Happiest Season (12.25.20)

 

Do you want to know one of the most insane things that I have ever read? That in 2020 alone, Hallmark released forty new Christmas movies. Forty. In one year. I am ninety percent sure that I couldn’t name twenty Christmas movies period without including films that aren’t really Christmas movies (Die Hard, for instance) and by cheating (go ahead an add a random noun to the phrase “The Christmas…” a movie with that name already exists somewhere, even if you’ve never heard of it). The vast majority of these are akin to comfort food; nice to indulge in every once in a while (especially during the holidays), but also lacking substance and, more often than not, full of cheese. Thankfully, Happiest Season on Hulu has the cast and the charm to elevate what could have easily been “just another Christmas” movie into something mildly nutritious.    

            The plot is far from complicated; Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis play Abby and Harper, a couple who, while visiting Harper’s family for the holidays, must deal with the hijinks and genuine problems that arise from Harper’s fear and inability to come out to her ultra conservative parents. It feels like a plot that should have happened a long time ago (and didn’t necessarily have to happen during Christmas), yet it doesn’t feel terribly original all the same. Perhaps it’s because the “introducing the significant other to the wacky family” plot has been done to death already, or maybe it’s because people returning to their hometown for Christmas in general is such a well-worn staple of holiday movies? Who knows. The dialogue is also not great at times; characters occasionally throw background information into conversations where it doesn’t really belong, for instance, and there were a few word choices here and there that raised my eyebrows. But whenever the script has a slight sag, the cast, which also includes impressive names such as Aubrey Plaza, Dan Levy, and Alison Brie, more than adequately props it up and keeps any flaws from being too noticeable. 

            And these saggy moments are, in reality, pretty rare. I honestly only noticed the above problems once or twice, and the rest of the time everything was just fine and dandy. There is a lot of charm in Happiest Season, and everyone involved seems to have brought their A-game. There are no clear standouts in a cast as good as this, although I must say that Mary Holland (who also co-wrote the script) as Harper’s offbeat sister Jane and Dan Levy as Abby’s loyal best friend (and fish murderer) John were easily the most fun. It is, all in all, a very well put-together Christmas movie that would have been just as comfortable on the big screen as it is on the small one.  

            A cheery good time with a couple of good messages and a few more laughs… I guess that’s all anyone can ask of their holiday comfort food. Eat up. 

            Happiest Season is now available on Hulu.  

 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on December 25^th, 2020. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

 

Hindsight: People need to stop with the "is Die Hard a Christmas movie" arguments. I'm sick of them. Every year. Every freaking year. Also, "eat up?" That's a bit cheesy (ha... "cheesy." Because of the food analogies). 

 

 

Sound of Metal (12.18.20)

 

One of my favorite superheroes in the Marvel canon is Daredevil, the man without fear. There is something very inspiring about a character who, despite his awful luck and less than ideal circumstances, decides that he is going to do his best to make the world a better place. There’s also the fact that Matt Murdock is, in fact, blind. I have to admit that I am a sucker for stories of individuals with a handicap overcoming adversity, as they inspire me to try harder in my own, admittedly more comfortable, circumstances. Sound of Metal, a film that first premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2019 and recently got a worldwide release on Amazon Prime, is one such story of a heavy metal drummer who starts to lose his hearing and must come to terms with being deaf in a world full of sound. Intimate and enthralling, Sound of Metal is a triumph thanks to impeccable acting and creative sound editing.  

            Riz Ahmed stars as Ruben, the heavy metal drummer in question, and his performance is nothing short of perfect. It is an impressive feat; as the movie is told from his point of view, about a third of it does not have any sound at all. This means that Ahmed has to emote even more than usual, conveying complex emotions through his face and body expressions alone. It is impossible to not buy his fear and frustration as his world gets more and more silent, and the supporting cast that surrounds him (some who are actually deaf in real life) is equally up to the task. It would normally be difficult to keep my attention in dead silence, but somehow everyone involved kept me enthralled the entire way through.  

            This brings me to the sound editing which, by the way, is not something I usually care about. I may review movies, but a lot of the subtleties of filmmaking are often lost on me; when the category comes up during the Oscars, I use it as a pee break. But the sound editing in Sound of Metal is central to the feel of the movie. As I said, about a third of it takes place in complete silence, but another third takes place somewhere in between quiet and full sound. There is one memorable party scene that starts with the audio at full blast, showing how everyone else hears a song that is being performed, before becoming more and more distorted until we are shown how Ruben hears it. When the volume is at normal levels, the movies tends to showcase pretty sounds like chattering insects and pattering rain to amplify the tragedy of the situation. Creative sound choices such as this makes me feel like I am going deaf right along with him, which is terrifying and oddly claustrophobic.  

            All of this combined with an impressive and realistic script makes Sound of Metal a singular experience with a whole lot of intimacy, and one that I highly recommend  

            Sound of Metal is now available on Amazon Prime.  

 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on December 18^th, 2020. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

 

Hindsight: Transition from talking about Daredevil to the movie itself seems kind of quick and awkward. The rest of the review is fine. Good movie. 

Animaniacs Season 1 (12.11.20)

 

Do you know what I find even more annoying than constant Hollywood reboots of successful properties? Critics constantly complaining about how Hollywood likes to reboot successful properties. If bringing back a famous TV show or film series to wring even more cash out of an eager fanbase is lazy, then trotting out this same old grievance certainly is as well. Reboots have been around a lot longer than objectors to the practice would have you believe, and I’m sure that we’ll all be getting yet another recast of Spider-Man long after the moon has fallen and the sun has burnt out. The only thing that you can really ask for is that they are done right, and I’m happy to report that Hulu’s recent revival of 90’s darling Animaniacs is one such reboot.  

            Last seen on TV in 1998, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot are back in their water tower and better than ever. Along for the ride are the equally iconic Pinky and the Brain, who, like the Warners, are voiced by their original voice actors under returning executive  produce Steven Spielberg (the Warners and the mice are the only returning main cast members, by the way, which I don’t mind; I was never a fan of the gangster pigeons or the Bernadette Peters cat). Irreverent and offering hilarity to both kids and adults alike, it is easy to fall into the groove of this new series as if it were a natural, if long-awaited, coda to the original run. After the initial episode gets our cast caught up to the current times, the familiar structure of the old series returns: A Warner siblings segment starts each episode, followed by a Pinky and the Brain segment, followed by another shorter Warner segment. It’s all very familiar, and I mean that in the best possible way.  

It is not the exact same beast, of course: Thanks to new writers and a showrunner that hails from Family Guy, it feels like the balance between kid humor and adult humor that the original had may have shifted a wee bit to the adult side in the new episodes in order to satisfy the now-grown fans of the ’95-’98 series. Don’t get me wrong… the show is not adult by any stretch of the imagination; you can (and should!) still watch it with your kids. It’s just a tiny bit less innocent and a little more meta. The satire also doesn’t seem quite as subtle as it once was in certain places, and some might complain about the lampooning of certain political figures and ideas (to them I would like to point out that the original had Bill Clinton in its theme song). 

But despite a few quirks, there is no denying that this is a series lovingly cut from the same cloth as the original. There is even an entire albums’ worth of new songs spread across the episodes to enjoy, although I doubt any of them will be as helpful as the U.S. presidents song was to me in AP U.S. History. This is, simply, a reboot down right.  

            Animaniacs Season 1, as well as the entirety of the original series, is now available on Hulu.  

 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on December 11^th, 2020. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

 

Hindsight: Review is fine. Don't feel too eloquent this morning so let's leave it at that. 

Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb (11.27.20)

 

Documentaries about the new and unexplored always bother me because I can never stop thinking about the silent, invisible, yet inescapable presence of the filming crew. I have a tendency to look at the plausibility of every shot, questioning what is authentic and what is illusion for the sake of storytelling. If a man is the first person to descend into a newly discovered tomb for the first time in a thousand years, for instance, then how did they get a shot of him doing it from the inside of the tomb itself? When preoccupied with questions such as these, I usually forget to focus on the documentary itself and sometimes even get a bit annoyed at any perceived deception. I did not often have this issue with Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb, however, because the earnestness and genuineness of the subjects involved and the masterful work of the crew fully sell the importance of the exciting new discoveries and make you feel like you are in Egypt with them instead of merely watching a film about their efforts.  

            Any time a discovery like this is made it is exciting for us as a species, but the experience is all the more poignant when the discovery is made by the descendants of the people in question. The tomb of Wahtye was found, unearthed, and explored by our subjects, a handful of archeologists, scientists, and excavators from Egypt in 2018, and their excitement and reverence for the site, as well as their disappointment when something breaks or an expected discovery fails to surface, is almost palpable. The tomb (which is located in the titular Saqqara necropolis just nineteen miles south of Cairo) and its story are uncovered piece by piece in the documentary, often making me feel like I was watching a very slow-paced murder mystery, albeit one that doesn’t have the answer to every question and has a whole lot of archeology thrown in. You also don’t need any previous knowledge of Egypt to appreciate Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb, as most of the relevant basics such as the mummification process and Egyptian afterlife beliefs get adequately covered as the need arises (accompanied by cute, simple, yet efficient animations of hieroglyphs come to life). These discoveries and cultural lessons are spread out evenly enough that I never got bored despite the slow pace that is intrinsic to this type of film. Another factor that makes the two hours fly by is the fact that the documentary requires your full and undivided attention for one simple reason: most of it is, naturally, in Arabic. It is impressive how many of the people involved speak English, but when the rest are speaking (or if it’s not a staged talking head), prepare to read a whole lot of subtitles.    

            Many mysteries remain at the site, and I’ll be interested to read up on further discoveries as they develop. But for now, my Egyptian archelogy itch is satisfied. And for once I’m not even wondering where the cameraman is hiding.  

            Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb is now available on Netflix.  

 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on November 27^th, 2020. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

 

Hindsight: I like this review. Intro is nice and short, summary is succinct. I'm sooooo smart, guys.