My favorite part is the opening sequence with "We're Going to be Friends.
Napoleon Dynamite turns twenty this year. It's still endlessly quoteable, but the funny parts don't make me actually laugh. They just make me think, "ha, that's funny." I'm glad it exists and that I've seen it again because it's an interesting ride, it just isn't for me.
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I love Angourie Rice, and I'm happy to see her get a lead role in a major release. She is excellent at playing a relatable, believable teenage girl. Something felt off though with Cady's musical numbers, like the key was wrong or something.
I didn't like the musical numbers much overall. Regina's songs were the catchiest and had the most interesting production, but it was hard to understand the lyrics. Janis sounded the best in terms of musical theater, but the songs were on the cheesier side.
Besides Angourie Rice, the standout was Jaquel Spivey as Damian. Of the supporting cast, Damian felt like the best balance between the original movie and a new incarnation. He executed the callbacks and the new material equally well.
Gretchen and Karen were the other ends of the spectrum. When Gretchen had repeat lines from the original, they were delivered exactly the same way as before, like an impression of Lacey Chabert. Karen was still the "dumb one", but the writing for her wasn't as funny as in the original, and it also over-sexualized her. Avantika deserved better material. Her song at the Halloween party was the best overall musical performance.
Tim Meadows is still perfect, and the Reginald joke is hilarious.
I hope this eventually becomes the closest the MCU could have to a cult hit. It keeps the trippy visuals from the first Doctor Strange, the only thing I really liked about it, and adds Sam Raimi horror elements. This sets it apart from the rest of the MCU, and I can see it being pretty polarizing.
Wanda is my favorite, whether she's a hero or a villain. I wouldn't say I was fully rooting for her, but I wasn't NOT rooting for. Elizabeth Olsen can do it all, and she fully commits to the camp.
Rachel McAdams gets to do a lot more this time around. I love when Doctor Strange says, "You guys sure must know a lot about the Multiverse if you've got someone going around naming realities" and Christine replies, "Yes, me." Yeah that's right it's you, Christine!
Favorite (Not Necessarily Best) Four From Every Year Since Birth
Would love to know how this title has anything to do with the film.
Just a series of scenes with people crawling through the basements of some European country shooting at each other and, I THINK, pretending to be American.I understand there were massive re-edits by multiple people, and boy does it show!
You can’t help but wonder if the original film made any sort of sense.
<I>Class of 1999</I> was a great film, but this was a pathetic attempt at a sequel.
I hadn't seen this since it came out, and I hadn't thought about it since then either. For all the acclaim, it doesn't seem to have made a lasting impression.
It is immediately clear that Natalie Portman strenuously prepared for this role, both the dancing and her actual frame. It is a bit jarring when she's already so petite. It sets the tone that Nina is pushing herself to the limit physically while also paying a mental toll. It's a stark contrast with Mila Kunis's easy, breezy, effortlessly cool Lily.
It's a drama, it's a thriller, and sometimes I blocked my view with my hand in the moments that it felt like horror. We join Nina on her spiral, her descent into madness. It's an impressive, high quality journey that everyone should go on once. For me, once is probably enough.
I don't love Anna Paquin and Jeff Daniels being romantically involved after being daughter and father in Fly Away Home. Also I never thought Jesse Eisenberg could look too old for a role, but bro is not passing for a teen with that hair.
Aside from those complaints, I am pretty mixed on The Squid and the Whale as a whole. Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney are believable and flawed and sad and lonely, and they execute it so well. For every scene they knock out of the park, there's a scene with the younger son that's totally bonkers and ruins the momentum. I hear this is semi-autobiographical, so I guess who am I to call it bonkers when it might have happened, but it feels bonkers to me.
I thought I had added this to my watchlist because it is like The Favourite or The Great. I quickly realized it is not like those. Then I remembered it's Clueless.
I couldn't stop thinking about Clueless. I don't want to hold having the same source novel against it, especially when they are separated by twenty five years. Emma just didn't grip me in a way that gave it any meaningful identity.
Five stars for the soundtrack, the cast, and the acting, but I think I've outgrown Juno's (the character, not the whole movie) personality, so it doesn't hit my quirky millennial soul like it used to. I've aged out, and now I relate to Allison Janney instead. The same thing happened with April Ludgate on my last Parks and Rec rewatch. Still crushing on Olivia Thirlby though.
For little teeny tiny Abigail Breslin to not only hold her own with this cast but to crush every line, every look, every facial expression... Obsessed.
I support and appreciate the message, however I wish I liked the actual movie more. Katherine's romantic relationships weren't that interesting and didn't add anything substantial other than make the runtime hit 2 hours. Betty was the only character that really had an arc or any development, and she was sort of the villain for most of the movie.
More like Mona Lisa Frown, I guess.
It didn't get too deep into the inner workings of Nickelodeon the way I expected, but I enjoyed seeing all the old clips and the interview segments with the Nickelodeon stars of my childhood.
