Checking in on "Disenchantment"

I've just finished what Netflix is calling "Part 3" of "Disenchanted," which is the first half of the second season.  I'm still enjoying the show very much, and got through the latest ten-episode batch without any trouble.  However, I can sympathize with those who have gotten frustrated with its ups and downs and bailed out earlier. Matt Groening and company are still having trouble with the bingeable Netflix release model, and trying to maintain a serialized story.  "Part 3" does an awful lot of setting up for narrative payoffs that aren't going to happen until "Part 4."  The one big reveal we got at the end of "Part 3" involves a character I had completely forgotten existed, since he was last seen in an episode that premiered way back in 2018.

Still, I found"Part 3" of "Disenchantment" consistently fun.  The characters have gotten more comfortably familiar, their flaws more endearing.  The production quality has improved considerably, especially the animation.  While some of the humor is repetitive and indulgent, the earlier efforts toward worldbuilding have paid off nicely, so wacky concepts like a Steamworld freakshow and the snooty kingdom of Bentwood land easier.  Even better, the central relationships and the big season arcs are very solid.  Bean has matured a bit, drinking less and worrying more about her father and her kingdom.  King Zog gradually loses his marbles after a coup and attempted murder, which creates a lot of opportunity for pathos and gallows humor.  Bean, meanwhile, spends most of the season trying to get to the bottom of the conspiracy, and dodging the plots of her evil mother, Dagmar (Sharon Horgan).    

As I suspected, Elfo and Luci are a lot more fun the less we see of them.  This year Elfo's big arc is getting separated from Bean during an adventure in Steamland, being imprisoned in a freak show for two episodes, and then falling in love with a boat.  Luci's best moments come during his brief rivalry with a talking cat (Dave Herman), as the B-plot of an episode.  Bean ends up shouldering most of the melodrama, and gets to be a lot more competent and admirable in general, which is great.  We also spend more time with Odval, Prince Derek, and some of the castle regulars like Pendergast (Eric Andre) and Turbish (Rich Fulcher).  Meanwhile, "Disenchantment" introduces a handful of new characters like Mora the mermaid (Meridith Hagner), Sagatha the fairy (Tress MacNeill), and Steamlander Alva Gunderson (Richard Ayoade), mostly to help nudge various characters along toward maturity.  Oona is now my favorite character - she's way more fun as Zog's ex and Bean's drug supplier.

The show's humor is still a lot of variations on old gags and gross-out jokes, but we're also getting more character-based laughs.  Zog's descent into madness this year is the big highlight so far, and it's fun to see the situation approached from a lot of different angles.  There's Odval and the Archdruidess (MacNeill) constantly trying to machinate their way around the situation.  There's Bean, Oona, and the castle staff getting frustrated trying to take care of him.  And there's Zog himself, who veers wildly between moments of lucidity and unhinged wackadoodle antics.  While the lunacy is fun to watch, he's also terribly poignant and sympathetic as he realizes he's losing himself.  It doesn't hurt that John DiMaggio's performance as Zog is absolutely hysterical, with generous amounts of raving, muttering, and goose honking sounds.      

I look forward to "Part 4" of "Disenchanted" with some impatience, because I want to see where some of these long-gestating plotlines are finally going to go.  Elfo is well overdue for that big reveal about his origins, and Luci's still hanging around for some reason.  Dagmar's clearly got a few cards left to play, and Zog's story is definitely not done.  I swear, though, if Bean and Elfo end up together, I'm going to be deeply disappointed, especially since Bean finally got a decent love interest this season.  "Disenchanted" isn't as good as I hoped it would be, but it's still lumbering along, doing its own thing, and I got a good amount of laughs out of it.  So, I'll still be watching, and waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for the next chunk of episodes.  I really hope it's worth it, but I've gotten enough out of the show that I'd be okay if it's not. 

  

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My Favorite Elia Kazan Film

Elia Kazan remains a controversial figure in the film world.  He made very socially conscious contemporary features, and was celebrated for his intense and stirring melodramas.  He never made anything else.  His preference for more psychological realism onscreen brought actors like Marlon Brando and James Dean to prominence.   However, his testimony to the House Committee on Un-American Activities during the Hollywood blacklist era made him a fiercely divisive figure, and his reputation never totally recovered.  The quality of his work, however, has never been in dispute.  

Kazan was no stranger to controversy from the beginning, often picking projects with provocative subject matter like miscegenation in "Pinky" and antisemitism in "Gentleman's Agreement."  He came out of the theater world, where he collaborated with playwrights like Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller.  He directed the original Broadway production of "A Streetcar Named Desire," and cast then unknown Marlon Brando in the role of Stanley Kowalski, one of the new breed of "Method" actors who had trained under Lee Strasberg.  When Warner Bros. hired Kazan to direct the film adaptation, the entire cast came with him, except Jessica Tandy, who was replaced by Vivien Leigh from the London production because of her star power.

The play had to be streamlined from its original form, and significantly toned down to meet the Production Code requirements.  Rape, homosexuality, and pederasty were only to be hinted at rather than explicitly referenced.  Five minutes of footage were also cut to downpay the sexuality and violence of certain scenes.  However, there was no hiding the brutality of the play's themes, the rawness of the performances, or the sheer physicality of Marlon Brando.  "A Streetcar Named Desire" looks dated to modern eyes, but Brando's screen performance as Stanley Kowalski was a major watershed in American cinema.  There is no carefully restrained, image-conscious movie star gentility apparent anywhere.  When Stanley bellows for his wife, it is lurid, and animalistic, and spine-tingling. 

Matching him beat for beat is Leigh as Blanche DuBois.  She described the role as grueling, and the toll that it took on her is apparent in every frame.  Watching Blanche disintegrate into alcoholism and mental illness is difficult, and the shattering of her illusions and carefully constructed self-image is deeply tragic.  I feel such sympathy for her, even though Blanche is the kind of person who I'd find impossible in real life, and who would clearly be a contemptible villain in someone else's story.  What makes the confrontations between her and Stanley so intense is that they go on for so long, and build so much roiling tension before things finally explode.  Though I know the scene was supposed to be longer and more violent, I can't help feeling relieved that Kazan cut away from the final, climactic fight between the two of them.  

In the supporting roles, Kim Hunter is also great as Stella, but I feel like circumstances undercut her work.  Several of the cuts to the film involve downplaying her sexuality, and removing some of the ambiguities in her relationship with Stanley, so I always feel a little uncertain when parsing my feelings toward her character.  The altered ending for her in particular seems unnecessary, and one of the few adaptation decisions I have serious qualms with.  The performance that always quietly knocks me off my feet, however, is Karl Malden's work as Mitch.  He starts out as such a milquetoast figure, a ready dupe for Blanches scheming.  When her lies are revealed, however, and Mitch is humiliated, he turns ugly and threatening so fast, it takes your breath away.  

Kazan would go on to make several more classics in the '50s and '60s, beloved as an "actor's director" with a knack for provoking and encouraging greatness from his actors.  His work remains deeply influential in spite of his infamy, and still retains much of its dramatic power.  I don't think Brando was subsequently ever as good as he was in Kazan's films.  However, with melodramas having quietly receded from the spotlight in recent years, so too has much of Kazan's work.   

What I've Seen - Elia Kazan

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)

Gentleman's Agreement (1947)

Pinky (1949)

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Viva Zapata! (1952)

On the Waterfront (1954)

East of Eden (1955)

Baby Doll (1956)

Wild River (1960)

Splendor in the Grass (1961)

America, America (1963)

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Bye Bye Blue Sky

Well, the axe finally dropped.  Blue Sky Studios, home of the "Ice Age" movies, is being shuttered by Disney in the wake of their acquisition of Fox.  In addition to all the talented artists being put out of work, the move will leave their last production, an adaptation of the webcomic "Nimona," unfinished despite being 75% complete.  With WDAS and PIXAR to worry about, and the pandemic making the economics difficult, it didn't make sense for Disney to be running a third major animation studio.  It's still disappointing that this is the way Blue Sky is going out.

Most of us know something about the origins of PIXAR, which has already become subject to a certain amount of mythmaking, but Blue Sky goes just about as far back, starting with founder Chris Wedge creating early CGI animation in the 80s for the original "TRON" before founding Blue Sky in 1987.  They did a lot of commercials and special effects work in the '90s and produced the Oscar winning short "Bunny" in 1998, before moving into features, starting with "Ice Age" in 2002.  Over the next eighteen years, their output had a lot of ups and downs.  There were five "Ice Age" movies by 2016, as well as more ambitious projects like "Robots," "Epic," and "The Peanuts Movie," which was easily the most critically acclaimed feature they ever did.   Most of their films performed well, with the third and fourth "Ice Age" movies both banking over $800 million.  For a while, in the early 2000s, they were the third major player in American animation next to PIXAR and Dreamworks/PDI.

However, Blue Sky always felt like a second stringer, all the way to the end.  Their budgets tended to be smaller, and frankly I always associated Blue Sky with a very stripped down, bare bones look.  Their character designs tended a little more toward the grotesque, and it's really only been in the last few films that their visuals have noticeably upgraded to keep up with their competitors.  Likewise, while I enjoyed many of their films, I always thought of Blue Sky as a very dependable producer of much smaller scale, unfussy kids' fodder.  Clearly that wasn't all they were capable of or wanted to do, but it never felt like Blue Sky ever really broke out in a meaningful way.  "Peanuts" and the recent action comedy "Spies in Disguise" were the best films I ever saw from them, and it still felt like they were working up to making a really great film somewhere down the line.

Maybe that film would have been "Nimona," which gets more interesting the more I read about it.  This would have featured one of the first animated films with queer leads, something that Disney and Dreamworks might not be in a position to try, but a smaller outfit like Blue Sky could.  This is yet another example of the kind of opportunities being lost as the entertainment industry consolidates.  I wonder if it was ever a possibility for Blue Sky to strike out on its own, and maybe make a distribution deal with a streamer like Netflix or Apple, the way that SPA Studios ("Klaus") and Cartoon Saloon ("Wolfwalkers") did.  Other projects Blue Sky had in development include adaptations of the "Anubis Tapestry" book series and the "Mutts" comic strip.

Of course, Blue Sky's existing library will live on, helping to fill out the Disney+ back catalogue. We'll still be able to visit Scrat any time we want to get nostalgic, and pretend that he's still out there, somewhere, chasing that damn acorn into the sunset.  

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"Promising Young Woman" Leaves a Chill

I was looking forward to Emerald Fennell's directing debut, "Promising Young Woman," and very receptive to its revenge story premise.  However, I found it a difficult film to love because it's so prickly and has far more on its mind than revenge.

Taking aim at toxic male entitlement, our heroine is the self-destructive, ex-med student Cassie Thomas, who we first encounter playing drunk at a bar to entrap the "nice guys" who are all too willing to take her home and take advantage of her.  Cassie has much bigger fish to fry, however, and the film follows her efforts to enact an elaborate revenge scheme on those she holds responsible for the sexual assault, and subsequent public shaming and demise of her best friend Nina.  Targets include a former classmate, Madison (Alison Brie), the dean of their school, Elizabeth Walker (Connie Britton), and of course the main perpetrator, Al Monroe (Chris Lowell).  Complicating Cassie's plans is the reappearance of Ryan (Bo Burnham) in her life, an old friend with genuine romantic feelings for her. 

"Promising Young Woman" is deceptively cheery looking, with its candy-colored production design, and Cassie's habit of dressing up in eye-popping outfits for her various outings.  However, the revenge that Cassie enacts is only fun to watch up until a point.  Sure, it's satisfying to see her give the hypocrites a taste of their own medicine, and force the self-deluded to face the consequences of their behavior, but at the same time it takes a terrible toll on Cassie.  The loss of Nina wrecked her life, causing her to drop out of school and take a menial job in a local cafe.  Her parents (Jennifer Coolidge, Clancy Brown) are supportive, but they've also clearly had enough, not so subtly gifting her with luggage for her thirtieth birthday.  Cassie's interactions with Ryan show deep emotional scars and daunting self-defense mechanisms.  She's rude and acerbic on a good day, and retaliates ten-fold when crossed.  And yet, we root for her because she has her limits, and her vengeance is often so richly deserved.  The title is a reference to rapist Brock Turner, who was described as a "promising young man" by the judge when he was handed a lenient sentence.

The messaging here is loud and clear, but I like the various ways in which Fennell subverts the usual revenge narrative to help get the point across.  The material may be pure pulp, but the execution is far more measured.  First, the scumbags that Cassie targets are all played by sweet-faced boy-next-door types like Adam Brody, Chris Lowell, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.  Cassie is very smart, but makes mistakes and bad calls.  In one case, where she comes across an intended victim who is truly remorseful and regrets what he did, she has no idea how to react.  I appreciate that few of Cassie's plots involve much direct violence, leaving the most gratuitous content offscreen.  When violence does occur, it's ugly and realistic.  Cassie's anger also wreaks as much destruction on herself as on anyone else, and her ultimate fate makes it clear that this kind of revenge is neither heroic nor admirable in any sense.  

I find myself comparing "Promising Young Woman" to "Joker," not just because Cassie looks an awful lot like Harley Quinn in one of her getups, but because both films rely so heavily on their central performances, and often function better as character studies of people suffering from trauma and mental illness.  I was very surprised to find Carey Mulligan playing Cassie, because she almost never takes on these kinds of genre roles, but like Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, she does such a fantastic job of relaying the immense pain and rage that animate Cassie, hidden behind her deadpan demeanor and unnerving directness.  

I admire the film very much, but it's raw and sad in a way that I don't think I was quite ready for.  Kudos to Emerald Fennell for delivering the unexpected, and Mulligan for taking a chance with this role.  The film only works as well as it does because of their efforts.    

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"The Crown," Year Four

I always end up bingeing "The Crown."  Netflix makes it too easy for me, releasing all the season's episodes in one batch, and "The Crown" at its heart is really a soap opera.  It's a lavishly produced, high minded, and often admirably thoughtful show, but still a soap opera about an endlessly dysfunctional family.  After a fairly glum third season, the fourth moves into the tumultuous '80s that offers all kinds of juicy material for writer Peter Morgan to dig into.  Chiefly, this season is about the two women who would define the decade for the UK - Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson), and Lady Diana Spencer (Emma Corrin), who would become Princess of Wales.

Of the two performances, Corrin's is more likely to stick because she presents such an appealing version of Diana as a little girl lost, a sweet and naive young woman who fits the part of fairy-tale princess perfectly in public, but whose private life quickly becomes a shambles.  Her terrible marriage with Charles is one of the main throughlines of the season, and "The Crown" is far more sympathetic to her than it is to Charles, who is doggedly still in love with Camilla Parker-Bowles, and takes his frustrations out on his wife.  The series doesn't try to sugarcoat the situation, and please note that several of the episodes spotlighting Diana come with pre-show warnings about the graphic depiction of eating disorders.

The show is far more diplomatic about its portrayal of the Prime Minister, who presided over the era of the Troubles, the Falklands War, sweeping economic reforms, and a punishing recession.  "The Crown" dutifully ticks the boxes and acknowledges each of these events, but they're mostly kept in the background as the show is more interested in examining the people in power.  Anderson's take on Thatcher is a little overly caricatured at first, especially her style of speech, but this settles over time.  More importantly, she brings a humanity and vulnerability to Thatcher that makes it easier to feel some sympathy for her, whether or not you agree with her confrontational politics.  

I expect that some viewers will be unhappy with the lack of attention that is paid to specific moments in history this time around.  The Troubles, in particular, get elided over pretty quickly.  I'm a little too young to remember this era and I'm not from the UK, so I benefit from having some distance from the subject matter.  Peter Morgan and company have taken the approach of not getting too involved in the actual political situation, but instead show the social and psychological effects of the policies that were implemented.  The fifth episode of the season is devoted to Michael Fagan (Tom Brooke), the unemployed house decorator who broke into Buckingham Palace and had a chat with the Queen in her bedroom in 1982.  The series reimagines him as a downtrodden everyman suffering during the recession, who seeks out the Queen as a last resort.    

And speaking of the Queen, Olivia Colman's Queen Elizabeth often feels like a secondary character this year, outside of her clashes with Thatcher.  Though she provides plenty of insight and good counsel to other characters, there are only about two episodes where she really drives the action.  And yet, I find that I appreciate Colman's performance more than ever, as the Queen remains a figure of calm and continuity in often chaotic circumstances.  Likewise, Prince Philip and Princess Margaret are firmly supporting players now, though I appreciate that they do get a few good scenes and speeches here and there in the margins. Elizabeth and Phillip discussing favored children is a high point.    

"The Crown" is a great deal more fun this year, being more eventful, more topical, and making better use of its sterling ensemble.  As usual it looks gorgeous, with trips to Australia, New York, and an excellent episode set at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.  I also appreciate the little '80s touches in the fashions and music, and the episodes where we get to see the economically depressed UK in stark contrast to the world of the royals.  Alas, it feels like the series was too short this time out. I'm already anticipating next year's batch of episodes.  

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Behold the Cereal Mascot Cinematic Universe

So, today's announcements from Warner Bros. about their new slate of films made in partnership with General Mills, Kellogg, Quaker, and Post were a surprise, but honestly not unexpected.  The cereal mascots have been a fixture on children's television for ages, and recently strengthened advertising rules in some countries, and the rise of ad-free streaming services, have made marketing to kids more challenging.  So, why not fall back on the classic tactics of snazzy animation and a shared universe?

Here's a rundown of the major titles coming our way soon, with some of my thoughts on each.

  

"Top Cookie" - It's one of those strange generational markers that how old you are corresponds to which of the three Cookie Crisp mascots you remember: Jarvis the Wizard, Cookie Crook and his sidekick Chip the Dog, and now Chip the Wolf.  Eager to appeal to all audiences, the creators have decided to put all of them together in one feature, fighting over the right to be the ultimate Cookie Crisp mascot.  Several crossover guest stars are rumored to be playing the celebrity judges, including Tony the Tiger, Sonny the Cuckoo, and Cornelius Rooster.  

"Do the Monster Munch" - Count Chocula, Franken Berry, And Boo Berry have been around in animated form since the '70s and were already established as being in their own shared universe, so they make the most sense for feature treatment.  Their squabbling rivalry should translate well to the big screen, and the plan to have them band together to combat more contemporary spookies like the Cinnamon Slasher sounds diverting enough.  Bride of Frankenberry and Berrypatra are expected to make their animated debuts.  Yummy Mummy is also expected to get a redesign and a genderswap.

"Quisp" - His cereal may be hard to find these days, but Quisp, alien prince of the Planet Q, who flies with the aid of a propellor affixed to the top of his head, remains ready for action.  Originally designed and animated by the great Jay Ward, there's a little more substance to Quisp than most of the other cereal mascots.  "Quisp" will see our hero finally become king of Planet Q, and have to fend off encroaching  Martians.  A deal is rumored to be in the works to allow Marvin the Martian to lead the invasion.  Quisp's usual antagonists, Quake and the Orange Quangaroo, are also expected to appear.

"Captain Crunch Conquers the Utensils" - Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch is called back into action when several of his fellow mascots, including Dig 'Em Frog, Toucan Sam, and Buzz the Bee, are kidnapped by disgruntled ex-Pop Tarts spokesman Milton the Toaster, who views the popularity of breakfast cereals as the reason for his downfall.  Captain Crunch will have to fight his way through the hostile territories of the Kingdom of Utensia to save the day.  He'll be aided by the crew of the SS Guppy, former rival Jean LaFoote, and crossover guest stars Captain Rik and Captain Star.   

"The Golden Boy" - Former Golden Grahams promoter the Golden Boy is one of the rare live-action cereal mascots, and this announced feature will follow his poignant post-ad campaign spiral and triumphant return to the spotlight as the new mascot of an up-and-coming minor league baseball team.  Quaker Oats mascot Larry is expected to appear as the Golden Boy's mentor, along with various athletes who have appeared on the Wheaties box, including the 1998 Women's Gold Medal Olympic Hockey Team.

"Rabbit v. Leprechaun" - Finally, the showdown we'll all been waiting for, between Lucky the Leprechaun, the most famous of the the mascots who keep cereal away from kids, and the Trix Rabbit, who has been kept away from the cereal bowl by kids for perhaps a little too long.  Both characters will suffer a botched neurosis reprogramming attempt, and unwittingly become simultaneously fixated on the same cereal, a new product yet to be unveiled.  Hijinks and mayhem ensue, summer of 2022.

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Biting the "Borat" Bullet

I did not want to watch the "Borat" sequel.  I spent most of the last six months actively trying to avoid it, ignoring the good reviews, the awards chatter, and the various pop culture reactions.  I watched the original "Borat" in a theater in 2006, and it was one of my best moviegoing experiences.  I didn't like the movie all that much, finding the crude humor and garish characters more cringe-inducing than anything else, but the communal experience was amazing.  And I admired Sacha Baron Cohen for his willingness to go so far in the name of satire and comedy, even if I found his output hard to take.

This time around, with the contentious election looming and COVID ramping up again, I was in no mood for anything provocative or edgy.  I was already uncomfortably aware how racist, misinformed, and how self-deluded many Americans were, and didn't feel like sitting through something that was just going to confirm this in the most awkward and embarrassing way possible.  I'd seen some of the clips of the Rudy Giuliani encounter and Borat's appearance at CPAC, so I figured I wasn't missing much.  However, when the end of the year lists started rolling out, and the support for the film stayed strong, I got more curious.  So, during my annual catch-up marathon, I made time for "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."

I still don't much enjoy the character of Borat Sagdiyev, the fictional Kazakh reporter who is deeply racist, misogynist, and comes from a cartoonishly fictionalized Kazakhstan that represents the worst, most ignorant American views of foreigners.  However, I think the "Subsequent Moviefilm" uses him better this time out.  Cohen has clearer targets and a better storyline, allowing the character to evolve a little.  A big part of the film's success is also due to Tutar, Borat's teenage daughter, played fearlessly by Maria Bakalova.  She comes along on his latest trip to the United States, and quickly gets herself involved in her father's hijinks.  Because Borat is so recognizable, he's often in disguise or puts himself in the supporting role while Tutar takes the spotlight.  The two of them together are a formidable pair of troublemakers, and their relationship forms the surprisingly solid spine of the film.  

Cohen and his collaborators primarily go after the Trump administration and the alt-right, visiting a March for Our Rights rally, QAnon conspiracy theorists, CPAC, and the Hillsborough Republican Women's Club, as well as more traditional targets like a crisis pregnancy center.  A good chunk of the story involves Borat wanting to give Tutar as a gift to Mike Pence, so there are also trips to the plastic surgeon, a beauty salon, a social media beauty guru, and a debutante ball.  Once again, Borat uncovers hypocrisy and appalling behavior wherever he goes, but there are also encounters that turn out to be surprisingly sweet and uplifting.  Tutar is left in the care of a professional babysitter at one point, a woman named Jeanise Jones, who encourages her to reject plastic surgery and stand up for herself.  Borat also visits a synagogue, and is gently approached and shown compassion from an old woman who turns out to be a Holocaust survivor.    

So, the movie may show America is a screwed up place, but there's some hope in the mix too.  Borat and Tutar get a happy ending, and the person getting the worst of the fallout from the film so far seems to be Rudy Giuliani.  I also like "Subsequent Moviefilm" as a time capsule for this particular moment in American history, which already feels like it's quickly receding into the past even though the pandemic is far from over and Trump is barely out the door.  If you didn't like the first "Borat" film, this one will not change your mind.  I continue to roll my eyes at the scatalogical segments, and the more obvious pranks feel very old hat in the era of internet nasties like Jake Paul. 

Still, it's weirdly comforting to have Borat back in action, showing us how ridiculous we are.  It might be gallows humor, but these days a little laughter goes a long way.  

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