Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (11.25.22)

 

The first time I ever truly felt old was the day I realized that I didn’t recognize any of the songs Weird Al Yankovic was parodying on his last album, 2014’s Mandatory Fun. Taking something serious and replacing it with something silly while treating it with the same amount of reverence is a staple of his work, and the master of parody has been doing it ever since I actually knew what was popular in the music scene (before I was born, really). With every artist getting a biopic film these days, it was only natural that the polka king would get his own and that it would follow this same formula. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is pure silly fun; although, it does occasionally have the drawn out feeling of a good joke that doesn’t quite know when to end.  

Continuing his trend of choosing odd and unexpected roles in his fascinating post-wizarding career, Daniel Radcliffe dons the iconic curly hair, mustache, and glasses of the man himself and knocks it out of the park. The only time I was reminded that I was not watching actual Al was when the man himself showed up in a hilariously meta way and when the actual singing commenced, as it was dubbed over and clashed rather noticeably with Radcliffe’s speaking voice. But this later observation is no fault of Radcliffe, who does a fantastic job and who, oddly enough, also often plays the straight man in a world just as weird if not weirder than Al himself is. Radcliffe is surrounded by some equally funny and talented people, such as Rainn Wilson as Dr. Demento and Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna, but I have to ask... if everyone is as weird as Al, isn't nobody weird?  

Deep questions like this aside, Weird is an undeniably good time for fans of Al and fans of parody in general, from its lurid teenage polka parties to its Rambo-esque action scenes in Pablo Escobar’s jungle complex (if you’re not prepared to get that silly and off-the-wall, you might want to stay away). As a film based on an internet skit, Weird does have a few drawn out “okay, I get the joke, let’s move on” moments that bored me a bit, which happens all too often with movies that are based on hilarious yet shallow ideas. This makes the just-under-two-hours film feel a bit longer than necessary at times; although, it never feels like a slog thanks to its clever writing and stellar performances.   

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is now available for free on the Roku Channel. If you have never heard of this streaming service, I do not blame you, but it turns out you don’t need a Roku device to stream it. Just download the app for free from the app store, or visit in any browser. You’ll have to sit through a commercial or two while you watch, but that’s a small price to pay for watching a weird movie about a weird man in an appropriately weird way.  

 

 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on November 25, 2022 . Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

David "Bubba" Smith Obituary

Earlier this month, my maternal grandfather, David Elliot Smith, passed away after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer. This is the obituary I wrote for him.

On November 15, 1943, David Elliot Smith was born to Harry M. Smith and Jean H. Schumann in La Jolla, California. His parents and siblings, Steve and Karen, watched him grow up and earn his Eagle Scout award and later graduate from Carlmont High School, where he caught the eye of fellow high school band member Martha Hall. Dave was married and sealed to Martha on September 4, 1964, in the Los Angeles temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He would go on to earn his bachelor’s degree at San Jose State, a master’s degree in education at Brigham Young University, and finally his PhD at Oregon State University.  

            From then on, Dave would wear many hats— teacher in Western Samoa with Martha, professor of aviation at BYU Idaho, CEO of Harry M Smith & Associates (which allowed him to travel the world many times), and CEO of Geneva Gage—but it was his church service and family that he was always the most proud of. From 2013 to 2015, he and Martha served a mission for the LDS church in Arkansas, and up until the tail end of his life he served in the Portland LDS temple once a week. He also served as a prison chaplain, dedicating his time and energy to helping those who wanted to change their lives for the better after their incarceration.  

            David Elliot Smith passed away on November 6, 2022 at the age of 78 after a lengthy and well-fought battle with pancreatic cancer. He is survived by Martha, his wife of 58 years, his five children, Laura, Jennifer, Jordan, Tyler, and Robyn, and his thirteen grandchildren and three great-grandsons, to whom he was always known as “Bubba.” Dave enjoyed Red Vines, Top Gun: Maverick, the musicals Mama Mia, Cats and Chicago, Taco Tuesdays and Christmas karaoke with his family, and the music of ABBA. He will be missed, but his positive influence, legacy, and love will continue to be felt by every life he touched.   

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (11.18.22)

 

When Chadwick Boseman tragically passed away in 2020, his absence left Marvel Studios in an uncomfortable position. Black Panther, the 2018 cultural phenomenon that launched Boseman to international stardom, was their highest grossing non-Avengers film to date, and leaving money on the table by not producing a sequel was not something they were willing to do. So the choice was this: Should they recast their main character or move on without him? I must admit that I was skeptical that a Black Panther film without Black Panther would ever work, but I’m going to have to go ahead and eat those words because Black Panther: Wakanda Forever turned out to be one of the most ambitious, emotional, and mature Marvel films yet.  

The main theme of Wakanda Forever is grief, and it is one that is thoroughly examined in both the narrative sense with T'Challa and the meta sense with Boseman. The absence of both the main character and the actor who portrayed him looms large, and the space they leave is not so much filled by the one-time supporting cast as it is a main character in and of itself. For a good chunk of the movie there is no main character, and all of the actors involved manage this wonderfully, from the returning ones to the fresh faces that drive the main conflict of the film. This conflict is very comic book-y even by comic book movie standards, but the film never loses this melancholy heart. 

Also returning for Wakanda Forever are costume designer Ruth Carter, production designer Hannah Beachler, and composer Ludwig Goransson, each of whom won an Academy Award for their work on the original Black Panther. The look and sounds of Wakanda is what gave the fictional country its vibrant identity in the first film, and I would not be in the least bit surprised if each of these crew members have another Oscar in their future for a job well done on the second. Joining Wakanda in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s line up of lamentably fake tourist attractions is the underwater Aztec city of Talokan (standing in for the comics’ version of Atlantis), which has no less soul and beauty than its African counterpart. If nothing else, Wakanda Forever looks and sounds amazing.  

The film’s second half is not quite as good as its first half as the theme of grief (somewhat naturally) evolves into a theme of revenge, at which point cliche becomes abundant and the 2 hour 41 minute runtime becomes to feel a bit long (it never really drags, however, which is an impressive feat for Marvel’s second longest film to date). This coincides with Wakanda Forever finally cementing who it wants its main character to be, a decision that I did not find as interesting as the ensemble approach up to that point. But as complaints go these are very minor. Director Ryan Googler and company managing to make a movie this good with the tragic circumstances they were given is nothing short of a miracle.  

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now available in theaters.  

 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on November 18^th, 2022. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1 (11.04.22)

 

            The one time I have ever even remotely cared about the Academy Awards was in 2004, the year after The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was released. I always saw the Oscars as being exclusively reserved for hoity toity art films that I as a preteen would never see, meted out by a snobby board of elitists who arrogantly thought their opinions mattered more than those of the average movie goer. But The Lord of The Rings was awesome and deserved to win, and win it did. Eleven times, in fact. Director Peter Jackson had cracked the fantasy epic code, a code that has been followed by pretty much every fantasy film since to varying degrees of success. While Amazon Prime’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is not technically affiliated with Jackson’s trilogy, the same DNA is very much there, and while the show is not perfect it is still enjoyable if one views it as the fanfiction it essentially is.  

            Touted as the most expensive television show in history, Rings of Power looks and sounds downright gorgeous for the most part, with beautiful New Zealand once again standing in for Middle-Earth and a very Howard Shore-esque soundtrack backing the whole thing (Shore himself returns to Tolkien’s world via the main title theme). Less impressive are the costumes, which often look cheap and rubbery, as if the entire budget was blown on the cool sets and the crew had to do a quick run to a Spirit Halloween store with what was left. The beautiful sounds also extend to the dialogue itself, which is appropriately pretty for a world created by a man who was a linguist first and foremost, although sometimes the writers are a bit too self-indulgent: Occasionally a flowery line of dialogue will come along that sounds profound but is ultimately nonsense when one stops to think about it, as if the script was briefly taken over by people that write inspirational fridge magnets for a living.

            It is a good thing the dialogue is mostly lovely too, because there is a lot of it. Rings of Power’s story is a very slow burn with lots of characters and lots of plotlines going on at once and an entire episode can go by without much happening at all other than talking. This glacial pacing won’t be for everyone, but it is a long form of storytelling that I personally appreciate. As any fan of Middle-Earth can tell you, the story in question is also often suspect when compared to J.R.R. Tolkien’s actual canon, a fact that any fantasy nerds will have to get over if they are to enjoy what the show is trying to do. Rings of Power is, in a way, just very expensive fanfiction put to film, and if treated as such there is a lot to enjoy about it.

            The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 1 is now available in its entirety on Amazon Prime.

 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on November 4^th, 2022. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/