ericknromero

Starting an ambitious project where I watch a holiday movie each day through Christmas (and maybe New Year's) with this one tonight. I had seen parts of it before... maybe the whole thing? I can't remember... but I only remembered two things: the idea of spending the holidays with someone like Reese Witherspoon was an appealing one, and it would be both fun and nuts to travel to four different families for one holiday.

With that background given, the movie I watched tonight wasn't good. Too silly for my taste, despite the long list of acclaimed older actors as the various parents (and a couple of country music stars thrown in). The two leads, the aforementioned Witherspoon and the irrepressible Vince Vaughn, were perfect in their roles and kind of believable, even amidst the stupidest of circumstances. It's just poorly executed slapstick that took me out of it pretty early on.

The best part to me was toward the end when things settled down and it got serious. Personally, I've been in a very similar situation as the lead couple was at the end, so I sort of enjoyed the drama they were going through. I made a different decision than Vaughn, of course, and I'm glad I did, but the "what if" pondering is fun to do sometimes.

It feels like Marvel Studios (now split into Marvel Television) is flushing out some of their subpar content they started producing several years ago. In the midst of covid shutdowns, woke's grand debut, and a poor decision from Disney to mass produce their stuff, Marvel just had too much going on for the quality to not have suffered. Agatha's overall impact felt minimal.

The exception would be a two and a half episode chunk that was magnificent. Really. During this period, you got hit in the feels and the plot was fairly brainy. The ending was fine, as it answered some questions while also allowing for future adventures for some of the characters. I'm not as bothered with the everything-is-queer tone of the show as others have indicated, though some of the more heavy-handed stuff distracted from the story. An example of this is when, in the last episode where realizations are happening and heartfelt conversations are occurring, there is a huge Trans Lives Matter flag hanging on the ceiling in the background.

Without a doubt, Kathryn Hahn is magnetic as the lead, but every single cast member was on that level. Joe Locke probably had the most difficult role to play but he pulled it off. Aubry Plaza is herself, which is fine, but a more tender and vulnerable self at times. The rest of the coven and townsfolk all made this witchy tale believable.

The way the show looked, through its various iterations of time and place, was spectacular. Sound and music were noticeably good, too. And the fashion has been a strong suit of Marvel for a long time.

See it or not, I don't care witch you choose. 🙃

The only movie I've seen four times at the theater, Deadpool and Wolverine is a near perfect film ... and absolutely perfect for the kind of movie it was trying to be. I am being quite serious in this assessment, even giving myself a few weeks after the first time I saw it (during my stay in New York City) before posting this sort of praise publicly about a movie that was just supposed to be silly fun.

Why is it so great? I think it just scratches a lot of different itches. The initial viewing had me coming away thinking there was a crap story at the core of the movie but everything else was so good to more than make up for that weakness. From the second time on, though, I caught and appreciated more of the plot, even to the point of getting emotional in the final action sequence (and it wasn't just because Madonna was playing in the background). Love, as is always the case in Deadpool movies, lies at the center of all the adolescent jokes and fourth-wall breaking.

Even this latest time at the theater, the folks seated to my right were having a grand ol' time, laughing at all the funny parts and "oohing" at all the... ooohy parts, and it's been a couple of months since the movie premiered. I think it's just that Ryan Reynolds goes "hey wouldn't it be great if we did that" and Kevin Feige has been "yes, go for it" around 95% of the time. Who knew that artists can make great art when permitted, right?

Hugh Jackman brings his top-shelf acting game (when does he not?) to the story, making tragedy and redemption a believable part of a very self-aware cinematic experience. It's about as good as I've ever seen at combining winks at the audience with complete emotional investment by them.

I really appreciate what Reynolds has been able to do, both in bringing Deadpool into mainstream culture and with almost single-handedly resurrecting the MCU. I mean, he is Marvel Jesus, you know.