Welcome to The Mundane Adventures of a Fangirl

I consider myself a Fangirl. What does that mean, you ask? A "fanboy" in the most common understanding is a hardcore fan of 'genre' based entertainment in particular. In my case - science-fiction and comic book based movies and television. Because I'm a chick - it's fangirl, not fanboy. There you have it! I am a big movie fan, however, not necessarily a 'film' fan. And now - I have the forum to present my opinions to the public! These will mainly be movie reviews -that will always be my opinion - repeat OPINION. Just what I think, and in no way do I present my opinion as fact. I hope you enjoy and maybe it will help you decide what to see at the movie theater this weekend!

Thursday, November 18, 2021

Movie Review: Eternals (PG13 – 156 minutes)

 

The Eternals were originally created for Marvel Comics by Jack Kirby in 1976. It was a sweeping, cosmic, weird, and a bit psychedelic story of superhuman warriors that came to earth thousands of years ago and are nearly immortal.  Because of their god-like powers and long life, they become the basis for many human myths in various cultures and civilizations.


This movie follows ten Eternals (Sersi, Ikaris, Thena, Gilgamesh, Ajak, Kingo, Sprite, Phastos, Makkari, and Druig) as they land on earth, battling Deviants as commanded by their… master? God? Director? Manager? … Arishem.  They battle the Deviants for several centuries with several of them getting a bit disillusioned by the genocide they witness by conquistadors in south America.  In fact, one has a full-out Eternal mental breakdown (they call it mind-weary, and what a perfect term for what many of us have gone through in the past year and a half). 

They decide to take a break and we pick up the story with Sersi in modern-day London where she is working at a museum and dating a local named Dane Whitman. Sprite is hanging out with them and seems to have told Dane just about everything about them because when a Deviant randomly attacks them, he knows what it is, but he hasn’t believed her stories up to this point.  This attack allows Sersi an opportunity for some exposition after they are rescued by Ikaris.  They decide to head off to check in with Ajak, because if Arishem is their manager, she’s the assistant manager and the only one who can talk with him.  This leads to a general rounding up of the rest of the team who is spread out across the globe. Once rounded up, they have to take on the deviants that remain all while unraveling their true purpose and deciding how they feel about said purpose.


Hiring Chloe Zhao to direct this movie was a perfect choice. For such an epic tale, her direction and the cast manage to make each of the Eternals feel intimate and relatable. It is very difficult to make a movie with ten leads and ensure each of them is given enough development that the audience understands their point of view. Coming in at two and half hours, this movie certainly has the time - even if I thought it should not have.  Of all the projects, this may have been the one that would have been better served by a Disney Plus show – you could have spent an episode with each Eternal, getting into their story, their powers, their state of mind, etc.  Zhao spent more time shooting on location than some other MCU projects and it certainly does show.  The movie is sweeping and gorgeous with impressive settings, costumes, and performances.


The movie may unofficially have ten leads but the true heart is Gemma Chan as Sersi. Her powers seem to be transmutation – changing one thing into something else. She’s the audience in and the one we spend the most time with.  She has learned to love humanity despite our flaws and her quest to ensure our safety at any cost is epic. 

Richard Madden as Ikaris gets the next most clock and his powers are Superman-like, flight, strength, and eye lasers.  He is very serious about doing the job they were assigned and not question Arishem or their directives. He and Chan have known each other for years and I felt that benefitted the chemistry between them, both when they are getting along (is this the only MCU movie with sex on a beach?) and when their relationship is strained. 



Angelina Jolie is perfect casting as Thena, the Eternal who influenced Athena from Greek Mythology. Her power is creating weapons out of nowhere with cosmic energy and using them with superior fighting skills.  She’s the one who gets the mind-weariness and while she is stoic for most of the movie, it requires an actress of her caliber to pull off painfully withdrawn and reserved with just a touch of snarkiness and engagement.  Easily one of my favorite characters.


Don Lee plays Gilgamesh, with super strength powers. He and Thena have an incredible friendship bond and take care of one another through battles and quiet times. His quiet power is fantastic and I love the sequence where he cooks for everyone.



Lia McHugh plays Sprite, and as you know from Interview with a Vampire and several Highlander episodes – anyone stuck in a child’s body for all eternity is pissed about being stuck in a child’s body for all eternity.  Her powers seem to be casting illusions and sarcasm.

Lauren Ridloff has been one of the best things on the Walking Dead for the last couple of years and here plays Makkari whose power is super speed.  Ridloff did get the opportunity to teach some of her co-stars ASL and they use it a bit throughout the movie. I would have liked a little more for her to do, or to learn more about her character, but again – so many leads.

Barry Keoghan plays Druig and his power is general mind-control?  He’s the one who is the most questioning of their mission parameters of non-interferences and originates the ‘walk away for a bit’ response after witnessing atrocities. He gives Druig a palpable frustration that at times felt like the right response and at other times felt like a threat. I loved the relationship Druig had with Makkari that was really more hinted at than developed.


Salma Hayek plays Ajak, the only one who gets to talk to Arishem. She watches over the other Eternals with her healing power and makes sure they all stay on task and do not go too far off the path.  She glides through the movie with an effortless elegance that centers the group.

Brian Tyree Henry plays Phastos and his power is engineering?  Tools, weapons, ships, you name it.  He helps mankind evolve, which he both relishes and reviles after seeing what they do with some of that knowledge. Eventually when the rounding-up begins, he has settled down with a husband and son and seems to be appreciating the quieter moments.


I mention Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo last because he stole every single second of this movie that he is on-screen for – which makes a decision Kingo makes late in the movie very puzzling. His power is literal finger guns – energy blasts from his hands. He has been excellent in a lot of things for a very long time (go watch the Big Sick if you haven’t) but my goodness, he is the best here. Kingo is an Eternal that loves being an Eternal. He has crafted a Bollywood star role for himself where he is just various offspring of himself so that no one questions how he had made so many movies for so long.  He is charming, fun, engaging, and so watchable that when he is not on screen, the movie suffers.  Also – Harish Patel as his valet is the best – providing some very human viewpoints on various scenarios.


Kit Harington is better here than he has been in anything else, giving Dane a likeability that makes me really excited for his (hopefully) future MCU appearances. Bill Skarsgard voices the head Deviant that begins evolving to the point where he can have a conversation. 


Overall, the movie is lush and beautiful and while I really enjoyed it, I didn’t love it. It certainly feels different than any other MCU movie while still fitting into the overall framework. Two and a half hours is way too long for any movie, even one this gorgeous. I really do think it would have been better as a series so that you could spend the time needed with each Eternal, although, I would not have liked any of the non-Kingo episodes as much!  As a random afterthought, I did love how anytime the Eternals encountered one another after a while, they tell folks around them, “These are my friends from college!”

8 out of 10



Thursday, November 11, 2021

Movie Review: Dune (PG13 – 155 minutes)

 


Dune was written by Frank Herbert in 1965. Since then, it has been translated a few times to movies and mini-series. It is notoriously difficult to do as a movie or show because of the wide interstellar setting and the carefully included themes of colonization, politics, religion, ecology, technology and human involvement in all of those aspects. The story is set in a future where humankind has settled a great many planets and we have shifted back to a feudal-type system with various powerful families holding different areas to work and govern.


This version begins with a quick overview of the desert planet Arrakis and how it is the only place in the galaxy to harvest ‘spice’.  What exactly spice does is not covered in great detail here, but it helps with space travel, making it incredibly valuable. The people of Arrakis use it for what seem to be religious purposes but because of its travel value, others come in to harvest it.  Arrakis was under the power of the Harkonnen family, who were brutal and cruel to the Arrakans. The emperor (of the galaxy?) decides to pull the Harkonnens from Arrakis and instead sends the Atreides family to govern it.  From what I could gather, this seems to be a double cross because the emperor is not all that fond of the Atreides and is hoping the Harkonnens will get angry and eliminate the Atreides for him. 


Young Paul Atreides is studying with his mother Jessica who is a member of a religious organization, cult, or perhaps a coven. They are very powerful and have some extra-human skills.  Once they get to Arrakis, word spreads that he may or may not be some sort of savior that the Arrakans have been waiting for. Jessica seems to hint that she has been encouraging the rumor. Meanwhile, Paul’s father Leto has to deal with the mess the Harkonnens left behind in order to run the planet in a peaceful coexistence with the Arrakans.

The main reason I typed all that out was just to see if I had a grip on the plot of this movie. Admittedly, I have not read any of the books (there are a bunch of them) nor have I watched the Lynch movie or the mini-series from a few years ago, so the story is new to me.  I can see how it would be more clearly explained in a book and can be very difficult to convey these layers of political intrigue on screen. I think director Denis Villeneuve does a decent job, because I think I understood what was happening.  I know that he consciously was careful with this movie to try to avoid Star Wars comparisons, but it is tough to do any type of sci-fi epic and not feel similarities.  Villeneuve brings his trademark epic and desolate sci-fi stunning direction and sweeping landscapes to this movie. It is absolutely worth seeing in the theater because of the look of the movie. The story meanders a bit, but not enough to make it unpleasant.  The movie picks up action-wise just at the end as the Harrkonnens come to take back the planet and Paul has to go on the run.  Needless to say, this is just part one and I do find myself looking forward to part 2. 



I do not know, nor have I ever, understood the appeal of Timothee Chalamet.  I find him bland and boring.  I cannot tell if that was direction or choice here, but in my opinion, he lacks the charisma to center this movie – however, that may be accurate for this character.  I will say that everyone around him was incredibly watchable, which in a strange way makes his performance make sense – he’s the stillness at the center of the swirling and shifting performances around him.


Rebecca Ferguson is very intriguing as Jessica, making me almost want to read the books to know more about her character, their group, and where their loyalties lie.  I also found Oscar Isaac as her husband very interesting as a man who is going ahead with the duty he is assigned even when he is not that thrilled with it.  Josh Brolin plays his right hand man who is outwardly grumpy about the entire situation and does his best to keep Paul trained up and ready for anything.

Jason Momoa basically plays himself as a scout for the family that goes on ahead to the planet and embeds with the locals to get the lay of the land prior to the rest of the family showing up.  Javier Bardem is one of those locals and he has very few scenes here but he is engaging enough in those scenes to make you encouraged about what he will bring to the sequel.


Stellan Skarsgard oozes his way through the performance of the head of the Harkonnen clan. He is very creepy and weird and chews the scenery in a great way. Dave Bautista and David Dastmalchian play other Harkonnens who are equally creepy and watchable.  Are all the Harkonnens weird and bald and creepy or is it just these three?


Sharon Duncan-Brewster plays Dr. Liet Kynes, a go-between of sorts helping the Atreides connect with Arrakis, the Arrakans, and learn just enough about the spice and the giant sandworms that wander around the planet.

Zendaya plays the girl Paul is dreaming of, mentioning all kinds of things about Arrakis to him in those dreams. So you can imagine his surprise when he finally encounters her.  Again, this is a character that I assume will have more to do in the sequel.


Overall, the movie looks stunning and is entertaining enough – although it is way too long and very slow in parts.  Those slow parts do look lovely and if you are a fan of Villeneuve’s style, that will not bother you.  I found it a little tedious. 

5 out of 10 – I can’t help but wonder if the sequel will raise this number once I see it. I also wonder if having not seen or read any other version was a help or a hinderance.