Tag Archives: movies

The Piano Lesson

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Netflix does release several Oscar-worthy films this time of the year as they give out films that they have agreed to back on their platform. While many of the films that are made expressly for Netflix come up short, these releases are usually fairly high quality.

That is the case for the new film The Piano Lesson, which came out this past Friday on the streamer. It had appeared at TIFF this year to soundly positive reviews and now can be seen by the nation as a whole.

According to IMDB, “[The Piano Lesson] Follows the lives of the Charles family as they deal with themes of family legacy and more, in deciding what to do with an heirloom, the family piano.”

There is much more than that simplistic summary gives, including an air of supernatural in the house where the piano is being stored. There were some really creepy moments in this movie that were weirdly out of place, or at least felt that way. However, these moments do work for the film, you just do not expect them to arrive in this type of movie.

The conflict between Boy Willie (John David Washington) and Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) is remarkable. They have an amazing chemistry with each other as brother and sister, but they were both determined that they knew what was best with this piano and it was clear that this conflict was not about to be resolved through discussion. Both Washington and Deadwyler brought their best work and presented powerful characters that each had an understandable argument.

Samuel L. Jackson is great in the film as well are Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Corey Hawkins, and Malik J. Ali.

The film definitely felt like a stage play turned into a movie, and, after watching it, I did find out that it was based on a stage play by August Wilson and that Jackson, Washington, Potts and Fisher all starred in it. You could see how they all felt very comfortable in their roles.

Danielle Deadwyler was the standout. Coming off her amazing Oscar snubbed performance in Till, she is once again exceptional. Her emotions are on the edge through the whole film and her dogged determination that the piano with the faces of her family carved upon it was going nowhere.

This is available to stream on Netflix.

4 stars

Wicked

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The classic stage musical Wicked has arrived in theaters with a part one. Part two will come next year. When I first saw the trailer for this film, I was not very impressed. However, after seeing this, I can comfortably say that this is one of the best movies of the year.

According to IMDB, “Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), a misunderstood young woman because of her green skin, and Glinda (Ariana Grande), a popular girl, become friends at Shiz University in the Land of Oz. After an encounter with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum), their friendship reaches a crossroads.”

There is so much great about this movie. I’ll star with the performances of the two leading ladies, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who were both sensational. I would venture to guess that both Erivo and Grande will receive Oscar nominations for this movie. They absolutely shine on the screen. Erivo looks awesome in her green makeup and Ariana Grande proved that she was a better actress than anyone every thought she was. And the two of them had amazing chemistry with each other and it worked so well.

Both of them were amazing with the music too. You would expect Grande to knock the music out of the park, but Cynthia Erivo matched her with every note and her performance of “Defying Gravity” is goosebump inducing.

Though we did not see much of him, Jeff Goldblum was excellent as the Wizard of Oz and it was cool to see Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible too.

The movie is gorgeous. The cinematography is next level and the colors are great. Much like other versions of Oz, the colors are an important aspect for the land.

I loved the world building going on here too. Everything made sense and it did not feel that anything was forced. The writing was epic and told this adaptation well.

I do think that the movie is a little long. Some of the first act could have been trimmed to make things work a little better. The third act though was exceptional. I knew where the end of the film was coming so the big “TO BE CONTINUED” popping up on the screen did not bother me. It felt like a perfect place to stop. I know some people may not be happy about a film that is a part one.

I did not ever see the stage show and I was very limited with the music too, but I thought the film does a great job creating a world that I want to keep watching. It was an epic film and director Jon Chu really did a fantastic job. It is one of the best movies of the year.

4.8 stars

Gladiator II

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There are not a ton of Oscar winning movies that have gotten sequels, especially over 20 years later. However, director Ridley Scott has done it with Gladiator II, a sequel to the Oscar winner from 2001.

According to IMDB, “After his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum and must look to his past to find strength to return the glory of Rome to its people.“

I was disappointed with this movie. I had not expected it to be anywhere as good as the first film was, but this was considerably lesser than that movie. There were several problems with the movie.

Before I get into the negatives, there were some good things about the movie. I did not hate this film, and they did have some good things. Starting off with Denzel Washington, who is as good here as he always is. Denzel was excellent as the manipulator/villain of the piece and he brought that slimy feel to him.

Another positive for the film was most of the action was pretty good. The fights are brutal and well constructed, especially the hand to hand battles and the swordplay. There was some cool animal fights too. I saw a criticism that the Romans may not have used them in the coliseum and I could not care about that at all. Most of the animals were awesome.

However, there were sharks too and that was just one of the most ridiculous of all the animals involved. That was easily the worst coliseum scene we got.

So the problems. First, the film is too long. You could have trimmed 15-20 minutes off the run time of the film and make it feel tighter. Next, the writing, specifically the dialogue, was just not very good.

Another major issue I had was the first ten minutes, which nearly lost me. There was a weird, almost James Bond type introduction and I felt like it was such a waste. The classical music was great, but what was the purpose of this? Then, the story started and they introduced Lucius’s wife, who was an archer, and I immediately thought to myself that there was no way she was making it through the movie, and I was proven right almost immediately. The problem with that was that they tried to make this relationship the key to Lucius’s anger, but we barely got to know her so I did not feel anything when she died.

I liked Pedro Pascal in the film, but I felt like his character was muddled and inconsistent. The twin emperors, played by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger, were cartoon characters and out of place in this movie. Paul Mescal is fine as Lucius, but his motivation was shaky too. Was he anger over his love’s death or something about his mother?

As I said, I did not hate this movie, but I did not like it much. It lost me early and was never good enough to pull out of the spiral. The original Gladiator is considered one of the best films by many, so you should go watch that. This one is just not up to snuff.

2.8 stars

Emilia Pérez

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I had heard this was an Oscar favorite. With it now on Netflix, I was excited to give it a chance. I was not expecting what I saw.

First, this was mostly in Spanish. I guess I should have guessed that from the title, but I did not.

Second, it was a musical. Simply did not see that coming.

According to IMDB, “Mexico, today. Overqualified and exploited, lawyer Rita is wasting her talents working for a large firm far better at whitewashing criminal garbage than serving justice. But an unexpected way out appears, the sort of offers you can’t refuse : to help feared cartel boss Juan “Little Hands” Del Monte – aka Manitas – retire from his business and disappear forever. Manitas has a plan he’s been fine-tuning in secret for years : to become, at last, the woman he’s always dreamed of becoming.”

The performers were spectacular in this movie. Zoe Saldana was Rita, the lawyer who was brought in as a way to help Manitas, played by Karla Sofía Gascón. Selena Gomez played Manitas’ wife, Jessi. All three of these performers were sensational. And they all did a tremendous job with the music/songs.

The movie was 2 and a 1/2 hours long, but it absolutely did not feel like it. The film flew by. In fact, when it came to its dramatic conclusion, I was looking at the clock wondering how this could be over already. That means this long film was paced brilliantly or else you are going to feel that passage of time.

French director Jacques Audiard creates a wonderful film, bringing out some of the best performances of the year while handling a topic that can be divisive with a deft touch. The story is not the controversy. The story is the emotions and feelings that it elicits. Emilia Pérez is top notch work that caught me off guard.

4.4 stars

A Real Pain

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A Real Pain is a perfect example of an independent movie.

For me, an independent movie does not have a plot, or at least one that drives most of the story. It is a film where we take some characters and drop them into situations and let them see what happens. You could define it as character based films. I don’t want to imply that I do not like that style of movie, but it is distinct.

In A Real Pain, two cousins take a trip to Poland after their beloved grandma passed away to go on a Holocaust tour and visit her childhood home.

The movie was written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, who starred as David Kaplan. Kieran Culkin played his cousin Benji Kaplan. They both brought Oscar-worthy performances in these roles. Their performances were very important since the characters were so important to the story.

The tour of Poland and a nearby concentration camp was very powerful and the actors did a great job responding to it.

The film was only 90 minutes long, but it did feel longer than that. That is probably because of the dense material that the film featured. However, there were some really funny moments too, which you do not find too often with Holocaust films. A Real Pain is an ambitious film with great performances that had some challenging moments to watch it.

4 stars

Red One

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Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Chris Evans and J.K. Simmons star in the new Christmas themed film, Red One, opening this weekend to a large budget.

Santa (JK Simmons) is preparing for his yearly trek across the globe when he gets kidnapped. Cal (Dwayne Johnson), head of St. Nick’s security, has to reluctantly team-up with 4th level naughty-lister Jack (Chris Evans), the man who unwittily provided specifics for the kidnapping to be successful, to save Christmas.

Johnson, Evans and Simmons are all very likable and entertaining in this movie. Johnson is playing the same version of The Rock that he always plays, but he is enjoyable at it. Evans’ character is another version that we have seen before.

The story had some fun moments, but truthfully there was not much that we have not seen before. I did like the Krampus (Kristofer Hivju) section of the film, but we saw a good chunk of this in trailers. In fact, one of my favorite lines of the trailer was not in the film. Still, I did like the section.

Some of the special effects looked great, but a lot of the CGI was not great. Again, most of the Krampus parts of the movie were good, mainly because they seemed to be mostly practical effects.

I had heard a lot of negative reviews about this movie, but I did not hate it. It was okay. It may not be a great movie, but it is about what you would expect when you watch it. It has a place as a Christmas movie watch that can be fun for the family. It is never going to be considered a classic, but it has likable actors and some fun action.

3.1 stars

Bates Motel S5 E9, E10

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Spoilers

“Visiting Hours”

“The Cord”

The rewatch of Bates Motel came to an end tonight as I watched episode nine and ten of season five. I did not remember any details of this finale so I had no idea of what was going to happen.

I was afraid that I would not feel that the end of this show would have a satisfying end. I was wrong.

It has been fairly clear the last season that this is not a prequel to the movie Psycho. It just had the character of Norman Bates and the setting in place, but they did not feel the need to keep things so they would line up with the movie.

I mean, Norman died at the end. That would make it difficult to have the movie come after this.

The scene between brothers with Dylan killing Norman in self defense, because Norman wanted him to. Dylan was shocked by the corpse of Norma at the dinner table. Freddie Highmore and Max Thieriot brought some amazing emotion and energy to this final confrontation.

What did feel like a letdown was the end of Alex Romero. The ending was always going to be about the Bates brothers and not Romero, but I loved Romero and Norma as a couple as I have mentioned several times so I wanted Alex to have some kind of retribution. Of course that was not going to happen. Alex’s emotions over the Norma body is what cost him his life. He should have killed Norman first, but he was not thinking, he was still in total grief.

I was very happy that Dylan and Emma wound up together. I was a little worried that they would no longer be together because Emma was mad about her mother being murdered by Norman. However, the end of the episode showed Emma, her daughter and Dylan meeting up and they shared a kiss. This was a wonderful moment that made me very happy. At least one of the great couples from Bates Motel made it through the series.

I am glad that I have made it through this series. It was a quality show that flew under the radar while it was on TV.

Bates Motel S5 E7, E8

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Spoilers

“Inseparable”

“The Body”

So much for Chick being the author of the novel Psycho was based on. One bullet to the head from Alex Romero took care of that.

I really do not remember how this is resolved, so I cannot begin to know where this is heading. I just have two more episodes left for the season and it is thrilling. I’m sure I watched this when it was released on A & E, but I legit do not remember much of this.

These two episodes had so many massive moments that it took my breath away.

The whole scene where Norman, as Norma, attacked Dylan and Norman prevented his other side from stabbing him was insane. I was telling Dylan to get out of there, I was so worried about him. Dylan is the conscience of the story, the heart of this family. His loyalty to his brother, despite all, is amazing. I do not remember Dylan’s fate, but I really do not want him to die. I want him to go back to Seattle with Emma and raise their baby girl, Katie. I feel a foreboding that those thoughts are pipe dreams.

Alex Romero is another character that I do not want to see come to an end. I think he is going to end up dying, but his will to come back for vengeance against Norman is downright Shakespearian. Alex is so damaged that you could see the pain constantly. The look on his face as Chick was telling him about what Norman had done (digging up Norma’s body and building a ‘mausoleum’ for her int he basement freezer) was very telling. There was one shot where his face looked to be like death itself, pale and conflicted.

I kind of loved watching Norma take over control of the body of Norman only to be thwarted by the new sheriff. ‘Norma’ thought she had everything handled, but surprises kept coming.

The police discovered the body of Emma’s mother in the lake alongside the guy Romero sent to try and kill Norman.

Just two more to go…

Bates Motel S5 E2, E3, E4, E5, E6

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Spoilers

“The Convergence of Twain”

“Bad Blood”

“Hidden”

“Dreams Die First”

“Marion”

Got on a bit of a run during the final season of Bates Motel. A couple of things turned out clearer than I remembered when I first watched the series on A & E.

First, I always had an issue with the Marion Crane storyline, which began to happen this season because I had believed that this was a prequel series to the Psycho movie from Hitchcock. However, I realized that this was not the case… or at least, I think that is the case.

When Norman chained Caleb in the cellar, Chick discovered all of the secrets of Norman and his “Mother.” He saw the frozen corpse of Norma in the basement. Chick, being the opportunist he is, decided he would write this story. He got a typewriter and was taking notes on a tape recorder. He told Norman that he was writing a suspense/thriller novel that he thinks could be a good movie someday. So the show is now an inspiration for the novel/movie instead of a prequel. I like that switch, and I wonder why I did not see it last time.

Understand, it might all be for naught considering I do not remember if Chick met an end during the series. If that turns out to be the case, then perhaps I will have to adjust my thoughts.

Second was the way Dylan and Emma finally found out that Norma was dead. It was a small scene, but it was really well acted. Dylan not knowing about what was happening with Norma was one of the more frustrating parts of the season. I know why they did it, but it was tough. Of course, Dylan lost both his mother and father. The scene with Dylan and Norman on the phone was powerful considering they were just on the phone together.

Third, I was not expecting Romero to get shot, but I do now remember it happening. Buckshot from a kid’s gun. He shows how tough he continues to be. I’m not sure if the show intends for us to hope that Romero fails, but I find myself rooting for him way more than I ever root for Norman.

Five more episodes remain in the series.

Robot Dreams

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The eighth film today in the 4F binge was an animated film called Robot Dreams and it was a story of loneliness and friendship. Told without any dialogue, Robot Dreams used music and sounds to help portray the story, and it did it extremely well.

According to IMDB, “DOG lives in Manhattan and he’s tired of being alone. One day he decides to build himself a robot, a companion. Their friendship blossoms, until they become inseparable, to the rhythm of 80’s NYC. One summer night, DOG, with great sadness, is forced to abandon ROBOT at the beach. Will they ever meet again?“

There have been some amazing animated movies this year, and this is yet another. Nominated for an Academy Award this year, Robot Dreams was a sad and bittersweet story of Dog and Robot who each just seem to only have any real success in their dreams.

The film did seem a little too long, but the creativity is off the charts. The use of music is spectacular and I do love the use of “September” by Kool and the Gang throughout the film.

The ending was unexpected and a little sad. No spoilers here, but I am not sure how I feel about the end. I did not guess that it would turn out like this.

Oh, and that DUCK seems rotten. A postcard? Couldn’t she give DOG a phone call? Stop by on the way to the airport? What a quack.

Sweet and sad, Robot Dreams is a fabulous animated film.

4.3 stars

Pedro Páramo

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The longest film of the 4F so far will be Pedro Páramo, a new Mexican film dropped on Netflix. It was based on a 1955 novel of the same name by Juan Rulfo.

The film transcended the life span of the man known as Pedro Páramo, though told out of time, jumping between his youth and leading past his death. His son came back to try and find him, only to find a town full of death and loss.

There were plenty of spooky imagery in this movie, shot beautifully by director Rodrigo Prieto.

The story was quite gripping of this vile character Pedro Páramo and the sins of his life that all stemmed from his teenage loss of the woman he loved, Susana.

The movie was a little on the long side and could have shaved off 10-15 minutes to make it a little more tidy, but the nonlinear storytelling did require that there is some length to cover the plot.

The ghost town part of Comala was some of my personal favorite parts of this film. There was so much creepy in the beginning part that I would have liked more time with Juan Preciado (Tenoch Huerta) than we got. He felt to be the most tragic of the characters involved as all he did was promise his mother on her deathbed that he would go find his father, Pedro Páramo.

A very solid adaptation that should be well received across the board.

4 stars

Woman of the Hour

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I went to Netflix for the next Friday Fabulous Film Fest movie. It was a film that starred and was directed by Anna Kendrick called Woman of the Hour. It was based on a true story of a serial killer who appeared on the Dating Game in 1978.

Sheryl (Anna Kendrick) was a struggling actor whose agent booked her on the Dating Game. Little did Sheryl know that one of the bachelors she could choose from was a serial killer who had been involved in a killing spree.

It is an amazing true story. How brazen can you be as a serial killer to flaunt yourself on a national game show? He clearly felt untouchable at the time.

The film had plenty of moments of tension, especially with the scenes between Anna Kendrick and Daniel Zovatto, who played Rodney Alcala, the serial killer. It was unclear how it would turn out as the tense scene played out, and I really liked this.

Sad point was that Alcala was recognized by someone in the studio audience during the Dating Game taping and she was ignored by those in charge at the show and eventually the police. This character, Laura, played by Nicolette Robinson, added that feeling of helplessness that all of Alcala’s victims must have felt.

I enjoyed the direction by Kendrick, though my one complaint was the narrative structure was a little hard to follow. The timeline of the movie was not as clear as I would have liked it. Otherwise, this was a very engaging film.

4 stars

Piece By Piece

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The first official movie in the Friday Fantastic Film Fest is one of the strangest documentaries you are ever going to see. This movie, Piece By Piece, is the biography of music producer Pharrell Williams, but it is told as a Lego movie style.

Huh?

Honestly, this is weird.

I am not that familiar with Pharrell Williams, outside of “Happy,” but the Lego part of the film is what attracted me to see this movie. I probably would not have watched a straight up movie with interviews centered around Pharrell, but the gimmick of the Legos drew me in.

The Lego animation was original and, at times, beautifully transcendent in Piece By Piece. Even times when it did not feel like it worked for the moment, the color and the imagination shone through.

Unfortunately, the story did not match the originality of the format. The story was basically just interviews and lacked that special oomph that the visuals provided throughout. I know it was a biography, but something that was so creativity special in one aspect, was fairly mundane in the other.

I enjoyed the music, even if it wasn’t my normal type of music. It worked for me it the bits in the film.

I found the most fascinating part of the film was the post-“Happy” stuff, how the creation of one of the biggest songs in recent memory caused a challenge for the artist in ways you would never have expected.

Overall, Piece By Piece is an interesting animated film that gives some insight into an artist that I did not know much about, but I just wish the story was told in a more outside the box manner, to match the visuals.

3 stars

MCU Disney + Series, Ranked

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With the recent conclusion of Marvel Television’s Agatha All Along on Disney +, I thought it was a good time to rank the Marvel projects on the streaming service.

I chose to include the two specials along with the series for this list. I also included the animated shows that appeared on the platform since the debut of WandaVision. I took the two series that had a second season, Loki and What If…?, and I kept them together instead of ranking Loki season one and Loki season two separately.

That gives me a total of fifteen shows.

Of course, these are my opinions and art is subjective. Perhaps you have a different list and that is fine. Everyone has a right to their thoughts.

So… here we go.

#15. Secret Invasion. This is easily the show in the last position on this list. I have never disliked an MCU project as much as I disliked Secret Invasion. This show started okay, but the story just did not work despite such a strong cast. The finale of this show was perhaps the worst finale of any Marvel show and I feel as if they just want to forget this ever happened. In what could have been so great, Secret Invasion was a colossal disappointment.

#14. I Am Groot. These little animated shorts actually also had two seasons and they were fun. They were slight and unimportant to the overall MCU, but they were fun to watch and Groot is always an enjoyable character to watch.

#13. Echo. Some people disliked this show, but I thought it was pretty decent. I definitely like Echo here more than I did in Hawkeye, as she was the weakest part of that show. However, some of the scene involving Kingpin were awesome and Echo brought a corner of the MCU into the light. This was the only MCU series to drop all episodes at once in a binge format.

#12. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Another show that has its share of haters, but I enjoyed it a great bit. I loved the weird finale where She-Hulk destroyed the fourth wall. The Daredevil episode was a highlight. The origin episode that kicked off the series was a lot of fun with cousin Bruce. Tatiana Maslany was excellent as Jen Walters, I don’t care what the internet says.

#11. Falcon & Winter Soldier. The second of the MCU Disney + series suffered from the pandemic as it caused a chunk of the story to be re-written. What we got was a lot of fun and kept us involved in Sam and Bucky’s bromance the whole time. There were some epic action scenes in this show and the moment when John Walker used the shield to decapitate a villain was a chill-inducing moment.

#10. Guardians Christmas Special. The first of the specials, which was the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special that was the bridge between the end of Endgame and Guardians Vol. 3. We learned Mantis was Peter’s sister. We learned the Guardians were the new owners of Knowhere. And we kidnapped Kevin Bacon. There were a lot of laughs and some truly warm moments between characters that we loved.

#9. What If…? Two seasons of some really great episodes. I personally loved the Doctor Strange episode from season one, the 1602 episode, the Guardians of the Multiverse crossover, the Christmas Die Hard episode with Happy, the Blade Runner-like Nebula episode, the new character Kahhori, and Zombies! The Watcher is an awesome narrator and gets involved at times too. Great animation and some wonderful writing.

#8. Werewolf by Night. The second special on the list is a wonderful tribute to the old time Universal Monsters movies as this episode is mostly in black and white. I actually have never watched the color version as I felt that was unneeded. Including Man-Thing, aka Ted, was a great use of a character we probably never expected we’d get in the MCU. The aura of the episode was so well done and the transformation of Jack Russell to the Werewolf by Night was cinematic. Excellent special.

#7. Hawkeye. This is a great series, bringing back Clint Barton while introducing Kate Bishop into the MCU. It also dealt with Natasha Romanoff’s death as her sister, Yelena came to kill Clint. The series focused on Clint’s background as Nomad and how that tied into the life of Echo. It reintroduced Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin to the MCU. While some disliked the way Fisk was brought in, I did not have that issue. Hawkeye was a wonderful Christmas series with some of the best action in all the MCU Disney + series.

#6. Moon Knight. I think Moon Knight episode 5 is one of the best episodes of Marvel television ever. It was as emotional as you are going to get. The finale was a bit of a step down with the giant slugfest going on, which brought this down a couple of steps. Oscar Isaac gave a thrilling and outstanding performances in this series as the multiple personalities of Moon Knight.

#5. Ms. Marvel. The super hero stuff of Ms. Marvel was the weakest part of the show (except the finale, which I loved). There is no doubt the strength of this series was Kamala Khan and the Khan family. The family dynamic of this series was unlike anything we had gotten before. It was emotional, caring, loving, funny and charming as could be. It was also some of the most creative imagery of any MCU show. If the villains were a little stronger, this could have been even higher. Plus, we have our first MCU mutant.

#4. X-Men ’97. Speaking of mutants, there is no way that a sequel to a series that ended in the mid-90s was going to be anything special. However, we could see immediately that this show was going to be more than we ever thought it would be. This show did Cyclops right (unlike any of the live action versions). And Remember It with Gambit was, arguably, the best single episode of MCU TV on Disney +, animation or live action.

#3. Agatha All Along. The latest MCU series was so great, but no one thought this was needed. It was a secondary character from WandaVision and a group of other characters that were unknown. And it was wonderful. It was full of twists and turns and some exceptional acting. Again, I would say episode seven of this series could be considered one of the best episodes of Marvel TV ever. Kathryn Hahn is amazing here and the introduction of “Teen” was unbelievable.

#2. Loki. Two seasons in, Loki was amazing. I love Tom Hiddleston and his chemistry with Owen Wilson, who played Morbius, was off the chart. The show was funny, dramatic and enjoyable. The writing was extra wonderful as things truly felt planned out over the years. Loki’s end as the God of Stories was something I never thought I would see. That finale and episode four of season two were some of the best episodes ever. I almost had Loki at number one, but it was just slightly behind.

#1. WandaVision. The first is still the best. One of the most original series ever. The whole sitcom stuff in the first few episodes made us all wonder what the heck was going on. Then, things became more sinister than you would expect. People were speculating week to week, bringing into question if our expectations were the real problem. Yes, there was no Mephisto. Or Reed Richards. And Pietro turned out to be Ralph Bohner. We all had our own theories, but the show was driven by the magnificent performances and chemistry of Elizabeth Olson and Paul Bettany, as well as Kathryn Hahn. Some complained about the finale, but I do think that this was about our own expectations. WandaVision has set the bar very high and no Disney + series have been able to reach it… yet.

Music by John Williams

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John Williams is one of the masters of film music. He has had more classic scores that exist in your head than practically any composer. From the music of Star Wars to Jaws to Schindler’s List to Raiders of the Lost Ark, the themes fill you with emotions every time. And each score provides something extra to each film, something that makes the film more than it was before.

This is why John Williams has been in such demand over the last fifty years. His music brings that final oomph to a film, and it does not matter what the genre is. John Williams is capable of delivering something magical.

This weekend saw the drop of a documentary featuring the iconic composer in a film entitled, perfectly, Music by John Williams, on Disney +.

The doc does touch upon his life and family, but most of the runtime is focused on the music and the films that he scored. We hear about John Williams’s thoughts from John Williams himself, as well as from his dear friend Steven Spielberg, whom was one of his most ardent supporters.

We hear from tons of people expounding on the amazing talents that John Williams would bring to their films. We saw Ron Howard, George Lucas, J.J. Abrams, Chris Columbus, Seth MacFarlane, James mangold, Kathleen Kennedy, Chris Martin and Itzhak Perlman all provide insight into their times working with Williams in whatever capacity they could give.

One of the more powerful moments was Kate Capshaw, wife of Steven Spielberg, describing when she and Steven went to hear the score for Schindler’s List, played by Williams on the piano, and how she began crying immediately.

The amazing footage throughout was awesome, much of it coming from Spielberg’s own recordings over the year. Being able to hear the words and the thoughts of Williams about the work that he had done is truly special. I will admit that seeing the scene from E.T. where the bike flies in front of the moon brought a few tears to my eyes. It provided us with so many memories from years of amazing work.

The doc is fairly straightforward, but if anyone deserves it, John Williams is it.

4.5 stars