Category: Art

An entertaining movie. I enjoyed it, but I think I’m a bit soft on it. It felt like a movie that was trying very hard to find itself, but just didn’t quite make it.

Peter Parker is Spider-Man (spoiler), and everyone knew it. But at the end of No Way Home, the mystical magical arts of Dr. Strange erased everyone’s memory of Peter Parker.

So, Spider-Man has been living like this for presumably about four years. In early scenes, you see him take down Scorpion (who returns) and Tombstone (who does not). Figuring out the villain aspect, I don’t know, felt less fleshed out. There was a “villain” they wanted to introduce, and it all felt like setup. Then, in real time, we see Frank Castle as Punisher, played by the delightful Jon Bernthal.

It starts off as a detective story, with Holland’s Parker mourning his love, MJ, who no longer remembers him. Then shifts to an extortion plot, where this newly revealed villain gets Parker to help by threatening MJ. Then a siege movie, with a cameo by the Hulk — which felt unnecessary. And finally, a revenge story on the road to redemption.

Look, fine — a movie can be a lot of things. But I don’t think this one navigates the tonal shifts all that effectively.

Do we want Peter to get back with MJ? Maybe. Someone suggested that removing MJ entirely makes it more compelling, and I might agree. But I really like Ned, and maybe it’s good to keep him in there.

Then there was the whole Jean Grey problem, which — huge spoiler — but I feel like I haven’t heard much about that in the interim since the film’s release, and subsequent billion dollar box office. But I digress. Look, the first two-thirds of the movie, JG is a bad guy? Killing, no problem. Attacking and mind-shifting across New York? Whatever. Then, once you find out why she’s bad, she’s suddenly not so bad? No, it didn’t work.

Not for me.

Florence Pugh was a highlight, and I would watch her in anything she does. I’m a fan of the trio as well — Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon (who plays Ned). I think there were some great moments in this. Some chances taken, and a lot of good filmmaking. But I think it lacks the fun of the previous three Spider-Man movies, which, to me, is Holland’s strongest appeal as the character.

What can I say about this? First of all, I don’t see a lot of musicals recorded for screen. I was excited about this one. And Six, coming later this year.

Plus, it’s good to see them, as it will (hopefully) encourage further recordings, thus bringing the art form to broader audiences.

I had listened to the album, but never seen the show. I know that they celebrated ten years earlier this year, around the same time I was in New York. But I was occupied with other productions, and didn’t make it. There is a tour coming around, so I might see it on stage then.

One part of Hadestown will always be tied up with the time of my life that it premiered. I was in a somewhat unstable state, and the story of Orpheus and Eurydice sort of messed with my head a bit.

However, I worked my way through it, and eventually, when I was hosting a radio program on the arts, I’d play excerpts from the album every now and again.

I don’t know if people are taught Greek mythology as much any more. When I was in school, I read Hamilton’s Mythology and Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces.

In college as well, for one of the writing or film classes, we had to read Aristotle’s Poetics and Vogler’s Writer’s Journey.

So, Orpheus loved Eurydice and, according to myth, on their wedding day, as she walked a field in wedded bliss, a viper bit her and she died.

In Anais Mitchell’s adaptation, she imagines the story in one place, near the railway station to Hell. And it’s here that the lovers meet, in cold and desperate times, as Hades has grown jealous, and rarely lets his wife Persephone leave, and not for long.

So, plenty of backstory that the audience has to be given, in the form of song and storytelling. The songs are great. André de Shields as Hermes is phenomenal, and a joy to watch.

Eva Noblezada as well, and Reeve Carney has a great voice, though occasionally he looks surprised to find himself on stage.

I didn’t care for the theater’s sound system, or maybe it was actually the balance on the DCP – digital cinema package. Hard to tell. But some show stopping numbers ended up not being, well, show-stopping.

The auditorium was fairly full, though, and had about as much after movie chatter as The Odyssey, so I take that as a good sign.

I’ll likely add this to my limited collection of filmed performances on my shelves when it gets a physical release.

The media company Hello Sunshine, founded by Reese Witherspoon, has an interest in telling stories that are focused on women. Not only for women but that have women at the center of every story. Her purpose to tell, and share, female-driven stories.

You may not consider the need for someone pushing for telling women’s stories, but according to USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative report, published in late last year:

This year’s study also went beyond the top 100 to look at film slates distributed by major companies over the last 5 years, with results revealing the overall percentage of female directors was 9.8 percent, with 2019 the year in which the highest percentage of female directors worked (15 percent). Still, of the 40 slates studied, 26 of them did not feature a single woman of color as a director.

When stories are told, there is obviously a slant to what message is coming across. So when you omit the stories of women, or of people of color, you’re missing out on voluminous perspectives.

HBO Max had a lackluster beginning when only about 90,000 people downloaded the new streaming service’s mobile app. By comparison, 4 million users opted for Disney’s Disney+ service when it debuted back in November.

Three HBO streaming options are available: Now, Go, and Max. I can at least differentiate Max from the other two, but differences between Go and Now are beyond my understanding.

When the streaming wars become such that all content is only available through a number of individual services, each with a $7 price tag or above, there will be push back. That market can’t handle that kind of saturation.

Not to mention the changing face of television and film production…

I like movies. And, additionally, I like movie theaters. Seeing movies in the theater is a different experience than at home. For one, in a full theater, it’s a communal experience.

There are times I’ve talked about the transitory experience of live theatre, and that the performance that night will never be given again. Because, even if the lines and movements happen to be identical (being human, that seems incredibly unlikely), the audience changes. And each audience comes into a performance with something different than previous audiences.

Films, therefore, are subject to similar constraints. Audiences view films with many preconceived notions, and one’s perception of a movie can be drastically different from another seeing the same movie.

Under our current climate, it’s hard to envision what will happen to the movie theater, and to the film industry as a whole. But, as we’ve been programmed to be recipients for story since we first huddled in caves, I’m hopeful that we’ll resume theater-going once we’ve settled down again.

I know, at least, I’ll have a ticket in hand.