Rank 'Em - MCU Phase Four: the Series

I decided to split up this feature into two posts for the MCU Phase Four, one for the movies and one for the Disney+ series.  And because it doesn't seem fair to be lumping everything together, I'm leaving out the one-offs, "Werewolf by Night" and "The Guardians of the Galaxy Special," and the animated series, "I Am Groot" and "What If…?"

From best to least, here's the Disney+ series of Phase Four:

She-Hulk - Tatiana Maslany is so good as Jen Walters that my biggest issue with the show is that the animation of She-Hulk can't quite keep up with her performance.  Otherwise, this is a nice break from the rest of the MCU, just a fun, casual, low stakes sitcom about surviving everyday life with superpowers and all the rest of the comic book nonsense that comes with this universe.  And it's a perfect format for guest stars, fourth wall breaking, and the occasional wedding episode.  It's the series least vital to the MCU in terms of story, but the one I would definitely miss the most if it were canceled.  

Wandavision - This was doing so well up until the finale.  I loved all the TV parodies, Katherine Hahn, Evan Peters, and Teyonah Parris.  I loved that Wanda got to be dark and complicated, and Elizabeth Olsen got to play some really dramatic scenes.  This was a great choice to kick off the Disney+ shows with, because this is the kind of messier, more difficult story that couldn't have been done in the films.  However, the creators evidently still felt obliged to cap it all off with a big battle and tee up for the next "Doctor Strange" movie, which set expectations for all the series that followed it.

Loki - I've been going back and forth on this one, because I don't think the plotting really works, and it ends just when things are getting interesting.  However, I like the characters that are introduced, especially Sylvie and Mobius.  I have high hopes for Kang, and it was pretty gutsy that he was introduced here.  This is also the most ambitious Disney+ series when it comes to concepts and designs - some executed better than others.  Also, "Loki" is an ongoing series, with a new season in the works, so a lot of these loose threads and incomplete arcs are going to get more attention in the future.  

Ms. Marvel - This show wasn't made for me, because it's very much YA content.  However, it definitely has an underserved audience, and I'm so glad that this exists for them.  You can tell how thrilled everyone involved in the production was with the opportunity to put Kamala Khan and her Pakistani family and community onscreen.  All the episodes following Kamala in New Jersey are great.  However, when the show takes a field trip to Pakistan for a few episodes, things go sideways.  The villains are also  probably the least interesting MCU foes to date - some sort of interdimensional djinn?

Hawkeye - This one was fun.  The Christmas theming was a great decision, and Hailee Steinfeld is a great addition as Kate Bishop.  I wasn't sold on some of the villains, however, and I'm worried about Echo getting a spinoff based on what I saw of her here.  The big surprise baddie was also kind of a letdown, especially since he was dispatched so quickly.  Still, all the comedy worked, Hawkeye got some needed time in the spotlight, and all the little cameos and side characters were used well.  However, I've had enough of the "Rogers" musical.  After D23, the joke's been run into the ground.    

Falcon and the Winter Soldier - I understand that the production was majorly disrupted by the pandemic, and certain plot points had to be rewritten.  However, the end result is still an uneven mess of mixed messages and unclear themes.  The series got me to like the two central characters more than I did at the outset, and introduced some promising new players, but this is a prime example of a show with way too much going on.  It also feels very much like a connector piece, too busy setting up future movies to give its two leads the fuller, more satisfying character arcs I was hoping for.

   

Moon Knight - This was the series that I was anticipating the most at one point, because of the cast.  Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke playing a superhero and villain?  How could this go wrong?  Well, despite a good start, "Moon Knight" almost immediately turned into a subpar "The Mummy" pastiche that kept undercutting itself.  The action was unsatisfying.  Horror elements were quickly abandoned.  The writing was especially poor, and made me suspect that this was originally intended for much younger audiences.  Congrats on the first Egyptian superhero, RIP Gaspard Ulliel, and let's move on.    

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"The Banshees of Inisherin" Breaks Up

Colin Farrell used to annoy me. I couldn't ever explain why, and I got over it eventually, but there's still something about his screen presence that rubs me slightly the wrong way. And that makes him perfect for Martin McDonagh's "The Banshees of Inisherin." McDonagh has returned to familiar territory, not only reteaming with actors Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, but for a story set in remote Ireland about violent, unhappy men.


On the island of Inisherin, during the Irish Civil War of the 1920s, life is difficult and bleak. One day, Pádraic (Farrell) is told by his best friend Colm (Gleeson) that the friendship is over, and Colm doesn't want to be bothered by him anymore. Pádraic doesn't take this breakup well, and keeps trying to fix the situation. His sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon), local oddball Dominic (Barry Keoghan), and other members of the tiny community get involved as the hostilities escalate to violence, destruction, and worse.


"Banshees" is a long, slow film, and I initially had some trouble with the thick accents. However, it proves to be a funny, dark, and exceptionally brutal examination of this group of characters, who are all wildly stubborn and prone to extremes. Farrell and Gleeson have never been better as Colm and Pádraic, who have grown apart over the years, though only one of them realizes it. You'll likely sympathize with both men to some extent. I've usually been in Colm's position, the artsy introvert in the middle of an existential crisis, who simply wants to be left alone to play and compose music. However, I've never threatened to cut off my fingers to force anyone to keep their distance.


Then there's Pádraic, whose whole world has been turned upside down by the rejection, and his fundamental way of looking at the things challenged. It's not simply a matter of Pádraic not being able to take no for an answer, or being unable to empathize with Colm's wishes, but he doesn't like what the split says about himself as a person. Pádraic has gotten along fine in life being a nice man, rather than a smart man or an interesting man, and suddenly this doesn't seem to be enough. A major change to his life has happened, completely out of his control, and he can't accept it. Farrell gets some wonderful existential rants to vent his frustrations as Pádraic's attempts to improve the situation just make it worse. In typical McDonagh fashion, things get so much worse. And it turns out that Pádraic isn't so nice.


Those who are not familiar with McDonagh's work should be warned that the movie gets gory in a way that not too many non-horror films are. And those who are familiar with McDonagh's work should take heed that the aforementioned gore isn't remotely as bad as some of the other Grand Guignol gruesomeness he's unleashed onstage over the years. Most of his preoccupations are with giving us some good, long looks at the beautiful island, and introducing us to the various people who live there. Everyone from the foul mouthed priest (David Pearse) to the gossip-obsessed shopkeeper (Sheila Flitton) to Dominic's troubled policeman father (Gary Lydon) are memorably written and performed.


And the immersiveness of Inisherin is what I appreciate the most about the film, ultimately. The story wouldn't have nearly the impact that it does if McDonagh hadn't taken the time to properly show us how this little world works. Events only play out the way that they do because Inisherin is tiny and Colm and Pádraic can't get away from each other. They're surrounded by deeply religious, deeply fatalistic people who prefer to turn a blind eye or suppress all their feelings to an absurd degree. And everyone is so down to earth that Pádraic's second closest friend is his miniature donkey, Jenny, who he habitually brings indoors for a cuddle, to Siobhán's consternation.



"Banshees of Inisherin" exceeded my expectations considerably. I don't feel I've said enough about Kerry Condon as Siobhán or Barry Keoghan as Dominic, but both involve a high degree of spoilers, so I'll just say they're integral to the film, and the actors are wonderful. This is my favorite McDonagh film that he's made to date, and honestly might be my favorite thing that he's done, ever.


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The Art of "Tár"

Todd Field's "Tár" is a tough watch.  It's just shy of 170 minutes long, and follows a contentious period in the life of a celebrated female conductor, Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett), currently about to embark on the career capping achievement of recording Mahler's Fifth Symphony.  It's helpful to have some familiarity with the classical music world, in order to keep up with the music terminology and orchestra politics. The first female conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, Tár relies heavily on the help of two women, her wife and concertmaster Sharon (Nina Hoss), and her assistant Francesca (Noémi Merlant).

What surprised me, however, is how "Tár" isn't nearly as much about music as it appears at first glance.  Lydia Tár could have been any other kind of artist or creator working at the top of her field, and the story would have played out largely the same.  Rather, "Tár" is more interested in the nature of artistic success, how it enables and shields those perceived as great, while at the same time destabilizing and feeding into their worst impulses.  Lydia Tár is clearly a great conductor.  However, she is also a flawed human being who shows favoritism, disloyalty, hypocrisy, vindictiveness, selfishness, and self-destructive impulses.  She lies constantly, especially to herself.  Watching Cate Blanchett tear into this role with everything she's got is one of the high points of her career. 

"Tár" starts placidly, with a series of meetings, encounters, and presentations showing us various facets of Lydia Tár's life and everyone in it - her manager Eliot (Mark Strong), her young daughter Petra (Mila Bogojevic), and the aging assistant conductor, Sebastian (Allan Corduner), she wants to replace.  We see Tár display the dazzling intelligence and brilliance that has won so many admirers, and that comes with a long, long list of accomplishments.  Then comes the scene where she teaches a class at Juilliard, and has an unpleasant argument with a student named Max (Zethphan Smith-Gneist).  And suddenly, there are cracks in that facade, suggesting that her reputation as a trailblazer and a challenger to the classical music establishment only goes so far.  Suddenly, we see her insecurity, meanness, and lack of generosity.  As the film goes on, the unfortunate incidents compound, we're left to question how much of Tár's public face is a construct, and whether it's necessary for her to sink to such lows in order to achieve such highs. 

I appreciate that Todd Field created such a detailed universe around Lydia Tár that it feels very genuine, populated with all the accouterments of the fascinating classical music world.  I've come across more than one viewer who initially assumed that "Tár" was the biopic of a real person.  Lydia Tár doesn't exist, but at the same time there have been many Lydia Társ in many different fields and artistic disciplines.  Ask which specific figure or controversy she's based on, and you're liable to get a hundred different answers.  The choice to make Tár a conductor, however, is a canny one because there aren't any obvious real world analogues, though it feels like there should be.  

Music plays a major part in the film, though not as much as I'd like.  Blanchett does a credible job playing the piano and working with the orchestra, but the majority of the screen time is spent on Tár's personal life rather than her artistic one.   Field treats what music we do hear with great respect, emphasizing the amount of work that goes into preparing for a major performance.  The score was composed by Hildur Guðnadóttir, and each additional composer whose work comprises the soundtrack is prominently credited.  A key character is played by cellist Sophie Kauer.  However, I can't shake the feeling that Field could have gone much further, musically. 

I'm still processing "Tár,"  and questioning if my coolness to it is in response to the film or in response to what I think it ought to be.  It's incredibly well made and unapologetically arthouse, with plenty to say.  It absolutely has my appreciation, but I don't understand yet why I didn't enjoy it much.  On the other hand, with a film like "Tár," enjoyment feels like it's not the point.  This is a film to be obsessed with, to be challenged and overwhelmed and disturbed by.  Like its main character, the complexity and the difficulty is something to be welcomed.  I wonder if it's simply been too long since I've seen a film with such lofty, uncompromising aims.            

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"Athena" and "Blonde"

I regret that I haven't seen any of Romain Gavras's previous films.  However, from everything I've read, "Athena" is a significant breakthrough for him.  It's a highly stylized, beautifully shot chronicle of three brothers, war hero Abdel (Dali Benssalah), angry agitator Karim (Sami Slimane)  and the self-interested Moktar (Ouassini Embare), who are caught up in a fictional social uprising that results from the on-camera death of their youngest brother at the hands of the French police.  The action centers on Athena, a banlieue, or housing development, largely inhabited by minorities and immigrants.  There's also a cop, Jérôme (Anthony Bajon), who is part of the police siege of Athena, and ends up a hostage of the rebels.   

You can draw parallels to the recent "Les Miserables," from "Athena" co-writer Ladj Ly, or to "La Haine," which addressed many of the same themes over twenty-five years ago.  However, the piece of media I couldn't stop comparing "Athena" to was Childish Gambino and Hiro Murai's "This is America" music video.  They're visually similar, sharing long tracking shots, a densely composed mise en scene featuring multiple planes of action, jarring onscreen violence, and ominous symbols like a background rider on a white horse.  However, what they really get across is this roiling, righteous anger of a dispossessed minority population directed against hostile law enforcement and the wider culture that supports them.  In "Athena" this anger has exploded into escalating riots and attacks, with an opening sequence that shows Karim leading a raid on a local police station, rendered in a stunning, eleven-minute long take.  

There's not much of a plot to "Athena" or any real grappling with the film's themes in any depth.  The film serves as an expression of raw grief and pain in the face of injustice and tragedy, raising far more questions than it has the capacity to answer.  I found the ending something of a cop-out, going for an ironic moment instead of something more substantive.  The characters are fairly thinly drawn, all trying to do the right thing according to their different outlooks on the situation, and all reluctantly pushed toward tragic outcomes.  However, the staging and the scale of the rioting is like nothing I've seen before.  Gavras goes for a high degree of stylization in the action, using fireworks and flares in night scenes, and having his rioters outfitted in bright colors.  The emphasis is on chaos over violence, on the wider sense of social disorder over any potentially cool moments of destruction.  The use of classical and choral music is haunting, giving the scenes of unrest an operatic quality.   

I wish that I had more context in order to adequately parse the film, but I am deeply impressed with and moved by the filmmaking of "Athena," and it's one of my favorites of the year so far. 

Now on to "Blonde," one of the most punishing films of the year.  This is a nearly three hour biopic of Marilyn Monroe that I'm tempted to call an anti-biopic for how it turns the usual conventions of the biopic formula against the audience.  Director Andrew Dominik paints Monroe's life as an endless struggle.  As a child, little Norma Jean Baker (Lily Fisher) has an unstable mother (Julianne Nicholson) who tries to kill her, and she ends up abandoned at an orphanage.  She grows up to become the beautiful Marilyn Monroe, played by Ana de Armas, and enters the snake pit of Hollywood, where she is constantly exploited and abused.  Her love life is bumpy, including relationships with Joe DiMaggio (Bobby Cannavale) and Arthur Miller (Adrien Brody), but it's her tragic abortions and miscarriages that really wreak havoc on her fragile mental health.  

Based on the highly fictionalized account of Monroe's life in the Joyce Carol Oates novel "Blonde," the film version recontextualizes nearly all the memorable moments of Monroe's career with the behind-the-scenes glimpses of her ongoing degradation and pain.  Getting her big break comes as a direct result of a dehumanizing sexual encounter.  "The Seven Year Itch" is paired with the dissolution of her marriage to DiMaggio.  "Some Like it Hot" signals her spiraling health and drug addiction.  As for her rumored relationship with John F. Kennedy, that's here too - an excruciating, humiliating affair that feels like it's punishing the viewer for thinking that a tryst between the two could have been anything other than another trauma for Marilyn.  Her awful childhood isn't something she overcomes or makes peace with, but what proves to be her undoing in the bitter, bitter end.

"Blonde" looks absolutely gorgeous, thanks to Chayse Irvin's cinematography, but it frequently feels like a horror movie, and at nearly three hours in length, it's terribly wearing.  The dreamlike tone is similar to Pablo Larrain's recent "Jackie" and "Spencer," except that Marilyn is never the hero of her own story, but a perpetual victim.  I like De Armas as Marilyn Monro - she has the right physicality and allure - but it is such an infantilized, frequently shell-shocked version of her that I couldn't help but recoil.  I respect Andrew Dominick's impulse to show the troubled woman behind the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe, but the Marilyn in "Blonde" is hardly closer to the truth, now made into an avatar of suffering and abuse.  There's no complexity to her, the film falling back on the absence of her father as the root of her psychological turmoil, and it's disturbing how often she seems to regress into a little girl.

It does achieve moments of beauty, and I appreciate how uncomfortable and unflinching some of the performances are, but "Blonde" doesn't do right by Marilyn Monroe, and that's a fundamental flaw.

  

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"Armageddon Time" and "Argentina 1985"

I haven't had the best luck with James Gray, who has always made very personal, specifically situated dramas.  However, "Armageddon Time" has been one that I've found hard to stop thinking about.  Taking place in the early 1980s, we follow Paul Graff (Banks Repeta), a Jewish sixth grader who lives in Queens with his tight-knit family and attends public school.  Paul acts out in class, and quickly becomes friends with a fellow troublemaker, Johnny (Jaylin Webb), who is African-American.  Almost from the start, Paul notices how the world treats the two of them differently.

There's such a heartbreaking simplicity to the film, charting Paul's loss of innocence and gradual disillusionment.  The film is set during the first election of Ronald Reagan and America's turn toward conservatism in the '80s.   Paul's parents (Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong), are financially comfortable, but constantly worried and hyper-aware that their situation could change.  Paul believes they're rich, until he leaves public school and is sent to private school, a far more privileged and homogenous environment.  Paul's loving grandfather (Anthony Hopkins) represents the immigrant generation that fled antisemitism in Europe.  He encourages Paul's artistic ambitions and counsels him to stand up against bigotry.  Paul, however, pretends he doesn't know Johnny when he shows up at Paul's new school, and when his parents notice Johnny hanging around the neighborhood.

I enjoyed the performances here, with everyone getting to play complex characters, each with their own troubles.  Banks Repeta in particular does very well with Paul's evolution from an insufferable brat into someone more sympathetic, as Paul becomes more self-aware and grapples with the guilt of his own complicity in the social order.  Gray treats him as thoroughly ordinary, despite Paul constantly being told that he has great promise and potential.  Part of the story's power is forcing the audience to acknowledge the vast gulf between what the adults say to Paul, and what their actual expectations of him are, mirroring their underlying values.  The filmmaking is spare, but indelible, with cinematography by Darius Khondji keeping the gloomy winter scenes picturesque.  There's nostalgia for the era apparent in some frames, but little sentiment.       

A more crowd pleasing film comes from Argentina and director Santiago Mitre.  "Argentina, 1985" is a courtroom drama covering the Trial of Juntas, which sought to prosecute the military leaders of the dictatorship that controlled the country during the Pinochet era.  Our heroes are the prosecuting team of Julio César Strassera (Ricardo Darin), a seasoned attorney, and younger upstart, Luis Moreno Ocampo (Peter Lanzani).  Unlike a lot of recent courtroom dramas, the focus of "Argentina, 1985" is the actual case and legal strategy.  Of course there are the usual fictions employed to drum up excitement and to make our protagonists more sympathetic, such as a few fictional family members for Strassera, but at no point do these dramatic devices ever distract from the larger story.  

It's impressive how such a rousing film can be born of such sobering subject matter.  The film eases us into the most intense and dramatic accounts of the juntas' crimes against humanity slowly.  The circumstances of the trial, and the struggles to put together a case take up most of the running time.  As a procedural, it's note perfect, with clearly defined objectives, an appealing gang of underdogs to root for, and emotionally charged material.  As a dramatization of a historical event, it's properly weighty and informative.  Not knowing much Argentine history didn't trip me up much at all, and I suspect the film might play better the less you know about the actual events.  Hearing the testimonies of the victims and survivors is incredibly moving, and the trial framework helps to add context and stakes.

"Argentina, 1985" plays out very much like a Hollywood courtroom drama, from back in the day when Hollywood still made courtroom dramas.  However, it grapples with so much Argentinian history and seeks to exorcize so many of the country's ghosts that I can't imagine that it could have been made by anyone but Argentinian filmmakers.  The performances and editing stand out, especially in the trial scenes where the lines are occasionally blurred between reality and fiction, recreating some of the footage that was broadcast on television.  And I appreciate the ending, which is not the fairytale ending where justice is done, but does allow a significant moral victory for the heroes, and a path forward for the country's psychic wounds to begin healing.       

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Exploring "1899"

Minor spoilers ahead.

I only know about Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese's series "Dark" by reputation.  It's on my ever-expanding "to watch" list, but frankly the multi-generational, time-hopping premise is a little intimidating.  Their latest series, "1899," is more approachable.  It's a mystery show, about a steam ship in 1899, the Kerberos, which is carrying a diverse group of passengers from the UK to America.  Strange phenomena occur onboard, after they encounter a ghost ship, the Prometheus.

I've seen a lot of mystery box shows, and "1899" is one of the most ambitious.  There are well over a dozen major characters to keep track of, all speaking different languages, and frequently having trouble communicating with one another.  Most of the action revolves around a female doctor, Maura (Emily Beecham), who is onboard the Kerberos due to cryptic instructions from her missing brother.  There are many other passengers, whose pasts and identities are uncovered over the course of the season -  a family of Danish immigrants including the pregnant Tove (Clara Rosager), the haunted ship's captain, Eyk Larsen (Andreas Pietschmann), a stowaway, Jerome (Yann Gael), a newly married French couple, Lucien (Jonas Bloquet) and Clemence (Mathilde Ollivier), a Chinese woman, Ling Yi (Isabella Wei), in disguise as a Japanese geisha, a Polish stoker, Olek (Maciej Musial), and a Spaniard, Angel (Miguel Bernardeu) who is awfully intimate with the Portuguese priest, Ramiro (Jose Pimentao) that he's traveling with.  Expect a lot of subtitles.  

Then there are the two characters who aren't introduced with names - a solemn, silent boy (Fflyn Edwards) who is the only apparent survivor of the Prometheus, and a man in black (Aneurin Barnard), who climbs aboard the Kerberos at the end of the first episode, seemingly out of nowhere.  I immediately assumed that they were the same person from two different time periods (spoilers: they're not), because this is exactly the kind of show where we expect such metaphysical twistiness to take place.  Impossible and illogical things are constantly happening.  Comparisons to "Lost" are inevitable, since we're often not given direct explanations for why specific events occur.  However, the narrative never dwells on these elements for long, constantly juggling multiple storylines, characters, and POVs.  And how things are happening is never as important as why those things are happening.  

The show stands out because the premise is executed so well.  There's a simple and straightforward explanation for all the madness that you can probably guess long before the big reveal.  However, "1899" has excellent storytelling sensibilities, spending much more time setting up the characters and systematically working through all of their personal baggage, while the larger mystery is playing out.  Also, "1899" is never just about solving the mystery, but establishing the Kerberos as this microcosm of a society, with strictly delineated classes and rules, and then throwing the whole system into chaos.  The show starts fairly slowly, but the calamities and disasters are soon coming fast and furious after a few episodes, and the writers are good about featuring different characters.  If you don't care for Maura, you still might like to follow Tove or Clemence or Olek or the Captain through the story.    

I don't care much for the look of "1899," which is dark and gloomy and bleak.  For a show that relies so heavily on visuals, and with so much care put into the design elements - sinister triangles abound -  it's awfully insistent on staying as dreary as possible throughout.  It often reminds me of a horror themed video game, with its dim lighting and preoccupation with small tokens - keys, a medal, letters.  However, the show's creators are very adept at using the visuals in interesting ways, often ending episodes with inexplicable imagery. The first episode ends with the discovery of the boy, clutching an ominous black pyramid.  Strange tunnels keep appearing and disappearing, somehow leading to unnerving places from the characters' pasts.  Aurally, however, we run into some cultural missteps.  There's a preoccupation with anachronistic American pop music I thought was a bit much.

It took a while for "1899" to win me over, and will require some patience from genre fans.  It's far more of a historical drama initially than an action/adventure series or a thriller.  However, the extra time spent with the characters pays off nicely.  This was supposed to be a three season story, and we're left with an infuriating cliffhanger since the show was cancelled. However, enough answers are offered that I still found the trip worthwhile.    

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My Top Ten Films of 1949

It's been a while since I've done one of these, but I've been slowly making progress with the films of the 1940s.  This post is part of my ongoing project to create Top Ten movie lists for the years before I began this blog, working my way as far back as I can.  Below, find my Top Ten films for 1949, unranked.

Bitter Rice - A neorealist classic from the underseen director, Giuseppe De Santis follows a group of young women who work the rice fields in Northern Italy every year.  Featuring more melodrama than the average neorealist film, special attention is paid to the plight of the unlucky girls who are unable to obtain work permits, fall victim to the schemes of criminals, and are exploited by the system.    

Late Spring - One of Ozu's most beloved films stars Setsuko Hara as an unmarried young woman and Chishu Ryu as her loving, worried father.  Full of unhurried scenes of domestic life and gentle humanity, there is no real conflict in the film, or even a true dilemma.  Instead, "Late Spring" is a lovely chronicle of two people moving on from one stage of life to the next, and making peace with the changes that result.

I Was a Male War Bride - A charming Howard Hawks wartime comedy, where Cary Grant plays a soldier who finds himself in the unusual position of being an American military spouse in a time when most benefits and services for spouses were for women.  There's just the right mix of romance, slapstick, farce, and military hijinks as the newlyweds struggle to just be able to spend the night together.  

 

Manon - A Henri Georges Clouzot romantic drama about a pair of doomed lovers.  They don't make truly epic films like this anymore, following the characters through many years and many events in their lives, from fleeing accusations of collaborating with Nazis, to a life of wildly shifting fortunes in Paris, to an arduous trek across the desert.  Pointed social commentary only gives the tragedy more bite.

Adam's Rib - My favorite of the Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy romantic comedies.  In "Adam's Rib" they play a pair of married lawyers who end up in a contentious battle of the sexes.  The film is genuinely funny, even if its sexual politics are clearly out of date.  The performances of Hepburn, Tracy, and Judy Holliday as the would-be murderess are a delight, and the ridiculous legal battles are a riot.     

White Heat - Perhaps James Cagney's most famous role is as the brutal gangster Cody Jarrett.  He's so clearly one of the major templates for so many cinematic gangsters to follow, displaying disturbing psychological issues and a wildly entertaining theatricality to his criminal antics.  The prison scenes and the explosive finale help to make this one of the most memorable gangster pictures of all time.

The Third Man - I'm not as much of a fan of this influential film noir as most, but I can't resist the charisma of Orson Welles as the iconic Harry Lime, or the thrilling chase scenes through those wonderfully atmospheric Vienna sewer tunnels.  Alas, both of those things happen in the last third of the film, and are over and done with far too quickly.  At least the lively score is excellent throughout.  

Passport to Pimlico - One of the best of the Ealing comedies, and still a fantastic crowd-pleaser, is this British farce about a small London neighborhood that is able to declare itself an independent sovereign nation due to a newly discovered historical loophole.  Full of British character actors and wild plot twists, "Pimlico" delivers a great mix of satire and silliness.  And part of the magic is its total, utter Britishness.  

The Heiress - This is my favorite Olivia de Haviland role, where she plays the mousy daughter of a domineering rich man, who is courted by a man she views as a possible path to her salvation.  The transformation of the heroine from weak to strong, from open and loving to cold and hostile, is at the heart of a tragic, absorbing feature that shifts from hopeful romance to intense psychological drama.

The Silence of the Sea - A solemn, existential morality play about a German lieutenant, played by Howard Vernon, who is billetted in the home of a small French family during WWII.  This was Jean Pierre-Melville's feature debut, and heavily influenced by his experiences during the war.  Despite a tiny budget, only three actors, and limited sets, the film is as powerful as any other drama from this year.   

Honorable Mention: Little Miss Devil (Afrita Hanem)

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"She-Hulk" is a Smash

"She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" is the best Disney+ MCU show so far.  It may not be the most impressive when it comes to spectacle or effects, but it's easily the most consistently watchable and entertaining.  It's also a nice break from the relentless formula of quippy action and rushed story arcs that have plagued so many of the other Disney+ MCU shows.

Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), is a cousin of Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), who accidentally gets Hulk powers when the two of them are involved in an accident together.  Unlike Bruce, she doesn't want to be a superhero, but to just have a normal life and legal career.  With her paralegal best friend Nikki (Ginger Gonzaga), Jen takes a job at a firm with a new "superhuman law" practice, and tries to balance her new status as She-Hulk with just trying to be normal Jen - a single woman in her 30s.  Yes, it's "Ally McBeal" set in the MCU, and that's a good thing.  This is a show that isn't afraid of low stakes, more adult humor, and an almost totally episodic structure.  Jen drinks.  Jen has casual sex.  Jen indulges in a lot of fourth wall breaking, and makes fun of other Marvel properties.  I understand many MCU fanboys are aghast, but think the show is exactly what the franchise needs right now.  

      

Frankly, "She-Hulk" is the MCU series that works best as a series.  You can literally watch any episode independent of the others.  You don't have to know who any of the characters are for it to work, though this is the most interconnected MCU installment in a while, with appearances by Hulk, Wong (Benedict Wong), the Abomination (Tim Roth), some Asgardians, a smattering of low level villains, and a much less angsty version of Daredevil, still played by Charlie Cox.  It's a nice reminder that all of these disparate characters exist in the same universe.  What's even better is that they exist in a universe that also includes a lot of normal people, like Jen's icy colleague Mallory (Renee Elise Goldsberry), and fashion designer Luke (Griffin Matthews), and a creep named Todd (Jon Bass) who Jen briefly dates.  One episode involves a perpetually sloshed party girl named Madisynn (Patty Guggenheim) being accidentally sent dimension hopping, and dumped on an exasperated Wong. 

As for Jen, she's a treasure.  Maslany is great in the role, bringing so much great humor and energy.  Any technical issues with the CGI on She-Hulk are pretty minor and easy to adjust to.   The first season gives Jen a loose character arc of learning to reconcile her normal life and her Hulk life.  Sometimes this means tense encounters with bad guys.  Mostly, this means added complications when trying to navigate situations in her personal life, like dating and trying to find professional clothes that fit.  There's a whole installment that follows Jen attending a wedding and doing her best not to be the center of attention.  This means that there's a good hangout vibe to most of the episodes, and plenty of space for character moments and humor.  And despite all the MCU elements, "She-Hulk" often feels closest to taking place in the real world, where sometimes the worst villains are your garden variety online misogynists.

I think you could have done "She-Hulk" as a theatrical film, but I like this format for her better.  I like the looseness and the lightness of the premise, where you're seeing the universe from Jen's irreverent POV, and nothing too bad can really happen because she won't allow it to.  It's a great opportunity for the MCU to poke fun at itself and quietly test out and tease things, like the new Daredevil outfit and the more enlightened Abomination.  I know Deadpool's going to come along and do much of the same schtick eventually, but I like Jen better for this role, because she's a better fit for the MCU.  She also pushes boundaries, twerking with Megan Thee Stallion, and theorizing about Captain America's sex life, but in a gentler way than the Merc with the Mouth.   

Here's hoping for a Season Two sooner rather than later. 

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"Black Adam" and "Wakanda Forever"

The new Dwayne Johnson superhero film, "Black Adam," isn't quite as dire as I was expecting, but it's probably best enjoyed by very young viewers and die-hard DC Comics fans.  This marks Johnson's second collaboration with director Jaume Collet-Serra in a row, after "Jungle Cruise."  "Black Adam" is the better movie, but not by much.  

The fictional city of Kahndaq had a protector in ancient times known as Teth-Adam (Johnson), who was gifted powers by wizards to defeat an evil king.  In the present day, Kahndaq is again oppressed, and a professor named Adrianna (Sarah Shahi), her brother Karim (Mohammed Amer), and young son Amon (Bodhi Sabongui) manage to resurrect Teth-Adam.  However, he's not the hero they hoped for, being rage-prone and too willing to kill indiscriminately.  His actions quickly attract attention from around the world, including a group of heroes from the Justice Society (similar to the Justice League, but not the same), who decide to intervene. 

The willingness of DC to rebuild their film franchise around Dwayne Johnson is not a good sign, though Johnson as "Black Adam" has his charms.  Seeing him wreak havoc on bad guys with total abandon, and throw misanthropic, edgelord quips back at anybody trying to reason with him is undeniably fun.  The arc of him learning how to care about people and play nice with the other superheroes is tedious, and the normal human beings in the movie are dull as rocks.  Skateboarding motormouth Amon is a kid sidekick trope I thought we'd left behind in the '90s.  Fortunately a few classic DC heroes get their big screen debuts here, including Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) and Dr. Fate (Pierce Brosnan).  Their power sets come off as too reminiscent of the MCU's Falcon and Dr. Strange, but Hodge and Brosnan are the best parts of the film.

With action scenes as its main focus, "Black Adam" at least looks properly spectacular.  The massive scale destruction is handled well, and the various superpowers are all executed beautifully.  Alas, the final villain, Sabbac (Marwen Kenzari), is another of those unfortunate CGI creatures that came out looking half-finished.  The writing also leaves much to be desired, with leaden dialogue, hastily cobbled together action beats, and a whole third act that feels remarkably unnecessary.  Compared to some of the worse entries that the DCEU films have produced, however, I'm content to describe "Black Adam" as competent.  I can deal with more films in this vein, especially if DC keeps adding less well-known heroes to the roster as supporting characters.  

Onward to "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," which follows the MCU's Wakandan characters trying to soldier on after the loss of King T'Challa to sudden illness.  Princess Shuri (Laetitia Wright) becomes our lead character, her mother Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) assumes the throne, and there's a new threat from Namor (Tenoch Herta), leader of a hidden civilization of underwater dwellers, the Talokan.  This is a much gloomier film than the original "Black Panther," exploring grief, revenge, and the responsibilities that come with assuming power.  However, when it decides to do comic book spectacle, it does perfectly good comic book spectacle, introducing new characters, new technological wonders, an undersea empire, and expensive action scenes galore.  There shouldn't be as many complaints about the CGI in this installment.

I wish I could drum up more enthusiasm for the film, but "Wakanda Forever" is awfully weighed down by its subject matter, long running time, and sense of self-importance.  Ryan Coogler had no easy task trying to figure out how to regroup after the loss of Chadwick Boseman.  There's a lot of necessary readjustment.  On the one hand, this means we get a lot more of Angela Bassett being a regal force, and on the other hand this means cool, funny Shuri has become angry, dark Shuri, and it can be tough to take.  Laetitia Wright does the best that she can, but I'm looking forward to Shuri's next MCU appearance, when she's hopefully purged her demons for good.  Then there's Namor, who is another complicated villain with ties to Mayan mythology and the victims of European colonialism.  He's an arrogant and bullying, but redeemable absolutist used to getting what he wants, not unlike Black Adam.  However, Tenoch Huerta is not nearly as charismatic as Dwayne Johnson, and I tired of him quickly.

Thank goodness for Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Martin Freeman, Lupita Nyong'o, and newcomer Dominique Thorne as American inventor Riri Williams.  They provide the film with much-needed levity and energy.  The best choice that Coogler made with "Wakanda Forever" was to let so many minor characters have their subplots, from M'baku becoming a new ally, to Okoye having to take on a different role to protect Wakanda, to Nakia and Agent Ross revealing surprising secrets.  They help to keep the film watchable, and offer more characters to stay invested in.

And thank goodness for all the talented artists who put in significant effort to make "Wakanda Forever" look and sound thoroughly impressive from top to bottom.  The one caveat I'll point out is that Talokan is a much more carefully rendered version of "Aquaman's" Atlantis, and still looks ridiculous.  Plenty of silly concepts, like Namor's winged feet, come across fine in the film, but underwater civilizations are still seemingly impossible to make look good onscreen.  

The future of Wakanda is in good hands, but I hope they stay on land from here on out.

           

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My Favorite Ousmane Sembène Film

Senegal's Ousmane Sembène is often counted as the first black African auteur, having been one of the first to have creative control of a major film that got international attention.  He was a writer initially, winning fame for his novels and stories on postcolonial themes.  He didn't make his first film, "Black Girl," until he was in his forties.  

This embrace of cinema was fueled by Sembène's desire for his social messages to reach a wider audience.  Many of his films are very political, tackling various social ills and dilemmas.  The early ones often reflected the uneasy relationship between Africa and the West.  However, Sembène's work is far more valuable for capturing the African worldview.  One thing I could never shake about recent Hollywood films set in Africa, like "The Woman King," is that while they are set in Africa and tell African stories, they are not made for African audiences.  This is never the case in Sembène's films.

"Moolaadé," Sembène's final feature film, takes place in a village in the West African country of Burkina Faso.  Female genital cutting is part of the village's purification ritual for young girls, a practice that the main character, Collé, views as dangerous, and decides to put a stop to.  When a group of girls run away from purification, she protects them by taking them into her home and using a "moolaadé," a magical protective charm that bars anyone else from entry.  At no point in the film is it ever explained what the moolaadé actually is or how it functions.  However, the consternation of Collé's neighbors in reaction to the moolaadé is plain.  Collé is the only one who can remove it, creating a standoff with the village's religious leaders and other members of the community.

There are certain universal character types that recur in many Sembené films.  Collé is an example of the shrewd, and strong-willed woman.  Her husband is the more foolish one, who is easily influenced by those in power.  The merchant, Mercenaire, is the enterprising grifter.  There's also a subplot involving Ibrahima, a successful young man who has prospered overseas in France, and returns home to claim his bride.  Everyone's behavior is heightened, so we can laugh at their foibles, and sympathize with their tragedies.  You also get a good sense of how familial relationships and the hierarchy of the village function through their interactions.  Polygamy and arranged marriages are commonplace, and women have little autonomy.  Collé asserting her power doesn't just challenge the traditions of the village, but the entire way that her community operates.    

Sembené's filmmaking has evolved over time, to better complement his subject matter and narrative aims.   The performances in "Moolaadé" are very broad, giving the story an allegorical tone, especially toward the end when the characters didactically spell out the moral for us.  Some events are quite dark and intense, though the worst of it is kept offscreen.  Sembené's use of imagery is very bold.  His film is full of bright colors and pageantry, with all the characters dressed to the nines in beautiful costumes.  There are symbols everywhere, like the impressive-looking village mosque, that looks awfully similar to a nearby anthill.  And there's the moolaadé itself, physically represented by a few lengths of colorful rope.  It presents no real barrier to Collé's house, but no one in the village would dare to test its power.  

Western influences and modernity are sometimes portrayed as very negative forces in Sembène films.  Here, however, he treats them more positively as a sign of necessary progress.  Radios and mass media are shown to bring in new ideas, and the confiscation of them is treated as an act of repression.  A pile of radios being burned up is one of the film's most striking, memorable images.  However, the film ends with the triumphant sight of an antenna, promising that change is coming.  After decades of more sinister shots of broadcasting equipment in techno thrillers, I found this a refreshingly different point of view.         

And the message of "Moolaadé," likewise is one we've heard for decades now, but comes across very differently in the context of an Ousmane Sembené film.  While I don't think that this is the most technically accomplished or well-made of his features, "Moolaadé" is a film that only he could have made, and made with such a clear passion and sense of purpose.

What I've seen - Ousmane Sembène

Black Girl (1966)

Mandabi (1968)

Emitaï (1971)

Xala (1975)

Ceddo (1977)

Guelwaar (1992)

Faat Kiné (2000)

Moolaadé (2004)

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What the "Willow"?

I've skipped most of the recent Disney+ series based on their live action movie catalog, including the "National Treasure," "Mighty Ducks," and "Santa Clause" shows.  The 1988 film "Willow," however, is a piece of sword and sorcery media that is near and dear to my heart, and I couldn't restrain my curiosity.  Key members of the original cast were returning, and there looked to be more emphasis on practical effects and locations instead of everyone being stuck in the Volume.  "Willow" also promised to be a more lighthearted, more fun show than some of the other big fantasy projects of 2022, like "Rings of Power" and "House of the Dragon."

And boy, it was hard watching "Willow" the series squander so much potential.  Roughly seventeen years after the events of the movie, Prince Airk (Dempsey Bryk) of the kingdom of Tir Asleen is kidnapped by evil forces.  His twin sister Kit (Ruby Cruz) embarks on a rescue quest with her knight-in-training bestie Jade (Erin Kellyman), her intended fiance Prince Graydon (Tony Revolori), Airk's girlfriend Dove (Ellie Bamber), and a petty criminal named Boorman (Amar Chadha Patel).  But first, they need to find the great sorcerer Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis), who has been scarce for many years.

My first instinct was to compare "Willow" with "Wheel of Time," since they both start off with a collection of youngsters setting out on a fantasy quest for the first time together.  It's immediately apparent that "Willow" has a much stronger cast, playing much better defined characters.  You've got a couple of fighters, a rogue, the book-smart one, and some fledgeling magic users - all of them likable and easy to root for.  Marvel fans will recognize Kellyman and Revolori, who are given a chance to shine more brightly here, but all the principals are great.  The effects work is also excellent - making the magic spell battles and CGI monsters look effortless.  

I wish the writing lived up  to the production values.  "Willow" takes pains to set itself apart by deliberately using modern language, a mix of different accents, and a soundtrack with several covers of classic rock songs.  It's a good instinct, but the execution is awkward, and some of the tonal clashes are terrible.  Also, "Willow" falls into the same trap as some of the other legasequels by putting way too much emphasis on callbacks, some of them not very well considered.  One episode literally replays the finale of the movie when the adventurers wander into the old location.  One episode drops in on Kevin Pollack playing his Brownie character Rool from the movie, seemingly for no real reason except to fill time.  Other guest stars like Hannah Waddingham and Christian Slater keep showing up to gamely indulge in fantasy hijinks, but don't get much to work with.

However, the show's biggest mistake is that it ties so many emotional stakes to a character who doesn't actually appear in the show.  It feels like the creators really wanted Val Kilmer to make some kind of appearance as Madmartigan, Kit and Airk's missing father, but couldn't manage it, and had no time left to rewrite the scripts in the end.  One episode in particular is totally anticlimactic because the whole thing builds up to Madmartigan showing up, and he doesn't.  "Willow" has several good episodes, where the writing clicks, and the action scenes are fun, and there's plenty of showing instead of telling.  However, it has just as many rushed and messy episodes that don't work at all.  

I strongly suspect that there were some pandemic issues causing trouble here, but several of the Disney+ "Star Wars" shows have suffered similar issues, so the problem may be more systemic.  In any case, there are so many things that I liked about "Willow," I toughed out the full eight episodes.  We have lesbian lead characters!  Amar Chadha Patel being the funniest guy in any scene he's in!  A sea monster named Kenneth!  If we get more of this show, I'll be thrilled, but I won't be revisiting the first season any time soon.

  

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A "Strange World" Autopsy

I've noticed that several of the recent PIXAR and Walt Disney Animation films have been built around very pointed goals and messages.  You had "Zootopia" providing some basic guidelines for talking about racism and sexism.  You had "Finding Dory" providing an example of how it feels to be differently abled.  "Turning Red" and "Encanto" offer guidance on various family dynamics and growing pains.  And now we have "Strange World," which wants to provide an allegory for climate change, to tackle generational trauma, and to present Disney's first real, honest, we're-not-kidding-this-time, gay lead character.

Our heroes are three generations of the Clade family - legendary explorer Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid), his botanist son Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal), and sixteen year old Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White).  Jaeger and Searcher had a falling out during an expedition, leading to Jaeger disappearing and Searcher discovering a new plant based energy source called Pando.  Many years later, when Pando is threatened, Searcher, his wife Meridian (Gabrielle Union), and Ethan become swept up in a Jules Verne style adventure, exploring a very strange, unknown part of their world - apparently where Jaeger has been all this time.

"Strange World" has been compared to past Disney adventure films like "Atlantis: the Lost Empire" and "Treasure Planet," and likewise I expect that this film will be remembered a lot more fondly once kids actually see it.  The film features what is truly one of the strangest, most alien environments to ever feature in a Disney film, with creatures that seem to be made of glowing jelly blobs, or random arrangements of organic matter.  Once you realize what some of them actually are, or are meant to represent, it's very clever, and all executed beautifully.  The trouble is that the film feels like it was written by committee to hit all of these target objectives, and the result is a very bland, overly familiar film without much personality.

Let's take Ethan, for example.  Good for Disney for finally committing to an LGBTQ lead, who is mixed race to boot, but they're clearly playing catch up to a younger generation that is about ten steps ahead of them, while also making Ethan the most basic and non-controversial sixteen year-old they possibly can.  He doesn't want to become a worker on his dad's farm, has a crush on a guy named Diazo (Jonathan Melo), and plays a tabletop/collectible card game.  Grandpa Jaeger is the stereotypical gung-ho self actualizer who steamrollers over everyone else's ideas and concerns.  This leaves Searcher to do most of the emotional heavy lifting in the story, coming to the realization that his resentment over his dad's behavior is leading him to be overly paranoid and controlling of his own kid.  And this is all well and good, but unfortunately not very interesting to watch.

The adventuring mostly picks up the slack, as the Clades have to learn the rules for survival in their new environment, and the Disney artists come up with some really fun concepts.  Islands with feet!  Swarms of flying magenta manta! Little orange guys who keep regrowing the plant life!  Splat, a little blue sidekick critter, has rightly been called out for being an obvious candidate for mass merchandising, but he's also the best source of pure animation in the movie.  There's no face, but just a glowy blue blob with a few pseudopods, which have to do all the gesturing and emoting.  Splat ends up legitimately turning in a better performance than many of the human characters.  

The film is designed to look like old pulp magazines and adventure comics, with characters whose features kept reminding me of European comics series like "Asterix the Gaul" and "The Adventures of Tintin."  However, for an ensemble adventure film, it feels a little sparse.  These movies usually come with half a dozen eccentric comedy relief characters, voiced by a bevy of celebrities, like Don Novello randomly showing up as the explosives guy in "Atlantis."  I'm not sure whether it's a good or bad thing that "Strange World" doesn't do this.  I suspect it's only noticeable because the filmmakers didn't come up with anything better.

Still, "Strange World" isn't a bad effort at all, and succeeds admirably at a lot of what it's trying to do.  I'm optimistic that it will find its audience eventually, just like "Treasure Planet" and "The Emperor's New Groove," and other Disney bombs ultimately did.

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Bingeing "Bluey"

You've probably heard of "Bluey," the Australian animated children's series that has won over a large amount of adult fans in the U.S. since it started streaming on Disney+.  In some ways, it's pretty typical for a show aimed at very small children.  Like "Peppa Pig," it centers on a family of four anthropomorphic animals - a six year-old blue heeler puppy named Bluey, her four year-old sister Bingo, and their loving parents, Chili (Melanie Zanetti) and Bandit (David McCormack).  Each seven minute episode follows the kids learning life lessons and tackling common childhood stumbling blocks.  Unlike "Peppa Pig," and unlike most children's shows I've seen lately, "Bluey" is about the family learning and growing together as a unit, and specifically keeps its focus on the parents and the kids in relation to each other.  

All the best episodes of "Bluey" that I've seen involve playing.  Often these are elaborate games of pretend that range from basic children's games, like keeping a balloon from hitting the ground, to wilder scenarios like a stalk of asparagus granting the power to turn everyone into different animals, or Bluey driving a train and trying to manage escalating service disruptions.  The parents, notably, are Bluey and Bingo's most consistent playmates.  We see plenty of interactions with friends and relatives and members of their community, but many episodes are simply the four members of the Heeler family turning a mundane chore or situation into something fun.  They solve problems, learn lessons, and figure out disputes through play.  The improv rule of "yes, and" seems to reign supreme in their household, with delightful results.  

It's the treatment of the parents, Chili and Bandit, that makes "Bluey" so unique.  There's an emotional realism to them that helps show that they're individuals rather than simply dopey comic relief, or the standard, infallible mother and father figures.  They're modern parents who both work outside the home, and split household chores and parenting.  And though they're excellent parents, they make mistakes and will get frustrated.  One of the most beloved episodes of the show is "Baby Race," where Chili tells the kids about the time she got too competitive with the other moms over baby milestones.  I'm sure most adult fans have figured out that while "Bluey" is aimed at small children, it offers lessons for parents too.  The episode "Piggyback" is both about Bingo powering through a long walk, and the rest of the family coming up with various ways to motivate her to keep going.      

You can tell that the creators behind "Bluey" have kids, and are heavily invested in putting forth a genuine picture of modern parenthood.   The Heelers may be dogs, but the behavior of Bluey and Bingo are exactly right for six and four year-old human beings.  Their level of activity, the nature of the humor, the still developing personalities, the age-appropriate challenges, and the way they engage with certain topics all ring very true to life.  Their home is full of chaotic energy and everything is always on the verge of being a mess.  This is the only cartoon I've ever seen that nails how physically demanding it is to have kids this age.  Bandit in particular is constantly shown roughhousing with his daughters, toting them around, and being called on to playact horsies and monsters and robots.

    

Produced by Australia's national broadcaster, ABC, "Bluey" has excellent production values.  The characters are beautifully designed, and the animation of them is fluid and detailed.  There's a wonderful specificity to the environments, where Brisbane landmarks regularly pop up, and white ibis can be spotted eating out of trash bins.  The characters are unambiguously Australian, and I appreciate that their accents and vocabulary have all been retained for international distribution.  As a result, "Bluey" has a distinctive, appealing vibe to it.  And it's so consistently entertaining and sustains such a positive mood, it's no wonder that it's won over so many ardent fans.  I confess that I occasionally watch it without my kids when my mood needs a boost.

And at seven minutes an episode, it lends well to bingeing.  I always end up watching several in a row, but fortunately there are plenty of episodes, and the show's such a success that it won't be ending anytime soon.     

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Disney+ Docs

No media company is committed to the gilding of their own mythology as much as The Walt Disney Company, which extends to their PIXAR, Marvel and Lucasfilm operations too.  Padding out their Disney+ shows have been a ton of making-of docuseries, behind-the-scenes looks at Disney parks and media operations, and general content about Disney.  I've watched more than a few of these, which have existed in various forms long before there was a Disney+ streaming service.  There's some good stuff here, as long as you understand what you're getting into.

Programs like "Behind the Attraction," and "One Day at Disney," about the Disney theme parks have a very familiar format, featuring insider looks at Disney operations, sometimes with a familiar face acting as host and tour guide, with a couple of celebrity cameos along the way.  The parks have been in operation for over half a century, and have constantly been featured in specials for anniversaries, inside looks, and tech demonstrations.  These have always essentially been commercials for the company aimed at Disney geeks.  More stripped down versions used to run on the various cable travel and arts channels with different branding as easy filler.  

The "Marvel Studios: Assembled" and "Disney Gallery" series are the kind of making-of material that are usually found as special features on the DVDs and Blu-Ray discs for various Marvel and Lucasfilm media, but are now content in and of themselves.  "Assembled" in particular has gotten more elaborate over time as episodes aren't just devoted to the Disney+ shows, but also the Marvel features.  Bruce Campbell acted as a host for the recent "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" episode.  It's always a very slick, very cleaned-up behind-the-scenes narrative, with nary a negative comment about anything, but you're not going to get this level of access to the productions from anywhere else.  Also, being on Disney+ means that the behind-the-scenes for a movie like "Turning Red" can expand into practically its own feature.

I like the more formal documentary series about various divisions like "The Imagineering Story" and the recent ILM series, "Light & Magic."  These tend to approach their subjects from a more historical angle, the way that older Disney docs like "Frank & Ollie" and "Walt & El Grupo" have.  I suspect that "Light & Magic" was released when it was in part to counter the less flattering Lucasfilm narrative found in the Vice docu series about the "Star Wars" franchise, "Icons Unearthed: Star Wars."  "Light & Magic" covers some of the same ground in early episodes, as it examines the making of the original "Star Wars" in 1977.  Where "Icons Unearthed" is more interested in playing up the drama of the production, "Light & Magic" is all about giving the hardworking ILM effects creators their due.  There's a beautiful sequence in the first episode where Joe Johnston explains his design process for the Millennium Falcon, step by step.  And if that's not magic, I don't know what is.

I also appreciate that there are some truly nerdy series here, for the Disney die-hards.  "Prop Culture" unleashes movie nerd and collector Dan Lanigan on the Disney archives, and has him use props and costumes from Disney movies like "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" as a starting point for interviews with artists and actors.  "Sketchbook" shows you how to draw Disney characters, with actual Disney animators talking you through sketching the Genie, Simba, or Mirabel from "Encanto."  You pick up quickly that the show is not really about the drawing, but to let Disney spotlight a bunch of diverse artists and their personal stories.  "Marvel 616" is a docuseries about some of the more obscure corners of the Marvel universe, devoting episodes to a Japanese TV adaptation of "Spider-man" and the cosplay community.

I truly cannot imagine another studio like Paramount or Warner Bros. putting so much into generating this kind of content.  Well, in a few cases I know they've tried, but it would never have the audience that Disney has managed to cultivate over decades and decades of carefully maintaining their sterling brand and family friendly credentials.  No matter how blatant the advertising or the self-mythologizing is, all of these series are entertaining and high quality productions.  They're made by people who you can tell care immensely about what they're doing.  And for that, I salute the effort.     

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