Ms. Marvel: No Normal (2022)

 

An excellent ending to this delightful mini-series. 

In this final episode, Kamala returns to Jersey. There her and friends do everything they can to protect Kamran from Damage Control. 

Many of this Disney+ Marvel series seem to have the same main problem. This is that the finale seems to be very disappointing. For instance, look at Wanda Vision, which was incredibly good build up that lead to a disappointing finale. However, with this show the final episode remains a very strong conclusion. What makes this episode work so well is that despite being an action-packed episode, the focus is on the characters not the action. The highlights come from Kamla telling her family that she is truly a superhero, Kamala having a heart-to-heart talk with Kamran over the death of his mother and Zoe (the school's popular girl) ending up being a much more likable character than we have seen previously. I especially love the interaction between Kamala and her family when she reveals that she is a superhero. I love that they are so loving and accepting, while still being very protective of her. This episode also has some of the best comedic moments in any episode of this show. Though the focus is on the characters, the action scenes are a lot of fun. While they obviously aren't the pure spectacles you would see in the theatrical movies, they still look great. The action scenes also find wonderfully creative ways to use Kamala's powers. The ending was also great as it felt like a real conclusion to this storyline while still alluding to the things to come for this character in the MCU. 

It took me a while to get around to watching this series. However, when I finally did, I was very impressed with what a fun ride it was. 

Movie Review:Kinds of Kindness

 Michael’s Movie Grade: B+

This is the type of art film that will captivate some, while completely alienating others. However for most of it, I found my eyes glued to the screen. 

After  Yorgos Lanthimos‘s major mainstream success with last year’s Poor Things, he finds himself going back to his roots by making a movie that is made to polarize audiences. This film will at times puzzle, confound, disgust, entertain, engage and disengage, anyone watching. Sometimes there will be scenes that make you completely unsure how to feel about what you just watched. This was purposely made not to appeal to everyone. And depending on the person their mileage may vary with the arty weirdness.

Rather than telling one story this is an anthology film with three separate story segments connected only by a theme. I admit that I found myself fairly disengaged with the first story. I found the idea behind it to be often too simple and much of the dialogue to be too on the nose. Yet despite this I absolutely loved the second and third segments. The second segment was easily my favorite, this dark and complex segment takes a familiar horror movie trope (someone you love being replaced by someone who looks like them) and takes it in a whole other direction. This segment had me always guessing just what would happen next and constantly surprised me with each twist. It made me feel uncomfortable all the way through but in a way that was completely engaging. The third segment, while having a few pacing problems, was also incredibly engaging and complex. 

These segments are tied together by an exploration and deconstruction of the very idea of kindness. As this film deconstructs this very familiar concept, we often see the absolute worst of humanity (especially in the third segment), perhaps implying that a human's capacity for kindness and for cruelty are not as far removed as we like to think. 

Of course, all three segments benefit from an incredible cast that includes Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Plemons, Margaret Qualley and Hong Chau. They appear as various characters over the course of this movie and are perfect in each of their roles. Once again Yorgos Lanthimos brings out the best in Emma Stone showing that she is a much more diverse actress than often given credit for. I hope these two continue working together for a long time. 

This film is definitely not for everyone. However, for two of the three segments, I found myself completely absorbed and fascinated by this great work of art. While I wish that the first segment was better the other two are completely brilliant and more than make up for this. 

Movie Review: Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A+

A top-notch western in every way. 

Westerns are sadly becoming rarer and rarer as time goes on. For fans of this genre (like me), this can be very sad. However one good thing does come out of this. That is that when a western is made today, it is often because someone is passionate about the genre. Kevin Costner (who directs, co-writes, produces and acts in this movie) is obviously incredibly passionate about westerns. This is something that can be felt in every frame of this film. This has been a passion project for Costner for about 40 years. Since the 1980's he has been trying to make a series of four movies entitled Horizon: An American Saga. All these years later the first film from this passion project is finally on movie screens. It easily proves that the wait has been worth it. In many ways this is a traditional western that harkens back to the films of John Ford and Howard Hawks. Yet it still exists very much as its own thing. This is a huge epic, but rather than doing an epic by making everything on a grand scale, this film attempts to do this by spending its 3-hour length. fully transporting you back to the old west. There is no one big storyline here but rather many smaller stories that tie together. Yet this is exactly what makes this movie so great. By going back and forth between the stories of different characters, this movie has a feeling of being something much larger and more immersive than if it had just focused on one story. Because of this type of storytelling, I became not only involved in each individual story, but in the whole aura of the old west. 

This is not to say that these stories were not very involving though. Many of them are quite emotional and will move you deep down to your soul. There are some very touching moments and some very disturbing moments, both of which work masterfully. Also, while this is a movie that has very few action scenes, it kept my eyes glued to the screen for the whole length. I was simply captivated and by the time the film ended, I simply wanted it to continue to see what happens next. Also, while there are few action scenes, the ones that there are here are incredibly exciting and well done.

This movie doesn't only capture the old west in its storytelling but in its look as well. This is incredibly beautiful looking film, and the location shooting is simply a marvel to look at. Many of the shots are simply jaw-droppingly gorgeous. 

I know many critics have been harsh to this film, but personally I think this is a truly wonderful movie and I am looking forward to the next three chapters  

Silent Film of the Month: The Wonderful Wizard of OZ (1910)

 

Run Time: 13 minutes. Studio: Selig Polyscope Company. Director: Otis Turner. Writer: Otis Turner. Based on the children's book by L. Frank Baum. Main Cast: Bebe Daniels, Hobart Bosworth, Eugenie Besserer, Robert Z. Leonard, Winifred Greenwood, Lillian Leighton, Olive Cox. Producer: William Nicholas Selig. 

Even those who don't know much about old movies, know The Wizard of OZ (1939). Those who know a bit more about film history are familiar with the 1925 movie version starring silent movie comedian Larry Semon and featuring Oliver Hardy as the Tin Man. However, neither of these was the first film adaptation of L. Frank Baum's classic children's book. This 1910 short film often gets completely overlooked among the multiple movie adaptations. While it is certainly one of the most dated of the OZ film adaptions, it has a real charm to it that I simply love. 

L. Frank Baum's novel, The Wonderful Wizard of OZ was not the only source material for this film. This film also borrows from the 1902 stage musical The Wizard of OZ as well L. Frank Baum's other OZ books. The 1902 stage play influence is especially all over this short. For instance, this film includes the character of Imogene the Cow. This character did not appear in any of the OZ books but replaced Toto in the stage play. The costumes for some of the characters were also very similar to those used in the play. The character of Eureka the kitten comes from the OZ book, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. The villainous Momba was based off the evil witch Mombi from L. Frank Baum's 1904 book, The Marvelous Land of Oz.

This short is in a tradition of short length film versions of novels and plays that were popular around this time period. With their shortened runtime these films relied heavily on the audience having a familiarity with the source material. Rather than a full retelling that movie-goers are used to from movie adaptations today, these films often simply showed highlights from the story expecting the audience to fill in the rest.

For those more familiar with the films that such filmmakers as D.W. Griffith, Alice Guy-Blaché and Georges Méliès made around this time, this film may come as a bit of a shock. That is because it is decidedly less cinematic than the movies those directors made. This short looks like a filmed stage play with static background sets, obviously fake costumes and lack of camera movement. Yet one gets the feeling that this was the point. 

Once you accept that this film was made for an audience vastly different from a modern audience, it is simply a lot of fun. Bebe Daniels is delightful in the main role, bringing a real charm and energy to every single scene. In fact, the whole cast is delightful and gives their all to this tiny little movie. While the sets are little more than stage backdrops, they are great stage backdrops. They lend a real atmosphere and were simply lovely to look at. The scenes that are brought to life are wonderfully exciting with a lot of great action that never gets boring. Even the more dated aspects of this film add to the charm as they are so completely different from anything you might see in a modern movie.  

This has been called the very first OZ film. This is a debatable statement. In 1908 L. Frank Baum did what he called The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays to promote his books. This included narration from Baum, some colored slides and film clips with actors acting out scenes from the book. While this is in some ways a film, it was not technically what we would call a movie today and the film portions would in no way make sense without the rest of the show. Unfortunately, these productions proved to be too expensive and no matter how many tickets were sold, these shows were bound to lose money. To make these shows Baum had borrowed money from the Selig Polyscope Company, a movie studio in Chicago. Baum would give them film rights to some of his OZ books to help settle some of his debts to them. That is how our Silent Film of the Month came to be. 

The cast list for this film only listed the actors and not who they played. However, many film scholars and OZ scholars believe that 9-year-old Bebe Daniels played Dorthy Gale. Bebe Daniels should be a familiar name to many classic movie fans. She was the leading lady in many of Harold Lloyd's classic short comedies and can be seen in some of Cecil Be Demille's silent era features such as Male and Female (1919) and Why Change Your Wife? (1920). During the talkie era she be seen in the Busby Burkley musical 42nd Street (1933), the 1931 movie version of The Maltese Falcon and some feature films with the comedy team of Wheeler and Woolsey. 

The film's director Otis Turner has directed a stage version of L. Frank Baum's classic novel. 

For anyone interested in watching this delightful film, it is available on YouTube and you can watch below. It is also available on a wonderful Wizard of Oz DVD boxset that includes the famous 1939 movie, various silent era OZ films a classic Wizard of Oz cartoon from the 1930's and much more. It is everything an OZ fan could want. 

Resources Used

https://moviessilently.com/2016/02/14/the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz-1910-a-silent-film-review/

https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/547833/the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz#articles-reviews?articleId=97166