mbooker-4 Reviews

Young Justice (2010–2023)

Season 4 is a Masterpiece

[9/10 · 10 October 2022]

I'm going to start by giving Season 4 ("Phantoms") eleven stars out of ten. Over twenty-six episodes it tells an epic interconnected narrative involving multiple dimensions and time travel jumps. Somehow it all works. What's most impressive is that a throw-away moment (what's that school bus doing there?) in one episode becomes a mystery in another, gets explained in depth later on, and then gets cashed out as an important plot point later on. Seemingly unrelated elements weave back and forth throughout in a way that's engaging and really quite impressive - kudos to the writers and having an overarching vision for the season.

I think the main problem that people had with the season is, to use a tired cliche, its wokeness. I actually liked the fact that a couple of characters were struggling with their faith lives in the narrative - that's something that people do. I didn't mind a generous representation of Islam - it's a large and complex faith tradition. But when you have characters go on a journey of religious discovery that intersects Islam, magic, and homosexuality, well....imagine a character exploring Evangelical Christianity and also witchcraft and also nonbinary gender identity. I felt like the suspension of disbelief required was just too much to manage. People who can shoot lasers out of their eyes? Sure. But I worried that some Imam somewhere was having an aneurism.

Still, an amazing show. The art was great, loved the voice acting, and the mix of supes was a lot of fun. Strongly recommend.'

You Me Her (2016–2020)

Oddly charming

[8/10 · 5 April 2019]

"You, Me and Her" is a mixed bag which isn't going to be for everyone. I've enjoyed it enough to watch all three seasons and am looking forward to the fourth season. Some non-spoiler observations: 1. The two female leads, Emma and Izzy (Rachel Blanchard and Priscilla Faia), are wonderful. When they turn on the charm, they sell every scene they're in. 2. The male lead, Jack (Greg Poehler, brother of the SNL alumna), doesn't make as strong an impression, mostly because his character is written as perennially anxious and insecure. As is noted at one point, he looks like he should be Greg Kinnear's younger brother. 3. The overall arc of the show is that the characters get together, split up, and get together again. Wash, rinse, repeat. What makes this mostly work is that you get a powerful sense that the characters are truly in love with each other. 4. So much alcohol...and pot. Mostly alcohol. I'm not sure how any character in the show still has a functioning liver. 5. There are plenty of great side characters. I think that the character of Nina gets overused, but the characters of Carmen and Dave are well-developed. There's also a "Gladys Kravitz" in the first season who feels like an old sitcom throwback character. 6. The TV-MA rating is peculiar. There's no nudity despite the overall sexiness of the show and no particular violence. There is a *lot* of sexual language and the theme of polyamory seems to have pushed the rating as high as it is. 7. The show is strongest, IMO, when it enacts the practical problems of three adults trying to live in relationship. What happens when they each want to live in different cities? This is tricky with two people; with three people the problems grow geometrically. There's a scene where they're trying to decide where to sit in a car. That mundane scene feels nicely grounded and typical of the day-to-day challenges of people in relationships. 8. For all of the chaos and dysfunction in the show, there are touching scenes that give it heart and an emotional core. The third season finale is particularly moving.

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women (2017)

A Lovely and Charming Movie

[9/10 · 27 March 2018]

Angela Robinson has offered a sweet and fascinating movie based (very) loosely on the creator of the Wonder Woman comic book. Evans, Hall and Heathcote offer complex and flawed characters tied in a three-way romance. Their decision to live a polyamorous lifestyle causes scandal, job losses and a fistfight. It rather brings to mind "Big Love," except that the women are depicted as lovers rather than as sister wives. Robinson offers scene after scene of beautifully-crafted visuals backed by instrumental music. She has a patience in her story-telling that really worked for me. The story imagines the many inspirations that came together to form the Wonder Woman mythos. The oddest thing about the movie is that it supports Fredric Wertham's central claims in Seduction of the Innocent, a notorious 1954 book that nearly destroyed the comic book industry. In Robinson's telling, the Wonder Woman comic *was* filled with sexual imagery designed to manipulate the minds of America's young people. This may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoyed the film.

Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny (1972)

Existential Torment

[1/10 · 17 March 2018]

Words cannot adequately convey how awful this film is. Nothing makes any sense, everything moves at a glacial pace, and the budget seems to have been loose change out of the director's pants pockets. The version I saw started with the framing device, or whatever, of Santa's sleigh being stuck in 1/8 of an inch of Florida beach sand. Children show up, including Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn for some reason. Various children and animals try to free the sleigh, including a guy in a gorilla suit. If that sounds delightful, it isn't. Surrendering to the horror of 1972, Santa tells the kids a story, or rather, shows them a movie, of Thumbellina. Everything about that is a deep-discount mess. Eventually credits roll and we're back to a sweltering Santa stuck in the sand. He gets rescued by a frightening adult-sized "Ice Cream Bunny" in an antique fire engine. Theologians in future generations will be challenged to proved that a loving G_d exists in the same universe as this nightmare of a movie.

The Great Wall (I) (2016)

Surprisingly Good

[8/10 · 20 August 2017]

I may be overrating this movie, but there are a lot of details about it that I really liked.

Quick summary: Two Europeans come to China during the Middle Ages looking for gunpowder. They find it, along with the Great Wall, an army of mutant monsters, and a technicolor Chinese army that has been preparing for the invasion for the past sixty years.

Things I liked: 1. It wasn't a story about White Heroes saving Helpless Asians. The protagonists were all quite capable. 2. The plot wasn't needlessly complicated by an annoying antagonist. The Taotie are sufficient to drive the conflict. 3. The costumes. Wow. So lovely. 4. Tian Jing. Wow. So lovely. 5. Speaking of Commander Lin, she doesn't wind up in a romance with the European (Matt Damon). There is affection and respect, which makes a lot more narrative sense in context. 6. The Crane Corps. It's explained why they are female, and they die like flies...but they die well. The scene with the bloody rings was truly disturbing. 7. The hot air balloons. It's epic when the heroes need to travel in a hurry and end up using a mode of transportation that is a complete flaming death trap. 8. The fact that the demon dogs ((remember Thundarr the Barbarian?)) aren't idiots. Yes, they zerg rush like lemmings, but they're a lot smarter than they appear.

This isn't a great movie, but I found it quite enjoyable.

Astérix and Obélix: God Save Britannia (2012)

Fun film, very much in the spirit of the comics

[7/10 · 8 March 2014]

This is a very cute adaptation (with updates) of the classic Asterix comics. The version I had only had French audio with subtitles available in English. This wasn't a problem, as one of the running gags of the film is that French actors playing English characters (most notably the impossibly elegant Catherine Deneuve) speak with their French with horrible English accents. The prize for best/worst Frenglish goes to Charlotte Le Bon, who sounds like she's flunking her first semester of French. The jokes are generally cute-but-harmless, notably the 5:00 hot water break that defines life in England at the time of Caesar. There are references to Star Wars and A Clockwork Orange that don't appear in the 1966 source material, and an Indian character who might strike a contemporary audience as uncomfortable. Still, of all the live-action Asterix films, this one seems to best capture the spirit and absurdity of the comics. Very sweet, very fun, and well worth catching on video.

Enlisted (2014)

Just horrible

[1/10 · 15 February 2014]

I note two sorts of reviews here, and I can't help but wonder if sock puppets are getting paid to write the good ones.

Anyhow, YES, I realize this is supposed to be a comedy. YES, TV doesn't have to strive for accuracy. For crying out loud, I work at a community college, and I really like "Community." That said, the show seems to be designed to give anyone who has ever worn a uniform a stroke. The inaccuracies just plain hurt. Calling an APC a "tank" is just plain stupid.

And where is the humor? Can anyone cite one line or scene in the pilot that was in the least bit funny? I could have forgiven a lot if there were any decent laughs.