Tag: review

Movie review: Theater Camp

Joan, Still

Whether or not you enjoyed the movie Theater Camp may depend, at least in part, on one’s experience at summer camp, especially in upstate New York, and/or hanging out with musical theater nerds.  A knowledge of musical theater might make the experience richer, but it’s not required. 

I liked the mockumentary a lot, and I laughed quite a bit. The script played it as though the story was real. Those kids and their counselors were believable, in my view. I was on the stage crew in high school, so I KNOW these people. Also,  I worked at a non-theatrical summer camp before my senior year in high school, and the dysfunction was palpable.   

So it seems plausible that when the camp’s founder and inspiration, Joan (Amy Sedaris), becomes seriously incapacitated, her decidedly non-theatrical-nerd adult son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) tries to save the day. He has a few ideas that he is trying to implement.

Among the staff, the stars are former campers Amos (Ben Platt) and Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon), who are writing an original musical dedicated to Joan. The other counselors have their own quirks and secrets, notably Janet (Ayo Edebiri). 

Poor, overworked, exhausted stage manager Glenn (Noah Galvin of The Good Doctor) tries to jerry-rig the aging camp infrastructure and fix all the set-related problems. 

The campers included several young and highly talented performers. Indeed, the movie could use more of them and less of some of the grown-ups.

Even an unfavorable review noted that the film’s last twenty minutes were a revelation.  Rotten Tomatoes pegged it as 84% positive with the critics and 81% with audiences.

Precursor

There was an 18-minute short, also called Theater Camp, in 2020, which I have not seen.  It was directed by Nick Lieberman, written by Galvin, Gordon, and Lieberman, and starred Platt, Galvin, and Gordon. The 2023 iteration, at 92 minutes, was written by the same team and directed by Lieberman and Gordon. 

My wife liked the movie less than I did. She felt that the character Amos didn’t change; I’d counter that he never needed to until he did. It was the reverse of our opinions regarding Shortcomings, which we saw two days earlier, whose I thought the male lead was stuck. 

 

Movie review: Shortcomings

bsed on the graphic novel by Adrian Tomine

In August, my wife and I saw the movie Shortcomings at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany.

It begins strong, watching a re-creation of a pivotal scene from the film Crazy Rich Asians. The conversation about that film was a legitimate point of discussion, including the disdain of CRA by Ben (Justin H. Min), a struggling Asian-American filmmaker and operator of a none-too-successful movie theater.

Ben’s girlfriend, Miko (Ally Maki), is often exasperated by him, usually for good reason. He riffs off his cynical worldview with his friend Alice (Sherry Cola). When Miko goes to New York City for a couple of months, Ben fulfills his predilections, which he had denied, when he meets Autumn (Tavi Gervinson) and then Sasha (Debby Ryan).

The story is based on a 2007 graphic novel I have not read. It was written by Adrian Tomine, who also adapted the screenplay. Actor Randall Park related to the storyline and chose it as his movie directorial debut.

My feeling about the movie is mixed. The theater workers are fun. I was most interested in Alice, who has the most intriguing story arc. Miko is MIA for much of the film, so we don’t see the development.

Meanwhile, Ben is pretty much the same guy until near the end. It’s spot on when he’s more than once told that he’s disliked, not because of his race, but his personality. He’s a tiresome guy who thinks he knows everything, even when he doesn’t. I’ve known people like him IRL, and they, too, are mighty annoying.

Fetish

Yet the film did touch on some critical themes about race, sex, and the fetishism that may exist in that space. I wish it were sharper.

Also, based on the trailer, I thought the movie would be funnier. Because I saw the bits coming, they were much less humorous in the film.

My wife liked it more than I did; she found some revelations surprising. It’s not a terrible movie; perhaps I had overly high expectations.  FWIW, it was reviewed reasonably well, with 83% positive by the critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

One last thing: props to my wife for recognizing Debby Ryan as the title character in Jessie, the 2011-2015 TV series our daughter used to watch.

Movie review: Barbie

wonderfully strange

I wanted to review the movie Barbie, which I saw a week after it opened at the Spectrum Theatre. The problem is that it may be unreviewable.

I liked it. A LOT, actually. It’s a movie that took shots at some of Mattel’s less successful items in the Barbie line while addressing the issue of the doll as a symbol of unattainable beauty. 

The Vanity Fair article said Barbie Is About as Good as a Barbie Movie Could Ever Be. 

The first paragraph: “The film, about the preeminent fashion doll, has to serve the interests of its masters, in this case, the Mattel corporation, while also cheating out to the audience to convince them that what they are watching is not just some two-hour ad. The film must be extra conscious of what Barbie is—critical of it, even—while also celebrating one of the most famous toys ever made. What choice did Gerwig have, then, but to go weird?”

I think the movie had to thread a very tight needle, and mostly, it succeeded, even if, as The Hollywood Reporter suggested, it “delivers the fun but fudges the politics.”

From Medium: “Barbie is “wonderfully strange,” and also “political satire, a product placement film that simultaneously praises and criticizes its product, a mother-daughter relationship, an investigation of gender and its presentation, and a road trip film about the quest for identity and purpose,” writes Sahifa Syifa. “It’s an existential dystopia disguised as a child’s fantasy.”

No pleasing some people

So, as much as it tried, it couldn’t be all things to all viewers. It wasn’t the feminist film one reviewer hoped for, or it was too much. It was a movie for children, or it was too mature for children, or it should have been geared more toward adults [which would have been economic suicide.]  

The reviews were 89% positive on Rotten Tomatoes. The negative reviews were pretty consistent. Collin Garbarino of WORLD: “Instead of offering a reflection of what it means to be a human living alongside other humans, Gerwig falls into a cliched form of existentialism in which life is essentially meaningless, and it’s up to us to assert our own meaning.” 

I don’t think so. Director/co-writer Greta Gerwig has said, “I’m interested in how life is complicated and messy and that there is nothing that’s either or, either good or bad, but it’s mostly it’s both…it can be all these things at once. And I think that felt like a rich place to start from.”

Fun

Here’s something from W magazine: “Go on YouTube and you’ll find plenty of right-wing wannabe pundits decrying the Barbie movie as the latest example of the attack on American values by ‘woke mind virus.’ Visit Twitter, and you’ll find self-identified Communists calling it capitalist trash and the exemplification of ‘girl boss’ nonsense.

“Go to an actual movie theater, however, and you’ll find Americans of all stripes simply enjoying a fun movie. While the film certainly has a broadly feminist perspective, it seems like any attempts to turn it into a political football fell flat on their way to record-breaking ticket sales. It may very well end up as the biggest movie of the year. It feels indicative of a wider trend: maybe everyone is a little bit sick of almost everything in pop culture becoming fodder for a political fight?”

Credits

I should note that the set in Barbie’s World by Sarah Greenwood is fabulous. The cast -Issa Rae as President Barbie, Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie, Ryan Gosling and Simu Liu as two of the Kens, Michael Sera as Allan, Rhea Perlman as Ruth, and Helen Mirren as the narrator, were all great.

I think, though, that is Gloria (America Ferrara), the put-upon  Mattel employee with a moody tween daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), who is ultimately the film’s star. It’s her feelings that informed the feeling of stereotype Barbie (Margot Robbie). She also has the best monologue, which you shouldn’t read until you see the film.

Speaking of dialogue: Greta Gerwig Shared Why She Ended ‘Barbie’ With That Iconic Last Line.

Movie review: Oppenheimer

Barbenheimer

The movie Oppenheimer is worth seeing, preferably at a movie theater. Though not at the showing I attended.

J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy, who was tremendous) was a brilliant scientist who helped develop nuclear science.  He also had complicated relationships with women (Emily Blunt as wife Kitty, Florence Pugh as Kitty). And what are his ties to communism?

Very little in this story, except parts of the filming, is black and white. Was the development of the bombs that would be dropped on Japan a good military strategy or an immoral unleashing of power?

Director/co-writer Christopher Nolan has painted a non-linear painting, not just of the main character, but of important partners in the process. Major General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) has conversations with Oppenheimer, which allow the viewer to better understand the work without slowing down the narrative.

Robert Downey Jr was stellar as the Machiavellian bureaucrat Lewis Strauss. Strauss exposed Oppenheimer’s ties to communism, not for the good of the country but for the good of himself.

It is terrific storytelling. Still, the scene of the first test of the device – using real explosives rather than CGI – is practically worth the price of admission. The only flaw I saw was that there were occasionally some 50-star flags when there were only 48 states.

Read the New York Times’ very positive assessment. The negative reviews suggest that the film, at three hours was too long – surprisingly, I beg to differ. It was also painted as too talky, sluggish, and remote, which I didn’t experience. Or the whataboutism that it didn’t show X or Y (the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima or its aftermath, e.g.), which would be a different movie.

The future of cinema

My disappointment was not with the film but the Madison Theatre in Albany the Thursday after it opened. During a scene between Oppy and President Truman, the screen went dark. The sound continued, but it took about seven minutes after two patrons went out to complain. Then it happened AGAIN about 15 minutes later for another three minutes.

That said, I worry about the future of cinema. Sure, Oppenheimer’s opening weekend gleaned $80.5 million, an excellent total for an R-rated, 180-minute film. It came in second to that OTHER Barbenheimer flick.

But several films in 2023 have been described as having box office that was “below expectations, notably the new Indiana Jones and Elemental. During COVID, even I watched movies via streaming. But I need to see the film in person, partly hoping there will be cinemas to support. The number of theaters has dropped since 2019.

Movie review: The Miracle Club

Lourdes

One Saturday afternoon in late July, when my wife was working, I saw The Miracle Club at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany. Frankly, I went because of the star power.

The IMDb description: “There’s just one dream for the women of Ballygar to taste freedom: to win a pilgrimage to the sacred French town of Lourdes” in 1967.

Eileen (Kathy Bates), Lily (Maggie Smith),  and Dolly (Agnes O’Casey) are participating together in a competition to vie for the vaunted trip. Chrissie (Laura Linney) arrives in town, missing her mother’s funeral.

Eileen and Lily’s animus towards Chrissie goes WAY back, though the much younger Dolly gets along fine with her. Ultimately, with some manipulation of the local priest Dermot Byrne (Mark O’Halloran), all four end up on the sojourn.

Will a miracle happen?  Well, maybe. It depends on how one defines that.

I liked how the writers and director allowed the onion to be peeled away, revealing the troubles that propagated the four-decades-long anger and pain.

Worthwhile

It seemed to work at being heartwarming, and much of the time, it succeeded.  Yet, even some positive reviewers rightly suggested it was slight and/or saccharine. I wanted more of the backstory of these women. I felt the movie told rather than showed.

Also, here’s a bit that worked less well for me. Most of the fellows left behind by their wives were hapless and helpless, which may have been true of men left to do domestic chores in the period. It was played for laughs. Meh.

Still, The Miracle Club I found was comfort food. It was worth my while for the actors and also for the resolution. It does fall in that rare film category for me that, despite the lovely scenery, it’d probably be fine to see on the small screen.

So it is ironic that the movie will be re-released in theaters on Friday, August 18. It’s because of the writers’ and actors’ strikes slowing down the film pipeline, plus Barbenheimer sucking a lot of oxygen from other releases.

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