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Shôgun (2024)
Good, But Not Shogun
I don't write many reviews, and honestly have little to say about this other than to express my wonder at why they would choose to make a "Shogun" of this caliber, and then jettison the essence of story itself? This is entertaining, and well made, the acting quite sound...but it is not Shogun. And this is not the usual trimming of events and characters that must accompany moving from the superior storytelling medium of books to film - this is changing characters completely, altering their motivations, the "whys" behind the "whats." Characters bear no resemblance to their written counterparts, and with their very character and motivations recast, the story loses its purpose and sense - it is an entirely different tale and lesson. And I can only wonder why, and marvel at what sort of hubristic arrogance leads these film makers and adaptive writers to do things like this. Do they really think they're a better story tellers than Clavell? It's just kind of sad to me.
The Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd and the Rise of BLM (2022)
Obviously Going to Be Divided, But...
Obviously this film, like Candace herself, is going to evoke very strong and divided opinion, and my guess is a large number of both the 1 and 10 ratings are coming from people who never actually viewed it and are merely reacting to what it to represents. So given that, I'm not going to tell you what I think of the subject matter, as no one is going to have their mind changed by my review and personal feelings about this historical national story.
I did want to comment on the one thing that most struck me in the film, however, and that was the initial interview with his roommates. Regardless of your opinion of the race narrative, the integrity of the media, honesty of the BLM organization, etc, I think everyone will find that his roommates are very likeable, sincere, and sympathetic people. That interview, more than anything else I saw, heard, or read throughout this national debacle, truly drove home to me the basic humanity of George Floyd. I can't really put it to words, but in everything else I've seen he was simply an emblem or caricature of whatever the story teller wanted him to be for the purposes of their own narrative. Somehow meeting those seemingly gentle, kind, and quality people with whom he shared a home took him out of that role of mere symbol and made him more real to me, and I think that was critical in shaping how I reacted to all the rest of the film. I'll just leave it at that.
Vikings: New Beginnings (2019)
Historically straying is one thing, plagiarism another
Obviously the series has strayed from history from the beginning, but I'm okay with that. Historical fiction almost always does, moving notable historical events and people from various times around to help tell their stories in a more compact and compelling timeline. And I'm not sure this show's writers would even categorize it as historical fiction, so really, to me, the anachronisms and smashing together of separate events has never bothered me really.
However, plagiarism is something else entirely. And I'm amazed that no one has pointed out that Lagertha's "fight no more forever" speech is almost directly lifted from Chief Joseph's famous speech of the same name, delivered what, 1,000 years later? Maybe I'm being petty, but that felt like very bad form in what is already a very strange and seemingly out-of-place story line surrounding Lagertha apparent "awakening."
Silent Night (2021)
Timely Take on Fear Mongering and Groupthink
I didn't love this one - honestly it just kind of missed the mark for me on all fronts. I felt wasn't all that funny when it tried to be, was depressing when trying to be ironic, etc. But I'm taking the time to write a review because it seems to me a lot of reviewers actually missed the message it delivers. Keira's comments indicate that this movie was conceived and even filmed before COVID mania really took hold - i'm not sure if that's exactly correct, but if so, it's uncannily timely. The real message of the film, it seems to me, is not environmental doomsday-ism as others indicate (although that message was delivered with all the subtlety of a rusty sledge hammer), but rather a warning against mass hysteria and groupthink.
Spoilers here - the main storyline of the movie is that the media and government have convinced the world that everyone is going to die horribly painful deaths in a series of sort of rolling environmental disasters - toxic clouds are blowing through towns across the world and, they're told, killing everyone in their wake. Video and news coverage (that we never see ourselves) apparently shows people suffering and convulsing after exposure. Obviously the world is therefore terrified, and trying to cope with the knowledge that mankind's days on earth are coming to an end.
The best recourse, ostensibly encouraged by the powers that be in moralistic terms, is to take a conveniently packaged pill to end your own life before the storm comes and brings its suffering with it. And in this twisted narrative, the characters think they're doing the right and humanitarian thing by even preemptively killing their own children.
We see along the way, however, that there are actually holes in the narrative and what's actually known, but those questions are immediately quashed, and anyone asking them is branded as, essentially, a fool and/or bad person. Is it really the environment fighting back, or is some foreign government behind it all? How do we really know that it's killing people? What if the pill isn't needed and we're actually killing ourselves to serve someone else's diabolical ends? Non-mainstream social media outlets viewed in private by some characters seem to offer different narratives entirely. But as these questions and doubts pop up here and there, the people asking them are immediately shut down, the people asking them shamed and ostracized for going against the grain. They're unambiguously branded as "bad" for daring to question.
Then, as we've suspected all along, we find in the very end that in actual fact the clouds are not necessarily killing people, it's apparently survivable. And we see that the whole world has been engaged in global hysteria and groupthink, unnecessarily ending their lives in a planetary, Jim Jones-style fashion. And we're left wondering, is that kind of global hysteria and groupthink possible? And are the cultural echo-chambers (news, social media, entertainment, etc) that we all are aware of creating the perfect environment for blind devotion to dangerous narratives, wrapped up as moral duty and righteousness? What happens when, as a society, we start to view the questioning and challenging of authority and the national narrative as moral failures?
Again, I really don't know if this was actually written before COVID as implied by some of the comments I've read, but if so, it's uncannily timely. Regardless, it's social commentary that isn't limited to the context of public health, but rather offers a somewhat cynical observation of just how far we've gone down the road of "don't question the narrative, or you're bad." And in doing so, it doesn't really lean left or right really, just holds up a mirror to our own blind biases and the blind, pseudo-moralistic groupthink that is the real threat to our future as a species.
Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019)
This is How Kids' Movies Should be Made
With four kids ranging from 7-22, I have seen a LOT of kids' movies. And after a while they start to feel the same, tired jokes, intentional and contrived "over their heads" references that parents are supposed to really appreciate, and all too often some sort of ham-handed and out of place modern morality message that invariably falls flat and comes across as entirely gratuitous and painfully forced.
Dora is exceptional in that it almost entirely avoids all those tired formulaic approaches, replacing them instead with a very fun, upbeat, and engaging story that doesn't try to be anything more than that. And it succeeds wildly. This film is clearly not a great work of art nor powerful social message platform...it's just wonderful, unadulterated entertainment for children.
The casting was really terrific as well, and Isabella Moner as Dora could not possibly have been better. What a delightful talent she is, and the indefatigable positivity of the character actually feels genuine...this kid all but glows through the whole movie. All in all a real surprise, and probably my favorite kids' movie in several years. Nice job Nickelodeon et al, Iet's hope Disney takes notes on how NOT to turn a potentially fun children's movie into a self-indulgent mess!