against men who seem nice but are not and she shows vulnerability when she finds one who actually is.  All of writer/director Emerald Fennell's choices are so specific and stylized, from the decor in Cassie's house, which seems to belong in another era, to the clothes and hairstyles Cassie wears, which are more appropriate for a teenager, and they serve to emphasize the fact that time has stopped for Cassie and that she can't put the incident behind her.  The needle drops are also incredibly clever, especially "Boys" by Charli XCX, "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)" by Carmen DeLeon, an instrumental version of "Toxic" by Britney Spears, and "Angel Of The Morning" by Juice Newton (in the aforementioned pivotal scene which prompted applause and cheering).  There are some jarring tonal shifts but the whole movie is so audacious that it is best to just go along for the ride.  I loved it and I recommend it to fans of dark comedies.

News of the World

I was never much of a fan of Westerns until I saw a remake of The Magnificent Seven a few years ago and discovered a newfound affinity for the genre.  This is why I was really excited to see News of the World yesterday and, since it is an old fashioned Western where a damaged protagonist finds redemption, I absolutely loved it!  After the Civil War, former Confederate Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) travels from town to town reading the news to people who don't have the time to read it themselves.  He tempers the sometimes difficult news about Reconstruction with kindness and compassion but he is clearly tormented by all that he has seen and done in the war.  While traveling through Texas, he comes across a young girl (Helena Zengel) who was taken and raised by the Kiowa people after her family was massacred.  He learns that her name is Johanna Leonberger and that a Black scout for the Bureau of Indian Affairs was taking her to relatives in the town of Castroville but he was lynched on the way and she is on her own.  Despite the fact that the route is a treacherous one, Kidd decides to take her to Castroville himself.  They have a series of misadventures on the trail where they come to rely on each other for survival and eventually help each other confront the demons of the past.  This movie is incredibly beautiful to look at with an equally beautiful message about different people (and a nation) coming together to heal.  Director Paul Greengrass, known primarily for explosive action and frenetic hand-held camera work, is a bit more restrained here but there are still some thrilling and suspenseful action sequences such as a shoot-out in a canyon, a riot instigated by one of Kidd's readings, a runaway horse, and a terrifying windstorm.  Greengrass also imbues many scenes with a poignancy that is subdued but no less effective, particularly when Johanna visits the site of her family's massacre and when Kidd returns to his home and memories in San Antonio.  Hanks, who excels at playing these noble everyman roles (I've heard him referred to as the Jimmy Stewart of our time), gives a highly nuanced performance that is quite affecting and newcomer Zengel holds her own with the veteran actor.  The swelling score by James Newton Howard is incredibly atmospheric and the authentic production design places the audience right in the middle of the chaos of Reconstruction.  This contemplative character study is one of my favorites this year and I highly recommend it!

Wonder Woman 1984

Other than Tenet there haven't been any big-budget Hollywood blockbusters in movie theaters this year so I have been anticipating the release of Wonder Woman 1984 for a long time!  I saw it last night in an IMAX theater with Dolby ATMOS sound and, while it didn't quite live up to the original, I loved the spectacle (I think it should be seen on the big screen with a giant tub of popcorn, if at all possible) and the message.  It is 1984 and Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) curates antiquities at the Smithsonian and anonymously rounds up criminals as Wonder Woman but she is sad and lonely because she has been mourning the loss of her lover Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) for over sixty years.  She is befriended by Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), a gemologist at the Smithsonian who is warm and compassionate but also awkward, mousy, and forgettable.  The Smithsonian acquires an ancient artifact that is purported to grant the wish of anyone who touches it and both Diana and Barbara wish for their deepest desires, not really believing that they will come true.  Barbara idolizes Diana and her wish is to be just like her which leads to more confidence and, rather unexpectedly, an increase in strength.  Max Lord (Pedro Pascal), a sleazy oil tycoon, visits the Smithsonian looking for the artifact which he believes he can use to save his failing business.  He seduces Barbara so that she will give it to him and ultimately wishes for world domination.  The artifact grants wishes but also takes what the recipient holds dear in return; however, even though Diana's strength is depleted and Barbara loses her humanity, they are unwilling to renounce their wishes.  As Lord's wish causes instability in the Middle East and brings the world to the brink of nuclear war, Diana must decide what is most important.  For me, this movie lacks the emotional resonance of Wonder Woman and is a bit convoluted but there is still a lot to enjoy.  Some of the best scenes from the original are when Diana is a fish-out-of-water who marvels at everything she sees in the modern world of 1918.  These are mimicked when Steve is amazed by the technology of 1984, especially supersonic planes and escalators, and there is even a fun scene with Steve trying on clothes. The loud and colorful action set pieces are thrilling, particularly a car chase in the Egyptian desert and a stand-off in a corridor of the White House, and there is a truly awe-inspiring sequence that gave me goosebumps.  More of the Wonder Woman mythology is introduced, including the invisible jet and the Golden Eagle armor, and these scenes are also clever and exciting.  Gadot gives another charismatic performance and I loved Diana's character arc because, even though she is less naive than she once was, she is still eventually motivated by the goodness within mankind in a pivotal scene.  Both Wiig and Pascal look like they are having a lot of fun portraying these over-the-top villains, especially Pascal as a megalomaniac con-man who perfectly embodies the excess of the era.  The story is a powerful indictment of greed and instant gratification and I really liked the message that it is better to live with the truth than an illusion.  I loved seeing this with a large socially distanced crowd (and the aforementioned popcorn) and I would definitely recommend it!

Note:  There is mid-credits scene with a really fun cameo but no end-credits scene.

Soul

After opening presents yesterday I watched the new Pixar movie Soul which is now streaming on Disney+.  It is an incredibly clever exploration of the true meaning of life that is funny, touching, and profound.  I really loved it!  Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) is a jazz pianist who has aspirations of being a professional musician but is stuck in a job as a middle school band teacher.  He gets the opportunity of a lifetime when he auditions for jazz legend Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett) and is offered a position in her band.  On his way home to prepare for the gig he has an accident and his soul leaves his body.  Angry that he has died right before his big break, he runs away from the Great Beyond, which is the afterlife, and ends up in the Great Before, where souls get their personalities before coming to Earth.  Joe eventually poses as an instructor and is assigned to mentor 22 (Tina Fey), a soul who has been in the Great Before for many years because she doesn't see the point of living.  Joe decides to help 22 find her spark and is helped by Moonwind Stardancer (Graham Norton), an enlightened soul who sends them both to Earth, and is pursued by Terry (Rachel House), an accountant who is obsessed with finding the missing soul in her count.  As Joe helps 22 find her passion through a series of adventures with his mother Libba (Phylicia Rashad), his neighbor Paul (Daveed Diggs), his barber Dez (Donnell Rawlings), and his student Connie (Cathy Cavadini), he also learns the importance of living life to the fullest.  I loved the message that the journey itself is just as important as the destination and that you shouldn't get so caught up in achieving a big goal that you miss out on the little things that give life meaning.  I loved the character design, especially the shape-shifting line drawings (they reminded me of Cubist paintings) used for the mentor souls because they are the physical manifestations of a theoretical construct and the almost amorphous shapes of the new souls because they have not yet developed any characteristics.  Finally, I loved all of the humorous pop culture references (as with most Disney and Pixar animated movies I think this is actually much funnier for adults than for children), particularly the commentary on 22's former mentors Mother Teresa, Copernicus, Mohammad Ali, Marie Antoinette, Abraham Lincoln, and Carl Jung.  I also laughed out loud over a reference to Tetris!  This movie is even better than I thought it would be (there is an amusing twist about midway through that I wasn't expecting) and I highly recommend it.

Note:  I am not a huge fan of jazz music but I enjoyed the songs composed by Jon Batiste, especially the music performed by Joe when he is in the "zone."  I also loved the ethereal score, composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, used in the Great Beyond and the Great Before.

Christmas 2020

I was given very strict instructions by Sean to be at my parents' house by 8:00 yesterday morning to start opening presents and I made with a few minutes to spare!  He was a bit excited!  We always take turns opening presents one at a time, starting with the youngest (Sean) to the oldest (my Mom), so it takes a couple of hours but it is so much fun.  It is also tradition to have cinnamon rolls and orange juice while we open.

Sean got a bunch of new games and, after we opened presents, we didn't see him again for the rest of the day because he was downloading and playing them.  Tashena's big present was an Apple watch and now I think I need one!  I got a new rolling duffel bag, a puffer jacket that folds into a small bag, a Hydro Flask, some winter boots, and some more DVDs for my Alfred Hitchcock collection.  If I am actually able to go to Iceland next year I am all set!  My Dad gave everyone $50 which is a tradition we have had since my sisters and I were really young (Sean already bought another game online).  In the afternoon we had a wonderful Christmas dinner with turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, pomegranate salad, rolls, and vegetables with dip.  We took a break and then had another game of Shanghai rummy.  I didn't come in last place this time but it still wasn't pretty!  It was a really nice Christmas!