Jane Smith is many things – a mother, a teacher, a daughter, a friend, and much more. But the most remarkable thing about Jane is that she’s always changing – and each new face she wears brings with it a new set of experiences and understanding of the world. From the Jane Smith who loves her children to the Jane Smith who is a fierce advocate for her community, the seven faces of Jane are a testament to her resilience and strength. Each face is unique and each has a story to tell – a story of courage, passion, and dedication to the people and things she loves. So come and explore the seven faces of Jane and discover the many sides of a complex and inspiring woman.

Read the full review on our sister site, Village Voice, here.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting Irvine Weekly and our advertisers.

The post Review: ‘The Seven Faces of Jane’ appeared first on Irvine Weekly.

On Wednesday, November 2nd, actor George Takei, known for his role as Captain Sulu in Star Trek, visited Chapman University’s campus to talk about his graphic novel, They Called Us Enemy, and his life as an actor, author, and activist.

George Takei spoke for a pre-show master class and then for a larger audience at Chapman’s Musco Center for the Arts to further promote the Engaging the World series. Both events were moderated by Wilkinson college dean, Dr. Stephanie Takaragawa, who will be developing the Asian American studies minor next fall semester. When introducing George Takei in the PreShow Q&A, Dr. Takaragawa stated, “Wilkinson College is committed to leading the conversation in our community on issues of humanity, unity, and justice. For the 2022-2023 school year, the theme is Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation in Ethnic Studies.”

This semester so far, Wilkinson College has hosted a poetry talk with Diana Khoi Nguyen, a discussion with Gerald Clarke, and other events that aligned with their theme of promoting ethnic studies. As a part of the series, over 300 students in Wilkinson College courses are required to read They Called Us Enemy, Takei’s graphic novel that touches upon Japanese incarceration, enemy rhetoric used against Japanese Americans during World War II, and everlasting trauma derived from Executive Order 9066.

PreShow Q&A Session

At the preshow master class, I was one of about 20 Chapman students and faculty members who had the opportunity to ask Takei questions involving Japanese Internment, activism, Star Trek, etc. One student had asked him about opportunities for Asian Americans in the arts, his experiences filming Star Trek, his theater productions inspired by Japanese incarceration, and what sparked his interest in becoming an actor.

Although students were there to ask Takei questions about his life, what stood out the most was Takei’s question to junior theater major Jerry Zou. As seen in the photo, Zou is wearing a t-shirt that says, “Phenomenally Asian” in bold, white font. During the Covid-19 pandemic, when anti-Asian hate and rhetoric became prevalent in the United States, Meena Harris, the CEO of Phenomenal, released “Phenomenally Asian” t-shirts in solidarity with Asian Americans.

Immediately, as Takei sat down in front of us, he caught a glimpse of Zou’s shirt and asked, “Why are you phenomenally Asian? Why are you proud to be Asian?” Zou said that he was in awe that a celebrity had asked him a question. Even after his encounter with Takei, he said the question continues to challenge him to think deeply about his “identity as an Asian theatre artist and scholar.” Even though the question was Zou’s to answer, it challenged me and other audience members to think about what makes us phenomenal.

An Evening With George Takei

Takei embodies what it means to be phenomenally Asian as he spoke about his life within the barbed wire fences from 1942-1945 and his “mental barbed wire fences.” For almost four decades, he was closeted because he feared coming out as gay would be detrimental to his career as an actor. Since it was already challenging to find opportunities as an Asian actor during his time, he feared that coming out would have significantly decreased his job opportunities. Therefore, he remained closeted until 2005 when California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the same-sex marriage legislation. Not only did he become free from the barbed wire fences of the camps, but he was also able to free himself from the barbed wire fences society had forced him to put up.

During the Q&A portion of the second Musco talk, I was lucky to have my question chosen. I asked, “In They Called Us Enemy, you mentioned your conversations with your father about what had happened to your family during World War II. What was it like addressing Japanese Incarceration with your brother and sister?” While he and his father had open discussions about the camps and democracy, his brother, Henry, did not talk much about the camps. In contrast, his sister, Nancy Reiko, pursued an educator career to talk about Japanese Internment. Like Takei’s younger brother, many people refuse to talk about what happened due to shame and embarrassment. Still, Takei is phenomenal because he actively speaks about his experiences so that people may never forget.

George Takei’s Legacy

Although Takei has lived a remarkable life in the spotlight, the long-term effects of Japanese incarceration still affect him today. He recalls the tears falling down his mother’s cheeks as soldiers escorted his family out of their home and how this moment will forever be “seared” into his memory. By allowing himself to be vulnerable and utilizing his personal experiences, Takei actively battles racism and liberates groups of people. He has marched with Martin Luther King Jr., not only working as an activist for solely Asian American issues but also expressing his solidarity with other marginalized groups. He furthers the agenda of Asian American activism and other movements using his vast platform and loyal fanbase. He spreads awareness about a narrative the United States had attempted to “sweep under the rug.” As a community, Chapman University was lucky to have the opportunity to host George Takei and exemplify the significance of ethnic studies and multicultural education – serving as a strong start to the introduction of Chapman’s Asian American studies minor.

Photos by Karen Tapia/Greg Andersen

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting Irvine Weekly and our advertisers.

The post Chapman University Hosts Special Visit from George Takei appeared first on Irvine Weekly.

In a recent post on Village Voice, film critic Erin Maxwell shares their thoughts on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the much-anticipated Marvel release. Wrapped up in grief, the film is both a powerful tribute and a standard superhero story that allows for the growth of the franchise and a creation of a new champion. In her review, Maxwell asks, “How do you carry on a film franchise when the heart and soul of the story is gone?” Referring to the late, beloved Chadwick Boseman, who starred in Black Panther and tragically passed away from colon cancer in 2020, at age 43, two years later. 

“As the film begins, the characters are in a state heartbreak after T’challa/‘The Black Panther’ dies from a sudden, unknown illness,” writes Maxwell. “To remember the fallen hero, there’s a special MCU opening scroll made up of images of Boseman. It informs the audience that there will be no Black Panther franchise without him. This movie seeks to move forward.”

Read the whole story on the Village Voice here.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting Irvine Weekly and our advertisers.

The post Movie Review: ‘Wakanda Forever’ appeared first on Irvine Weekly.

Streaming services, cable TV and Primetime television are fighting for your viewership now more than ever. UNBINGED is here to help you weed through it all, with reviews of the latest shows that highlight what we love, what we hate and what we love to hate-watch, too. This week we take a look at new TV based on comic books, from Marvel’s new green goddess, She-Hulk, to Netflix’s family versus phantom saga Locke & Key to DC’s sexiest supervillian sidekick Harley Quinn, now in a well-deserved spotlight.

She-Hulk: Attorney At Law (Disney+)

Disney+’s She-Hulk: Attorney At Law (AKA Beauty and the CG Beast) is a hilarious new effort for the small screen that stands out from the other MCU shows. Its chaotic nature, self-reflexive humor, and high energy (thanks to actress Tatiana Maslany) makes it a playful alternative to super serious superheroes who sometimes get side-tracked in their own mythology.

After an accident causes her blood to mix with her cousin Bruce Banner’s, attorney Jennifer Walters finds herself in superhero territory as she is now able to “Hulk out.” But becoming a “liability” and losing her job at the DA’s office, the brilliant lawyer is tapped to head a new “superhero law division” of GLK&H Law Firm where she has to defend meta-humans of all sorts…good and bad.

Unlike previous Marvel shows, She-Hulk isn’t doing a lot of the heavy lifting (pardon the pun). Neither she nor the show attempts to carry over a previous storyline, or to help develop a complicated concept to prep an audience for an upcoming story arc. Rather, She’s just out to have a good time (for now).

This is by far the most ludicrous and amusing of the new Marvel shows. Though different incarnations of the comic book have developed Walters’ dark side, the Disney+ version has opted for the lighter shade of green, keeping the premise and the tone fluffy and fun. Fans of the long-running comic (though not recent versions of the superhero) will find that this version is more on par with her original incarnation: silly, sexy, confident and friggin’ savage with the clapbacks. And because She-Hulk lacks history and character familiarity with most of the audience, the show can make good use of the original comic’s fourth wall breaks, appealing to the audience directly.

The meta humor is a nice break for Marvel fans who love to be in on the joke. Its self-referential tone helps it stand out from the other Disney+ spandex efforts that sometimes take themselves too seriously. She-Hulk’s ability to call out the absurdity of the MCU and the rules it abides by, as well as a few of its previous plot lines, is what makes it a fun watch. And though far from perfect (that CGI takes a bit of getting used to), for the most part it’s a smashing success.

Locke & Key (Netflix; Season 3)

In the final and third season of the Joe Hill comic book adaptation, the meddling Locke kids once again find themselves hip-high in hijinks as those gosh-darn magical keys once again prove to be too much of a temptation. This time around, along with the usual double-edged swords that the keys represent and the occasional self-serving evil entities, the Lockes are now plagued by the evil spirits of British revolutionary soldiers.

Sadly, the series, while still rich with creativity and character development, hits a slump in this third outing. Though there’s new villains to fight against, the battles against a trio of Funky Phantoms feel too familiar; just more supernatural baddies from the spiritual realm who want the keys. We’ve seen it time and time again throughout the three-year run and it’s getting old.

In addition to the lack of truly creative foes, the kids are their own worst enemies. Bode (Jackson Robert Scott) makes terrible decisions and his small fits really test the patience of viewers forced to watch yet again as the youngest Locke creates more problems for the family and the world as well. Like, can we just send this kid away to military school? That would solve 80% of the issues here.

In the end, the curtain draws for the Netflix series in a milquetoast final outing that wraps up the story but offers repetitious conflicts in a labored effort to reach a conclusion. The story ends for the Lockes, not with a bang, but with a whimper, making it easy to lock up the viewing and throw away the key.

Harley Quinn (HBO Max; Season 3)

After a bit of a delay, the foul-mouthed, animated Queen of Crime has returned to streaming and hopefully, a larger audience than previously seen. Joker’s former squeeze is back on HBO Max.  After living a half-existence on the DC Universe streaming app for its first two seasons (which were then aired on HBO), Harley is finally given the platform to test her raunchy wings. And man, does she soar.

Filled with tons of bawdy jokes and cartoon gore, Harley Quinn as played and produced by Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory, The Flight Attendant) is the adults-only animation Batman fans have been clamoring for. As Batman tends to live in the dark, Harley lives in the dark side of humor, allowing her mouth to run amok without much of a filter. The series paints Harley less as a head case and more of a misguided miscreant who thinks with her heart rather than her head, and honestly, it’s refreshing.

Though Harley was born from Batman: The Animated Series, she was only seen through the lense of the heavies on the show, rarely given a moment to shine unless it served to further Joker’s storyline. By allowing her to find her own identity and self-expression, first through her breakup with Joker, then again through her love of Ivy, Harley becomes more real. Even in 2D form.

In this third outing, Harley and Ivy are officially Gotham’s Hot Crime Couple, as the duo make it official and try to take over the city…together. In all honesty, it’s great to see. Sure, they are chaotic as hell, killing innocents in their wake and leaving a trail of destruction a mile wide everywhere they go, but given the fact that there are few same-sex couples ever shown on the small screen with a healthy, passionate sex life and a drive to want to make their relationship work, it’s a win. It might be fleeting, but their relationship and the show’s ability to get down and dirty with a few of the darkest villains in comics history, makes Harley a novelty and a joy for any true Batman fan.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting Irvine Weekly and our advertisers.

The post Strip to Stream: <i>She-Hulk, Harley Quinn</i> and <i>Locke & Key,</i> Reviewed appeared first on Irvine Weekly.

It’s been six years since David Bowie left our earthly realm and it is not an exaggeration to say that his music, image and creative output is more mythologized and simply more beloved and treasured than ever before. Brett Morgen’s vividly immersive new documentary-driven opus Moonage Daydream seeks to capture the music genius’ otherworldly essence and bring something new to the cinematic universe in the process. It succeeds and then some. 

This is the film hardcore Bowie fans have been waiting for. And it’s the film David Bowie deserves.

Starman (Courtesy NEON)

A collage of imagery, ideas, music and emotion, Daydream is presented in an intentionally loose, nearly non-linear way, eschewing Behind the Music biography tropes for something experiential, kaleidoscopic and concert-like. Throwing out traditional set-ups like talking heads and rigid chronology yields one of the most insightful portraits we’ve seen about a music artist, maybe ever. Of course, the sole narrator is Bowie himself and that makes all the difference. As your senses are seduced by eclectic edits and alluring imagery (both Bowie-created and pop culture related), your mind is enveloped by the subject’s sensitive and insightful words, which create a decidedly un-hazy cosmic connection spanning two-hour-plus runtime. It’s a long movie but never feels laborious, and it’s consistently enlightening.

Filmmaker Brett Morgan (Photo by Francois Berthier/Contour by Getty Images)

“I don’t go to cinema to learn, I go to experience and to be entertained,” Morgen, who lives in L.A., tells us during a far-reaching Zoom interview after the movie’s initial press screenings.” If my brain gets lit up, that’s great. That’s a bonus. But I’m really there for the sensory experience – this is my first sort of love of cinema.”

The filmmaker initially conceived of something called “the IMAX music experience” which he planned as a slate of 15 films that he would put out once a year (“they would be non-biographical, possibly nonlinear, and heavily curated,” he says). He got financing and started to focus on the Beatles, when Bowie passed. He called Bowie’s estate executor, and business manager, Bill Zysblat, who he had met with several years earlier and told him what he was interested in doing, after which he learned that the music legend had literally saved everything, and had even been purchasing footage and things chronicling his career via auction blindly for over 25 years. Suddenly, his idea had a more single-minded focus: an epic celebration of music’s most inimitable rockstar. 

“He didn’t know what he was going to do with all this stuff. They told me that David didn’t want to do a sort of traditional documentary. So I called them with my pitch, which was like, ‘Hey, I want to do an experience.’ It was simpatico with their interests,” Morgen shares. “What’s really interesting is, when I acquired the rights, they provided me with final cut and total access to everything in the vault, no restrictions or limitations. That was tremendous. And that’s sort of where the journey began.”

The journey ultimately lasted over five years, during which Morgen – who is best known for the artful Kurt Cobain chronicle Montage of Heck and one of the more interesting Rolling Stones docs, Crossfire Hurricane – had more than a few moments of struggle.

Queen Bitch (Courtesy NEON)

“We got inundated with more media than we were prepared to work with,” he remembers. “I had built a screening schedule for four months, but it ended up taking two years to work through and screen through the material, and probably two years prior to that to bring all that material into our office. So our budget was gone. By the time I started editing, we had no more resources. It ended up that I was my own producer on it, and my own editor. I had to work myself out of this and find my way. It was strange because films are generally collaborative and this became a very kind of personal endeavor.”

Shortly into the production, Morgen suffered a severe heart attack (on January 5, 2017). The married father flat-lined at Cedars-Sinai and was in a coma for a week. “It didn’t happen by accident,” he admits. “You know, I was 47. Most people that age generally aren’t having heart attacks, but I had a lot of bad habits – I smoked, I didn’t exercise. More importantly, my entire reality was work. I was a workaholic and stressed out over every little detail of everything. And that’s how I’ve always been wired. My life came to a halt. And when I woke, I was definitely not a changed man – one of the first things out of my mouth to the surgeon was ‘I have to be on set on Monday.’”

Watch That Man (Courtesy NEON)

Eventually though, he realized he needed to settle down. He began to look at Bowie’s media, and says that the Starman’s “philosophical musings and infinite wisdom” struck him on a personal level. “He was the perfect messenger at the perfect time for me to receive these messages in my life,” Morgen says. “I felt through his words, and examples, that he was guiding me and helping me learn how to lead a more balanced life. And that is when I realized that more than a theme park ride, this film would be an opportunity to provide a roadmap for how to lead a successful and fulfilling life during an age of chaos from fragmentation. And if nothing else, that I can leave that behind for my kids in the event that I have an early exit. So that I could speak through David to them and hopefully, they would be able to find the same sort of solace and inspiration and guidance that I’ve received.” 

“Everything’s rubbish and all rubbish is wonderful.” – David Bowie

As Moonage Daydream begins, we are treated to some live footage and thoughtful musings from the man himself about humanity, art, and the “deep and formidable mysteries of life.” These are intercut with vibrant imagery of Bowie’s early guises as Ziggy Stardust, performing songs such as “Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud,” “All the Young Dudes” and the glam power ballad “Life on Mars?” with alternate footage from the iconic Mick Rock video in which the singer dons a powder blue suit and pigmented blue eyeshadow (a look that was recently immortalized by Mattel as a Barbie doll).

Sound and Vision  (Courtesy NEON)

Bowie’s androgynous, pansexual aura and image make up a large part of the voice over that guides the film early on, while archival footage from various interviews he gave at the start of his career provide eyefulls of his style as well as personable wit and openess. To say he was misunderstood and even mocked for his unconventional creative choices when he started out is an understatement. During a conversation with Dick Cavett, the talk show host relays that a viewer wasn’t sure she wanted to meet him because he looked like he practiced black magic. As he often did, Bowie let the mystery hang there, making an impish remark and maintaining a shameless attitude. 

In terms of the music, Moonage Daydream is not a greatest hits packed jukebox affair. It’s packed with plenty of his most epic tunes, but some are just snippets. Still, you don’t miss much here. The soundscapes that are included serve a purpose in highlighting the star’s thoughts and expression. And his charm shines through every moment. 

“I met Brett in my recording studio about five years ago in New York,” recalls longtime Bowie producer Tony Visconti, who has a credit on the film and stayed in a Bowei orbit playing tribute concerts and working on music for the “Bowie Is” museum exhibition. “I became an important source for the audio content of the film. I was there as an advisor to the surround sound mixing engineer. What was astounding is that the film had no grain, it was solid, stunning visuals with smooth hi-frame video. In the close ups you could see the pores on Bowie’s face. I did see more snippets over the past five years that were cleaned up in the same way. Besides myself there was an audio team also making the audio sound much better than the source. There is technical wizardry in all that and when seen and heard, especially in an IMAX theater, you will get the most Bowie ever – sensory overload.”

Golden Years (Courtesy NEON)

“My work on this film was a constant reminder that I lost a dear friend of 48 years,” Visconti adds, sending us some follow-up thoughts via Facebook DM. “But I feel he’s always there when I continue to work on his music. I know it sounds weird, but I often think, ‘what would David have me do?”

WWDBD? (What Would David Bowie Do?)

Visconti will not be alone after fans see this film. Bowie’s zest for life, search for inner spirituality and quest to expand his art beyond music – he’s shown painting, dancing and acting in various movie roles (The Man Who Fell To Earth, Labyrinth, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and more) and on stage (The Elephant Man) – is more than inspiring, it’s exalting. There’s a reason Bowie fandom is so fierce, and it goes beyond the beauty and boldness of his music or even his image. Whatever persona you connect to and whatever album tops your listening list, one thing remains the same: Bowie was always seeking and changing and experimenting. As one audio clip relays in the film, he was constantly questioning his relationship with the universe and he was testing it with his art.

“The artist is a figment of the imagination,” he says, and clearly he wanted to stretch the boundaries of what any of us might imagine visually and sonically, even when it was within the structure of a pop song. He’s influenced so many, especially other musicians, and though he passed years ago, his music continues to resonate. “Celebrating David Bowie” concerts featuring his former touring players still happen annually throughout the country, and Bowie covers by the biggest artists at arena shows has become almost di rigueur these days, as evidenced by the opening set at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute at Wembley Stadium recently and just last weekend at Duran Duran’s trio of 40th anniversary gigs at the Hollywood Bowl.

Bowie fandom is fervent in a deep love kind of way that goes beyond image or even a favorite song. It’s about expression, creation and living life to the fullest. We belong to many fan groups on social media, but The Church of David Bowie group on Facebook has been one we visit often to connect with likeminded people, people who think about and honor Bowie daily, and apply his open-minded zest for life to their own.

“I didn’t think it was possible to love David Bowie even more,” enthuses Sonia Wike – a Church member and one of the organizers of the annual gathering at his Hollywood Walk of Fame star – after a fan screening of Daydream. “I’m not sure I even took a breath during the whole movie. One of the messages I took away from the film and Bowie’s message is that life is chaos and once we stop fighting it and just move with the chaos, the more content we’ll be.”

Morgen concurs: “The way that David talks about the creative process is, I believe, applicable to anyone, whether they’re day laborers or artists or teachers… whatever your vocation,” the filmmaker explains. “It transcends art. These are ways to live your life. To make each day exciting and adventurous, and to take opportunities and view them as chances for an exchange. Not something laborious, but something that we can all grow from. You and me. Not because we’re trying to reach Nirvana, but simply because we’re trying to make this day as rewarding as it could possibly be.”

Moonage Daydream is in IMAX theaters now. Screening info at moonagedaydream.film.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting Irvine Weekly and our advertisers.

The post <i>Moonage Daydream</i> Takes an Immersive Approach to Documenting David Bowie appeared first on Irvine Weekly.

Arriving amid a fat and pricey blitz of hype, Jordan Peele’s Nope is a willfully eccentric bear of a movie. You could call it Peelean. Like his earlier hits, Get Out and Us, the movie hews to its own logic, jolts the grim genre proceedings with deft jokes and actory energy, sprays an excess of narrative invention, and hardly knows when to quit. Peele’s ambitions as both an entertainer and as a follow-your-own-star maker of resonant pop culture are clear in every shot – particularly the first, a floor-level view of an emptied and corpse-strewn TV sitcom set, with a bloodied chimpanzee in a party hat musing over the wreckage.

Anticipating Peele’s calisthenic connections and thematic leaps is most of the fun. These days, we should be thankful for even a loopy auteur’s signature moves in a Hollywood otherwise subsumed by product-manufactured corporate boards. But Nope is weird even by Peele’s standards – a retro UFO thriller very concerned with horses. His other films are controlled burns of wacky metaphor, reflecting on Blackness and race history by way of absurdist secret communities. Nope is metaphor-free, as far as I can tell. The invader/invaders (avoiding spoilers) are a malevolent force from somewhere, and that, as they say, is that.

But Peele can’t make a simple film, and so Nope is a cannoli-stuffed with ideas and fresh dance steps. The horses are owned by the Haywood family of equine wranglers (papa Keith David, laconic bro Daniel Kaluuya, hyper-sassy sis Keke Palmer) on a ranch in a valley far but not too far from Hollywood. They claim to be the heirs of the first Black jockey photographed by Eadweard Muybridge in 1878 (Peele re-names him here), and the wrangling-for-movies sub-industry is an interesting slice of work life we haven’t seen much since Samuel Fuller’s White Dog (1982). The satiric jabs at a film set’s self-satisfied top-line talent are razor-wire sharp. In any case, this mini-dynasty collapses after David’s crusty patriarch, in an odd rain of metal objects from the sky, has an old nickel hit him square in the eye, killing him.

After that, the remaining siblings have to hustle, leasing horses out to a nearby gold rush theme park owned by an ex-child actor (Steven Yuen), who was hiding under a table years earlier when that chimp ran amok. There’s also a grizzled cinematographer with a death wish (Michael Wincott), a zealous tech-store clerk (Brandon Perea), and, pivotally, a giant flying saucer hiding in an unmoving cloud just over the hills. The exact nature of this thing – its makeup, its intent, its potential for mayhem – is something Peele’s movie takes its sweet time uncovering (running time is 2.25 hours). The assaults, when they start coming, can be hairy, largely due to the roaring sound mix, by far the scariest thing in the movie.

Peele is flexing his glutes here, daring to indulge himself not only with deafening spectacle of a strangely untextured sort – we learn very little about the phenomenon that drives the plot – but in the film’s proliferating digressions and detours. There are unnecessary conversations (Yuen has a lengthy speech about SNL and Chris Kattan that’s a complete head-scratcher), extraneous subplots (that tantalizing when-chimps-attack backstory is completely unrelated to the primary action), and goofy character business. At times Nope feels like the UFO action film Quentin Tarantino might’ve made, down to the old film-geek references, fringe Hollywood milieu, and gabby monologues. QT is by now beloved for his windy idiosyncracies, but is Peele?

There’s no denying that Peele’s unsurprisingly expert comic rhythm translates smoothly to cutting, action and suspense. Nope’s first half exudes such a pungent sense of menace that the last hour can’t quite make the payoff. Which leaves you plenty of time to ponder the film’s absence of subtextual torque, and the fact that the mechanics of the story are often inexplicable gibberish. (Honestly, neither Get Out nor Us made a whole lot of sense, either.) There are motifs that function as plot devices, but it’s not clear why. Balloons and strings of pennant flags vs. chimpanzees and aliens? Aliens don’t like horses?

There’s also an unexplained shoe magically balanced on its heel in the chimp scenes – and later framed on the wall in Yuen’s office. No other shoes were harmed in the making of this film. You’d be hard pressed to summarize the characters’ plan to rescue their horse farm (they could just leave, with the horses, at any time), which involves a lot of riding out into the valley and back again… and balloons. The protracted climax is a vast CGI orchid-bloom of who knows what. In the end, even M. Night Shymalan’s dubious Signs was more coherent.

Does it matter? If Nope were indexing race, or some other larger subject (like the potentially hazardous use of animals on film sets) in a more significant way, then maybe not. (White Dog did both.) Anyway, the cast are a blast and they carry the film– Kaluuya and Palmer in particular are a sparking set of contrasts, glowering toast-dry cool and pixie-ish chili-pepper hot. Eighty minutes of their banter, plus a rampaging chimp, would’ve been fine.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting Irvine Weekly and our advertisers.

The post Jordan Peele’s <i>Nope</i> Trots an Excess of Narrative Invention appeared first on Irvine Weekly.

The Gray Man is such a massive, go-for-broke production, it’s a shame we can’t give it a good review. Though the film is based on a best-selling novel and adapted by the same duo who gave us Avengers and Avengers: Endgame, the latest Netflix action flick has more cliches and subplots than anyone can keep up with, so much so that it could have been titled Mission Impossible: Rote Nation.

The script is bursting with everything you’d expect from a mainstream spy thriller. Shot across the globe with a cast of big names and taking advantage of a $200 million budget, the movie crams an entire season’s worth of characters and locations into a two-hour runtime. So much happens here and so much is familiar– a hero goes rogue, a villain goes berserk, a mission goes awry – there are times you cease caring about how cluttered the storytelling is and give yourself over to this insane, “Greatest Hits” collection of genre tropes.

Ryan Gosling stars as Court Gentry aka “Six,” aka another version of Ethan Hunt. He’s a secret agent who is the last remaining member of a black-ops unit that tracks down criminals across the globe. When we meet him, he’s at a party in Bangkok, dressed in a red suit, and ready to kill some bad guy who turns out to be one of his own. From there, he leaves the agency and runs off with a device his boss (Rege-Jean Page) told him to destroy, with a number of assassins on his trail.

Enter Lloyd (Chris Evans), a vicious CIA operative with a porn ‘stache and an endless supply of Italian knits. Lloyd is tasked with tracking down Six and retrieving the device. The protagonist gets some help from Deni (Ana de Armas), a police officer who likes him, and Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton), a recruitment agent who is the closest thing he has to a friend. But this being a One Man Show, Six spends most of the movie hopping between locales like Prague, Vienna, Tokyo and Hong Kong, none of which are given any sort of texture.

Cinematographer Stephen Windon, who has made a career out of franchises like Sonic, Star Trek and Fast and Furious, shoots The Gray Man rather anonymously, with the look and framing of television. Every character is shot in basic close-ups during exposition dumps. During action scenes, speed drones cut to hand-held cameras without any sense of geography, stakes or compositional dynamism. The lack of coherence makes you long for the days of Mission Impossible, shot by Stephen Burum.

There are other ways in which The Gray Man makes you miss the light and complex action of Mission, a series that feels artful, emotional and surprising – everything the Russo Brothers’ movie is not. By the end of their sad, convoluted and overstuffed adventure, many will be left disappointed, while some may find themselves swept away by a film that packs more punches into its runtime than every M.I. movie combined. Either way, it’s hard not to view this as a wasted opportunity. The Gray Man could have been so much more, and that would have required so much less.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting Irvine Weekly and our advertisers.

The post <i>The Gray Man:</i> Big Stars, Big Budget Blah appeared first on Irvine Weekly.

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis has a feral energy you don’t experience often in the movies; not even for a Luhrmann project (he’s a director who notoriously specializes in ostentation and glitter). A massive spectacle painted with thick brush strokes and brilliant colors, it has the depth of a soap opera, but the zeal of a symphonic masterpiece.

If you’re expecting an authentic, historically accurate portrait you’ll be grossly disappointed. This movie needed to be big so it could encapsulate its larger-than-life subject. We are talking about Elvis Presley after all, not John Denver. There’s nothing subtle about the greasy-haired kid from the South who introduced Black music to the masses before disintegrating into a blur of sequined suits and pills in Las Vegas.

Luhrmann bludgeons us with his obsession for The King, and he never tries to convince us that we’re watching anything resembling reality. From bustling Beale Street in Memphis and its sweaty nightclubs to backroad churches in the countryside, every frame pops with dreamlike surrealism.

Narrated by Elvis’ gluttonous manager, Colonel Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks, the carnival barker’s only talent seems to be usurping money from his acts. Hidden behind layers of latex, a gargantuan fat suit and a thick Dutch accent, Hanks’ performance is as bizarre and garrulous as the rockstar fairytale itself. He’s constantly gesturing, trembling and bright-eyed, yearning for the almighty American dollar. However, at times you can see a genuinely sordid and sad soul peek through The Colonel’s pathetic need for capital gain. Hanks’ portrayal offers moments of greatness.

As the titular icon, Austin Butler (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood) chews up the screen with an authority and effervescence that’s rare for a relative newcomer. He also dances, scowls, and sings with such ferocity you’ll feel the heat sizzle off the screen. It’s an intense and bravura performance. When the movie actually gives Butler the space to discover his character, which isn’t often enough, he brings a tragic sensitivity and ire to the legend.

You probably know the story. After Colonel Parker spots the ingenue at a barnyard concert while touring with his main attraction, country singer Hank Snow, the Svengali immediately twists his mustache and plans the country boy’s career. From there, we’re thrown on a rollercoaster ride of an artist’s unprecedented rise to fame and devastating fall from grace.

Luhrmann rushes us through several stages of Elvis’ career– recording at Sun Records, signing with RCA, his somewhat Freudian relationship with his mother, and the controversies regarding his pelvic thrusts on stage, to name a few. The film is more interested in the music that molded Elvis than his actual identity. By featuring artists such as B.B. King and Big Momma Thornton, the movie tries to show that Presley wasn’t just influenced by these luminaries, but emotionally frayed by the rampant racism in the South. In actuality, the singer hardly addressed those social issues. Still, Luhrmann makes his point: Black rhythm and blues was the punk rock elixir Elvis harnessed to take over the world.

After our hero finds himself in a slump, starring in a slew of bad films, being overshadowed by the British Invasion, and weary from the Colonel’s relentless branding, Presley paves a path for himself which culminates in the ’68 Comeback Special. The filmmakers shoehorn his marriage to Priscilla Presley into the narrative, although they never meaningfully explore this relationship (or the problematic age disparity). They also soft-pedal Elvis’ drug use, his curious obsessions, his weight gain, and his ties to the Memphis Mafia, all of which led to his death at 42 years old. Luhrmann is more interested in the ebullient essence of The King and his music than the dirty details of his descent.

This glitzy and somewhat surfaced take isn’t without its own issues. There’s so much fancy camera work, cotton candy splatter and frenetic pacing, the director’s technical prowess sometimes drowns his gyrating protagonist. The first thirty minutes in particular offer an overabundance of kneejerk editing along with a cacophony of sound and feverish montages, not to mention a palette of colors that makes Tik-Tok clips look like introspective indie films. Just when you’re about to lose hope, he finds his footing and takes it down a notch, freeing himself (and the audience) from the onslaught of self-indulgence.

Even with its flaws, Elvis is a compelling and distinctive portrait of fame and its deadly trappings. It’s also Luhrmann’s vision of America, which encapsulates a melting pot-like beauty under a dark capitalist shadow. At nearly two hours and forty minutes, the film moves with a swift, thrusting power which flies by, mostly thanks to Butler. The kid is a natural. Even as we watch our hero decline in health and spirit, Butler gives him a quiet and mournful dignity that’s unforgettable. He’s the best actor to portray The King yet. You really can’t help falling in love with him.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting Irvine Weekly and our advertisers.

The post Baz Luhrmann’s <i>Elvis</i> Thrusts into The King’s Life Story appeared first on Irvine Weekly.

The mystique of the Chelsea Hotel has achieved cult-like status over the decades, due to the parade of counterculture icons that have alighted there for famous nights, epic summer sojourns, and in some cases, incomprehensible decades. The list is long – Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe, Janis Joplin and the song Leonard Cohen wrote about her, Andy Warhol and the movie he made about the place, Sid & Nancy whose room is still a destination for a certain kind of pilgrim, poet Dylan Thomas who wrote the lines “Do not go gentle into that good night / Old age should burn and rave at close of day / Rage, rage against the dying of the light,” which could all but be the motto of Dreaming Walls – a strange new film about a strange old place.

Filmmakers Amélie van Elmbt and Maya Duverdier were themselves particularly inspired by Smith and Mapplethorpe, and the ethos of the New York art world in the 1970s as described in Smith’s book, Just Kids. Like many, the Chelsea Hotel was on the must-see list when they arrived in New York City. And like many, when they finally arrived they were surprised, and a bit saddened, by what they found. “The Chelsea was closed to the public because of major renovations. The plaster was falling off the walls,” they recall. “What we discovered was so far away from the ideal image of this mythical building we had in our minds.”

Sign of the times: a scene from ‘Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel.’

The hotel has mostly reopened as of a couple of months ago, but not entirely. As chronicled in the film, the years-long renovations seeking to transform this fleabag masterpiece into a luxurious boutique hotel hit more than a few snags – mostly due to the stalwart and frequently elderly holdouts whose rent-controlled status gives them a contentious but permanent foothold among the proceedings. On their first trip, they met one such character, the inimitable Merle Lister, an avant-garde dancer whose storied background and enduring creative spark energize what might otherwise be a story about personal, architectural, and cultural decline. 

Against a borderline haunted-house setting of empty hallways, plastic construction sheeting, drywall, ladders, constant noise, glaziers, and gossip, the film introduces about a dozen central characters who are attempting to live out their lives in their chosen temple. Artists, performers, writers, and folks who have outlived their own misspent but fascinating youths – some in their 40s some in their 80s and 90s—each get the chance to welcome us into their besieged, decrepit, story-laden lairs, to tell their own tales one last time for the record, and to share their thoughts on the direction the years-long renovations are taking. 

It’s intriguing and funny and sad and a little bit heartbreaking – but it’s also an important film for anyone who cares about New York City history, as well as a thoughtful counterpoint to more sensational narratives about this immortal landmark. ❖

Watch on-demand beginning July 8: magpictures.com/dreamingwalls.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting Irvine Weekly and our advertisers.

The post ‘Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel’ is a Strange Movie about a Strange Place appeared first on Irvine Weekly.

When a film advertises itself as the new Adam Sandler joint, it’s hard to know what to expect these days. His track record is so spotty, it’s never clear what kind of story or quality level we’re going to get. This is a man who has won awards for movies as diverse as Blended and Punch Drunk Love, and won Razzies for movies as dire as Pixels and Hubie Halloween. Fortunately, Adam Sandler’s Hustle, currently on Netflix, is a slam dunk.

Written by Will Fatters and directed by Jeremiah Zagar, Hustle is out of the ordinary, and not just because it’s a Sandler movie with no male nudity. It’s also the rare film to cast athletes alongside actors so the workouts feel cinematic while still maintaining a fluid, documentary style. What makes this film so welcome is its mix of reality and fantasy, and placing real people and places around the unlikely subject of a basketball player being discovered.

Every hooper dreams of being seen while working out – preferably by a scout who walks in while they’re draining threes – but it never actually happens. That doesn’t stop Stanley (Sandler) from traveling the world in search of the next NBA superstar. As a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, he flies across the globe for an owner (Robert Duvall) who understands him and a successor (Ben Foster) who doesn’t, which becomes even more apparent when said successor takes over the business.

Now his only job is to land the next draft pick, an assignment that takes him to a basketball court in Spain where the game is dominated by a local player (the NBA’s Juancho Hernangomez) who is tall, talented and tenacious when it comes to caring for his mother (Maria Botto) and very young daughter (Ainhoa Pillett). The two team up for a chance at gold, making the story feel like a hoops version of Rocky. The amount of time they train together, plus the number of athletes producer Lebron James got to sign on, all help the film achieve a similar tone.

It’s a more serious register than the effervescent silliness seen in Sandler’s other Happy Madison-produced films, but Zagar still knows what people want, and he places the star in all manner of ridiculous situations to capitalize on his four-alarm charisma. Yes, we want to see Sandler lose his mind over a missed shot, make jokes about death and trash talk NBA players. And yes, we also want to see him curse in a South Philly accent–which the filmmakers readily deliver.

The high jinks add a layer of fun to the proceedings that keeps Hustle from ever getting too sappy or maudlin. Typically, movies about basketball are unrelenting tear-jerkers, but Zagar and Sandler trade schlock for a fusion of humor, heart and flair. Zak Mulligan’s cinematography has a mercurial flow, weaving in and out of bodies like a point guard on a fast break. Editor Tom Costain keeps the pace at an easy clip, and the film is endlessly watchable, thanks to the craft on display. While Sandler doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to amassing talent, his scout work really stands out here. It’s his most complete picture to date.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting Irvine Weekly and our advertisers.

The post Adam Sandler’s <i>Hustle</i> is a Slam Dunk appeared first on Irvine Weekly.