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lynrdavis
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Walk. Ride. Rodeo. (2019)
Don't know Horses, but I do know back injuries...Inspiring!
I don't watch much rodeo in reality or movies, but my husband and I happened to see this. While there were a number of movie missteps, the inspiration was palpable. For me, Missi Pyle's performance was the best. Her struggles with being a mom of an injured daughter--wanting both the championship's for her daughter but knowing the setbacks that devastate--and feeling helpless at restoring her health moved me to tears more than once. I think this is one of Ms Pyles' best performances. It breaks the mold of her playing mean blondes or dumb blondes. This was truly enjoyable.
Black Panther (2018)
A WASP buzzes about Black Panther/ Wakonda Forever!
Black Panther, the movie, was brilliant. From the themes, to the story, to the CGI and the incredible costumes, sets and photography, it transported the viewer to a virtual feast!
The theme of good vs evil is nuanced by the characters who are flawed and full of passion. The storyline is almost too true, because relatives are often the warring factions in the desire to rule. The hero, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), is both tempered and empowered by knowledge of history, diplomacy and the super-strength arising from a combination of an herb drink and the verbanium (bullet proof) suit.
Each character is unique. M"Baku (Winston Duke) stood out with his arrogance and compassion; his strength and moral compass-a delightful break from the expectation of a villainous competitor for the throne.
The genius Scientist sister, Shuri (Letitia Wright), offers both technology to engender envy in James Bond and intelligent humor as a sibling sidekick.
Michael B. Jordan's vulnerable and self-confident portrayal of the villain-relative with his viable grief and a passion to gain what he believed he was entitled to, offers the chance for a healing even in death.
Okoye, played so well by Danai Gurira, she dominated every scene-drawing my eyes to follow her every action. Lithesome and sinewy with an athletic prowess any girl might crave, she makes the essence of womanhood desirable, and baldness alluring. Amazons, move over!
So many actors enriched the drama. So fun to actually see Andy Serkis (Ulysses Kaue) with a human face. Zuri (Forrest Whitaker) compels us to see both sides of honor and dishonor. Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) brought a quiet strength to the future queen. Angela Bassett's queen mother, Ramonda, brings her understated elegance as a supportive mom to the role.
The writers drew me into the story and made me want to visit Wakanda, with the rich colors and textures, technology balanced by logic and humanity. The struggle to share knowledge, when you know that some might turn things into war and destruction instead of building up families and traditions.
As a WASP, I was glad to see that Martin Freeman's CIA character, Everett K. Ross, was welcomed ultimately, cuz I'd hate to be left out. Don't we all want to be a part of Wakonda?
Wakonda forever!
Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Awesome SciFi Film - Worthy of Cult Classic
Jupiter Ascending explores the value of time to each of us through the eyes of the narrator/heroine, Jupiter Jones, and the various characters she encounters, from her family, to her kidnappers, to the space royalty that invade earth to manipulate her influence on their management of the commercialization of selling substances to prolong life
i.e. extend time. The Wachowskis have created a gem of a film with layer upon layer of textures, if you take the 'time' to see them. They are easy to miss, as apparently many have. Jupiter Ascending drew me in with the spectacular worlds and visual feast of exploding action. Already a fan of Channing Tatum, Sean Bean and Eddie Redmayne, I now add Milas Kunis to my list and many other character actors because of this film. I don't mind Redmayne's over the top version of Belam. The latter's a royal who is more full of himself than any one on earth. Affect in speech accentuates his self-aggrandizement. That reveals more about Belam than Eddie. Give Eddie the credit for knowing what he is doing; Lily and Lana, too. I chuckle at the reviews that disparage this film, because all I hear when I read them, is that they missed many aspects of it. The start of the film foreshadows the theme: the question is how do you spend your time and do you appreciate the time you have? Staring at stars through a telescope, the father spends his time on his passion and with the love of his life, which produces the child—who becomes the reincarnation—or recurrence, as they call it, of the mother of a royal family vying for the greatest resource in the 'verse' or universe: time. They live for thousands of years by 'harvesting' humans and bathing in the extract, thus expanding their 'time' indefinitely. Time is more valuable than gold or anything we have on earth. We don't value it because we don't think we can trade it, like we can gold. But the Wachowskis are going to show us differently. Early on we see Jupiter Jones despising her life and every moment—time— of every day. She is kidnapped by the three heirs respectively. They use our hero Caine Wise (Tatum) who joins forces with Stinger (Sean Bean) to save Jupiter again and again. The relationship between the men alternates between fighting their old personal battles, rejuvenating their long-time friendship and healing a betrayal. The initial attraction between Caine and Jupiter is strained shortly after they meet because of the extreme differences between stations of royalty and 'lycantant-splices.' If the Wachowski sisters failed here, it was that they didn't make the case that Caine has no standing in the order of things. We don't sense that Jupiter would have any resistance in falling for Caine because Jupiter really doesn't care about being royalty. She can more easily convince Caine who puts up little in resisting Jupiter. But that is really minor. Overall, I loved the flying and the fight scenes. I work-out to them and find my footsteps and heart rate always increase with them easily— Thank you, Lana and Lily! You rock, just as you did in the Matrix! Unlike so many of the complainers, I have watched this again and again. Each time I watch it, I notice nuances I missed before. As with all of the Wachowski works, they have so many layers, there are more things to look forward to. The potential for more stories are endless. I hope they will write many more stories from these worlds. And I haven't got to the tertiary characters etc. Captain Diomika Tsing (Nikki Amukka-Bird) commands not only the space ship, but the screen with her presence. Look forward to more of her in future work by the Wachowskis. Bird brings women of color and gives them authority and assertiveness without being nasty. She rocks. Advocate Bob (brilliantly played by Samuel Barnett—MUST see more of him) and the Bureaucrats (John Locke, Sarah Crowden) are laugh out loud funny. I adore Advocate Bob's chipper excitement and progressive frustration with the process of the paperwork. The 'Be thankful the Time spent at the DMV is not worse theme' is clearly stated by Jupiter. Bob makes it hilarious. The end of the film brings the theme to its conclusion—not with the happily ever after moment, but with the growth of Jupiter Jones, who started out hating her life, and ends appreciating every moment—even cleaning toilets for the rich and making coffee and fixing breakfast for her mom and aunt. When the family gathers, they present Jupiter with a telescope, showing that they have grown—no longer seeing her as a girl only meant to marry but as someone, whose interests have merit. Jupiter's life has changed. She owns the earth, but she has opted for its change to be incremental. She is taking her time to enjoy it. Time again. After all time flies when you are having fun, just as she is flying with Caine at the end. Time and fun are joined together in flight. The Wachowskis are brilliant. No surprise that many can't see it or the many layers. The layers are blessed with Michael Giacchino's music. He is one of this century geniuses when it comes to music scores. He matches the drama and the humor, every ebb and flow. If I could write screenplays, I would want him scoring all my work. IMO, If you take the time to watch it and absorb the nuance, you too can enjoy it. It's going to be a cult classic.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017)
Retro Sparkle Lacks the Pizazz to Inspire the Present
I sloughed through this pilot, which managed to encapsulate the 1950s status of woman with all its oppression of them, and their use of manipulation to advance their interests. The writing was clichéd and predictable, because most of us, of a certain age, have lived it, and I am not interested in reliving that disaster of a life experience. It was painful at the time. It doesn't get better to watch the mutual abuse (handling of people for self-interest alone) nor am I ready to consider it funny.
Yes, Mrs. M (N.B. not Ms M) breaks from that to become a comic. Yes, a comedian often arises out of pain, but I am tired of laughing at the pain of meanness.
In this culture where people are causing malicious harm to many, this is not the right show for a culture of pain and meanness. The show did capture the look of the time and the New York Jewish American Princess...but it took too long to get to the change.
I was always taught--start your story where the story changes. In this episode, the real change doesn't happen until 3/4 into the show. The first 3/4 is back story leading up to the change. I'm not sure I could risk sitting through 3/4 of an episode each week to get to the good/important part.