Disney Watch: Encanto (2021)

Watched:  01/08/2022

Format:  Disney+

Viewing:  First

Directors:  Jared Bush/ Byron Howard/ Charise Castro Smith

Disney has really doubled down on the "here's a big ol' metaphor, but we're also going to explicitly spell it out" style of storytelling that Pixar's been doing for a while.  That's not a dig.  You're playing to an all-ages audience that needs some hand-holding, and in general, for who these movies are for, I think it works.

I'm not surprised I liked Encanto (2021).  I'm honestly far more surprised when I am not onboard with a Disney film or find it just "meh".  After deconstructing the idea of the Princess movie with Frozen and Tangled, and doing some fun character stuff with Wreck It Ralph, essentially doing a family dramedy is a good pivot.  And it's kind of remarkable we're in an era where we aren't depending on wicked stepmothers and cheesed-off sorceresses to tell a story.  Sometimes the conflict can be person vs. themselves.  But this one also has baked in protagonist vs. society and fate, I guess.  

There's a lot going on.

Re-Watch Watch: Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021)

Watched:  01/07/2021

Format:  Hulu

Viewing:  Second

Director:  Josh Greenbaum

Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar (2021) is now on Hulu, and you owe it to yourself to watch this movie.

This may be my favorite comedy (movie) of the last 15 years.  Which maybe says something about me?  I don't know.

Doc Watch: Beanie Mania (2021)

Watched:  01/01/2021

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  First

Director:  Yemisi Brookes

Hoo-boy.  I think I have more to say about the topics covered in Beanie Mania (2021) than I have to say about the film itself.  

But, so.  

Beanie Mania covers the 1990's Beanie Baby fad and tulip-like frenzy around the little doorstops that became an obsession with some people at the time.  There are interviews with people who were Beanie celebrities, former employees of Ty (the company that made the bean bags), with distributors and a last, passing glance at how YouTubers are maybe reviving Beanie Mania.  

It collects news stories and people who were there at the time are remarkably candid about what they did and why and what was happening.  And many of them are still in the Beanie Business, which is still a thing, I guess (look, eBay has taught us secondary markets are there for *everything*).  There's no gory murders of sex scandals, but it is fascinating to remember that this really was a nation-wide obsession for a minute there, and that it really tapped into so many parts of how we can project our hopes and dreams into something as ridiculous as a bean bag made to look like a frog.

Doc Watch: Street Gang - How We Got to Sesame Street (2020)

Watched:  12/29/2021

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Marilyn Agrelo

Of the near universal experiences of my generation (that being the generation known as "X") was the certainty that you were plopped down in front of a television as soon as you could sit upright and you were a fan of Sesame Street.  It was partially a product of the fact we usually had three networks and a PBS affiliate on our TV's and very little else, but also because it was recognized by our parents as both entertainment and a source of education.

As a kid, I remember the combination of Muppets, kind adults and kids, animation and music made it a variety show that I personally wanted to watch.  I am sure I had favorite bits and characters, but that's all been lost to time as all I can remember is a general warm spot for the show, the actors and the Muppets.  And, now, the nostalgia when seeing footage from that era hits me like a wave.  It's tapping into brain cells that haven't been accessed much in years, and related feelings both directly and indirectly tied to the show.  

Christmas Watch: Single All the Way (2021)

Watched:  12/18/2021

Format:  Netflix

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020

Director:  Michael Mayer

Not going to bury the lede.  Single All the Way (2021) is the gay-starring romcom for the holidays that Netflix's DataTron3000 realized would do quite well for clicks as it would serve a perpetually underserved audience.  The probably good news is that it is not trying to either fit the Hallmark mold, nor is it a Hallmark spoof.  It's its own, stand-alone, comedy movie.  

I am already aware that it is also a YMMV affair, as are many-a-comedy, as I've had one pal weigh in with a "that sucked" response, and - hey - you probably do not want my opinion of your favorite comedy.  Unless it's Young Frankenstein.  Or anything with Madeline Kahn.*

Christmas Watch: A Castle For Christmas (2021)

Watched:  12/18/2021

Format:  Netflix

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Mary Lambert

So.  This movie featured Brooke Shields and so I watched it.  I feel like I don't need to explain that. 

I don't understand the whole thing about Scotland and Ireland and romance, but it is a thing.  Usually it involves great hair and moors.  This movie lacks moors, it just has great hair.  

Oh, Charlotte Bronte, what hath thou wrought?

Anyway, Carey Elwes is a cranky Scottish Duke who lives in a castle.  Brooke Shields is a romance writer who has written a controversial ending to her novel series and pissed off her fans and Drew Barrymore calls her out on it, saying she's letting her divorce influence her thinking (she is right).

Brooke's family is from Scotland and has connections to the castle - so she flees there.  There's a dog, some nice folks at the pub, and I'm sure other stuff.  

Anyway - you can fill in the rest.  But Brooke looks smashing.

Hallmark Christmas Watch: The Nine Kittens of Christmas (2021)

Watched:  12/15/2021

Format:  DVR of Hallmark

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  D. Winning

So, a few years back I noted that occasional Superman and Ray Palmer actor Brandon Routh had signed up for a Hallmark movie.  It makes sense.  He films in Canada all the time, anyway.  Might as well get a little scratch between seasons of TV and whatever else he's up to.  

What I remembered about the movie was (late edit: I had not seen all of this movie):  Routh was a fireman, he was doing home maintenance, a cat was involved, and the love interest could also act (Hallmark has to balance how terrible their leads are, and many of them are truly wooden robots).  But a lot of name folks pass through the Hallmark factory every year, so I enjoyed it for what it was and then chucked the movie from anything resembling RAM in my head.  

Well, lo and behold, someone scraped enough pennies together and got the cast back together from the cat-related movie and came up with a concept for a sequel.  If one or two cats worked - why not 9?

Christmas Comedy Watch: A Clüsterfünke Christmas (2021)

Watched:  12/12/2021

Format:  On VOD from Pop

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Anna Dakoza

Hallmark movies have now been around long enough that you do spot spoofs and satires.  This is the second one I've spotted just this year, the other I need to finish (The Bitch Who Stole Christmas, which appears to be a whole thing).  

A Clüsterfünke Christmas (2021) is the kind of spoof you kind of crave, but also think won't be as good as you hope.  But, in the rarest of Christmas miracles, it was actually consistently funny for the runtime of the movie.  It never gets lost in the machinery of telling a story or caring what happens to anyone and remembers that it's job is to insert a joke every 30 seconds.  But, you know, the film both stars and was written by Ana Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch, so - trusted sources.  

Holiday Horror Watch: Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020)

Watched:  12/5/2021

Format:  Amazon

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Jim Cummings

I'm going to have to check out Jim Cummings' other stuff, because he's apparently his own one-man force within the film industry.  I recognize him, but not as a lead - but he wrote, directed and starred in Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020), which is something people really don't do anymore.  That era of auteurism has kind of gone the way of the dodo.

Released under the revived Orion films banner (and, my god, was it good to see that logo spin out in front of a movie again) - it's also nice to see genre indie distributors out there trying for something a bit different, and this film is a reminder of the positive results you can get from a single person with their hands on the wheel of a movie.  Because Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020) is arguably about a small-town cop relentlessly chasing down a killer werewolf despite the fact that is absolutely the plot of the film.  And this is where people might mistakenly say "it's good for a horror film" - but we don't say that at this blog.  

I think sometimes why reviewers might make that statement is that they want something more out of their movie than a monster murdering people and eventually being killed in return.  I mean, *fair enough*.  

Music Doc Watch: The Beatles - Get Back (2021)

Watched:  12/3/2021

Format:  Disney+

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  uhhhh...

I have what I'd describe as a non-relationship with The Beatles.   

I can't remember a time I wasn't aware of the existence of The Beatles, and since middle-school, I could pick out one of their tunes playing on the radio or over Muzak - but at some point when I was getting into music, I think I found the enormity of The Beatles as cultural force daunting, and their discography too big for me to get my head around.  I also think I had a hard time - as a high schooler - reconciling the Ed Sullivan Beatles with the late-years Beatles.  It was just so much.

I do know that in 1984 my parents took me to the movie theater to see Give My Regards to Broad Street. (That was when I first heard Eleanor Rigby and my wee brain was blown).  But they, themselves, weren't huge Beatles fans.

Hallmark Christmas Watch: Christmas Together With You (2021)

Watched:  11/24/2021

Format:  Hallmark Channel!

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Kevin Fair

This year vis-a-vis Hallmark movies has been an emotional rollercoaster.  We had to switch cable services and wound up on YouTubeTV (recommended), but it had no Hallmark Channel.  I was a little sad, but I don't *need* to see my Hallmark Christmas stories, so I figured: time to move on.  But then, I was informed a week or so ago that, NO, YouTubeTV now carried all three Hallmark networks.  Feliz navidad, indeed!

But, Jamie now has a pretty hard rule about not putting on Hallmark movies til Thanksgiving night, so I honestly hadn't been watching.  But this last week, the network debuted a new movie, Christmas Together With You (2021) - and the stars caught my eye.  Harry Lennix portrayed General Swann in Man of Steel, and Laura Vandervoort played Supergirl (sort of) on Smallville off and on for half the show's run.  Thus, it got recorded.  

And, then, I needed to watch something that needed minimal attention while I worked out.  So here we are.

Doc Watch: Dean Martin - King of Cool (2021)

Watched:  11/20/2021

Format:  TCM 

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Tom Donahue

Like any other self-respecting 1990's hipster, I have a warm place in my heart for Dean Martin.  I spend less time thinking about Martin than I do Bing Crosby, who was a huge inspiration to the Rat Pack, but - hey - one of my earliest memories is my dad singing the intro to "That's Amore" to me as he tucked me in.  

I would see Martin in Rio Bravo back in college, as well as Ocean's 11, and I started to get a picture of Martin and how he fit into the culture in ways that Frank Sinatra did not.  Probably the easiest analog for us Gen-X'ers is Brad Pitt to George Clooney in the Soderbergh Ocean's films.  

As a doc, Dean Martin: King of Cool (2021) works as a no-consequences sort of film.  No one is out there debating Dean Martin in 2021.  He was.  He is.  He's heard on the radio to this day, and his films are still okay.  So it's about painting a portrait of a guy who was maybe a bit unknowable, even by his own children.  And in that, what you wind up doing is - metaphor 1:  seeing the silhouette of the guy against the backdrop of what we do know, and - metaphor 2:  starting with the stone of what we know and chipping away til the statue of Dean Martin presents itself.

Doc Watch: Malfunction - The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson (2021)

Watched:  11/20/2021

Format:  I saw it on TV, but I believe they're trying to get you to watch it on Hulu

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Jodi Gomes

I was flipping channels and somehow caught what I thought was someone's rushed attempt to get in front of the "coming to Hulu" documentary by the New York Times about the fateful Super Bowl performance in which Justin Timberlake removed an item from Janet Jackson's wardrobe, exposing her breast on TV for a blink-and-you-miss-it moment.  But, no, it was the actual doc.

I am not sure that Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson (2021) is the final word on the incident.  I think it has a lot to say that I think is worth reflecting on, but at the center of the doc are a few gigantic questions it won't/ can't answer, and I am unsure some of the arguments are fully explored.  What the doc manages to do is paint the most complete picture of the Super Bowl incident and the fallout, giving detail I'd not heard, following the incident's years-long legacy.  But I can't quite sort what the doc is trying to say.  Nor am I sure revisiting the incident is as compelling as cultural conversation as we'll treat it for a few weeks here.

PODCAST: "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" (2021) - A Marvel Chronological Countdown episode w/ Jamie and Ryan

Watched:  11/14/2021

Format:  Disney+

Viewing: First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Destin Daniel Cretton

For more ways to listen

Jamie and Ryan reveal their secret kung-fu-like prowess at podcasting as they dig into the next phase of Marvel as a new leading superhero takes the fore, alongside his wisecracking pal, Awkwafina, and Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley. Not to mention a few huge stars of international cinema in Michelle Yeoh and Tony Leung. And a rad dragon. Join us as we circle around this film, and sort out what our friends at Marvel are up to now.

The Signal Watch PodCast · 170: "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" (2021) - Avengers Countdown w/ Jamie & Ryan

Music:

Xu Shang-Chi - Joel P West, Shang-Chi OST

Family - Joel P West, Shang-Chi OST 

Marvel Movies!

The Signal Watch PodCast · Avengers Chronological Countdown (w/ Jamie and Ryan)

That Was a Movie Watch: Red Notice (2021)

Watched:  11/17/2021

Format:  Netflix 

Viewing: First

Decade: 2020's

Director:  Rawson Marshall Thurber

I'm *fine* with Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot.  I still watch movies because they star particular talent, but most of those actors have been dead for more than 10 years or way longer, and I guess there's a few people I'd show up to see just because they did a thing.  But it's more likely I'll avoid a movie as long as possible if there are particular actors starring.  None of the three here fall into the "must avoid" category.  They're all... fine.  You know more or less exactly what you'll get, and Red Notice (2021) is not here to blow the door off of those expectations.  

Best case scenario, Red Notice is a fun way to introduce your tween to heist pictures and globe-trotting comedy-action-adventure.  There's a lot of A-Team style bloodless gunplay where no one is ever shot, people crack wise, and it's all a big goof.  It's not a new format, and this one is particularly gentle, so it's a good entry point.   

Disney+ Watch: Jungle Cruise (2021)

Watched:  11/15/2021

Format:  Disney+

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Jaume Collett-Serra

This is part of why it's nice to have Disney+.  

Before COVID, I think maybe I would have talked myself into paying to see Jungle Cruise (2021) in the theater.  I'm partial to Emily Blunt, I more or less like Dwayne Johnson.  The Disney park ride of The Jungle Cruise is a highlight of every trip I've ever had when I hit one of the Disney parks - it's wrapped up in nostalgia, certainly, but it's a fun thing to go do.  

I was a little put off that the jungle cruise of the film was not in Africa, as that would mean no elephants, my childhood favorite part of the ride, but... you know.  It's fine.  

Disney Watch: Cruella (2021)

Watched:  11/06/2021

Format:  Disney+ in JAL's yard

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Craig Gillespie

We got together with JAL and Co to watch a movie projected on the big screen in his backyard.  With a kid in play, and because we're highly likely to watch PG movies anyway, we defaulted to a family-friendly suggestion of Cruella (2021), which received weirdly inconsistent reviews and reaction on social media from what I saw, to the point where people seemed to be watching 2 or more different movies, which was enough to make me curious.  

I've not been overly interested in Disney's live-action remakes or prequels, and so had made no special effort to see Cruella upon it's release.  I like 101 Dalmatians (the animated version) well enough, but mostly out of nostalgia and loving the character animation more than me thinking it's the world's best film.  And I wasn't overly concerned about who Cruella De Vil was and how she came to be.

But, you know, I'm game for whatever.

I... loved this movie?  

PODCAST: "Foundation" Sci-Fi TV discussion w/ JuanD and Ryan

Watched:  09 and 10/2021

Format:  Television Apple+

Viewing: First

Decade: 2020's

Director:  various

For more ways to listen

Juan and Ryan ponder what has come before to consider what is happening now and what will happen next as they take on the famously unfilmable series of books from one of the greats of American sci-fi. Join us as we run the numbers on a show that's epic in scale, and maybe dropping a space elevator on the fans of the books.

The Signal Watch PodCast · 168: "Foundation" television series 2021 - a Sci-Fi PodCast w/ JuanD and Ryan

Music:

Foundation Main Theme - Bear McCreary

Sci-Fi Playlist

The Signal Watch PodCast · Science Fiction Nerdery!

Aviation Hallo-Watch: Shadow in the Cloud (2020)

if this scene seems unlikely, I have some big news for you about this film

Watched:  10/29/2021

Format:  Hulu

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Roseanne Liang

This movie is a mess, and I don't really get why it has "generally favorable" reviews on metacritic, other than that it twists itself in a pretzel to be a #metoo movie of the moment, dressed up in WWII and made by people who don't seem to know or care very much about the reality grounding the fantastic elements of their set-up.  

Moretz is a fine actor and it's great to see someone who was a kid actor show they can do this in a grown up role.  She looks the right age to be in the place she's at for 1943 or whatever this is.  But.  I think she needs to talk to her managers and agents.

It's WWII, and for some reason an all-Allies flight crew exists, which... fine.  Aussies, Scotsmen, Americans.  Flying a B-17.  A mysterious woman (Chloë Grace Moretz) with a mysterious package gets on board a flight as its about to taxi, headed out from New Zealand to Somoa.  She says she's operating under orders from the local Major, a real hard ass, and *she's classified*.

Upon take-off, the airmen all begin piling on an entire year's worth of the worst, most tasteless conversation likely to occur, all while Moretz is on the comms.  Oh, and for some reason, the only place they have for her to sit is the underbelly turret of the B-17.  

Muad'Dib Watch: Dune (2021)

Watched:  10/24/2021

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Denis Villeneuve

Well, whatever opinion I have will be wrong, by everyone who watched this movie.  And, especially, if you read the book.

I've only read Dune once, years ago, at the recommendation of RHPT and StevenH (and probably Lauren, if Steven was pitching it).  That said, I thought it was a singular reading experience.  My inability to return to the book has much more to do with life being short and me doing other things rather than my lack of love for what I read.

I think people who read and grok Dune are changed a little after, maybe in tiny ways, but a bit.  I cannot imagine approaching a Dune movie without having read the book - I know watching Lynch's version without having read the book led to me giving up 20 minutes in.  But after reading it, I was like "oh, yeah, this is maybe not the best way to do this, but ok."  Similarly, before reading the book, I could only follow the SyFy Channel TV mini-series version of Dune so far before I was like "y'all are on your own".

So - I have no idea what those who didn't read the book took away from the movie currently in theaters and running on HBOmax.