Spiderman: Far From Home

Dedee here. This last post for our top 10 movies is a group effort so there will be thoughts from all of us.

Karen: Just like all the other movies I have posted about on this blog, I am very late on this one. It’s unfortunate because I actually really liked the movie. I definitely wasn’t caught up, having skipped Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Endgame, but it wasn’t hard to follow the story, especially because of all the spoilers I saw online.

I was pretty impressed with the movie’s representation of people of color. Most of the main supporting characters in Peter Parker’s class were minorities. Some people may see it as pandering, but with New York being among one of the most diverse in the U.S. it makes a lot of sense. And we get Zendaya! As Spider-Man’s love interest!

We also get Hawaiian Jacob Batalon as Peter Parker’s best friend.

One of the classmates is also shown wearing a hijab, which has made her the first in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Though this is a great step forward, frankly I’m surprised that it has taken 11 years not for a main character to wear a hijab, but for any character to do so. 

We also get Marvel’s first out trans actor, Zach Barack. Unfortunately, he has a very minor role, as he’s also one of the classmates on the trip. His character is also not acknowledged as trans and I only found out by scrolling through articles.

I am glad that so many minorities were cast to be a part of this movie, but some of them definitely need a little more depth in their stories in order to have a powerful impact in representation. But am I glad that these actors are securing the bag by being cast in one of the highest-grossing movies this year? Absolutelyyyyyyy.

From Brady: I too am late to the MCU party and went into Spider-man: Far From Home without watching Endgame first but was able to follow thanks to the memes about Endgame. It was pointed out to me recency that the major theme of the movie was deception. It makes sense when you think about the entirety of Mysterio's character, Peter trying to keep his secret identity and dodging Nick in the beginning, as well as the last scene of the movie and what the after-credits reveal about Nick.

As for representation I think Karen covered the major players but I would like to point out that while Beck's Deception crew had a few minorities in their ranks I don't remember any of them having a major speaking role.

Since the entire premise of the Deception crew is that they all felt that they were wronged by Tony Stark the directors probably did this so we wouldn't add raciest to Tony's flaws. I would say that denying a role to an actor to avoid making a character look bad is in poor taste if there weren't any other minorities represented. But since there are minorities in major roles on the protagonists side I'll let it slide.

Back to Dedee: This was an interesting ride. This is the second time I've seen Far From Home. Unlike Karen and Brady, my family is very into the Marvel Universe, so I've seen most of the movies and saw Far From Home in the theaters within weeks of it coming out. Honestly? I didn't like it as much the second time. Part of the crazy cool of seeing it for the first time was the reveal, and knowing what was coming kind-of lessened the impact the second time.

And I'm just saying, Beck turning out to be the bad guy made me soooooo mad!

In terms of representation, Karen and Brady have covered it. There aren't really any mental health references and the movie does not pass all three of the Bechdel tests, so the big representations here are minorities in major roles and the beginnings of Marvel's LGBTQ representation. 

On to next year!

Toy Story 4

Oh Pixar, how I love you!

I thoroughly enjoyed Toy Story 4. Do I think it's as good as 2 or 3? Nope. (2 is my favorite!) Is it better than 1. Yup.

First, can we just address the elephant in the room: those creepy ventriloquist dolls! I don't do horror pretty much at all, and so these creepy dolls put it right on the edge of my tolerance zone. I know some of you are laughing at me because it's so minimal. I know things can be so much worse. I'm sensitive, I get it. But still...

~shudders~

Okay then, moving on!

I really did enjoy the movie. I laughed. and I cried at the end, because change. But I'm left wondering about it. In terms of thinking, this one is probably going to stay with me the longest. I'm not sure I fully comprehend what the message is supposed to be. And I do love mulling things over.

What about representation!

Bechdel test? Yes! Bo Peep! Giggle McDimples! Bonnie! Gabby Gabby! Jessi! Dolly! Trixie! Yup, yup, yup!

Minorities? This one is always interesting to figure out because I'm looking at animated characters. So I have to look at voice actors. Toy Story 4 just barely passes, because of Ducky and Bunny--who steal the show every scene they are in. They are voiced by two black actors: Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele.

 

LGBTQ? Not that we can immediately tell.

Mental Health? Not so much. There's some overcoming of fears and an existential crisis, but nothing that screams mental health struggles.

Physical disabilities?  This one gets interesting. Ironically, I had to discuss this one with my family because there was a physical disability, but there was accommodation and acceptance, so much so that I couldn't quite figure out if it counted or not.

Bo Peep has a broken arm. 

I had to think about this one for a while, but I think it really counts. The thing is, a toy with a broken arm like this doesn't "heal" like we as humans would. In Bo Peep's case, she couldn't really glue it or fix it or anything. She just taped it back up and went on with life. This feels more like a disability that she learns to live with than a temporary issue. I say this movie passes the disability test!

What do you think? Do you agree with Bo Peep and disabilities? What about mental health? I'd love to hear your ideas! 

Captain Marvel

I wanted to like this movie. I really did. I think Wonder Woman is one of the best things to come out of the super-hero universe in...pretty much ever. I was hoping that Marvel would match it in terms of heart and soul and general likability. Captain Marvel really didn't work for me.

My issue is Brie Larson. I felt no heart from her at all. There were moments when I felt like she should be pulling us in, rooting for her, letting her be strong and knowledgeable. I just didn't get that vibe from her. I wanted to like her. I didn't.

Who did I like? The two main black characters in this story. The character of Maria Rambeau was believable and amazing. When she gave Carol her little speech about "this is who you are" I loved it! I wanted to Be Carol in that moment. And then she kicked-a** flying and beating off the bad guys/girls.

(Her daughter Monica was pretty great too!)








And Nick Fury Singing? He stole the show.

Of course, I kind-of think he pretty much owned the movie.

As for representation, you can see from what I've posted that it passes the Bechdel test. Carol and Maria are both strong female characters and there is noticeable lack of romance in the movie. It also passes our test for colored representation with two strong black characters, again with no hint of romance. 

As for the rest of it? Nothing. No obvious LGBTQ representation. No-one with disabilities--mental or physical--though Fury does end the movie down an eye. But even that does not play a factor in the movie. 

You could make a case for symbolic mental health problems, with Carol "fighting with one arm tied behind my back." Also the movie could have been a scathing review on the problems of suppressing emotion. But it never really succeeds in that.

So I give Captain Marvel an "E" for effort, but I feel like it never quite conveyed the power it could have. 

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

I don’t like watching action movies and this movie reminded me why. I do have to admit that I didn’t watch the first two movies in the John Wick series, so it’s very likely that I was missing several important parts of the story. If you loved this movie and are offended by anything I say, just remember that I’m a little bit uncultured. I watched all of the fighting scenes with my eyes half-opened because every blow made me cringe. There was a part of the movie where somebody cuts off their own finger. I definitely didn’t love that. And a toenail being peeled off of a toe? Nope.

As for minority representation in the movie, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot going in but was pleasantly surprised at their addition of a non-binary character. It’s not emphasized or brought up at all in the movie, but the actor is non-binary, so they asked if The Adjudicator could also be non-binary and the director agreed. It’s nice to see that the character isn’t consumed by their gender identity, although it is hard to know whether or not this is canon unless you watch cast interviews online, especially because no one in the film refers to them using any pronouns at all. It would have been even better if we were able to see their they/them pronouns in action. Nonetheless, it’s obvious in the movie that The Adjudicator doesn’t conform to a gender binary. They are also a major character in the film, and the story would be greatly impacted if they were removed.

There are two major female characters in the movie and only one of them is named (Halle Berry as Sofia), while the other is simply The Director. They were so close. Some say that a title like this one is enough to pass as being a named character for the Bechdel test, but there are more than two male characters that are referred to using real names. Granted, there are also men in the film who simply have a title like The Doctor and the Tick Tock Man. Perhaps it is simply an artistic choice and not a sexist one. The two female characters never have a conversation with each other, though. When they say the film is about John Wick, they mean the film is about John Wick. I did like that Halle Berry’s character was portrayed as a strong female character. In fact, both female characters were. Sofia wasn’t afraid to fight and definitely didn’t depend on John Wick and The Director was shown to be a strong, scary leader.

Okay, okay, so looking back, the movie wasn’t actually that terrible. It’s one of the highest-grossing movies of this year, so it definitely has the appeal. I do need to address the way Keanu Reeves runs in the movie, though, what?? It wouldn’t be a huge deal, but he just runs so much. I’m sorry, Keanu, I loved you in Bill and Ted :)

The Lion King (2019)

Okay just one question: Why should I care?

I went into the Loin King (2019) not expecting to like it. However, when I finished watching it I realized that my first poor impressions from what few trailers I had seen were, in fact, spot on.
If you were expecting anything else from me we clearly haven't meet yet, lets fix that. Hello, I'm the guy who likes art, good stylize-ation and can name a handful of the major principles of animation off the top of his head and ho boy do I have a rant for you.

 I've seen calendars with more evocative sunrises than the one that started the 2019 movie

The moment the movie started I knew my contempt was well justified. It started, like the original, with a sunrise. It may have been the tv I was watching it on but that sunrise did not feel like it earned the choir that backed it up. The original earned its choir backing with striking colors and movement rippling across the suns surface repenting the African heat. I could go on for a while about why this film doesn't look appealing but I can summarize the root of films failure with just one idea: expressiveness and the lack thereof.

I'm gonna getcha

 One of the most important aspects of animation and storytelling in general is communicating to your audience what your characters are feeling. The original Lion King used the tools of animation, such as body language, color, movement and facial expression. These  tools along with voice acting ensure that you can easily tell what the characters are feeling in each shot. (it also helped that they were Disney: kings of animation in the 90's.)

What Disney wanted us to think: Wow! look at those realistic eyes and detailed fur
What I thought: Ack! That unfamiliar non-human thing is close enough to bite my face off! Get it away!

The 2019 film on the other hand abandoned the expressive tools of animation in exchange for 'realism.' One of the worst side effects of this decision is that whenever the film zoomed in on a characters face I felt more uncomfortable than the five second pause when a children's cartoon character asks the audience what to do and then just blankly stares at the camera.

truly the epitome of a dangerous foreigner

Okay rant over lets move on to representation. Both the original and the 2019 movie have problems most notably in the movies' presentation of its villains. First off, Scar, as discussed in the US review only letting villains have disabilities is a general problem with films and the Lion King is no exception. As for the hyenas the 2019 remake tried to make the xenophobia parallels less obvious by casting black people for almost the entirety of the movies roles. The film also tried to justify their vilification by throwing in a plot point about the hyenas wanting to hunt endlessly leading to over hunting (this my have been in the original and I've forgotten). The original, however, had it worse with only a handful of black voice actors and most of them were cast as the hyenas.
In conclusion I don't recommend The Loin King (2019) for entertainment or for an example of good representation. I don't understand what Disney was thinking making this movie, wait scratch that I do know they were thinking: $! The thought process I don't  understand is the people who went to see this film in theaters.

Us

I can count on one hand how many scary movies I’ve watched in my life. I try to avoid them as much as I can because I do not like being scared. At all. It’s not even about being scared while I’m watching the movie, it’s after, when I go home and can still hear the haunting music *ahem* The Nun. After watching “Us,” however, I didn’t have any creepy music stuck in my head. Though, I admit that I absolutely cannot listen to the remix of “I Got 5 On It” without losing my mind. Nope. It gives me chills all on its own, no need for the movie. But there is something about the track that holds such a creepiness that you just can’t simulate when you hear it in your head. I actually heard that song months before I watched the movie a week ago. I do believe it would have been a better movie-watching experience if I had gone to the theater when it came out. Shoulda coulda woulda.

This film is centered around a nuclear black family. Jordan Peele, the director of both “Us” and "Get Out," one of the highest-grossing films of 2017, has said multiple times that he doesn’t see himself casting a white lead in any of his films. He has the freedom to cast whomever he wants due to his already present success in the entertainment industry and he knows he wants to represent people of color, specifically casting black lead characters. I think this is awesome because there are already an infinite amount of films with a lead cast full of only white people. He is only doing what other directors have done with white characters. Of course, “Us” still has white characters. Jordan Peele hasn’t absolutely shunned white people—they’re just supporting cast.

Like many horror films, the movie does lack proper representation for people with disabilities, however. Lupita Nyong’o was faced with backlash after saying that the creepy voice she uses for her tethered character was inspired by spasmodic dysphonia, a condition that causes muscle spasms in the voice box. Of course, this was said in an interview outside the movie, but it affected people’s perceptions of the film. The problem with saying this is the fact that the voice she uses in “Us” is scary. That’s the whole purpose of the movie. People who actually have spasmodic dysphonia, however, don’t want people’s perceptions of them to be negative. Obviously. Lupita Nyong’o later apologized, but this is still a huge problem in other horror films. The actors in these movies turn to people with disabilities for inspiration to develop a character but don’t do anything to actually represent them in a positive way. Doing this only reinforces the stigma against disabled people, making them seem disturbed or threatening. It’s absolutely possible to portray these conditions in a positive light, as it has been done in movies like “Quiet Place,” “Bird Box,” and “Hush.”

Secret Life of Pets 2

 Secret Life of Pets 2

Gidget: The best part of both movies

Really? This is in the top 10 of the year? This is not a movie I would recommend to anyone.

The only thing I remotely empathized with in this movie was Max's fear. I empathized with Max's fear for Liam. As a parent, it's sometimes really hard to look at all the scary things that are in the world. I do want to protect my children from all the horrible stuff. But Rooster is right, kids (people, really) have to deal with life as it is and sometimes they have to learn the hard way. Sometimes they have to have things go wrong or make mistakes to learn.

I also deal with a lot of fear myself. I get how hard it is to do things when all you want to do is curl up in a ball and hide.

But yeah, that's it.

I feel like this was a movie that tried too hard to be too many things. Max's story line was supposed to be the heart-rending, emotional payoff part. Snowball's story line was the comedic super-hero spoof. Gidgit's story line was...the homage to cats in a dog movie? Not really sure. The problem was that I don't feel like any story really got traction to bring together a decent whole.

In terms of representation, the movie pass the Bechdel test, and in representation of people of color. On the other hand, mental health was mocked, there wasn't any character that had a physical disability, and there was no LBGTQ representation.

Overall, not worth the time. I'm glad I only paid $2.00 to rent it from Redbox. Some of the special features are great, though.