I Told You About Strawberry Fields: What I Liked This Week #11
Get out ur Magnifying Glass Onions, we're solving some murder mysteries!
Hey, besties! Thought I was gonna have a job this month and so far, guess what! I do not! This is ok, I suppose (read: this sucks). More time to ~blog~. And besides, there were so many things I liked recently!
Movies: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Glass Onion
I’m gonna go ahead and assume the spoiler embargo on Wakanda Forever has been lifted. If you haven’t seen it yet, and want to, what are you doing?? Go see it!! And skip this and come back to it later. I really enjoyed Wakanda Forever! In it, Ryan Coogler bravely asks the question: “What if Marvel made a mermaid movie?” The answer is we’d have a lot of water damage and a lot of scenes on boats. The movie follows Letitia Wright’s Princess Shuri as she grapples with the loss of her brother, demands from the United Nations, and threats from a Literal Mer-God.
They call him Kukulkan, or the Feather Serpent God, known to his enemies as Namor, and he is Very Cool. You see, this anti-hero has it all: the ability to breathe underwater AND on land, immortality, siren song powers, and adorable little feathers on his ankles that let him fly. I should note, technically Namor is not a mermaid, but he is the leader of the Talokans, a nation of people who have gills, live underwater, and are descendants of indigenous Mesoamericans. Now, I do love the Wakandans and feel bad that their cities keep getting destroyed and their people keep getting killed!! They deserve better! So if they wanted to team up with a mildly malicious underwater superpower I would not blame them! Like, Namor’s morals and motives were not great but the underwater vibes were impeccable. It’s like in Wicked when Elphaba is like “Think of what we could do…Together!” to Glinda. But then, Namor made some murderous choices and I was like huh, back to being exclusively team Shuri I go!
In all seriousness, I did think this movie was a really touching tribute to Chadwick Boseman. It’s a pretty genuine movie about grief and how to rebuild after a loss, and I don’t think a superhero movie has ever really handled it as well before. You can really see the love that Coogler and the entire cast have for Boseman, and the movie honors his legacy in a caring way, without replacing or recasting the character. Tbh, I do wish that the film had centered around Gurrira’s Okoye or Nyong’o Nakia instead of Shuri, because I found her character development (understandably) a little rushed. In her previous appearances, Shuri was a tech genius and comic relief, whereas Okoye and Nakia were given slightly more nuanced parts. Overall though, Coogler and Wright did do a good job making Shuri sympathetic and layered, and I particularly liked her friendships with Riri Williams and Nakia. I was also (SPOILERS) genuinely surprised and delighted by a certain Sexiest Man™️ who hindered/helped Shuri on her journey to becoming a superhero. Marvel so often relies on cameos in a very cash-grab-y way, but this one was clever enough that it really worked within the narrative and caught me off guard. Overall, one of the best movies of Marvel’s phase 4, and a good way to close out the era.
Unlike Wakanda Forever, Glass Onion makes it very clear which characters are despicable and which we should root for. Generally, I love rooting for morally grey characters and anti-heroes, but I love Southern dandy Benoit Blanc more. The dapper detective is back and he is ready to solve another murder before it’s even been committed. The sequel features M*sk-esque billionaire Ed Norton (I do not remember his character’s name), who invites his slightly less powerful friends to his private island for a covid-free getaway and murder mystery party. Except for some reason, renowned detective Benoit Blanc is there as well, and Blanc quickly becomes convinced someone on the island is plotting to kill Norton. I shall not spoil the plot because this movie was in theaters for only a single week, but it featured some very enjoyable twists and turns.
This is the only kind of pandemic movie I want: one where the pandemic is acknowledged and used as a way to enhance character development (the type of mask each character wears is very clever), and then, largely ignored for the rest of the movie. The quirky group of would-be detectives is trapped on an isolated island, and as Mike White has taught us, islands are the perfect setting for messy rich people nonsense.
With a stacked ensemble featuring Kathryn Hahn, Kate Hudson, and Leslie Odom Jr, as well as cameos from Serena Williams, Hugh Grant, Natasha Lyonne, and more, there are no bad performances in the movie. However, Craig’s Blanc and Janelle Monae are the real standouts. Watching this movie made me think, “oh, that’s right! Janelle Monae acts!” and then made me think, “oh, Janelle Monae is great!”
This movie is no longer in theaters because Netflix does not understand fun, but it will be streaming in like two weeks so you can enjoy it from your own home! I did not really solve this murder before Blanc, but that does not mean you cannot! I wish you all the best of luck!
Television: Wednesday
Unlike Glass Onion, I did guess who was pulling the strings in Wednesday! Now, was Wednesday good or was it just a good show to watch during the holiday break? Great question! I don’t know! I liked the aesthetic, I think that Wednesday Addams is a compelling character and I also have a soft spot for boarding school murder mysteries, so this show was definitely a fun watch for me. The other characters, I could take or leave, but I liked seeing Wednesday her right-hand man (sorry), Thing run around the woods and solve a murder. I have seen two main critics of this show: (1) characters don’t feel true to the original Addams Family, to which I say like whatever? Wednesday is a TEEN she’s gonna be different, much like Wednesday in the musical! and (2) Tim Burton remains problematic. This one I think is valid - the man only knows how to direct white people, and also a lot of the practices on set do not sound very ethical (see the photo caption). Burton aside, this was a fun and very compelling watch - I definitely was rooting for Wednesday and wanted to know what would happen!
Books: The Night Circus, The Dead Romantics, Remarkably Bright Creatures, etc.
Reading Speed Round! Gotta get to 60 books by December 31st!
The Night Circus is about a mysterious circus and two young magicians who compete within it! I loved the descriptions of the circus, the writing is really imaginative, evocative, and beautiful. I also thought the characters were all interesting, but it felt like the author had prioritized circus development over character development, so some of the relationships felt a little flat. 4.5/5
The Dead Romantics. I wish this book was called Dead Romantics, without the The, just if I’m being nitpicky! Florence can see ghosts! Her book editor, Ben, is a ghost! They’re a match made in heaven. Don’t let the first 3 chapters of this book fool you, because tbh, they’re pretty bad, but the rest of the book is very fun and touching! 4/5
Remarkably Bright Creatures is a book about lonely people and a very smart octopus. I thought this book was very sweet, if a little slow, and I liked how the character relationships progressed! I also obviously enjoyed that it featured chapters narrated by an octopus. 4/5
Other recent reads include: A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow (cute, fluffy, 3.5/5), A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Fine murder mystery, boring characters 3.5/5), The Roughest Draft (read like Beach Read fan fiction, but alright 3.75/5) and Second First Impressions (awful, but I finished it so 2.75/5)
Music: Jangle Ball Tour (VHS Christmas Carol)
This was such a treat!! I genuinely never thought I’d see Starkid perform live, and they were wonderful! The two-act show featured some of their newer “villain songs” from previous productions, and an in-concert performance of their most recent show, VHS Christmas Carol! I was not familiar with the music of VHS Christmas Carol before last week, but it has got some bops!! Dylan Saunders was a standout as Scrooge, and Lauren Lopez and Joey Richter are my faves, but honestly, I love the whole group and shall continue to maintain my obsession with them.
Other: Theater News
Big news! Michelle Yeoh is playing Madame Morrible in the Wicked movie! Renee Rapp is reprising her role as Regina George in Mean Girls: The Musical: The Movie. She’s joined by Miss Moana herself, Auli’i Cravalho, and A Strange Loop’s Jaquel Spivey. Dare I say that these movie musicals have the chance to be good?
In other news, one of Broadway’s most unique and interesting new productions closed after under twenty performances. A transfer from Ars Nova, KPOP was an inventive new production that featured a score by Helen Park and a cast with 19 AAPI performers making their Broadway debut. There are a lot of reasons this show closed, including poor marketing, opening during a bad time of year, and an offensive review from The New York Times. I didn’t get a chance to see the show, but I really admire that it did a good job of keeping ticket prices low, and I wish that it had gotten a longer run! Similarly, Ain’t No Mo, a new play by Jordan E. Cooper, is ending its limited run early. There is still about a week to catch this production, so tell your friends about it or go see it! The more interest it gets, the more it helps ensure similar productions will get to be on Broadway, and hopefully Ain’t No Mo can stay open a little longer.
Happy Holidays!
Talk soon! Stay tuned for Sex Lives of College Girls, Mysterious Benedict Society, Matilda, and maybe(?) some thoughts on The White Lotus finale.