euphony-01389 Reviews

Holy Camp! (2017)

Magical, not realism

[10/10 · 26 November 2020]

The reviews for this film are mostly negative, complaining about the move being strange. All I can say is, have you never read a fairytale? Not everything has to make sense for it to be true. I spent most of the movie with a broad grin on my face. It's genuine, warm, and so so happy. Yes, God sings Whitney Houston songs in the movie. And you know what? It feels right. It feels completely, wholly, joyfully right.

Work It (2020)

You've already seen this movie

[3/10 · 16 August 2020]

Let's look at the basic setup of this movie: a nerdy white high school girl focused entirely on academics wants to get into an elite college but is denied entrance for a contrived reason. In order to get into the college, she'll need to learn to dance from her best friend, a poc character who encourages her to let loose and live. Along the way, they're opposed by a gay diva (well, his sexuality is never mentioned, but glitter is practically dripping from every limp-wrested gesture), they have to put together a ragtag group of non-dancers who suddenly become amazing dancers over a couple of months, and the main character falls for a college-aged guy with a disability that gives him a tragic backstory (which conveniently disappears whenever the character needs to do something that might be affected by the disability). The main character is also having to hide her now-slipping grades from her mother who desperately wants her to get into the college, but the mother realizes at the end that all that really matters is for her daughter to have fun. What a thrillingly unique tale. It could have almost been really fun. The visual effects in the first few minutes were lively; unfortunately, they were dropped after the intro. If the effects had remained, it might have made up for the lackluster choreography. I know nothing about dance and even I could tell that a few of the scenes just didn't work, especially the rival dance team's performance in the final competition-you're telling me that they're the best team around and *that's* what they do for the competition of the year? Not buying it. And if the love interest's disability had actually, yknow, affected him for more than just a tragic backstory and the first ten minutes of us meeting him, it could have been decent representation. If the diva rival had had any more personality than "diva," it could have avoided falling quite so much into the cliche. But the fact of the matter is that a "diverse" cast...doesn't really serve the cause of representation well if you make all their stories into cliches that revolve entirely around White Girl. But that would require a bit of thought, which Netflix clearly wasn't willing to risk adding.

The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966)

Funny, honest, and surprisingly warm

[10/10 · 24 February 2020]

It could have easily been dehumanizing and dark, since it deals with very grim topics-war, suspicion, paranoia, misinformation, xenophobia, the tendency of people to turn minor events into causes for war. Yet, although it is honest about these things, and deals with them quite openly and humorously, it never becomes depressing or grim. It remains warm, even charming, and steadfast in its insistence that people-despite their many flaws and bad points-are people, with good points and even little sparks of kindness and occasional mercy and love and heroism. It's not some feel-good sentimental flick, or a cheesy bit of war-time heroism, it's a very funny movie about real people, doing the kinds of things that real people do. And it doesn't just appeal to people who lived in that era, either. I'm 20 and I enjoyed it every bit as much as my 60-year old mother. The only slight flaw was the love story, which was a minor side plot. The characterization of the female love interest seemed a bit shallow, and at times the dialogue and acting of the two people involved in it was a bit thin, but it didn't detract much from the rest movie, which as a whole did have good acting, especially from Alan Arkin. Overall, it was one of the few movies which became, for me, an instant favorite, and I look forward eagerly to when it has faded just enough from my memory that I can watch it again-and then again, and again.

Great News (2017–2018)

Enjoyable and fun

[7/10 · 26 August 2018]

I watched the entire first season of this last night to distract me when I was having a headache. I had to pause it many times to catch my breath from laughing, and it's one of the few shows I've watched where I finish binge watching it and actually still want more. There are a few times when it seems like it can't decide if it wants to be completely zany or more realistic, and the characterization of the minor characters is a bit lacking for my taste. Still, it's a funny show, which does a great job of showing multiple different viewpoints, and making them funny, without laughing at them. I strongly preferred it to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and I can't wait to see where it goes next.

EDIT: When Tina Fey comes in, the show falls apart. She plays a boss who-get this-is a hero because she's a woman who is in the groundbreaking role of sexually harassing her male underlings (ostensibly so that she can get laid off with a big bonus like her male counterparts do when they do the same). And because she's self-aware and female, we're supposed to find her sympathetic and laugh when she harasses men, and applaud her for doing so. Sorry, this isn't woke. This is the opposite of woke. If it weren't for this, I'd rate it higher. With the inclusion of this, I'm tempted to rate it much lower. I suppose I'll overlook it enough to rate it a seven, but if this is any indication of how poorly they're going to do with their handling of topics of any sensitivity, I may well come back and edit my review to be even lower.