Kristen Stewart has come a long way from Bella Swan in the Twilight franchise, all the way to the Princess of Wales.
Stewart’s performance as Princess Diana in this piece of historical fiction, which looks at her decision to end her marriage to Prince Charles is haunting, at times frightening and sad. The fictionalized account places Diana with the rest of the Royal Family at Christmas holiday at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England.
We see a rebellious Diana, going out of her way to not follow instructions from the people around her. We see a depressed Diana, who is clearly saddened and suffering from Prince Charles (Jack Farthing) and his poorly hidden affair. We see a physically challenged Diana who is forcing herself to regurgitate the meals she has eaten. And we see a mentally challenged Diana who is having hallucinations of Anne Boleyn (Amy Manson).
Kristen Stewart brings a realism to all these circumstances as we see the declining star who was Princess Diana. She is so believable as the iconic princess that she carries the entire production.
This is not a biopic so if you are coming into the picture with expectations of learning more about the last years of Diana’s life, you will be disappointed. This is more of a teardown of the way the Royal Family is treated and handled, presenting a challenge for those who have come from outside in. The schedules of everything from exactly what to wear to where you should be to what you are expected to do makes for a very difficult life and one that brought feelings of claustrophobia and isolation to this Diana.
There was a scene in a car at the end of the movie, which I will not spoil, that cause me to roll my eyes, but the rest of Spencer was a powerful portrait of what the demands of a world watching can do to a person, especially when you lack the support or the confidence to do what you have to do.
Kristen Stewart should be remembered around Academy Award nominations as she is exceptional here.
Earlier today I was watching the live version of the Top 10 Show with Matt Knost and John Rocha. I rarely get a chance to see them live since I am normally in class, but since this was Black Friday, I was at home and I took advantage of the opportunity. The topic this week was Top 10 Songs from Movies, which is a ginormous topic. However, one song that they had in common near the top of their lists, was the song Lose Yourself, by Eminem. This made me remember that 8 Mile was on my list for the DailyView.
I am not a fan of rap music, but I do like Lose Yourself, so I found 8 Mile on HBO Max and watched it. I must say that Eminem was impressive in his big screen debut, even if he was basically playing himself. There was plenty of speculation that the film was heavily biographic with Eminem’s youth growing up on the streets of Detroit, but that does not take away from a powerful performance in his first major role.
Jimmy Smith (Eminem), nicknamed B-Rabbit, is trying to get through life and hoping to get a break as a rapper. He had to move back in with his alcoholic mother (Kim Basinger) and his sister Lily (Chloe Greenfield) when he was struggling to keep a job.
Things got worse when he froze during a battle rap competition creating all sorts of conflict for the young white rapper.
The film continued to toss these conflicts at B-Rabbit as it builds toward him returning to the battle rap stage to show what he was capable of doing.
The story was stitched together with several scenes that felt connected slightly. Still, each moment showed something of the character of B-Rabbit and the friends that he hung around with.
The film included performances from Anthony Mackie, Michael Shannon, Brittany Murphy, Omar Benson Miller, Proof, Mekhi Phifer, Taryn Manning and De’Angelo Wilson.
The battle rap at the end of the film was excellent and highlighted their skills at the rap.
8 Mile was an enjoyable film and I liked it even despite not being a fan of rap.
Part two of Peter Jackson’s epic documentary on the Get Back recording sessions featuring the Beatles dropped on Disney + today, picking right up from where part one left off.
When we left part one, George Harrison had left the band and they had gone to a meeting that, as the film indicated, did not go very well.
So there led to some deep discussions about the future of the band and what they were going to do, especially when John was late the next day and speculation was that he maybe was not coming in. Paul dropped the quote, “And then there was two” referencing him and Ringo.
However, John did eventually arrive and the three of them played around for much of the day. There was an uncertainty around what the band was going to do and exactly how they were going to continue with their project.
After deciding to switch sites to Apple EMI studios helped soothe some issues and George returned. What really seemed to help the Beatles was the arrival and subsequent use of keyboardist Billy Preston, one of George’s friends, who they convinced to play the piano so the other members of the Beatles would not have to. This helped their idea of playing the songs live to tape.
Billy Preston brought an energy back to the Fab Four, and helped them out. In fact, on the days when Preston was not available because of another show he was working on, you could see that the Beatles were less on task.
This leads to the idea of the rooftop concert as a solution to their live performance problem. When Paul had this suggested to him, you could see his eyes light up and the expression on his face brightened.
We got a cameo from EYG Hall of Famer Peter Sellers early in the episode, during the Is John coming part. Oh, and the Yoko Ono singing while Paul drummed was ear-splitting. It cannot be described.
It is time to start the EYG Year in Review for the year 2021. Lots of amazing things happened as well as a few that were not that great. We will be looking at the whole year, including giving out our typical yearly awards.
As we start taking a few steps towards the return of some semblance of normal after the insanity of 2020, a look back can help us understand where we are heading.
A Thanksgiving tradition. The Turkey Drop is one of the best half hours of television ever, and certainly right at the top of the Thanksgiving moments. I laugh every time I watch it.
This was my second Beatles inspired DailyView today in honor of the new Disney + documentary by Peter Jackson, The Beatles: Get Back (which was tremendous). Unfortunately, neither of the DailyView entries were up to par.
That certainly goes for teh Beatles juke box musical, Across the Universe.
When Jude (Jim Sturgess) left Liverpool to travel to America in search of his absent father, he met the rambunctious Max (Joe Anderson) and his lovely sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). The trio were carefree and happily singing Beatles songs, until Max is drafted to head to the Vietnam War.
There are many problems with this musical, but the music is not one of them. The Beatles songs are great and if you just listen to them, you might enjoy yourself. Of course, if you just listen to them, you may as well play the CD instead.
So much of the plot and a bunch of characters are involved here simply to get Beatles songs into the film. Many of them make no sense in the overall story of the movie and are there just to say they are there. Bono of U2 showed up just to sing The Benefit of Mr. Kite. I believe that is the total of his appearance.
Characters are introduced with names that tell you they are going to have a song around them. There was a Prudence (T.V. Carpio), Lucy, Jude and JoJo (Martin Luther).
If this was intended as simply an extended music video with the different Beatles songs, I could deal with it. However, they are pretending that this is a feature film and that should have some kind of compelling… or at least understandable story. Across the Universe does not. Across the Universe tries to tie all of the 1960s unrest and major events with Beatles songs when they should have tied them to a story.
The first part of the documentary series, The Beatles: Get Back from director Peter Jackson debuted on Disney + on Thanksgiving with part 2 coming tomorrow and part 3 on Saturday. On the whole, there is over 8 hours of footage in the three parts detailing the “Get Back” sessions that helped lead to the break up of the Beatles.
I loved the way Peter Jackson stayed out of the way here and let the footage tell the story. He would throw in some on screen text when the narrative needed a little specificity, but there was no sign of a voice over and no talking heads who want to hang on to the groups success (I’m looking at you Beatles: Up Close & Personal).
Jackson gained the footage of these sessions, which had originally been intended as a documentary back in 1969-70, and he arranged it to show not only the creative process of one of the most brilliant bands in music history, but also how that creativity put strains on the individuals in the group and how it led to an eventual split.
Watching the Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr for those of you living under a rock, working through arrangements of a group of brand new songs on a deadline because of a TV special they were going to record was utterly fascinating. The creative process that these men showed during this was inspiring and quite impressive. The songs we knew, but they were in mid creation so some lyrics were rough and incomplete.
You could feel the tension between the group, especially with Paul and George, who clashed over the guitar bits throughout the part 1. John seemed to be constantly late to the sessions, which was also called out by the boys.
Part 1 ends with George Harrison having left the sessions saying that he was done, that he was leaving the Beatles. The film let us know that they set up a meeting with the Beatles on a Sunday and, ominously, the meeting did not go well.
I’m very excited for part two tomorrow on Disney +.
Whoa. The pilot episode of Hit Monkey was good, but episode two is absolutely insane. I loved it. There were so many shocking and hilarious moments in the show. Jason Sudeikis is a riot as Bryce, the ghost who is bonded to Hit Monkey, following him around and giving his opinions whether wanted or not.
My favorite line came in the battle with the old woman.
“She’s going to play through it“
Of course, it was a reference to her having her right arm torn off.
That fight with the old woman was brutal and showed why I am watching this on Hulu and not Disney + and why this is not MCU canon. Bloody and violent, Hit Monkey is something that I did not know that I needed.
We also got the origin of the monkey suit. No pun intended.
I love this so far. Excited to see episode three at a later point.
I am preparing to watch the first installment of the new Beatles documentary from Peter Jackson on Disney +, Beatles: Get Back. It looks to be an epic doc, with the first installment clocking in at over 2 and a half hours. I am saving that for after lunch today, so to prep for the show, I looked for something Beatles for the DailyView today. Time wise, Across the Universe did not fit (maybe tonight), but I found another documentary on Amazon Prime called The Beatles: Up Close and Personal that fit much better into the schedule.
Sadly, I did not enjoy this documentary very much.
Make no mistake, there are some great uses of the Beatles’ classic music. That was easily the best part of the doc.
However, the rest of the doc just felt like it was stories that were being told by the hangers-on.
Pete Best, one of the original drummers with the Beatles before being replaced with Ringo Starr, did a lot of the heavy lifting on the storytelling, and his constant reference to him being a Beatle felt wrong. He used a lot of “we” and “us” in the tales, and the doc does not seem to realize that Pete Best was not in any of the clips of the Beatles playing because he was out of the band by then.
The most interesting part of the doc was retelling about when Pete Best was released from the Beatles.
This felt like a group of people desperately trying to cash in on the success of the Beatles. It is reportedly unauthorized. I sure hope Get Back is better than this one.
I watched the first episode of Marvel’s Hit Monkey on Hulu, an animated show that is way too violent for the MCU or Disney +.
I believe that I will be watching this as the year goes on. It dropped all ten episodes on Hulu, but I am not planning on binging this in a few days. The episodes are around 30 minutes, so a binge would not be a huge time investment, but I get the feeling this would go down better spaced out.
Jason Sudeikis voices hitman Bryce who, after a hit goes wrong, ends up in the snow with a tribe of monkeys. The monkeys try to help him and heal him, but there is one among the group that did not appreciate Bryce’s arrival.
This show was remarkably violent. You could tell that would be the case 2 minutes into the show when a guard is decapitated. That was unexpected and, once again, tells you why this is on Hulu.
The animation style reminds one of Archer, which works with what is here. The animation is not going to blow anyone away, but it is serviceable for a show about Hit Monkey.
Not knowing anything about Hit Monkey (outside of the character’s existence), I kept waiting for some kind of mystical powers that would send Bryce’s mind in the body of the monkey. That was not going to happen. After Bryce dies, he returned to the monkey, who has started using the guns, to be a spiritual guide of sorts.
This is truly weird, but it is fascinating and somewhat entertaining. I hope it goes into more than just the revenge plot because it could get repetitive otherwise. I looked up Hit Monkey and it appeared that he is a Deadpool villain. That sounds as if we can consider him an anti-hero. It also looked as if the show stuck pretty close to the origin of Hit Monkey with only some adjustment.
I’m curious to see where they take this. I enjoyed this more than I did the first couple of episodes of MODOK, which just was not for me.
We pulled out another documentary for the DailyView today, this one off Disney +. I have always been interested in Easter Island and the amazing creations of the Moai statues that mysteriously existed on the tiny island. Moai “are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500.” (Wikipedia).
This National Geographic documentary looked at what happened to the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island, not just about the mysterious Moai.
While most documentaries focus upon the Moai, but this one looked closer at the people on Rapa Nui, which corresponded to the slowing of the carving of the Moai. The doc included everything from changes in climate, famine from a lack of resources, to potential cannibalism.
The crew heads down into caverns beneath the island to try and determine what happened. How some caves had fresh water and how this may have led to conflicts. The people split into clans and even competed for control of the island.
This documentary was fascinating and I really enjoyed how the doc went into other areas, including the dangers that the island has today, from increasing rainfall causing erosion to the breaking of the cliff edges to the threat of tsunamis.
The 60th Disney animated film was released today over the Thanksgiving holiday. The film Encanto featured a Latino presence and a cultural perspective that is unlike any other Disney property. That is a great step in the right direction.
Thing is… I just did not connect with this film. I found it kind of boring.
From Rotten Tomatoes: “The Madrigals are an extraordinary family who live hidden in the mountains of Colombia in a charmed place called the Encanto. The magic of the Encanto has blessed every child in the family with a unique gift — every child except Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz). However, she soon may be the Madrigals last hope when she discovers that the magic surrounding the Encanto is now in danger.”
Of course, the animation is beautifully rendered and the music from Lin Manuel-Miranda is very catchy and engaging. These two layers of filmmaking is not something that Disney fails at often. Still, I found the story itself to be wanting.
Perhaps it was the introduction of all of these characters that took me out of the film initially, although that did not bother me in Eternals. I had more knowledge of Eternals than I did with this whole new group of characters so perhaps that is part of it. I did not find the hook of the story behind the Madrigals to be engrossing enough to maintain my attention. I found myself checking the time a couple of moments during Encanto.
Since Encanto did not grab my attention immediately, maybe I missed too much of the first act specifics that would have maintained my interest. Maybe this is a film that I should give a second chance to when it arrives eventually on Disney + because, usually, this is a type of film that would be right up my alley.
I am very pleased that the Latino community is receiving the attention of this film which is sadly too late in coming. Hopefully there will be even more diversity in Disney animation moving forward. Unfortunately, I just did not get into this film.
Marvel Studios has returned with their next Disney + series, this time featuring Clint Barton, Hawkeye. However, it is not just about Hawkeye, but it also serves as the introduction to Kate Bishop, the young girl who adopts the name Hawkeye in the comics.
This series has inspirations from the Matt Fraction run on Hawkeye from 2012 in Marvel Comics. As with all MCU content, it takes the material from the comic books and shifts it to what they are trying to accomplish with their movies/shows. This is clearly happening here. Many of the things that happened to Clint Barton in the comics are happening to Kate Bishop in the show.
Kate Bishop is played by Hailee Steinfeld and this is a perfect casting. From scene number one, Steinfeld personifies Kate Bishop beautifully and makes the character her own. There is a surprisingly large amount of time spent with Kate Bishop in the first two episodes, which I think works very well considering that we are still learning who she is in the MCU. Hailee Steinfeld is a star and her chemistry with Jeremy Renner is apparent.
Some general thoughts…
I love Vera Farmiga. She is great in everything that she does and casting her as Kate Bishop’s mother is a stroke of genius. Them pairing her up with Jack Duquesne, as played by Tony Dalton is awesome too. Jack Duquesne is the name of a Marvel character named the Swordsman and we see a few hints about that as well.
I loved the prologue which shows young Kate Bishop eavesdropping on her father and mother fighting. Kate claimed that nothing would fall out of the sky, which is an ironic statement considering this flashback was set in 2012 and that it was the day of the Chitauri’s assault on New York. Seeing the events of the day through the perspective of the child brings more of a impact of the moment.
Bro. The Tracksuit Mafia. Bro.
I love how Clint just hung around at the end of episode two waiting for the Tracksuit Mafia to come and “kidnap” him. He called it “catch and release” and it reminded me of the scene with Scarlett Johansson in the 2012 Avengers. His calmness in the face of this situation gives you the idea of what a badass Clint Barton was.
Then there was Lucky the Pizza Dog.
At the very end of episode two, we get our first glimpse at Echo, who seemed to be the force behind the Tracksuit Mafia. Echo is a more recent character in Marvel Comics and she already has a spin off series on Disney + planned so she will certainly be a big deal moving forward. I’m not sure if she is truly the one behind the Tracksuit Mafia. When they blew into the black market auction, they were after a specific item: a watch that was recovered from the wreckage of Avengers Headquarters. What connection that has to anything is yet to be determined.
I would be remiss if I did not mention Rogers: The Musical! The slight glimpse we got at the stage show (before Clint and his family snuck out) was cool. We heard part of the song “I can do this all day” with a group of dancing and singing Avengers. It was not just a joke either as it seemed to trigger the painful memories of losing Natasha for Clint as well as other troublesome memories.
I did enjoy the moments we got with Clint and his kids. I am also happy that some of the speculation as to why Clint’s wife, Laura (played by Linda Cardellini), was not in the trailer did not come to fruition. There was speculation that they had separated or were at odds. Thankfully, that is not the case and Clint was just getting time alone with the kids in NYC. The whole Christmas feel of this series is great and the theme of family is explored.
Hawkeye at the LARPing event is one of the best scenes in the show. It introduced the character of Grills to the show as well. And…
“I fought Thanos.” LOL
The first two episodes have been very grounded and street level, which is something that the MCU could use at this point with all the multiversal action happening now. Clint Barton gets a chance to shine, which is something he has not had much time to do up until this point. I am excited to see the rest of the show.
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EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 